The Vineyard

Everything about our vineyard matters. The soil matters. The elevation matters. The sun matters. The wind matters. The fog matters. Place matters.

OUR LAND

Spence Vineyards is in the Howell Mountain AVA (American Viticulture Area) of Napa Valley, the first AVA to be recognized in Napa Valley. It was defined by an early group of vintners in the area and begins where the fog ends – 1,400 feet above sea level. At 1,900 feet, we sit midway between the 1,400 foot bottom and 2,200 foot top of Howell Mountain, an area highly regarded for it’s ability to produce rich, full bodied, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon.

Our property has two distinguishing factors that make our property unique, even to our neighboring vineyards. The first is our location, Spence Vineyards sits on the knoll of a hill above a canyon that winds down the mountain and opens to the floor of Napa Valley. As the valley warms, the temperature inversion that occurs creates a a gentle but consistent breeze that serves to thicken the skins of our grapes. This better prevents evaporation and leads to a higher skin to pulp ratio which ultimately gives us more density, color, and intensity in our wines. With cooler days, our fruit typically gets as much as a month of additional hang-time to the valley floor, allowing the development of fully structured, ripe tannins.

Secondly, our layer of uniquely deep red volcanic soil. While our neighbors have this same volcanic soil, it is typically known to be shallow on Howell Mountain. Thanks to our location, the soil is quite deep in our vineyards and laced with football–sized rocks. This condition drains the soil rapidly, forcing the vines to chase water deeper into the ground and develop a vast root system, thus extracting more mineral intensity from the soil.

Winemaking

Our belief is that a winemaker’s ultimate job is to “not ruin” what mother nature has given us. True talent in a winemaker lies in their ability to extract what has developed in the vineyard – not impart their own beliefs in the winery. As a boutique winery, our very small production allows us to methodically and carefully make our wines while keeping them free of additives, pretense, or snobbery.