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“A great wine education class. I was amazed by the instructor's wealth of knowledge, the great wines to taste and talk about, and the small, intimate class size. A fun way to learn a lot about wine.”

—Will, Ritchie Creek Vineyards

Touring Napa Valley ∼ 1-4 days

Land values are very high in Napa Valley compared to agricultural regions around California. The reason is proximity to the greater San Francisco Bay Metropolitan Area. Seven million people live within an hour and a half of Napa. Many of them take day trips to Napa, and come home thinking, “You know, I could live up here and commute into San Francisco or Oakland three times a week.” As a result traffic has become a major issue. And since the 1980's agriculture other than very expensive wine grapes has pretty much ceased to exist in Napa Valley.

A route from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge can deliver one to Napa, but the quicker technique (at least from downtown) is to cross the Bay Bridge and go north up the east side of San Pablo Bay on Hwy 80 toward Sacramento. Once across the Carquinas Straits, pass up Hwy 37 and a mile or two later take the American Canyon exit over the freeway and down into the valley to join Hwy 128 going north up the valley.

It is a very attractive locale. Napa Valley has magical properties. Mountainsides seem to pop out of a recumbent valley floor. Colors seem brighter. The place is visually arresting partly because it's small, everything is near at hand. You can pretty much see the whole shooting match at once, and that gives people the sense they comprehend it more easily than other places.

Moreover it smells different. So many wineries in such a tight little valley with such a firm perimeter of steep hills cook up quite an aroma fermenting wines each Fall. Aaahhh, the stealthy influence of olfaction. Nobody understands it; everybody gets it. There's money in the air. Visitors to Napa are usually on vacation. All things seem possible.

Geologically Napa isn't really a valley. It's a pull-apart basin. Rather than being carved out of an existing landscape by the Napa River, it was formed when the tectonic pressure of the Pacific Plate moving north, grating against the North American Plate, pulled the rising mountains apart and filled the resulting depression with eroded debris. Happened yesterday, geologically speaking, and that makes for dramatic land forms. The basin floor is relatively flat, but here and there 300 foot, oak forested hillocks less than a quarter mile in diameter stand like sentry posts. They are too big to be manmade, yet completely incongruous with the surrounding topography. The smells, the landscape, the architecture: it's otherworldly. It's the Disneyland of the wine universe. Disneyland for adults.

It has been a playground for San Franciscans going back 140 years. The tortured geology creates thermal vents in the Earth's crust. There are hot springs and geysers. At the turn of the century many more visitors came 'for the waters' than for the wines. Spas dotted the landscape. Most died out during the 1920s as the American Medical Association inveighed against homeopathic health treatments in favor of the newly discovered antibiotics. Today the remaining spa culture is centered around the north valley hamlet of Calistoga. They specialize in volcanic mud baths and herbal wraps. Wine evaluation is hard work. You need a restorative interlude before dinner.

Wine tourism usually involves extensive travel arrangements and considerable time moving from one place to another. Napa is exactly the opposite. Arrive at the San Francisco airport. Rent a car. Ask the clerk for a map to Napa. An hour later you're swirling and sipping. Distance between Napa wineries is measured in yards; not miles.

Architectural Study

Napa is unique in the world of wine for several reasons. Primary among those are the concentration of money and the need for American wineries to introduce their countrymen to the concept and rituals of wine. More than five million people visit the valley each year, but there are also more than 240 wineries. Buildings are an obvious way for wineries to distinguish themselves amongst the crowd, and architecture is a major theme here.

Everywhere you look in the valley there are visual diversions: Mission-style buildings such as Robt. Mondavi; Cape Dutch buildings such as Chimney Rock; Modernist inventions such as the black monolith with roadcut retaining wall sides at Dominus or the pyramid at Chappellet; Moorish arches and an aerial tramway at Sterling; magnificently worked minimalist designs such as the rammed earth winery and olive press at Long Meadow; and engaging educational displays such as the Smellovision device or the relief maps at St. Supery. Contemplate the differences of Domaine Carneros vs. Codorniu -- both make sparkling wine, but one is modeled after a French chateau, the other designed by an architect from Barcelona. Check out Groth Winery's big pink tower, which Australia's most prominent wine writer (James Halliday) called, “Another Napa erection!” For interior furnishings, an appointment to Opus I must surely engender analogous responses.

Recently the trend has been toward digging caves because they are very price competitive with new construction. Although many wineries have caves, an appointment at Jarvis will demonstrate the concept in the most dramatic way possible. Or make a day out of visiting some architectural triumphs built in the late 1800s. Hamden McIntyre was the top name in architects of that era. He did the castle-like Ch. Montelena, the redwood classic at Trefethen, the Greystone facility which now houses Culinary Institute of America, and Far Niente (with it's modern-era million dollar copper roof). Other historic beauties include Schramsberg, and the Capt. Niebaum's old winery at Inglenook (which Francis Ford Coppola has newly accessorized with Hollywood style display cases which seem to have merchandise exploding into visitors' faces).

And do not neglect the art. Three of the top modern art collections in America reside in Napa Valley. Rene DiRosa previously owned Winery Lake (presently Seagrams) and now has his collection displayed on a 50-acre parcel next door in the Carneros district (www.dirosapreserve.org). Donald Hess' family is the biggest distributor of bottled water in Switzerland. His winery and art collection are on Mt. Veeder (www.hesscollection.com). At the north end of the valley Jan Schrem has large sculpture installations all over his Clos Pegase property. So much the better to set off his rather controversial, Michael Graves designed, Greek revival winery building.

Avoiding Crowds

The eastern mountains have several fine wine districts, and the advantage of being much less crowded than the valley floor. Howell Mountain is physically pretty, highly regarded viticulturally, and enhanced by the quirky charm of a Seventh Day Adventist community living check-to-jowl with the winemakers. Students at Pacific Union College don't drink, smoke, nor eat condiments. The school itself is heated by steam radiators tapped into geothermal vents drilled in the 1920's. Stop at Burgess Cellars on the way up the mountain. Call Summit Lake or La Jota for an appointment at the top.

Further south the Chiles Valley and Lake Hennessey district has several very good quality wineries begun so recently they almost qualify as undiscovered. Call Green & Red, Volker Eisele, or Seavey for an engaging appointment.

The surfeit of attractions in Napa Valley make it simultaneously one of the most exciting and most frustrating wine venues in the world to visit. It is a special place, and lots of people know that. The most enjoyable, relaxing times to be there are mid-week during the winter months. Temperatures then are a comfortable 55-70°F, as opposed to the 100+°F days frequently encountered in the summer and early fall. In winter the hillsides are bright green; not golden brown. Rain can occur, but it is much more commonly a drizzle than a downpour, and the days between rainy periods are brilliantly clear and bright. Even in the rainiest month (February), on average two-thirds of the days are rain-free. Trees begin to blossom in February, and winemakers have time to talk to visitors then.

Brief Napa Valley Geography Lesson

Napa Valley has more than a quarter of California's wineries, all packed into one of the state's smaller growing regions. While convenient proximity to San Francisco is one reason; an extraordinary diversity of growing conditions is another.

Napa Valley is a long, thin triangle running 45 miles more or less north from its 3-mile wide mouth on San Francisco Bay to an apex on the western slope of Mt St Helena. The narrowness of the valley and the steepness of its sides are visually captivating features: the western ridge line rises quickly to 2,400 ft; the eastern one even faster to 2,800 ft. Throughout most of the summer, air warmed by land baking under the afternoon sun rises from the northern end of the valley sucking cool air from on top of the bay waters in the southern end. This phenomenon creates a fairly consistent gradient of temperature from south to north on the valley floor. The Carneros district on the bay is windy; Rutherford is cooler than Calistoga, but not as cool as Yountville.

Rain clouds come from the west. They rise several thousand feet to clear the Mayacamas Mountains, cooling 4°F for each thousand feet, thus condensing their water and dropping it on the valley's western slopes. The eastern side of the valley is in a rain shadow. Standing on Hwy 29, one can confirm this phenomenon by looking west at the green forested hills, then east at brown, rock strewn hillsides dotted with chaparral.

Soils in Napa largely defy categorization. Geologically they only arrived within the last few million years, emplaced on the North American continental tectonic plate by the Pacific Ocean plate which is being subducted underneath. The mountains have risen around the valley floor in that time, folding and kneading together many different soil types. Shale and sandstone are intermixed in the roadcuts with igneous basalt outflows. There are places where black adobe clay is layered fore and aft with white marine sediments and with rust-red, iron-rich volcanic dust. Within just a few miles, traveling from the western mountains to the river's edge on the valley floor, one encounters steeply terraced hillsides with such thin top soil the vines only grow two feet high. Then piedmont benches; then deep, water retentive silts where the vines must be restrained to keep them from growing seven feet tall and to allow tractors to move down the rows. Then gravel beds deposited by the meandering river.

Throughout the Napa Valley appellation, different vineyard sites produce different taste characteristics. Sometimes wineries choose to emphasize the special qualities of a single site, which is sort of the European approach. Often California wineries choose instead to blend grapes from two or more sites, seeking complexity and balance in a manner that is much more typical of the New World.

Comparing Napa Cabs

Napa Valley makes a lot of good wines, but Cabernet Sauvignon is a specialty. Certain locations in Napa Valley are blessed with soil and climatic conditions that were particularly advantageous to Cabernet Sauvignon at a time when viticultural expertise was not everything it is today. The westside benches are deep alluvial deposits. They are composed of stones and large particles which drain quickly. Dry farmed, head pruned Cabernet vines on those sites send down extensive root systems, yet crop levels and vegetative growth are naturally limited. Modern vineyard manipulations are largely unnecessary, vintage differences are minimal, and sophisticated winemaking techniques just get in the way. The result, then and now, is powerful aroma, a vertically concentrated mid-palate, fleshy tannins, and excellent longevity. Upon such were reputations made: in the 1870s and 80's when magnificent estates were erected by H.W. Crabb at To Kalon, by J.W. Osborne and then R. B Woodward at Oak Knoll, and by John Benson at Far Niente; from the late 1930's through the 50's when John Daniel resurrected Inglenook, and Andre Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu created a national audience of connoisseurs; in the 70's when bench vineyards such as Bosche and Martha's gave wineries in other parts of the valley (Freemark Abbey and Heitz respectively) centerstage; and in the 1990's when later entrants such as Flora Springs, Staglin, and Dominus blossomed on the bench.

Other subdistricts in Napa demonstrate the breadth of characteristics Cabernet Sauvignon can produce. On the southeastern side of the Napa River a cooler, drier, more thinly topsoiled section lies overshadowed each morning by a palisade of vertical basalt. The Native American inhabitants called it Stags Leap. It produces Cabernets with lighter body and a more refined cassis aroma. Pine Ridge makes a clear example. North and east of the small town of St Helena the 1,400 foot contour line defines Howell Mountain. Stretching out above the inversion layer allows these sites to warm more quickly on late summer mornings when the valley floor is shrouded in fog; then to cool more quickly in the late afternoons when breezes off the Bay can't penetrate the valley floor's often stifling heat. The result in Cabernet is an angularity of structure and a lengthy aftertaste not found elsewhere. Randy Dunn is a premier producer. The subdistrict around Calistoga is the northern end of Napa Valley. In those narrow confines warm air rises like an elevator designed for gliders from the local airport, as well as for a host of resident raptors. Cabernets grown in the area show earthy notes, tending toward chocolate, mouth filling, chewy structure, and the bonhomie at age five to swing wide open, especially when unlocked by a chargrilled beefsteak with the Argentine gaucho's chimichurri sauce. Try Robert Pecota as an example.

Dining and Accomodations

As Napa's reputation for luxurious exclusivity has mushroomed over the last quarter century, restaurant and high-end Bed-n-Breakfast establishments have kept pace. A few stucco-building spas still exist in Calistoga to evoke the image of the previous era, but not many. Today the more commonplace circumstance is the resort atmosphere of places such as Meadowood in St. Helena (www.meadowood.com), Silverado Country Club closer to Napa (www.silveradoresort.com), or the Mount View Hotel in Calistoga (www.mountviewhotel.com). Use a website endorsed by the Napa Valley Visitors & Convention Bureau (www.napavalley.com) to find several no-cost reservation services booking rooms at B-n-Bs, hotels, motels, and vacation cottages.

Cheap accommodations don't exist in Napa Valley unless you are camping at Bothe State Park. You do, however, pretty much require a car to get to Napa. So staying 15 minutes outside the valley on the well-traveled Interstate 80 corridor somewhere between Vallejo and Vacaville is a reasonable cost saving trick. As an example, see www.Motel6.com for several of their locations (with $45 rooms) within ten miles of Fairfield (Travis Air Force Base is nearby). Saving $200 a night on a room might allow you to live somewhat larger while eating in some of Napa Valley's very enticing restaurants.

The top of the dining heap would definitely be French Laundry in Yountville (707-944-2380). Reservations open at 9 am precisely three months prior to the date you wish seating. They are gone a few hours later. The food is a long series of tiny, exquisite items. The wine list is magnificent. It contains many wonderful choices even in the modest price ranges. If you get out for less than $300 a person though, you haven't done it right. Auberge de Soliel (707-963-1211) has a great view. Foothill Café (707-252-6178) is an extraordinary find tucked away in a strip mall. Terra (707-963-8931) has the most inventive cuisine, and Catahoula (in the Mount View Hotel) is a fun mix of Cajun concepts in a californicated idiom.

One inexpensive Napa Valley eating experience should not be overlooked: the Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Company. They are at the end of Charter Oak St, two or three blocks east of Hwy 29, just south of the town of St. Helena. You would stop there for a salami, some cheese, and a loaf of bread. Then you would picnic with your favorite wine from the morning's winery tours. The smell of the little store alone makes this visit worthwhile. It is a slice of life in Napa as it would have been 50 years ago. To emphasize that point, they still make change out of an old cigar box.

Benefits of Phylloxera to Napa

Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. In the period 1860-1880 the root louse phylloxera wiped out 95% of Europe's vineyards. Imagine the horror of Napa growers when they discovered in the late 1980's that phylloxera had established a beachhead in their valley and was implacably chomping its way through the 75% of their vines planted on AxR1 rootstock, a rootstock previously thought to be resistant to the pest. Estimates on the minimal cost of replanting ran over half a billion dollars. The California wine industry was in a mild recession at the time, and many growers feared their banks would not finance the massive project looming before them.

That was then. By the end of the Millennium nearly all of the Napa vines planted on AxR1 had been replaced, the industry was booming, and thousands of new acres had come under vineyard as well. Forced to "take the opportunity" to rethink viticultural investments in Napa Valley, growers and wineries conducted wholesale research programs which greatly expanded their body of knowledge and changed forever many entrenched historic attitudes. Most pervasive was the experimentation with new and different grape varieties. A dramatically expanded palette of rootstocks were introduced. Denser vine spacing gained almost universal acceptance as a credential of quality. The most obvious change though, was in the field of vineyard trellis systems. Split canopy, open lyre, and vertical shoot positioning became hallmarks of the new era. No one can visit Napa Valley today without being treated to a discussion, perhaps with demonstrative tasting, of the before and after products of the transition wrought by phylloxera. Only this time around, very few people are waxing nostalgic for pre-phylloxera wines.