The first step in planning a trip to Napa Valley is to find a place in the area where you can stay. There are lots of little bed-and-breakfasts in Napa Valley, most of which started out as vintage homes. At most of the nearest airports, you can rent a car for transportation. The San Francisco and Oakland airports also have shuttle bus service.
Then it’s time to plan the wine tastings and the visits to best Napa wineries. There are many vacation packages that will let you tour the Napa wineries alone, as a couple or in a small group. If there are specific Napa wineries that you’d particularly like to visit, or if you want to take in some of the other places to visit in the valley, you can make your own itinerary. The usual tasting fee is $10 to $20 per person per winery. Plan your budget with that in mind.
Napa wineries and wine clubs
Many Napa wineries have their own wine clubs. Joining one of these clubs will not only allow you to get discounts on their wines, it may also get you invited to complimentary tastings and parties for yourself and your friends.
One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, these vineyards produce world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.
One of the more famous wines produced by Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards is the intense dark purple and red 2011 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. Drawn exclusively from the best five barrels of the 2011 vintage, this rare wine is the child of a wet, cool year that produced low yield but high quality. The wine has an aroma of dark berries, leather, smoke, tar, blue flowers, spice, anise and minerals. The palate is dominated by the fruitiness of blackberry and blueberry, with hints of violets, licorice and smoke and the finest tannins from barrels of French oak. This is a wine that will improve for decades.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines, tickets for two to their parties and a complimentary cave tasting. Buying 12 or 24 bottles will gain you more tickets and the chance to bring more guests. Join today.
Grape harvest season in Napa Valley is upon us. Already, the winemakers have tested the first few grapes to see if they’re ripe. Sometimes the grapes are harvested mechanically, but other times they’re harvested by hand. This latter approach is obviously a lot more work, but in many cases the result is a much better wine. Mechanical harvesting involves shaking the grapes until they fall off the vine, which can rupture some of them.
However the grapes are harvested, they have to be sorted by hand. Grapes that are green, moldy or shriveled have to be removed. Then they’re taken to the winery to be crushed — a process which is much shorter if the winery is at the vineyards.
Wine clubs sometimes hold tours of vineyards and Napa wineries to give their members the opportunity to learn about this process from the people who do it. This will increase your appreciation of the interconnected arts of viticulture and winemaking. Since everyone in the winery is busy right now, this is a better time to schedule a tour for later in the year than to hold one. Tasting is a part of these tours. Tasting fees can be anywhere from $5 to $50 per person — more if you plan on including lunch or an educational experience such as a tour, class or seminar. Tipping is not necessary, but if you’re a member of a large group you may wish to do it anyway.
One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, these vineyards produce world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Instead of a busy tasting room, the vineyard offers you the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.
An example of what this winery has to offer is the Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that comes only from the best of the vintage. The 2011 Signature Cab is an intensely dark purple and red wine with an intense aroma of dark berries, smoke, blue flowers, anise and other spices, tar and minerals. It tastes as good as it smells, with a fruity palate of blackberries and blueberries with hints of violets, licorice and smoke. This is a rare vintage, produced in a cool year when yields were low.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines.
Starting a wine collection takes money and time. You need a place to keep your wine where it will stay at a constant temperature of 55 degrees with 75 percent relative humidity, but you don’t want this to lead to a mold problem elsewhere in your home. It might be more cost-effective to put your wines in a wine storage facility.
Once you start collecting your wines, you may be interested in having a theme for your collection, such as wines from best Napa wineries. Napa Valley produces some of the best wines in the world, after all. It may help to join a wine club in Napa, so as to get savings on the wines you buy. Keep the documentation on all your wines, and have them appraised regularly without taking them out of climate-controlled storage. Look for wines you’d be equally happy to drink or resell — you don’t know what will be worth thousands of dollars in years to come, and what won’t.
If you’re visiting a small winery to see if they have wines worth collecting, make an appointment beforehand so there’ll be someone there you can talk with. Best Napa wineries have permit restrictions and can only accommodate a certain number of visitors each day, and hold scheduled tastings at specific times.
One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, these vineyards produce world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Instead of a busy tasting room, the vineyard offers you the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.
An example of what this winery has to offer is the Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that comes only from the best of the vintage. The 2011 Signature Cab is an intensely dark purple and red wine with an intense aroma of dark berries, smoke, blue flowers, anise and other spices, tar and minerals. It tastes as good as it smells, with a fruity palate of blackberries and blueberries with hints of violets, licorice and smoke. This is a rare vintage, produced in a cool year when yields were low.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines.
The Napa wineries are something every wine lover should see at some point in his or her life. Every step of the winemaking process, from the crushing of the grapes to the bottling of the wine, is carried out at the winery. Learning about this work from the people who do it for a living will deepen your appreciation of the ancient art of viticulture.
If you’re going to a small winery, call ahead of time and make an appointment so they know when to expect you and have someone there to talk to you. Many Napa wineries have permit restrictions and can only accommodate a certain number of visitors each day, and have scheduled tastings at specific times. If you’re planning to visit during the tourist season, schedule your appointments weeks in advance to be sure of seeing the Napa wineries you want to visit.
Tasting fees can be anywhere from $5 to $50 per person — more if you plan on including lunch or an educational experience such as a tour, class or seminar. Tipping is not necessary, although if you are bringing a large group you may wish to do it anyway.
Wine clubs
You may want to join a wine club while you’re in Napa. Membership in a wine club can offer you savings on the wines you buy.
One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, these vineyards produce world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Instead of a busy tasting room, the vineyard offers you the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.
An example of what this winery has to offer is the Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that comes only from the best of the vintage. The 2011 Signature Cab is an intensely dark purple and red wine with an intense aroma of dark berries, smoke, blue flowers, anise and other spices, tar and minerals. It tastes as good as it smells, with a fruity palate of blackberries and blueberries with hints of violets, licorice and smoke. This is a rare vintage, produced in a cool year when yields were low.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines.
A vacation in the Napa Valley. A week exploring the Napa wineries. This is something worth planning to make sure it’s the best it can possibly be. The Napa Valley is known for cool mornings and warm to hot days, especially in the summer, so pack enough clothes for a range of temperatures.
First, find a place to stay in the area. This probably isn’t a family vacation (children and wine tastings are not a good pairing) so look for a little bed-and-breakfast. There are many of these in Napa Valley, mostly vintage homes. As for transportation, at the airport at San Francisco, Oakland or Sacramento, you can rent a car. The San Francisco and Oakland airports also have shuttle bus service.
In addition to Napa itself, there are the towns of Calistoga, St. Helena, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford and Angwin, all with interesting things to see and do. The reservoir of Lake Berryessa is a great place for fishing, waterskiing, canoeing, hiking, birdwatching and other outdoor pleasures. If you’re not afraid of bees, you can learn all about beekeeping in American Valley. The Oxbow Public Market in the town of Napa is a 40,000-square-foot indoor market which offers an extraordinary variety of different foods from many different cultures. If you aren’t vacationing by yourself, the Cameo Cinema in St. Helena is a movie theater so old it has love seats in the back rows.
But most of all, there are the famous Napa wineries. There are many vacation packages that will allow you to tour the Napa wineries alone, as a couple or in a small group. Or you can develop your own itinerary, if there are one or two Napa wineries you particularly want to visit. The usual tasting fee is $10 to $20 per person per winery. Keep this in mind when planning your vacation budget.
One of the best Napa wineries around
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, these vineyards produce world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Instead of a busy tasting room, the vineyard offers you the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines.