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 »