Raugh Family Vineyard – Oakville, CA

In 1998, I had a depressing conversation with a winemaking colleague. He asserted that all the magical sites for vineyards in Napa Valley were already owned and planted. These great vineyards would be relegated for the fabulously wealthy to bicker over and the fortunate founding families of the Napa Valley to tend. They would not figure into our future. We arrived at the party “too late.” When I discovered the Raugh Family Vineyard in Oakville, I was astounded and pleased: here was a new planting (begun 2001) that had the potential to be “magic.”
Located ¼ mile north and a hundred yards up-hill from Tierra Roja vineyard, this site will prove the end of the assertion that was made by my pessimistic colleague. Mother Nature has laid a thin band (6’-10” deep) of red gravel and topsoil over a porous, while volcanic rock called “tuff.” These Hambright soils are the stuff of some of the best vineyards in the upper reaches of the east Oakville hills. Pick axes and spiked poles are the best tools for planting and the hills are too steep for tractors of any type. All work is done by hand. The harvest requires 30 men to hand the boxes of grapes down the hill in a brigade. Small arched bridges have been constructed to convey supplies across the steep ravines. A maze of goat trails is outlined by small boulders that guide one across the densely contoured slopes to the dizzying view at the top.

The labor is slow and the vines seem to grow even slower. Yet the potential is being realized for another great vineyard. Each year, the vines sink their roots through the red dirt into the limestone-like tuff in search of water and the wines progress from strength to strength. The bright cherry notes gain complexity and depth. The tannins soften and the structure deepens.