La Jota Vineyard Co.

La Jota Vineyard Co. was founded in the 1890s by Frederick Hess, an immigrant from Locarno, Switzerland, who established a German-language newspaper in San Francisco. No doubt influenced by other European immigrants involved in California's nascent wine industry, Hess purchased 327 acres of a Mexican land grant—Rancho La Jota—high on Howell Mountain for his vineyards. In 1898 he built the winery from volcanic ash rock quarried right on the property; his first fermentation tanks also came from the estate—from a stand of nearby coastal redwoods.

At the 1900 Paris Exposition, only two years after the winery's construction, the wines of La Jota garnered international recognition with a bronze medal; in 1904 they won gold at the World's Fair in St. Louis.

Rancho La Jota

In 1844, when Alta California was still under Mexican rule, Napa Valley pioneer George Yount asked Mexican General Mariano Vallejo for land on heavily forested Howell Mountain to provide lumber for settlers in the valley. Yount received 4,454 acres and named this spectacular land Rancho La Jota, which literally means "the letter J," possibly referring to a popular Spanish dance of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Our 28.05 planted vineyard acres on the La Jota estate include 20.58 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.24 acres of Merlot, 2.88 acres of Cabernet Franc and 1.35 acres of Petit Verdot. These are divided into 16 micro-blocks.

Hill Vineyard

• 9 acres
• Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot
• Planted: between 1978 and 2007 (grafted 2008)
• Rootstocks: Riparia Gloire, 101–14 and 3309
• Trellising: bilateral cordon (split canopy) and vertical shoot positioning (VSP)

Meadow Vineyard

• 17 acres
• Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon (divided into 9 micro-blocks) and Merlot (2 micro-blocks)
• Planted: 1993 to 2007 (grafted 2008)
• Rootstocks: Riparia Gloire, 5C, 5BB, 110R, 420A, 1103P and 3309
• Trellising: VSP, quadrilateral cordon and bilateral cordon

Winery Block Vineyard

• 1.89 acres
• Variety: Cabernet Franc
• Planted: 1976
• Rootstock: St George (the reason it survived phylloxera)
• Trellising: Two cross-arms

Harvest

The complexity within our 28-acre vineyard estate requires row-by-row evaluation of grape maturity. We walk the vineyards and taste the grapes constantly until full flavor, tannin development, and the right "crunch" of the ripened grape seeds tell us it's time to start handpicking. The grapes are harvested into 30-pound boxes and then hand-sorted before gentle destemming and light crush.

Fermentation

Still cold from the night, grapes begin a three to four day period of pre-fermentation maceration (cold soaking). This gently extracts flavors, color and tannins from the skins. After we inoculate the must with our favorite yeast, fermentation begins. We keep individual vineyard blocks separate in small stainless steel tanks for quality evaluation, and after the wine has fermented dry, our winemaker may extend maceration for a total of eight to ten days of skin contact. Following gentle pressing in an enclosed membrane press, the wine is transferred to barrels for malolactic fermentation and aging.

Oak Aging

We conduct in-barrel malolactic fermentation for better oak integration, as well as to soften acidity. This results in less pronounced oak vanilla in the wine and the seamless integration of oak spice and fruit character. During approximately 22 months of barrel aging in our caves, we hand-rack the wine five times to increase clarity, enhance flavor development and further soften the tannins. We carefully select the type of French oak, level of toast and age of the barrel that will impart the oak influences that enhance each wine's finest expression. We keep all the vineyard lots separate until July of the second year the wines are in barrel, and then we begin composing the blend for each wine.

Finally, we bottle our wines without fining or filtration.

Voice of Place, A Unique Expression of Howell Mountain

"I find the sweet herbal complexity, minerality, spice and red fruit of La Jota wines to be very similar to the wines of Bordeaux," says Winemaker Christopher Carpenter. "Our cooler, high-elevation climate and extended hangtime develop this layered, complex expression."

Mountain Virtues

Cool wind sweeps up the canyon from Lake Hennessy, preventing a cold blanket of air from settling over our vineyard. In the spring, this reduces our need for frost protection after bud-break, and in the fall, the chilly air extends hangtime; we have harvested Cabernet Sauvignon as late as November 4. In fact, high on the mountain temperatures rarely become hot enough to stress the vines and shut down photosynthesis. As a result, ripening is even and steady, with cool nights that maintain balanced acidity in the grapes. Yields here are naturally low, due to the lean soils and rugged mountain conditions, and assertive crop thinning further concentrates the vine's energy into a limited number of clusters, resulting in the highest quality grapes.

Mountain Challenges

Water is a precious commodity in winegrowing country, especially on a mountain. Our vines must root deeply to find moisture during the growing season, a beneficial struggle that results in small berries with highly extracted flavors. The lack of water also presents a challenge during replanting, since young vines need irrigation to establish their root systems. We are only able to irrigate 12 to 14 rows at a time, so we plant in very small blocks, carefully considering our selection of drought-resistant rootstocks, clones, site exposures, wind directions, soils and drainage systems.

Sustainable Farming

We employ sustainable farming practices that protect the earth while producing high-quality wines:

• Lean, gravelly volcanic soils foster vines with less vigorous shoots and leaves, allowing more sunlight and air
  to reach the center of the vine and naturally controlling pests and mildew.

• A large native ladybug population helps us control leafhoppers and mites.

• Organic compost and cover crops increase soil fertility and water penetration; fava beans planted between the
  vineyard rows, for example, boost soil nitrogen levels.

• If we must implement additional controls, we choose organic rather than synthetic products.

• Mowing our sloped vineyards, rather than disking, minimizes erosion.