Mumm Napa is the fourth winery on our Carneros – Napa Valley Sparkling Wine Trail. After visiting Domaine Chandon we head up Highway 29 to Oakville Cross Road and take that road over to the Silverado Trail. Mumm Napa is about two miles north. At Mumm Napa there are three things a visitor must do. Read the rest of this entry »

We recently celebrated the 40th wedding anniversary of friends with a dinner party. One of the guests, a wine collector, brought a 40-year-old bottle of Inglenook Charbono to celebrate the affair.

The bottle of 1968 Inglenook Charbono was decanted and allowed to sit one hour. After tasting the Charbono, we agreed that the wine was still fruity but maybe a little flat but that was okay because it was the thought that counted. What a great way to toast our friends with a wine from this famous Napa Valley winery made the same year as our friends were married. The bottle of wine also stimulated much conversation about the great days of Inglenook and the Charbono wine varietal. Read the rest of this entry »

A few blog posts ago, we mentioned that nearly all the grapes that produced the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, the wine that won the “Judgment of Paris,” came from Sonoma County and not the Napa Valley. We found all this out at the Family Winemaker Event from Katie Bacigalupi. Her grandfather, Charles Bacigalupi, sold a portion of those grapes to Chateau Montelena. Those grapes are still there on the Bacigalupi Vineyards in the Russian River Valley. So when Katie offered to show us the vineyard, we took her up on the invitation. Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago we spent one night in the Boonville Hotel in Mendocino County visiting some of the new wineries in the Anderson Valley. We found something very special. No, it was not a winery but a book about Napa Wine Country. While sipping our morning coffee in the Boonville Hotel we came across a book in their library by Earl Roberge, entitled “Napa Wine Country, Photography and Words.” The book was first published in 1974 and revised in 1985. Read the rest of this entry »

The third winery on our sparkling wine review is the historic Domaine Chandon winery in Yountville. Several characteristics make Domain Chandon a favorite tourist spot. The winery was established in 1978 by the great French Champagne house of Moet & Chandon. An attractive and beautifully landscaped garden lead the visitor to the winery’s entrance. Domain Chandon also is the only winery in the Napa Valley that has a gourmet restaurant. Read the rest of this entry »