Super grape growers such as Jan Krupp don’t have to worry much about the anticipated grape glut coming to the Napa Valley. While some growers may see their fruit go wanting, as Appellation America’s editor-at-large Dan Berger reported in the San Francisco Chronicle recently, Krupp -- along with some of his high-profile colleagues -- have suitors waiting in a queue to get their precious and expensive grapes.

Krupp, the 60-year-old internist cum grape grower, owns Stagecoach Vineyards, a beautiful site which straddles the Atlas Peak AVA and the Pritchard Hill area, high in the eastern hills above Napa Valley. Part of the vineyard is in Foss Valley, which sits on a southwest-facing slope below Atlas Peak.

Krupp, who began planting the 533-acre vineyard in the mid 1990s -- purportedly the largest contiguous mountaintop vineyard in the Napa Valley -- sells his fruit to almost 50 clients. His son Joshua also makes 10,000 cases a year at Laird Family Estate under the Krupp Bros. brand.

Among his grape clients are Biale, Cain, Cardinale, Caymus, Chappellet, Pahlmeyer, PaulHobbs, PlumpJack, Selene, and ZD. And he will soon be planting another 100 acres in order to accommodate others clamoring for his grapes.

Krupp commands some of the highest prices in the valley. For instance, the average price of Stagecoach Cabernet Sauvignon is $5,000 a ton. Its $3,300 for Merlot, $6,300 for Petit Verdot, Syrah is close to $4,000, and Malbec fetches the same as Cabernet.

The vineyard, which sits at elevations from 900 to 1,800 feet, is comprised of more than 13 varieties. Not only does it boast a collection of the best selections and clones of Cabernet Sauvignon in California, small plantings of varietals such as Viognier and Marsanne are found in rocky, thin soiled areas. Two other varietals gaining recognition from these south- and west-facing slopes are Syrah and Malbec.

More than 500,000 vines are planted among rock and chaparral, all dating from a single planting in 1995, making it perhaps the most ambitious project in the Napa Valley in the last 25 years. Chappellet, Bryant Family, Colgin, David Arthur and Cloudview are some of the estates that are nearby. Dalla Valle and Oakville Ranch are a short walk away.

One of the factors that makes Stagecoach unique is the cool fog that rolls off the hills each morning during the summer. A welcome coolness, since during the key period of ripening, temperatures average a full 1-2 degrees Celsius below the Oakville mean, while sun shines on the vines for an extended period of hours each day. The soils are poor but well-drained and make up almost the entire base on this rocky perch. SUV-sized rocks dot the landscape and smaller gravel and tiny pebbles break up the few feet of soil in which vine roots find purchase, until being forced to make their way through broken volcanic rock.

Krupp recently spoke to Appellation America’s Napa Valley correspondent Alan Goldfarb.