The movie “Bottle Shock” is currently playing in selected theaters. The movie tells the story of Chateau Montelena of the Napa Valley topping the best of French white wines in the 1976 taste off known as the “Judgment of Paris.” Well, we experienced a bottle shock of our own at the Family Winemakers event held in San Francisco this past Sunday and Monday. We found out at this event that almost all the grapes that went into making Montelena’s winning 1973 Chardonnay wine came from Sonoma County and not the Napa Valley. Read the rest of this entry »

The second winery on our search of sparkling wines is Domaine Carneros. As you approach this winery from Highway 121 a spectacular French Chateau will suddenly come into view. You might have to blink your eyes twice to remind yourself that you really are in Carneros and not somewhere in the middle of France’s wine country. The Domaine Carneros Chateau is truly a beauty and one of Napa’s landmarks. Read the rest of this entry »

The first stop on our sparkling wine tour in Carneros and Napa Valley is the Gloria Ferrer Caves and Vineyards in Los Carneros. The Los Carneros wine region (AVA) runs along the southern boundary of both Sonoma and Napa Counties. The breeze off the San Pablo Bay provides the ideal growing climate for the predominant sparkling wine grapes, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Gloria Ferrer is about a 45-minute drive from the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge in good traffic. You will want to avoid visiting Gloria Ferrer on any day there is a race car event at the Infineon Raceway on Highway 121. Read the rest of this entry »

Any day of the year is a great time to enjoy Sparkling wine but in the warm days of late summer, this bubbly wine is particularly refreshing and tasty. Carneros and the Napa Valley have several wineries that produce great sparkling wine. With this blog post we begin a series of posts on some of these. But first, here is some quick information about Sparkling Wine. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you getting ready to travel to the Napa Valley? Here are four books on the Napa Valley that we think you might enjoy. Two are non-fiction books that give an excellent account of the history of Napa Valley, and the other two are light mysteries that take place in the Napa Valley. Choose one and enjoy reading poolside at your hotel or in the library room of your comfortable B&B. Read the rest of this entry »

We took a stroll on Monday along the downtown streets of Napa and discovered that there have been a lot of changes since our last visit and more changes are brewing. We noticed that there are a few new tasting rooms and some old ones that have relocated. Our list now includes twelve tasting rooms and wine bars in the city of Napa. The Napa River Trail is open in a couple of locations and looks like it will be a great trail for walking, running and biking. Construction is all over the place with the Riverfront property the most visible. The architectural plans for this look really amazing and will really jazz up the area. The Riverfront property will be a combination of shops, restaurants, condos, and more tasting rooms and wine bars. Two big hotels are on their way, the Westin is under construction and the Ritz Carlton plans to break ground soon. The city planners must figure all this make Napa a destination spot and bring in a whole new slew of visitors. Read the rest of this entry »

We have some additions to our list of Napa wineries that are utilizing solar energy. Thanks to Sunlight Electric for providing us with an updated list. This company has done many of these installations. This brings the total number of Napa wineries with solar energy systems to 41. Read the rest of this entry »

The Napa Valley has more tourists visit each year than does Disneyland. Over five million people come annually to enjoy food, wine, and good times in the Napa Valley. If you are planning a trip to the Napa Valley between now and through harvest time, beware this is peak tourist season. But for the savvy wine traveler, there are ways to avoid the huge crowds at tasting rooms and the long lines of traffic on Highway 29 and still enjoy a restful time in the Napa Valley. Read the rest of this entry »

A winery asked us to remove their name from our list of best picnic spots in the Napa Valley and Carneros because they no longer are allowing visitors to picnic at their beautiful winery. We asked why and they intimated they had run out of patience with guests abusing the privilege of using their facilities.
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It makes sense for wineries to consider a solar energy system to power their wineries. Most wineries have the two requirements needed for this system. They have plenty of sunshine and enough surface area to set up the number of panels needed. When you are in the valley, you are likely to see wineries with solar panels mounted on roofs, on the ground, and even a few in irrigation ponds on pontoons.

With government incentives, why wouldn’t a winery go solar? As one vintner boasted to us, “I love seeing that PG&E meter running in the opposite direction.” Read the rest of this entry »