Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348953
J { SOMMjournal.com } 77 Just a few miles east of downtown Napa, a quiet rural community is buzzing. It's Coombsville, the heart of one of Napa's newer AVAs. On the western slope of the Vacas Range below Mount George, Coombsville's terrain was formed by volcanoes that created the slopes and hillsides that keep its vineyards hidden from view for most Napa Valley visitors. Home to grapes that are sold to some of the Valley's most recognizable wineries—Faust, Silverado and Joseph Phelps, to name a few—Coombsville is now emerging with stellar labels bearing its own name. "Where once Coombsville fruit was an ingredient in Napa wines, its grapes are evolving to become the main course in its own wines," points out John Taylor, the newly appointed VP of the AVA's association, Coombsville Vintners & Growers, and also Director of Sales & Marketing for Rocca Vineyards. The burgeoning association acknowledges that half of its members are growers. Coombsville Vintners & Growers founding member Rebecca Sciandri Griffin explains that the AVA is situated in a "bowl," with soils ranging from volcanic ash to Coombs series gravelly loam. Her father and mother, Ron and Roberta Sciandri, were growers first, and now bottle wine under their own name. In 2009 Rebecca effectively founded the association by reviving an AVA petition that had previously been rejected by the TTB. "They took it off the table because they thought the name Coombsville was not marketable enough," she tells THE TASTING PANEL. "Well, we did not want to re-think the name. We are Coombsville. It was vintner and grower Tom Farella who insisted that Coombsville deserved the AVA, and he successfully re-wrote the petition." The group's first meeting was held in the spring of 2009, a couple of years before AVA approval, but they were gearing up for what they knew to be something special. Now 43 members strong, the little AVA that could, named after one of Napa's founding fathers, Nathan Coombs, is home to opulent, expres - sive wines with earth tones and minerality. "The proximity to San Pablo Bay causes Coombsville to be less warm than Calistoga and not as cool as Carneros," states Jimmy Kawalek, President of the Coombsville Vintners & Growers and Director of Sales & Marketing for Coombsville area producer Edict Wines. "Our long maturing cycle preserves acid and aids in ripening, without huge spikes in sugar." PHOTO COURTESY OF COOMBSVILLE VINTNERS & GROWERS