St. Helena Appellation

Ask a savvy realtor what makes a seemingly unremarkable piece of ground a premium property and the answer you’re likely to receive is: location, location, location. A similar term familiar to generations of French grape growers when referring to vineyard placement is terroir. The term literally refers to the importance of locating a vineyard site based on the impact of geography, geology and climate on an individual grape variety.

Napa Valley winemakers and vineyard managers are well-schooled in the importance of terroir and have taken great pains to identify the areas of the valley best suited for growing grapes. The 36-mile long Napa Valley is home to fourteen recognized American Viticultural Areas or AVAs (including the encompassing Napa Valley), each appreciated for a unique range of growing conditions. Napa Valley vineyard managers act as viticultural matchmakers, searching out the best site within each AVA and matching it to a particular grape variety.

Many important Napa Valley vineyards are located in the fertile region along the valley floor. A former floodplain for the once-powerful Napa River, the area is now an erosion zone made up of mostly well-draining gravelly, sandy clay loam soils. The upper Napa Valley and in particular the St. Helena AVA where the Revana Family vineyard blocks are located, becomes narrow and constricted around the city of St. Helena; each year hillside erosion from winter rains provides a constant supply of gravel, soil and nutrients to these valley floor vineyards.

This portion of the upper valley floor also receives the daily benefit of warm sunny days followed by the late afternoon and early evening influx of marine air flowing from the San Pablo Bay located at its lower southern tip. The beneficial combination of warm days and cool nights – without the moist foggy mornings found in the lower valley or the extreme daily heat of the Calistoga area to the north – provides a perfect growing environment for grapes with the right balance of acid and sugar. Revana Family Vineyard Manager Jim Barbour along with other local growers champion this viticultural area as exceptional for growing Bordeaux varieties, in particular Cabernet Sauvignon and its blending partners: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.

In 1997, vineyard owner Dr. Madaiah Revana sought out Barbour, a veteran Napa Valley vineyard manager, to establish the nine acre vineyard. Barbour carefully selected clones and rootstocks to match the qualities of each vineyard block, planting five blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon and one block of Cabernet Franc and two of Petite Verdot. The resulting wine demonstrates the dynamic collaboration of Dr. Revana, Jim Barbour and consulting winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett. This winning blend of expertise produces Revana Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine of unusual opulence, harmony and concentrated fruit flavors, subtly reflecting its unique address.

The Essence of Revana

Each year our limited production sells out quickly. Those on our allocation list have the advance opportunity to reserve the current vintage of Revana Family vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. If you are interested in becoming an allocation member, please let us know.