One of California's two major wine regions (the other being the Sonoma Valley in neighboring Sonoma County), the Napa Valley is among the most colorful getaways in California, combining fine wines, extraordinary natural beauty and rich history.
The area has become so popular, in fact, that some winegrowers and local residents have expressed concern over the invasion of tourists and the related problems of overcrowding and traffic congestion. With a bit of planning, however, we think a visit to the wine country can be as enjoyable as ever. Book accommodations well before your trip and try to go during the week—weekends draw the greatest throngs of day-trippers.
Of the myriad of grapes harvested in the valley, four varieties produce the wines for which Napa is famous: cabernet and zinfandel among the reds and chardonnay and Riesling among the whites. Because the climate in this region is more moderate than in France (where both drought and frost can threaten a harvest), California is now considered to be the most reliable of the world's great wine areas.
An hour's drive north of San Francisco via Highway 29 is the city of Napa, where the Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau makes a good first stop (exit at First Street, keep to the right and follow the signs). With maps, brochures and other introductory information in hand, first explore the wineries and attractions in and around Napa before heading north through the rest of the valley. The Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts is also worth a stop—it offers cooking demonstrations, food-related art exhibits and wine seminars, as well as edible gardens and Julia's Kitchen (a restaurant and deli named for Julia Child).
You'll easily be able to see three or four wineries a day. Given the region's burgeoning popularity, most charge a small tasting fee. After you've toured and tasted at a few, you'll notice that there's not necessarily a correlation between the commercial success of a winery (or the elaborateness of its tours) and the quality of the wines produced.
Among those that do have particularly good tours (book in advance) are Domaine Chandon (good sparkling wine, an excellent restaurant and a worthwhile museum); Mayacamas (built in 1889 astride an extinct volcano—good chardonnay and cabernet); Robert Mondavi (world-famous cabernet and zinfandel); Beringer (nice Riesling, elaborate caves and the palatial Rhine House); Sterling (good merlot, gorgeous views of the valley and a self-guided tour of high-tech wine making); and St. Supery (the tour includes a visit to one of the valley's original homes, which is now a historical museum).
Other wineries that merit a look include Opus One, an ultramodern turreted bunker whose wines are produced jointly by Robert Mondavi and the family of the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild; and Domaine Carneros, a Louis XV-style chateau with formal gardens.
Other famous-name establishments in the region include Charles Krug, Clos du Val, Beaulieu and Louis Martini. Hollywood film aficionados won't be able to resist a stop at Rutherford's Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery, where movie director Francis Ford Coppola and his wife, Eleanor, have been making wine since 1975. As you might imagine, the gift shop alone is worth some time.
Don't overlook some of the smaller, often family-run wineries scattered along and near the Silverado Trail, which stretches between Napa and Calistoga on the valley's east side. Visiting this area will allow you to escape much of the horrendous traffic crush along Highway 29.
If you don't have time to hit many wineries, or if you want a more formal education in viticulture, try stopping by Copia, which dubs itself The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts. The center is located in the city of Napa and hosts exhibits on the finer points of eating, drinking, cooking and creating (we gluttons would like to see even more interactive ones). The project was backed by Robert Mondavi (among others), and Copia's board of trustees includes world-renowned chefs such as Alice Waters.
Wine isn't the only draw in the Napa Valley. Tree-lined streets and wonderful Victorian and Italianate houses run through the city of Napa, and a beautiful town square and country courthouse are found in the city center. Yountville, named for George Yount, the valley's first settler, has a pleasant park for relaxing and picnicking (it's adjacent to Vintage 1870, a trendy shopping and dining complex). Well worth a stop, too, is the Napa Valley Museum, which presents limited-run art, historical and cultural exhibits on the region (it's located near Yountville's venerable Veteran's Home).
St. Helena (named by the area's Russian explorers in honor of their empress) is, despite its small size, the de facto capital of Napa Valley's wine country. It's something of an elite enclave catering to wealthy visitors from San Francisco and is central to some of the Napa Valley's most historic wineries. The charming Main Street area contains countless upscale restaurants and fancy shops. Literature buffs should stop at the renowned Silverado Museum, housed in its own wing at the St. Helena Public Library. The museum tells the unbelievably romantic story of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his U.S.-born wife, Fanny. Sickly and too poor to afford even a boardinghouse in Calistoga following their marriage in 1880, the author took his wife on a honeymoon in an abandoned shack at the old Silverado Mine atop nearby Mount St. Helena. Almost overnight, Stevenson regained his health and returned to Scotland with Fanny to write his masterworks, Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde among them.
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park, just north of St. Helena, preserves an 1846 waterwheel mill beside a lovely stream. Nearby Bothe-Napa Valley State Park has 10 mi/16 km of hiking trails and hundreds of species of birds, as well as coyotes, bobcats, deer and foxes.
Calistoga, founded in 1859 by Sam Brannan, is another picturesque winery hub, built around a collection of intriguing small businesses and an impressive array of mud-bath spas. Calistoga has been famous for its mineral waters and residual volcanic mud (the town is built atop a boiling underground river) ever since it was promoted as California's Saratoga in the mid-1800s. Though the town is increasingly upscale, there's still something fun and funky about Calistoga. Sign up for the works—mud bath, whirlpool, steam room, herbal wrap and massage at any of the numerous spas. It's a perfect follow-up to a few days on the wine-tasting circuit. The Old Faithful geyser—not the famous one in Yellowstone, but still regular—blows hot water some 60 ft/18 m into the air every 40 minutes. A petrified forest of fallen redwoods is nearby, 1.5 mi/2.5 km northwest of town off of Highway 128.
Calistoga hugs the feet of modest Mount St. Helena, where small and undeveloped Robert Louis Stevenson State Park offers pleasant hiking for those brave enough to jockey for parking along the narrow highway. To get there, head north from Calistoga on Highway 29 as it twists up the mountain like a corkscrew. The Napa Valley begins 35 mi/55 km northeast of San Francisco.
