About Napa Valley
Napa Valley is a region page rather than a single winery, and the region is smaller than its reputation suggests: about thirty miles long and only a few miles wide, with roughly one sixth the planted acreage of Bordeaux. It accounts for just four percent of California's wine grape harvest. According to Napa Valley Vintners, the trade association that represents the valley's producers, nearly ninety five percent of Napa wineries are family owned businesses, which is not the impression most first time visitors arrive with.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the calling card, with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel also planted. The valley holds sixteen nested appellations inside the larger Napa Valley AVA, among them Oakville, Rutherford, Yountville and Calistoga, and moving between them is the most useful way to taste the place: the same grape reads differently from a valley floor bench than from a mountain site. Napa itself was named California's first American Viticultural Area in 1981, and the county had already created America's first Agricultural Preserve in 1968, which is why the valley floor is still vineyards rather than subdivisions.
Napa sits about thirty miles north of San Francisco, roughly an hour's drive, with warm days and cool nights through the growing season and a dry Mediterranean climate that only about two percent of the world shares. Harvest, from September into November, is the busiest and most atmospheric stretch. Tasting appointments are the norm here rather than the exception, and fees at the upper end of the valley run well above what neighbouring counties charge. Confirm current hours, fees and reservation policies with each winery before you go.
The valley floor is dominated by the classic Napa Cabernet style: rich, structured, and age-worthy. Moving up into the mountain appellations, Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain, Spring Mountain, the wines become more powerful and austere. The cooler Carneros district at the southern end produces exceptional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Sub-Appellations
Napa Wineries
View all Napa wineries →Napa Valley's Four Regions
