Alessia Antinori Talks About Antica
My father visited Napa Valley for the first time in the 1960’s and fell in love with the area. He traveled for one reason--because he is extremely open minded and wanted to discover other new world wine regions. For us it is a matter of understanding and learning what is happening in new wine areas. He returned to Napa Valley in the 1980’s and became a partner in a winery called Atlas Peak Vineyards. In the 1990’s, we fully purchased the vineyard and winery of Atlas Peak from the other partners. We call it Antica--which is the short name for Antinori California.
Antica is located in the Atlas Peak District 1,500 – 2,000 feet above sea level and in the eastern hillsides of Napa Valley. It is quite a unique and different area of the Napa Valley where climatic conditions play a very important role in wine grape growing. The combination of the coolness of the area due to the altitude, and the vineyards volcanic soils subtlety make the wines structured and elegant.
My father travelled to Antica more frequently in the 1990’s to oversee the planting of the 1200 acre estate. Many varieties were planted, including Sangiovese because it is the most important grape variety from the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany, where we are from. The results were not what we were hoping for, and this contributed to our learning and understanding that indigenous grape varieties tend to give the best results when grown in their native areas.
With this knowledge and better understanding of what grows best at Antica, we concentrated on planting Cabernet and Chardonnay--the two most important grape varieties growing in the Napa Valley. We were looking to make a wine that was reflective of both new and old world styles. The wine’s strength would come from the grapes grown in the new world, but the wine’s finesse and elegance would come from our influence as being old world wine producers. We wanted the wine to be like a beautiful woman—a women of strength and presence, but extremely elegant. I would say we achieved what we were hoping for in the wines of Antica—we have brought together the best of both wine worlds and made a wine that has both strength and elegance.
For me and my Family, to have our name on the bottle is a big responsibility because each bottle of wine has more than 600 years of wine-making history behind it. It is a challenge we accept gracefully as we must preserve what our ancestors have accomplished while looking forward and being open-minded to what lies ahead for our children and future generations.
(From an interview with the Wine Spectator)
(Photography by Gamberorosso)
