2004 Voss Vineyards

Voss owns 45 acres in Napa Valley's Rutherford district planted to Sauvignon. It's an unusual decision (Napa is Cab country), but a wise one in the case of this zesty white.

Our vineyard isn’t the largest or highest yielding in the Napa Valley. But it is well loved. Because we know that all great wines start in the vineyard, our winemaker pays close attention to our vines.

Voss Vineyards devotes 45 acres to vines in the acclaimed Rutherford region of Napa Valley. Even in this small area, we have three distinct soil types. We plant our Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier on a heavy clay (Clear Lake) and a lighter clay loam soil (Cole). The Syrah is planted on a more suitable, better drained, gravely clay loam soil (Yolo Loam).

The vines are densely planted, about 900 to 1,100 vines per acre. We didn’t do that to get more grapes. Instead, dense planting decreases the amount of fruit that each vine must ripen, and that results in more concentrated wines. All the vines are trained vertically, with both cane and spur pruning.

The soils in the vineyard grow vines of moderate vigor with most of the roots in the upper half-meter of soil. We deficit irrigate the vines before veraison (meaning we give them very little water, if any) resulting in small, intensely flavored berries. After veraison the watering is more generous to ensure proper ripening.

Less fruit from each vine. Smaller berries. More intense flavor. It all starts in the vineyard.

We grow the fruit for our Sauvignon Blanc on the Voss Vineyards estate in Rutherford and two nearby blocks with similar soil profiles. We also source fruit from two other distinguished vineyards, one in Oakville and one in Yountville. The Rutherford site produces grapes of intensely perfumed tropical fruit character. The Oakville and Yountville vineyards impart good acidity and citrus and mineral flavors.