Bringing elegant mountain wines to The City
St. Helena, Napa Valley, September 2016 — Eighteen winery members of the Spring Mountain District Association will bring their elegant and distinctive wines to The Presidio Golden Gate Club in San Francisco for a Harvest Celebration tasting on November 17, 2016.
The public is invited from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $65 and can be purchased at Eventbrite Tickets. A discount of $15 will be available to friends and customers of the participating Spring Mountain District wineries; contact the winery for the discount code before purchasing a ticket.
Light hors d’oeuvres will be offered.
The Presidio Golden Gate Club is located at 135 Fisher Loop in San Francisco (94129).
“For those who love wines made in the mountains but can’t take the time to travel to the top of Spring Mountain in St. Helena, we’re bringing the wines to San Francisco,” explains Tom Ferrell, Executive Director, Spring Mountain Winery District Association.
The 18 participating wineries are:
Barnett Vineyards Behrens Family Vineyard Cain Vineyard & Winery
Fantesca Estate & Winery Frias Family Vineyards Keenan Winery
Luscher-Ballard Vineyard Paloma Vineyard Peacock Family Vineyard
Pride Mountain Vineyards School House Vineyard Schweiger Vineyards
Sherwin Family Vineyards Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain Vineyard
Stony Hill Vineyard Terra Valentine Vineyard 7 & 8
Wines to be tasted will include current releases, library wines, barrel samples and maybe some freshly fermented from the 2016 harvest. Winemakers and winery owners will pour their wines and answer questions about why they chose to cultivate grapes on one of Napa Valley’s steepest—and most historic—mountain regions.
“The small Spring Mountain appellation has produced an abundance of wines acclaimed worldwide for the unmistakably intense flavor and delicate, balanced tannins that are now the signature of the appellation.” Ferrell explains.
He adds, “This is a chance for wine aficionados to taste these wines in a beautiful location overlooking the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge while beginning to plan follow-up visits to the wonderful family-owned wineries in attendance at their properties high on Spring Mountain.”
SPRING MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
Spring Mountain was described 25 years ago by a prominent wine writer as “probably more responsible than any other Napa hillside for creating the mystique of ‘mountain grapes.’ ”
With a strong identity formed over one and one half centuries, the region finally became an official AVA in 1993. The region is known for its lush vegetation, redwood groves, picturesque, steeply sloped vineyard blocks and family wineries hidden from view among dark forests and steep winding roads. Its vineyards range from small to smaller, often hand-tilled on terraces and sloping meadows. Its varied terrain includes a wide variety of soil types and exposures which is the source of the diversity of its wines.
Farming on Spring Mountain is not easy, and the district has attracted strong, independent, and passionate winegrowers. From these viticultural challenges come a proliferation of unique wines. Within this diversity the wines have some common characteristics. Spring Mountain red wines are known for their intense color, bright fruit aromas, and surprisingly soft flavors. Spring Mountain whites for their acidity, balance, and long life in the bottle.
Today, the wines of Spring Mountain receive consistently excellent reviews and ratings between 90 and 100 points from sources such as Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, The Wine Spectator, Connoisseurs’ Guide and The Wine Enthusiast.
There are currently about 30 vineyards and wineries, encompassing 8,600 acres of mountain wilderness, of which about 1,000 are planted to vineyards.
More information at http://springmountaindistrict.org/.
