OUR VINEYARD
Located on the valley floor in the Oakville AVA, Ehrlich Vineyard is, simply put, the heart of the Napa Valley. And we do mean the heart. If you were to divide the valley equally North-to-South and then divide it again equally East-to-West, we think you’d find yourself pretty close to Ehrlich Vineyard and at the center of the Napa Valley.
Benefiting from full days of sun exposure; gravely fine Pleasanton loam soil, and proximity to the Napa River water table, Ehrlich Vineyard has been supplying premium-quality wine grapes to highly-rated wineries including B Cellars, Accendo Cellars, Groth, and Duckhorn.
The vineyard itself is a seven-acre parcel, comprising three distinct blocks. Block A (three acres, planted 1996) is situated at the southern end of the property and is planted to Sauvignon Blanc. Block B (two acres, planted 2005) and Block C (two acres, planted 2017) are situated at the northern end of the property and are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon.
OUR 100-YEAR OLD WALNUT GROVE
A defining feature of Ehrlich Vineyard is our three acre walnut orchard which greets you as you arrive at our ten-and-a-half acre vineyard and home. Our small grove of 100-year old Hartley Walnut trees are some of the few remaining of their kind in the valley – the legacy of an era when fruit and nut trees predominated across the Napa Valley. Today, they provide shade to our deck, added flavor to our family zucchini bread recipe, and a playground for the family of squirrels who also call Ehrlich Vineyard home.
OUR OAKVILLE VINEYARD BLOCKS
The Oakville AVA is blessed with a unique blend of soil, climate, latitude and terroir that allows Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to thrive, creating rich, flavorful, complex wines that are known and coveted around the world. This type of environment creates a superb compact structure and balance of black fruit, like dark cherries, and black currant to give its fruit character. We feel truly blessed to own a vineyard here and to be part of this very special community of winegrowers for over 25 years.
Perhaps less well known, the Oakville AVA also produces some of the most complex and interesting Sauvignon Blanc wines in the country. Our 28-year old heritage vines produce Sauvignon Blanc grapes that impart distinct flavors of white flowers, clementine and chamomile tea.
OAKVILLE IS HOME TO EXCEPTIONAL NAPA VALLEY CABERNET
The tiny town of Oakville (population 300) lies in the very heart of the Napa Valley and owes its name to the native oak trees that once blanketed the area. One hundred years later, the Oakville name is now synonymous with exceptional Cabernet. Oakville Cabernet is a red wine that is famously known for its dark fruit notes and silky tannins.
A unique combination of soil, topography and climate create an environment that makes Oakville a viticultural treasure, such as the Oakville Cabernet. The proof of Oakville’s status as a world-class grape-growing region is the number of great Napa Valley wineries and vineyards located here producing the highest quality of wine in the valley.
A HISTORY OF THE OAKVILLE APPELLATION
In 1993, the Oakville district was one of the first distinctive wine growing regions within Napa Valley to be officially recognized with AVA status (American Viticultural Area).
Within the Oakville AVA – an officially demarcated two-mile-wide swath of Napa Valley that extends to 1,000 feet in elevation up the base of the Vaca Mountains to the east and 500 feet in elevation in the Mayacamas Mountains to the west – you will find the greatest concentration of the preeminent producers of Cabernet Sauvignon in the entire Napa Valley.
The excellent publicity of Oakville’s wines can in part be attributed to the unique quality of its soils and enviable climate, but the story doesn’t end there. Oakville is distinguished by more than its terroir. Here you will find family-owned vineyards tended by meticulous growers, visionary wine marketers, and some of the world’s foremost winemakers, all working together to craft unique, spectacular wines.
The Oakville district of Napa Valley is so influential that a simple recitation – of prominent Oakville winegrowers, from pioneers Robert Mondavi and Joseph Heitz to powerhouse brands Silver Oak and Opus One, through “cult Cabernet” producers Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle, and the iconic To Kalon Vineyard – tells the condensed story of Oakville.
OAKVILLE’S DISTINCTIVE TRANSITIONAL MID-VALLEY LOCATION
The cool northern reaches of the San Francisco Bay and the warmer inland air of California’s central San Joaquin Valley combine to provide the temperate Mediterranean climate in Oakville. The gentle tug of war between these cooling and heating influences creates the daily weather patterns that make Oakville an ideal place to grow grapes.
The Napa Valley becomes warmer as it extends north from Carneros and the San Pablo branch of San Francisco Bay up toward Calistoga in the north. While the Mayacamas range to the west protects the valley from the cold Pacific Ocean air.
Oakville is just far enough south to receive regular morning fog from the San Pablo Bay. This slows the warming early in the day. But after the fog blows off in mid-morning, Oakville receives the full benefit of the afternoon Napa Valley sun. In the afternoon, when temperatures begin to peak, the bay blows cool breezes north to Oakville to begin again the cooling cycle of night that preserves the color and acidity of wine grapes. The result is that during most of the growing season, Oakville is about one degree cooler than Rutherford, three degrees cooler than St. Helena, and eight degrees cooler than Calistoga.
Oakville usually receives around 35 inches of rain per year, almost all of which falls in winter and early spring. Average low temperatures in Oakville are generally in the low 50s in March, with highs in the mid-80s during July and August. Daytime highs often reach the mid-90s in mid-summer before the sun sets behind the Mayacamas Mountains.
Thank you to the Oakville Winegrowers Association for their contributions to telling the story of this very special wine appellation.