n case you haven’t noticed - and chances are you haven’t – save for a little dust-up over a name, the so-called Coombsville area east of the city of Napa is the hottest spot for grapes these days in the Napa Valley. Sitting on a plateau under the imposing Mt. George, the growers in the region are experiencing a come-to-the-mountaintop moment, while at the same time they’re trying to figure out what the heck to call their little corner of America’s most important wine region.

The farmers, the few brick and mortar wineries in the neighborhood, and those that source their grapes from the region are bogged down in a to-do over an attempt to get AVA (American Viticultural Area) status. But a proposal to name the area “Tulocay” - by what some in the area say was a minority of interlopers - was sent back by the feds, who rejected it. (See sidebar-How to Name This AVA-below.)

In the interim, those that live in the area and farm the grapes are producing some of the more intriguing red Bordeaux and Chardonnay to come out of the Napa Valley in the last couple of years. At the same time, calls come in every day from those who inquire about the availability of Coombsville’s fruit.

It is fruit that is turning out red wines that are very dark in color – mostly blue-black (and not unlike Superman’s hair) – with flavors of blackberries, black plums, mulberries, and dried herbs and black olives. Their textures are silky with very soft and fine tannins, the body is smooth and elegant with subtle power; and they seem to be in sync with reasonable alcohol levels, definitive acidity, and length.

Coombsville, because of its proximity to San Pablo Bay, is cooler than up-valley vineyards. Thanks to that temperate climate, the region is afforded conditions that allow grapes to mature to full ripeness without driving up sugar levels. Is this why cool Coombsville is so hot? “It’s because it’s not hot,” replies Dawnine Dyer, with a hearty laugh. Dyer, along with her husband Bill, makes a Coombsville red Bordeaux blend called Meteor (along with their other brand, the Diamond Mountain-based Dyer Vineyard).

In addition to Meteor, there are a few actual wineries here such as Palmaz, Caldwell, Tulocay, Ancien, Frazier, Sodero, and Farella Park. There are about a dozen-and-a-half grower/brands such Tournesol, Haynes, Faust (Quintessa), Michael Black, Robert Craig, Far Niente/Dolce, Arcadia (owned by Warren Winiarski), Black Oak, Miller, Rocca, Richard Perry, Elke, Black Cat, Hagen Heights, and Bighorn.

In recent years, some other high-profile producers and winemakers have been using Coombsville’s fruit, including Merus, Lail, Star Hill, Havens, Etude, Vineyard 29, Arietta, and Favia; and Philippe Melka, Mia Klein, Aaron Pott, and Andy Erickson.

In the 1980s and ‘90s, before almost anyone outside of the Napa Valley had heard the word Coombsville, Randy Dunn was sourcing grapes from there, as was Joseph Phelps for its signature Insignia wine. That’s quite a litany and a testament to the efficacy of Coombsville and the quality of its grapes.

Dyer characterizes Coombsville as “not exactly in a cool climate. I would call it moderate. When it’s hot in other parts of the Napa Valley, it’s not as hot here. When it’s cold in other areas, it’s not really cold here.”

Michael Wolf, a vineyard management consultant, who farms more than 100 acres in Coombsville, concurs about trying to pin it down. “It’s a hard region to generalize about, which is one of the things that’s interesting about it,” he says. “(But) it’s a region that lends itself nicely to making single-vineyard wines.”

Perhaps the single most important factor seems to be Coombsville’s climatic conditions, in deference to its soil properties. Grapes ripen there over a long period of time – perhaps longer than most places in the valley – without pushing the sugars that lead to reasonable alcohol percentages. It’s likely a key component at the moment, when there’s a trend seemingly toward ratcheting down the wines.

Taking time from the difficult 2008 harvest, Wolf explains to APPELLATION AMERICA the even maturation process that Coombsville affords: “It seems to be (a factor),” he says. “… We’re looking at maturity levels now in the mid-24s here, when up-valley it’s 27.5° (Brix). This is the perfect season to see the difference, too. Even though it was hot down there, it wasn’t quite as hot in Coombsville.”

Further commenting on the intermediary qualities that seem to inhabit and inform Coombsville, Tom Farella of Farella Park Vineyard says: “It’s not a mountain area. It’s not a valley floor area. But it’s a plateau.”

With elevations of about 300 to 500 feet, Coombsville’s 900 planted acres are under a horseshoe-shaped ridge - what Jonathan Swinchatt and David Howell in their book “The Winemaker’s Dance” (University of California Press) called the “cup and saucer” of Coombsville.

Farella describes the soil here as not comprised of “a grain of clay loam or river bottom. It’s mostly fine, volcanic ash from volcanoes elsewhere; and an overlay of riolitic tuft (gravelly and red) that has been crumbling over millennia.”

Aaron Pott was at the center of the controversy surrounding the AVA petition, when he was quoted (he insists he was “severely” misquoted) as saying that “Tulocay doesn’t sound as redneck as the name Coombsville”. Nonetheless, Pott is enamored with the area. Still consulting for Quintessa where he was the winemaker, and making wine from Coombsville under his own Pott Wine label, he extols its virtues. “It’s sort of the last frontier. People hadn’t explored the area until recently. Most of the holdings are quite small, which gives it its charm,” he says. “It’s kind of my dream of what I’d like to see happen again in the Napa Valley, that has been dominated by a lot of the big players. (In Coombsville) there are still a lot of ranch-ettes. It’s sort of like ‘50s Sunset Magazine.”

Mike Wolf goes a bit further in his effusiveness. “I’m crazed over wines expressing the vineyard and down there (in Coombsville) it really lends itself to that. It’s an interesting and developing area.”

No matter what you call it.

---

How to Name This AVA

COOMBSVILLE, COOMBSVILLE DISTRICT, MT. GEORGE, TULOCAY,
… OR HOW ABOUT COOMBSVILLE PLATEAU?

he Coombsville area of the Napa Valley is no closer today to being able to secure official appellation status than it was back in June when the TTB rejected a petition to have it named “Tulocay”. Producers, growers, and vintners in the region east of the city of Napa have not met officially in the three-month interim, nor have they even begun to write up an alternative proposal that might gain their vineyards AVA (American Viticultural Area) status.

Certainly, whatever the name, “Tulocay” will no longer be in play; to the relief we’re sure, of the owners of Tulocay Winery, and no doubt to the cemetery in the area that also carries the name. Alternate sobriquets such as Mt. George, which refers to the highest peak in the area; or Coombsville District, or Coombsville, (the preferred and most likely choice), have been floated. Perhaps a mellifluous designation such as “Coombsville Plateau” might be considered, taking into account that the preponderance of the region’s 900 acres sits on an upland table whose elevation is from about 300 to 500 feet above the valley floor.

No matter what the name, winegrowers in the area are anxious to get an AVA; but because it seems to be such a fiercely independent and fractious group, who knows when it’ll get together to submit another proposal. Despite it all, some in the area comprehend the benefits of official sanction, for marketing purposes, of course, as well as believing that an AVA will bring recognition to their wines and grapes, which have already garnered an “inside-wine” reputation for their uniqueness.

As an indication of Coombsville’s recent emergence, 20 years ago, grower John Caldwell (Caldwell Vineyards) sought $1,800 a ton for his fruit. Today, his grapes fetch $7,000.

Furthermore, as Caldwell’s winemaker Marbue Marke commented boldly: “There’s much more distinctiveness (in Coombsville), as compared to the differences between Rutherford, Stags Leap District, Oakville or St. Helena”.

Added Florencia Palmaz of Palmaz Vineyards, “We’re in the perfect moment … Now the pendulum is swinging (toward us). Our wines are never going to be blockbusters, but they are reserved and they are not Napa flash.” Palmaz, who has vineyards on the plateau at about 300 feet and other vineyards on the slopes of Mt. George that climb to 1,400 feet, was once a proponent of naming the region after the mountain peak. She has since backed off and now believes that (some variation of) Coombsville is the most appropriate name.

John Caldwell concedes that, although the region was undiscovered for a long time, “maybe it was the name Coombsville. But I don’t care what they call it. … But someday it will be very cool.”

Interjects Palmaz, who says, for all she cares, “They can call it ‘applesauce’. … There was a minority wanting to call it ‘Tulocay’, while the rest of the area knows it as Coombsville. There was a lack of a quorum in naming it. If that’s all it is, let’s move on.”

Also ready to move on, interestingly, is Aaron Pott, who helped to draw up the petition to name the region Tulocay, at the time he was the winemaker for Quintessa. He has since left the Rutherford winery, which has a vineyard in the area called Faust. Pott, who is still consulting for Quintessa, also has his own project, Pott Wines, and sources his fruit from Coombsville.

He was quoted in the Napa Register as having said about the name Coombsville, “Tulocay doesn’t sound as redneck as the name Coombsville. … and if Coombsville goes through, people will know we’re redneck.” But Pott told APPELLATION AMERICA that he was “severely misquoted.”

“I’m fine with Coombsville … People thought the Coombsville name was redneck, and it was. But if that’s (Coombsville) what’s going to get us an AVA, I’m all for it,” he said.

“They quoted me as saying everybody in the Coombsville area was a redneck. I got a lot of redneck hate mail. (But) I was trying to describe how we came about the name change. I didn’t say ‘now we’re redneck.’ I was trying to describe how the name had come about and it came about because we voted on it.”

Asked how will he respond if asked to join in to revise the petition, Pott answered, “If people came to me and asked me to do that, I’d be happy to do that. My interest is to get an AVA there and my biggest interest is to see all the growers come together and make the wines there better. … I don’t care at all what they call it.”

But Pott’s boss Augustin Huneeus, who owns Quintessa and Faust, remains steadfast about naming the area Tulocay, although he said he’s not involved any longer in getting an AVA sanction. “For the time being I am not involved but I cannot speak for the future. People do these things in the spirit of community, and if not, it’s not worth it,” he said. “We’ll let some time pass and see what happens. But I personally will not lead a battle for another appellation. I find the Coombsville name a very unattractive name that I would not put on a bottle of wine. I would not be part of the name Coombsville.”

When asked why he’s opposed to the name “Coombsville”, Huneeus replied, “Why do I find it unattractive? I’m trying to figure out why. These are basically marketing names and they have to be attractive. When you compare it to Mount Veeder, Stags Leap District, Oakville, Coombsville doesn’t quite cut it.”

When told of my thought of naming the area “Coombsville Plateau,” a notion which I’ve run by several of the area’s vintners with positive feedback, Huneeus had to take a step back.

“Coombsville Plateau is intriguing, but it’s such a departure,” he finally responded. “I’ve never heard of a ‘plateau’ as part of an AVA.” Would he oppose it? “No, I wouldn’t oppose it at all. Would I use it on a label? I doubt it.”

Finally, Tom Farella of Farella Park Winery, who submitted a comment to the TTB opposing the name Tulocay, is just as dug in about the name Coombsville as is Huneeus about the former.

“The Coombsville appellation is probably the biggest no-brainer of all of them,” he told AA. “… Coombsville is really an auspicious omission. If you look at a map, there are some outstanding, high-quality vineyards here and the area has no name. I’ve been involved in three iterations (of applications). Even my own dad liked ‘Tulocay’ better. But in every one of these discussions, I came down on the side of Coombsville, whether you like it or not. …

“When the TTB ruled (opposing Tulocay), this discussion is over now.” Back to top

---

Photos by Michael Lasky and courtesy of Palmaz Vineyards, Farella Park, and Faust Wine (top photo)