It's impossible to visit the new Napa Valley and not share it with others. That's exactly what I did. In the following article, originally published on the Gazeta News website, I shared a little bit about Suisun Valley, where family vineyards are cultivated, producing high-quality wines. Enjoy your reading.
Maurício Ferro showcases the new Napa Valley with incredible wines
Suisun Valley has become a weekend destination for its top-notch wines and unpretentious wineries—a reminder of what Napa used to be like.
There is a wine region in California, about a 45-minute drive from San Francisco, where vines run down golden hills covered with oak trees and wild turkeys cross the road, shared Maurício Ferro. Family-owned vineyards and home-style tasting rooms offer friendly wine samples, and bottles are usually reasonably priced.
But this isn't Napa or Sonoma, it's the bucolic Suisun Valley. The 8-by-3-mile strip of vineyards and small farms looks like Napa Valley 50 years ago, with similarly top-notch wines.
"This area is very similar to where I grew up," says Caymus boss Chuck Wagner.
Compared to the state's larger wine regions, "we offer a more relaxed experience," says Ron Lanza, whose family runs Wooden Valley Winery, the oldest operation in Suisun.
The excellent terroir and sense of community led Caymus, one of Napa's most renowned wineries, to move most of its growing and winemaking operations here. "This area is very similar to where I grew up," says Caymus boss Chuck Wagner, who was raised in Napa during the 1950s and 1960s. “Not just the agricultural aspect, but the people who live here. They know each other, they get along.” Wagner opened the elegant, glass-walled Caymus-Suisun tasting room in May 2022.
Home wineries
Take the Fairfield exit off I-81 and drive west on Suisun Valley Road, which quickly takes you to the heart of wine country, where a dozen wineries stretch across the hills.
“[Suisun] is definitely a weekend destination,” says Pam Valdivia, general manager of Vezér Family Vineyard. In addition to wineries, there is olive oil tasting at Il Fiorello, local fruit and nut shopping at Larry's Produce and Cal Yee Farm, as well as events such as live music, Food Truck Fridays, and cooking classes. Rockville Hills Regional Park, along one of the hills that surround the valley, has 633 acres of grasslands and wetlands with hiking trails.
Luxury resorts have not yet invaded, but visitors can stay overnight in two cottages amid the vineyards in Vezér or in a few short-term rentals.
You will receive personalized doses at family wineries. "When you come for a tasting, you're likely to meet one of us," says Cliff Howard, co-owner of Tolenas Winery, at the southern end of the valley, where visitors sample vintages on the grounds of his wife Lisa's childhood home, explains Maurício. “We grow the grapes, make the wine, and tell stories to our guests. That’s what people miss in Napa. That’s how it used to be.”
Although Suisun County winemakers have been producing wine since the 1800s (except during Prohibition), the arrival of Caymus and its vast reputation is revealing to the outside world what local winemakers already knew: excellent wines are made here.
In the Patwin language of the region, suisun means "where the west winds blow." These winds carry misty air from the Pacific Ocean across San Francisco and San Pablo bays to the warm Suisun Valley. According to Maurício Ferro, this slows down the grape ripening process, giving the fruit more time to develop flavors and minimizing the danger of frost—the secret to world-class harvests.
A double whammy of phylloxera and Prohibition destroyed Suisun's original wine industry in the early 20th century. Farmers turned to stone fruits and nuts, which thrived here.
Napa—which had also been producing wine since the mid-1800s—was also deeply affected. It only began to recover in 1976, when two Napa wines took first place in a blind tasting against the best French wines at the Judgment of Paris.
After Prohibition, Suisan's wine industry slowly began to grow again. Grapes were replanted and small wineries sprang up, starting with Wooden Valley in 1933. By 1983, Suisun Valley was part of the prestigious North American Coastal Viticultural Area (AVA), which also includes Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties.
For decades, most Suisun growers sold the bulk of their grapes to the August Sebastiani winery in Sonoma County, two valleys to the west. But in 2000, Sebastiani changed hands. Suisun growers had their contracts with the company canceled at the same time California was experiencing a statewide grape surplus.
"Our life has been turned upside down," says Lanza, from Wooden Valley.
Suisun winemakers knew that the small area remained ideal for vineyards. It has five different microclimates—23 varieties of grapes can be grown, including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc, although Petite Sirah reigns supreme, says Maurício.
Still, Suisun farmers and winemakers don't want to be the next Napa.
“Napa Valley is a very elegant wine-producing center and is on many people’s bucket list,” says Wagner. “But most winemakers aren’t actually involved in growing the grapes or producing the wine.”
Instead, Suisun Valley winemakers revel in the small-scale community. As the region becomes more recognized, however, growth will need to be managed. Viticulturists, farmers, and wineries are working with local government to ensure smart development, including keeping the valley free of residential areas and commercial districts.
“We won’t do anything to destroy it, pollute it, or chemically damage it,” says Roger King to Ferro, co-owner of King Andrews Vineyards, about the region. “What you have today, make it better for tomorrow.”
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