In late June, Tina Gellie (Content Manager & US Regional Editor), Georgina Hindle (Editor of Decanter Premium) and I spent five days in Napa Valley, California’s premier wine region, to visit wineries, talk to local experts and organisations, and take the temperature of what’s going on.
The valley is home to one of the world’s classic wine styles – big, punchy, often high-alcohol Cabernet Sauvignon – but is also a place going through a lot of experimentation and change.
In some ways it always has done, thanks to its light to non-existent regulations. Compared to most regions in France, it’s a free-for-all yet, due to market demand, there’s a preponderance of Cabernet Sauvignon. But look past the ‘California fruit bombs’ or the hefty, oaky ‘classic Napa Cabs’, and quite a few producers are
