A certain amount of hubris might be expected from the representatives of some of Napa Valley's most famous wineries. Surely the Californians, who flew into Japan last month to show off their wares at Tokyo's American Club, would not miss the opportunity to brag a little about the big impact their wines have had on the world? Not a bit.

"Our owner, Francis Ford Coppola, believes that he is a custodian of the land. He just wants to bring forth the qualities that are unique to the site," says Larry Stone, general manager of Rubicon Estate. And yes, before you ask, Stone is referring to that Francis Ford Coppola, acclaimed director of the "Godfather" trilogy.

"Maybe in the '70s and '80s and really into the '90s, you could see the rise of the artist — the notion that the great winemaker and blender was going to be the beginning and ending of everything," says Russell Weis, general manager of Silverado vineyards. But now, Weiss explains, the idea of the artist winemaker is giving way to a kind of modesty: "We're in a different notion now — and you see it more and more with the great estates, with the single- vineyard estates — we're in the notion of the dirt telling us what to do."