Napa County wine

Napa County

Wine region
Red wine from Napa Valley
Type	U.S. County
Year established	1850
Country	United States
Part of	California, North Coast AVA
Sub-regions	Atlas Peak AVA, Chiles Valley AVA, Diamond Mountain District AVA, Howell Mountain AVA, Los Carneros AVA, Mt. Veeder AVA, Napa Valley AVA, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley AVA, Oakville AVA, Rutherford AVA, Spring Mountain District AVA, St. Helena AVA, Stags Leap District AVA, Wild Horse Valley AVA, Yountville AVA
Total area	788 square miles (2,041 km2)
Size of planted vineyards	45,275 acres (183 km2)
Grapes produced	Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot noir, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, and more

Napa County wine is wine made in Napa County, California, United States. County names in the United States automatically qualify as legal appellations of origin for wine produced from grapes grown in that county and do not require registration with the United States Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The vast majority of Napa County is covered by the boundaries of the world-famous Napa Valley AVA, an American Viticultural Area, and its various sub-appellations. The portion of the county that falls outside of the boundaries of the Napa Valley AVA is northeast of the Chiles Valley AVA, where few grapes are cultivated.

Few wines are produced that carry a Napa County appellation of origin designation, as almost every wine produced from grapes grown in the county is eligible for release with the more commercially profitable Napa Valley AVA designation. The most common use of Napa County on a wine label is when a wine has been produced from grapes grown in two or more counties, such as Sonoma County and Napa County. In such a case, the wine label must indicate what percentage of grapes were sourced from each county.

The Napa County wine industry began when George Yount, of Sonoma County, grew the first wine grapes in Napa Valley in the mid-nineteenth century. Although he is credited with starting the wine industry, Yount did not grow the industry, and it was not until Charles Krug arrived in Napa that the industry began to explode. In 1858, Charles Krug began producing wine in Napa with vintner John Patchett’s grapes. Three years later, in 1861, Krug founded Charles Krug winery (Napa County’s first commercial winery), which still exists today, and with the guidance of winemakers Agoston Haraszthy and John Patchett along with Patchett’s grapes, Charles Krug began to produce wine. Between 1870 and 1880, Napa County’s wine output increased by almost 1000%, and by 1890 Napa County was California’s leading county in terms of gallons of wine produced. Much of the growth that Napa County experienced in the late nineteenth century is due to developments in infrastructure such as the telegraph and the railroad as well as cheap Chinese labor. The development of the railroad in Napa made it easy to transport crops, wine, and tourists.