Home is Where the Pinot is…
Capa Goes Wilding!
Once upon a time, Napa Valley was Napa Valley. There were no Stags Leap District or Carneros AVAs. It didn’t matter if your vineyards were geographically located in different areas as long as they were both in Napa and, since the Valley was full of generalists, it was nice to have diverse micro-climates to be able to experiment with a multitude of varieties.
As time moved on, each region was given a name, an American Viticultural Area designation, and an identity as a specialized growing region. The Stags Leap District became synonymous with Cabernet Sauvignon while the Carneros was known for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and more recently Merlot and Cabernet Franc. So what do you do if you planted your vineyards 40+ years ago in the Carneros region and then built your winery in the Stags Leap District?
We chose to plant our vineyards in the Carneros because of the long, cool growing season where Pinot Noir and vibrant white wines could thrive. Then we built the winery in the SLD region a few years before it became an AVA, because it had more water and a hillside where we could dig a cave to age the wines… but our heart was in the Carneros.
We have now gone full circle and returned to our roots back in the Carneros. We sold the winery in the SLD region and bought a farm adjacent to the Capa Vineyard in the Carneros. It is now an 84 acre farm with vineyards, gardens, apples and olive orchards, sheep, goats, oxen and horses. It is also the region’s largest heron rookery with two ponds, eucalyptus groves and other natural habitat. Best of all, it is just over the hill from the Capa Vineyard. There is no place like home!
As of July 1, RSV will close the doors to the winery as the new owners start a remodel. We will continue to make wine in the cellar for the next few years as we develop new facilities. We hope to soon have a “pop up” in downtown Napa to host wine club members and guests and we will stage special events in the vineyards and on the road.
We hope to see you all this summer as RSV further evolves into a complete, diverse regenerative farm in the region where it all began.
Rob Sinskey
Read all about Wilding Farm
