Has the wine bubble burst as yet? We made two trips to the Napa Valley during the month of November visiting several tasting rooms and one very large wine shop, JV Wines. From what I can tell Napa Valley wines have not made a move downward in price. Most of the wineries we visited were selling their top wines for $30 and well beyond. Nowhere did we find a single wine on sale. Even though most of the tasting rooms we visited were empty, tasting fees averaged $10 a pop for a basic tasting and up to $75 for an elaborate food and wine pairing at one winery. We got the feeling that wineries here are in total denial about our economic crisis and the impending burst of the wine bubble. The Napa Valley has never been in this position before.

Take these scenarios:

You just got laid off your job, one easy way to save some money is to cancel your membership in the Franciscan and Beringer wine club.

Maybe you work in sales, working on a commission, but no one is buying. Is it time to go back to your beer drinking days? $25 buys a lot more beer than wine. Read the rest of this entry »

This will be the first in a series of blog posts reviewing and comparing three family-owned wineries in the Napa Valley. Dieter Tede and his family purchased Hopper Creek in 1996. By far, Hopper Creek Winery is the most unusual of the three wineries we visited on a recent trip and one of the most unusual that any visitor is likely to encounter in all of the Napa Valley. It is small, off the beaten path, with a very funky tasting room character. You absolutely will not find anything at this winery that is pretentious or smacks of wine snobbery.

When we approached the Hopper Creek winery, we were greeted by tasting room manager Dan Blach, working on his laptop at the winery’s one and only picnic table. “Hi” he said, “we are only open by appointment so would you like an appointment for 1:00 pm?” 1:00 pm just happened to be the exact time we arrived. Dan is wearing a sweat outfit, baseball cap, and saddles, not exactly what you would expect from someone who runs a tasting room in the Napa Valley. Dan hands us a wine stained tasting menu that looks like it has been in use for months. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday, I posted some ideas for saving Copia. Apparently, I was way off the mark, not knowing the demise of Copia was only a day a way. The Napa Valley Register reported that Copia had abruptly closed its doors on Friday. Ticket holders for events were out in the cold. The sign on the door says “temporarily closed,” but we all know what that likely means. Gone, and lost forever?

I still believe my ideas for a California wine museum are feasible in some form or another. The property, including the building and surrounding acres, is reportedly up for sale. One of the big wine companies needs to “take the bull by the horn” and begin discussions for reinventing the idea of Copia. Make the focus on the California wine industry. Get rid of the name Copia, it’s meaningless to tourists, and call it the California Wine Museum.

The one comment I received on the blog post made reference to the fact that visitors find it difficult to find Copia, given its location from Highway 29 and Napa’s one-way streets. When we visited the famous wine museum, Museo de la Cultura Del Vino, in the ancient town of Briones, Spain, making our way to the wine museum was a nightmare. Driving to Copia from Highway 29 is a breeze compared to maneuvering the old and tiny roads leading to Briones and the wine museum. The point is that, if what is there is important and compelling, folks will come.

The latest rumor on Copia is that it is in deep financial trouble and there are signs that they intend to sell or lease the building and property it occupies on First Street in Napa. I am not a businessperson, but I would like to suggest a few ideas that might make Copia a leading venue for wine tourists. Maybe these ideas have already been tossed around, or maybe it is just too late and Copia is set to go under. Anyway, here goes.

To begin with, Copia should seek out sponsors in the wine industry like Gallo, Constellation, Jackson Wines and other major wine companies. Copia started out this way with a huge Robert Mondavi donation. Arenas and stadiums all across the country have corporate sponsors and it is great PR for the companies. Remodel the Copia building into different rooms called centers, each with a different theme and corporate sponsor. For example, in the Robert Mondavi (Constellation) Center, the tourists would find exhibits on the history of winemaking in California. Bring in important memorabilia going back to the Franciscan Fathers and Gaston Haraszthy, who founded Buena Vista Winery. Depict California’s wine story from the beginning to its present day. Bring in old grape presses and wooden fermenting tanks. Display a timeline of wine pioneers and winemakers through photographs and essays. Read the rest of this entry »

We visited three Napa Valley family-owned wineries in succession recently and found them to be vastly different from one another in several ways. We visited William Hill Estate, Salvestrin Winery, and Hopper Creek Vineyard. Our excursion prompted us to ponder the concept of the Family winery. What does the term really mean to the average consumer or visitor to wine country? Based on our visit to these wineries and thinking about other wineries that brand themselves as family-owned, we came up with four different categories for family-owned wineries. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday night (Nov 6), the restaurant Redd in Yountville was showing no signs that the economy is keeping diners away from enjoying outstanding cuisine. When we arrived for our 7 pm dinner at Redd, the restaurant was packed. The bar was standing room only and all the tables were in use or reserved. The place was still jumping when we departed a couple of hours later following a memorable meal. Read the rest of this entry »

Just when we were beginning to think that the Napa Valley was feeling the repercussions of the economy, we found that on Wednesday and Thursday night last week, the Yountville restaurants were alive and well with bar stools and tables packed with patrons.

Yountville Stars in the 2009 Michelin Guide
It is amazing what a restaurant mecca the small town of Yountville has become. The latest Michelin Guide of 2009 has four Yountville restaurants receiving its “Star” ranking. The French Laundry is the only restaurant in its Bay Area and Wine Country restaurant guide to receive the coveted Three Star rank. One Star was awarded to Bouchon, Bistro Jeanty, and Redd. This is impressive considering there are only 32 restaurants in the guide with one or more stars. Congrats to Yountville.

Dinner at Bistro Jeanty Read the rest of this entry »

Chateau Montelena
Here is a bottle shocker. In July Jim Barrett announced that he had sold Chateau Montelena for better than 100 million dollars to a French wine company. Apparently, something went terribly awry and the deal is over, finished. Jim Barrett announced that he plans to keep the winery and make all the revamps needed to restore the winery to its former glory. This struck us as an amazing turn. Just a couple of days ago our latest Wine Spectator arrived and, in it, an article detailing how the new owners planned to revitalize Chateau Montelena. This apparently caught everybody off guard. Could this be a “Bottle Shock II” movie in the making?

Fewer Visitors to Napa Valley?
We are in the Napa Valley for a few days and the local Yountville Sun has an article about the recently released report on the economic impact of the Napa Valley Wine industry. The wine industry contributed a whopping 10.9 billion dollars to the Valley. This is based on 2006 data. You would never know it judging by the tasting rooms we have visited in the Napa Valley the last couple of days. We were the only visitors at Goosecross, William Hill, Havens, and Hopper Creek wineries. There was one other couple in Rutherford Hill, brought there by a van service that picks up tourists at the Napa hotels. The driver told us that business is down and the tour company is looking for new ways to drum up business. We asked at each tasting room how the economy was affecting visitor traffic. The answers were all the same. There are fewer visitors and they are buying less wine. Read the rest of this entry »