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It’s not Bordeaux, it’s Napa

And just where is Napa Valley cabernet’s place among the world’s best red wines?

The modern-day California wine industry is about as old as it gets in the New World, that is if about four decades of meaningful winegrowing can be considered old.

The renaissance, to coin an Old World term, began in 1966 when Robert Mondavi opened the first new winery in Napa Valley since prohibition. Less than 40 years later Napa wine has developed a worldwide reputation for outstanding quality, led by its superstar red varietal, cabernet sauvignon.

For many cabernet is the Holy Grail of Napa grapes, although most vintners remain as cautious as they are optimistic about Napa Valley cabernet’s place among the world’s best red wines, and who can blame them.

If short by European standards, the history of modern-day Napa has been anything but boring. The tumultuous ride began to bloom with the fabulous, though never repeated 1974 vintage, an especially fine year for long-lived, quality cabernets.

When the valley won big at a 1976 blind tasting arranged by then retailer Steven Spurrier in Paris against the best of Bordeaux, there was reason to think Napa might be so much more than just another New World wine region.

By the mid-80s, many Napa winemakers looked like current-day, free agent sport figures as they abandoned their long established winery ties for new premises and big money.

Then came phylloxera (a root-eating aphid that destroys vines) and the painful and expensive battle that saw most of the valley’s vines pulled out and replanted at an enormous cost. By the 1990s land prices were skyrocketing and viticulturalists, vineyards and appellations were the new kings of Napa.

The sudden appearance of cult wines in the mid-90s once again changed the face of Napa and should the glassy wing sharpshooter, a new and potentially devastating vineyard predator, ever take hold in Northern California who knows what lays in store for the valley the Wappo Indians named "Napa" or the land of plenty.

One thing is for sure, cabernet sauvignon will be at the heart of any future success in the valley and the very latest efforts – post 1998 – may be the first to illustrate the quantum leap in quality Napa vintners will experience as a result of the phylloxera-accelerated replanting program.

Thirty years ago cabernet sauvignon was the be all and end all of red wine grapes. It had an appealing dark colour few other red wine grapes possessed. It was weighty and powerful in the mouth but it was loaded with dry, hard green tannins —- the type that leaves your mouth feeling as if you just pulled a fluffy towel out of it.

Back then, the theory was the tannins would fade away over the years revealing the fruit and harmony of this noble grape. It may have been true for the top cabernets of Bordeaux and California (in the best vintages) but for most other examples they simply got drier and harder as they aged and by the time they eventually softened up there was no fruit left.

Better clones, better rootstock, a better understanding of the grape’s orientation to the sun are just part of the improvements that have seen the one-dimensional, hulking, Napa cabernet of the ’70s and ’80s go the way of Dodo bird. The textures are softer and the wine is much more approachable (read drinkable) at a young age. Similarly, better ripeness gives the wine a richer mouthfeel and pushes its green herbal flavours into the background.

The subtle changes in blending, the development of appellations, the obsession with French oak and French coopers all point to a valley seemingly mesmerized by the status accorded the icon of cabernet sauvignon, French Bordeaux. What many of you would rightly describe as cabernet sauvignon now more often than not contains small amounts of various other red "Bordeaux" grapes, including merlot, cabernet franc, malbec and/or petit verdot.

And therein lies the dilemma of Napa’s cabernet producers. How do you manage the powerful fruit and supple textures, two aspects of Napa cabernet that make it so highly appealing to a wide spectrum of buyers, so that they look more like a Pauillac or St. Julien – two Bordeaux appellations that appeal to influential wine writers and so-called intellectual wine drinkers.

At Rutherford-based Frog’s Leap, owner John Williams – who makes a very fine Rutherford cabernet – thinks that the quality of Napa cabernet is closing in on Bordeaux. But if you don’t taste like Bordeaux can you be compared to Bordeaux?

It’s a question I’ve often wondered about. Just how dry and how lean will Napa cabernet have to get before global tasters that honour Bordeaux will cast similar accolades on California’s version? And should Napa succeed in Eurofy-ing its cabernet will it lose its appeal among the many that drink it for the sheer exuberance of its fruit and intensity? There are no easy answers to such questions and I would remind you again that four decades are not enough time to resolve all the questions.

In the end, money talks so perhaps it is prices that will settle the issue. You see if Napa vintners can fetch the same prices accorded Bordeaux’s top wines (and many now are) maybe that will be enough to convince them not to alter the style of Napa cabernet.

Ironically, if Napa was any farther west or closer to the coast, the cabernet might never fully ripen. Similarly, if was any farther east the grapes could easily be cooked by the heat. Now whether you call that fate or luck that’s your business, but it’s not Bordeaux or Yakima it’s Napa Valley and there’s no place else on earth quite like it.

Napa Cabernets to look for in Whistler include:

Avalon 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon - $25.99

Caymus 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon - $97.62

Caymus 2001 Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon - $199.00

Cliff Lede 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon - $79.95

Cliff Lede 2001 Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District - $165.00

Edge 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon - $36.50

Freemark Abbey 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyards - $85.57

Joseph Phelps 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon - $75.95

Markham 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon - $51.95

Merryvale Vineyards 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Starmont $45.99

Robert Mondavi 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon - $39.99

Signorello 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon - $64.95

Stonehedge 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon - $31.95