The landscape of NapaValley is very surreal, the grapes wrap around roads and up and down the hillsides. There are vineyards as far as the eye can see. It's hard to tell where one begins and another ends. One vineyard stood out among the rest to me: Antica, a property in the higher elevations of Napa.

A narrow road zig-zags up the mountainside finally ending at a set of unassuming gates. These are the gates to Marchese Piero Antinori’s California dream. It was said that upon his first visit in 1966 he was in love with the property. It reminded him of the hillsides of Tuscany where he had lived and grown his brand into a wine powerhouse. The appellation is actually called Atlas Peak, which the locals also call the blue mountains. 

One small problem with the land was that it was already owned by a little old lady (see attached picture).  Piero received a phone call one day that the little old lady, Mrs. Townsend, was interested in selling her 40 acres of land to him. Of course Piero was overjoyed and wanted the land immediately. There was, however, a catch:  She would sell it to him but only if he promised to not plant grapes on the land. This created quite the conundrum for the Antinori family. The land was ripe for growing but not wanting to go against their word, they thought long and hard. They approached Mrs. Townsend with two offers--one for several million if they could grow grapes on the land, and a second offer for half the amount if they didn’t grow grapes. Mrs. Townsend took the higher offer and gave her blessing to the family to grow grapes. As a side note, she donated all the money to her church. Antica honors Mrs. Townsend with a wonderful Cabernet with her namesake, which we tried on our visit and enjoyed quite a bit.

Antica is primarily a Cabernet planted vineyard with 280.9 acres of the grape accounting for 31.7% of its planted acreage. The second most planted grape is Chardonnay with 142.9 acres or 26% of the planted acreage. The rest of the land is made up of a variety of other grapes in small amounts throughout the property. Also on property are a bunch of olive trees which the company uses to produce olive oil--it was amazing. The company primarily sells their Cabernet and Chardonnay, with small case lots of other wines mainly distributed through their wine club.

Our visit started off with a glass of rosé which would open up our palates to the amazing food to follow. We looked over the land from the mountainside at the sprawling vineyards and 70 foot deep manmade lake that was a nice contrast to the rows of grapes. We then ventured into the caves where the barrels were stacked up for aging. This cave was very unique in that the walls and all the light fixtures were covered with a furry mold.

After the caves we went into the tasting kitchen on the grounds. A beautiful table was setup for the eight of us, and our host paired wines with a variety of cheeses, breads and various other amazing snacks. Our host shared stories of the wines, the property and the Antinori legacy. We were at the property in the morning so the sun was still on its way up making for a beautiful view of the grounds. When I think of my Napa trip, my mind always goes back to that view from atop the Antica property. If ever in Napa you must add Antica to your list--I promise you will not regret it, and I know I will be back soon.

Mike Love, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Wine Consultant

Follow him on Twitter @abcwinemikel