Napa Valley - St. Helena's Climate And Terrain

The St. Helena region of Napa Valley Wine country is exceptionally outstanding due to its weather and terrain.

St. Helena is the business center of Napa Valley as well as producing many fine wines. This picturesque town is home to approximately six thousand residents and is a suitable location for travelers to find accommodations and tour some of the most prominent wine makers in all of California.

The development of St. Helena as a principal wine making region is due largely in part to the warm climate. Cabernet Sauvignon based wines produced in the St. Helena region find remarkable success. Charles Krug, Beringer and Vineyard 29 are a few of the wineries that make this style of wine in the St. Helena region.

Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon do particularly well in the sunny warm climate of St. Helena. Unlike the cooler clime of the southern regions, the warm St. Helena regions produce wines that are robust and full bodied and the region has become a favorite stop for those doing wine tours or who are interested in wine tasting.

Like many of the sub regions of Napa Valley, the terrain of St. Helena is not the same as others, even with those regions that are close to St. Helena. The soil in this region tends to be volcanic in nature and contains alluvial debris. San Pablo Bay covered many of the AVA regions of Napa Valley some time ago, but interestingly enough, its coverage never reached as far north as the St. Helena region.

St. Helena tends to be warmer in climate than the southern regions of Napa Valley. Small amounts of wind and fog that happen to get past the Yountville Mounts tend to be diverted to the west by the St. Helena valley area, making the area warmer than others. Breezes from the Knights Valley and Chalk Hill make the afternoon cooler, while the temperature drops even further as night falls in the area. This allows the grapes in the St. Helena region to preserve their acidity.

More rain falls on the St. Helena region that on anywhere else in the southern Valley. The rest of the valley garners thirty two inches of rain a year, while St. Helena receives up to thirty eight inches per year.

This unique terrain has led to the development of St. Helena as a primary wine production region. Since the soil tends to be alluvial and sedimentary, most planted varieties in the area include Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay, as well as Zinfandel, produced by Buehler Vineyards, which also tends to do well in this region.

Since the vines in the valley are able to grow up to 400 feet in length, Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon thrive very well in the region.

The south of St. Helena tends to narrow quite a bit. This area north of town is called the Bench, located next to Highway 29. Beringer Vineyards is located in the Northern Bench. Beringer Vineyards is one of the oldest continually producing vineyards and has gained quite a reputation because of its longevity.

Vineyard 29 is another winery that has achieved success due to the exceptional climate and terrain of the St. Helena region. Established in 1989, cuttings from the Grace Family Vineyard were used to launch the vineyard by Teresa Norton.

While established as the commercial center in the Napa Valley area, St. Helena is also very well known for producing premium wines. Tourists are drawn annually to the quaint heart of town that acts as the primary draw for wine lovers all over the United States and the world.

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