California dreaming

William Lyons

In his month-by-month guide to building the Connoisseur’s wine cellar, William Lyons says states such as Oregon and Washington are following in California’s footsteps and producing wine that finally lives up to its promise

The intoxicating American belief that anything is achievable finds its natural home in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at California’s Davis University. Here, amid the sprawling campus, you’ll find a hungry, fanatical drive towards creating a new world order in which the great appellations of France take their place behind Californian names such as Robert Mondavi, Au Bon Climat, Joseph Phelps, Heitz and Schramsberg.

After nearly 100 years of producing nothing of note, on 24 May 1976 California finally achieved its goal – in spectacular fashion. On that day, a jury of France’s top palates sat down to a blind tasting, pitting the old order of red bordeaux and white burgundy against California’s Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 1973 and Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 1973. To the astonishment of the wine world, the Californians won. In what was to later become known as ‘The Judgement of Paris’, the wine producers of the Napa Valley had proved that in little more than a decade they could not only ape the greatest of French wines, they could make them taste even better.

By producing ripe fruit, importing expensive technology and following the progressive experiments that emerged from Davis, they created a fine wine industry built around chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir and zinfandel. The house of Mondavi is the example that best highlights this transformation.

Cesare and Rosa Mondavi arrived in California in 1906, setting up shop as fruit merchants. Their two sons, educated at Stanford University, both entered the business, but it was Robert who had the vision. He tasted the Napa grapes and recognised their potential. In 1943, he secured his chance when his parents purchased a respected but run-down winery in Napa called Charles Krug.

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