Sonoma County, Mendocino, and Paso Robles are doing their best to attract wine country tourists and they are outspending Napa by a large scale. Not long ago, most folks traveling to California wine country were under the impression the Napa Valley was the only game in town. Could it be that people are opting to go to these other wine regions because they are being led to believe that the Napa Valley is too chic, too expensive, or too crowded. Bottom line, tourism is down in the Napa Valley. So in the works is a plan to have Napa hotels and B&B’s being asked to pay an assessment to fund a tourism business improvement district. This likely means we’ll see a little bit more tax on our Napa Valley hotel bill that should generate some 4 million dollars to promote tourism. Stay tuned.

Calistoga Happenings

Talk about no tourists, we spent a couple of days in Calistoga last week and as one tasting room worker said, “things are dark” around here. The popular Brannan’s restaurant was practically deserted except for bar patrons. By the way, Janelle says Brannan’s makes the best Manhatten she has ever tasted. They call it the Branhattan. The secret ingredient we found out is the Punta E Mes Vermouth. Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Mike Beltran has been collecting wines for 40 years. His collection is dwindling because he sells or trades most of his older wines. A couple of months ago while searching in the deepest and darkest part of his cellar he finds a bottle of 1959 Inglenook Charbono. Anything Inglenook prior to 1964 is special. For those not familiar, Inglenook was the premiere winery of California up to 1964. Its 1941 Cabernet Sauvignon was listed in Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines of the century with a 100-point rating. John Daniel Jr. was the winemaker and ran the winery during its heyday when suddenly and tragically he sold Inglenook in 1964 to Allied Grape Growers, essentially a jug wine producer. From there is was downhill for the Inglenook label. In 1975 Francis Ford Coppola purchased the old Inglenook winery and vineyards and today it’s called Rubicon Estates. The Inglenook name is still in the hands of a big conglomermate wine company but the majestic mansion, surrounding vineyards, and the wines made are once again magnificent. Read the rest of this entry »

The biggest news this month is the approval of the Calistoga AVA. This is a huge win for the wineries that garner their grapes from the Calistoga area. Wineries like Chateau Montelena who have vineyards in Calistoga will benefit and be able to use Calistoga on their wine label, provided that 75% of grapes come from the that AVA. Biggest loser is Calistoga Cellars. This winery has been in existence for ten years and has a tasting room in Calistoga but their wines are made from Central Valley vines. The Feds will give them three years to change their name or start making wine from the Calistoga AVA. This ends an approval process that started in 2004.

The Oxbow Public Market will be getting a new tenant. It will be C Casa, a new style Mexican restaurant run by Catherine Bergen, Napa culinary entrepreneur and founder of “Made In Napa Valley.” Out is Rotisario at the end of the year and C Casa will open in its spot in March of 2010. With the economy such as it is and the demise of next-door neighbor Copia, the Oxbow Market so far has not lived up to expectations. We’ve visited on four occasions during the week and on each visit the place has been a bit somber. It was patterned after the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace but has yet to replicate its popularity.

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In December everything in wine country comes to a slow crawl. People are busy with holiday shopping and activities, the vines are brown and looking dreary, and the weather is not always the best for a getaway in the beautiful Napa Valley. Despite all this, we think there are many reasons why December is a great time to visit wine country. Read the rest of this entry »

I just finished reading in the St. Helena Star the article “More Wine Unsold During the Economic Slump.” There were two points in the article that really stood out for me. Long-time winemaker and owner Mike Grgich stated that his sales are down 30 percent this year in California and 50 percent for out-of-state sales. Most wine owners don’t like to admit how bad things are. Whenever I have asked about wine sales, I get the usual runaround: “It’s slow but we are holding our own because of our loyal customers.” I’m sure Mike Grgich has lots of loyal customers but not all of them are working right now. The second and most telling point of the article is some of the advice out there to the Napa wineries to hold prices, and forget the discounts. Napa has an image to uphold. Hello to Napa, things have changed. This is a different recession and a totally different global wine community. Read the rest of this entry »

Slow Season Gets an Early Start
The slow season has arrived a little earlier than usual in the Napa Valley.
According to a couple of limo drivers and tour guides I talked to on the road, when October came, the phone stopped ringing. Several tasting rooms say that the tasting rooms have seen less foot traffic than usual. Lodging deals and packages are beginning to emerge sooner than the norm. My own website, Wine Country Getaways, has seen a dramatic drop in visitor traffic since the end of September, much more than the average for this time period. These signs could point to a very dismal off-season in wine country.

One lodging deal that crossed our desk was at the Napa Marriott Hotel for a $99 special for per night from November 29 to the end of February. This is available through TravelZoo. If this does not show up on your browser, call the Napa Marriott and ask for the Wine Package.
We have are own Travel Widget on WineCountryGetways and we will alert you to any package deals that emerge.

Wine Sales and Discounts
We are also starting to see the signs of wines going down in price, but not much. I am on many a tasting room’s email list and several wineries have sent notices about discounts and shipping freebies. If the subject line says “Free Shipping,” I’m unlikely to open the email. If the subject line states “Sale,” I will open it and see what the offer is all about. Right now, the consumer is looking for good deals, and wineries need to get a sense of a new consumer attitude that looks for these deals. This must be tough on the small winery that depends on moving their wines and recovering costs. I just hope the small wineries survive and don’t give up.

Trinchero Family Estates
This is the family that created the White Zinfandel buzz in the mid 1970’s. Today, they own several labels including these Napa Valley wineries: Sutter Home, Folie a Deux, Napa Cellars and the Trinchero Napa Valley Winery, where Folie a Deux once existed before being purchase by Trinchero. Well, with all that wealth floating around, the Trinchero family does a lot of good deeds. The latest one, a million-dollar gift toward a facility focused on developing healthy grape rootstock. Congrats to the Trincheros for this donation.

Wine and Food Pairing
It is good to see more wineries offer a food and wine pairing experience for the wine country visitor. Food and wine pairings provide a terrific learning experience for the wine country traveler. The latest to offer such a pairing is the Duckhorn Wine Company. At both their Napa wineries they will offer these sessions: Food for Thought experience at Duckhorn ($55 per person) and at Paraduxx Winery, An Unpredictable Pair. Check the website for complete information for the times and the menu.

The harvest is over and when the fall colors end the slow season in the Napa Valley begins. This year could be the bleakest and slowest on record. Twelve percent unemployment rate, cutting back, building a savings account, spending less than $20 on a bottle of wine, not going out to dinner. All add up to a dismal time for businesses that depend on tourists traveling to wine country. One alternative for the budget-minded traveler is to consider a daycation to the Napa Valley. You save on lodging, meals, and still have a great time. Read the rest of this entry »

What would Gary Vaynerchuk be doing speaking to a class of 8th grade students at V Sattui winery? First, a little about Gary for readers of this blog who have not heard of him. Gary Vaynerchuk just published “Crush It,” a book about how to cash in on your passion by using social media tools. After one week of its release, the book is #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. It all began for Gary when he started Wine Library TV, some 800 video segments ago. In most of the segments he rants and raves about wines with a totally different approach to wine speak that almost everyone gets. Gary has vaulted himself into the wine and business world because of his passion and by broadcasting his message through the use of social media tools. Lately, he has been taking his message mainstream with appearances on CNN News, the Today Show, CNBC News and many others. Gary has become quite the celebrity and a phenomenon. Read the rest of this entry »

Harvest Ups and Downs
At the annual Napa Valley Vintners Association Harvest Report, jubilant vintners gave glowing reports, touting the 2009 vintage to be perhaps one of the best in recent years. But that report came the day before the big rains of Tuesday, October 13. The Valley had 3 inches of rain in areas and many growers were worried that the heavy rains would cause mold and perhaps ruin this so-called perfect vintage. But then, Mother Nature did an about face and heated things up on Friday. Winemaker Cathy Corison on twitter: “Sun out and 80 degrees. Lots of Cabernet still out in the valley- this should bring it home safe and sound.” But Cathy also reported the challenge was getting tractors into the muddy vineyards to pick grapes. Read the rest of this entry »

Two Contrasting Family-Owned Wineries

Now that we have visited the wineries on the north side of Carneros in Napa County, we can head over across Highway 121 and to Old Sonoma Road and visit Artesa and Truchard Vineyards. Both are family-owned wineries but that is about the only thing they have in common. There are other wineries in the area but these two are not to be missed.

Old Sonoma Road enters Highway 121 on the north about a quarter mile east of Domaine Carneros. Go up Old Sonoma Road and watch for Dealy Lane. Take a left onto Dealy Lane and a slight right onto Henry Road to arrive at Artesa. This winery belongs to the Codorníu Family of Spain, a 450-year-old sparkling wine producer in Spain’s Cava region near Barcelona. Artesa was completed in 1991 and like many of the new Spanish wineries, this is big, bold, and beautiful winery both outside and inside the winery. Plan on spending a good amount of time at Artesa; there is a great deal to see in addition to tasting wine. The outside views span Carneros, the Napa Valley, and the San Pablo Bay. There are beautiful sculptures by artist Gordon Hunter and just the most amazing views of the Carneros vineyards. Inside, you can sit at a table to taste wine and when done visit exhibits on the Carneros wine region and one on the history of winemaking. Read the rest of this entry »