Mount Veeder: Quest for Identity

The notion of wine appellation comes from Europe, where it applies to wines that share similar characteristics based on which grapes are used, where they are grown and how the wines are made. In this country, it seems to apply primarily to marketing. Simply put, it’s sexier to say your wine comes from a small area than from a big one.

Judging from the tasting and dinner last week at Campanile restaurant, that’s the impulse behind the promotion of the tiny Mount Veeder appellation, which skirts the western edge of the Napa Valley.

Consider that the 12 wineries present poured red wines made from everything from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to Syrah and Zinfandel, with hefty dollops of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Sangiovese tossed in.

Winemaking styles were similarly diverse. One dinner pairing had a Zinfandel that tasted almost entirely of new oak side by side with one with none. “I guess that pretty much covers the spectrum,” deadpanned Bob Travers of Mayacamas, one of the pioneers in the district.

That’s not to say there weren’t some pretty good wines. Travers’ Chardonnay and a 1976 Cabernet Sauvignon from his library were highlights, as were the Cabernets from Robert Craig Wine Cellars, Wing Canyon, Mount Veeder Winery and the Hess Collection

So what exactly does Mount Veeder represent?

Maybe it’s a spirit more than anything else. After all, the appellation includes wineries named things like Sky and Wing and Godspeed. At the dinner, Bill Hawley of Random Ridge Winery read some of his poems about the area, one of which claimed fealty to Ezra Pound, Martin Ray and the Grateful Dead, among others.

Perhaps Sky Vineyards’ Lore Olds summed up the appellation’s offbeat appeal as well as anyone, albeit inadvertently. Why, he was asked, did he decide to plant Zinfandel. “I didn’t want to do Cabernet Sauvignon and be French, or do Pinot Noir and be Italian. I wanted to plant Zinfandel because it’s an American grape.”

Somehow, even though Pinot Noir is in no way Italian and Zinfandel probably is (it’s genetically identical to Primitivo), you sort of knew what he meant.