Welcome To Vineyard Journal!

Greetings from Napa Valley's Spring Mountain. On the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas range, from about 400 feet above St. Helena up to the Sonoma County line, small vineyards cling to hilly, stony land and make some of the most structured red wine in California. Growers here call it a red mountain, because nearly any red grape does well on it, and some do spectacularly.

Vineyard Journal is an independent guide to that mountain and the valley below it. In The Wines we take the grapes one by one: Cabernet Sauvignon, the dark and long-lived signature of the hillsides; Syrah, the underdog that thrives on rocky blocks; Merlot, the quiet blending partner; the Sangiovese many growers pulled out; and the Chardonnay of Chiles Valley in the eastern hills. The same pages explain how to read the latest reviews and vintage charts and what to pour with dinner.

Under About Us you will find the mountain itself: the Spring Mountain District appellation, why hillside vines make intense wine, how small lots of a few hundred cases are made, a practical guide to visiting Napa Valley and St. Helena, and a gallery of the vineyards.

Planting a steep slope has always been a wager, and every harvest date is a bet against the weather, so we also follow wine to the tables in Wine & Casinos: the great casino wine lists of Las Vegas, the casinos within an hour of Napa, auctions and futures, and the 1976 Paris tasting that turned the odds upside down.

Cheers,
The Vineyard Journal editors