Napa, CA Part I: Wine Country

We left Sacramento and drove a little over an hour to the southwest to Napa, CA. In Napa, we stayed at Napa Valley Expo RV Park, which is another fairground campground. Napa Valley Expo RV Park is a very nice, full hookup campground that has been recently redone. There are 18 sites, most of which are pull-throughs, except the back row where we were, which are back-ins. The sites are decent width and are extra long. The pads are newly paved with grass between. The photo below shows our site at Napa Valley Expo.

 

The campground is fairly quiet, except for a little noise from local traffic on the two-lane road running past the campground into town. It was probably more noticeable since we were in the back row. Fortunately, traffic is almost non-existent at night, and there are no big trucks. You can also hear the Wine Train that runs through town a couple of times a day. The train doesn't run late at night and passes through town at about 5 miles an hour, so there are only a few short toots of the horn.

When we first arrived, we found out the weekly Napa Chef's Market was scheduled to kick off for the season that evening, so we headed downtown after dinner. There are cooking demonstrations every hour or so where chefs from local restaurants prepare dishes with free samples for the crowd. The photo below shows Chef Terry Letson and his assistant. The seats were all taken by the time we got there, so we didn't hang around to try to get a taste of the finished results.

 

In addition to the cooking demonstrations, the Chef's Market had a few crafts, a lot of food and wine booths, and a farmers' market. The photo below shows Margery checking out some of the delicious-looking fruits.

Of course, there was wine available for sampling and for purchase either by the glass or by the bottle. The gentleman in the photo below is explaining the virtues of the red wine sample he is offering.

 

Even though Paul doesn't drink alcohol and Margery only takes a few sips now and then, the reason we came to Napa is to see some of the beautiful wine country that the Napa and Sonoma Valleys are so famous for. The earliest wineries date back to the mid 1800s, and many of the original wineries still exist. The wineries struggled during prohibition and also because of an infestation of aphid-like insects, but they began to thrive again after WWII.

There are over 400 wineries located in Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and in the nearby Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River Valleys. The soil and climate make this area ideal for viticulture. Some of the biggest names in American wine are located here, and there are also many smaller "mom and pop" wineries as well.

You can tour wine country on your own or you can take a minibus or limo tour and let someone else drive - not a bad idea if you're planning to do a lot of tasting. We already mentioned the Wine Train where you can ride restored, vintage railroad cars through beautiful wine country while tasting wine from their onboard selection or while enjoying a gourmet meal in the dining car. They also have numerous theme tours such as a murder mystery, comedy night, and tasting seminars with area winemakers.

Upon the recommendation of a friend, we opted to tour Sterling Vineyards. Sterling offers a unique experience with a ride on an aerial tram to the winery at the top of a hill. At the winery, you get panoramic views of the vineyards and surrounding areas. In addition, there is a self-guided tour of the wine-making facilities with tasting along the way. There is also a tasting room and wine shop at the end of the tour. Since we weren't as interested in tasting as we were in seeing the scenery, we chose to visit Sterling Vineyards because of the tram ride.

Sterling Vineyards is located about 25 miles up the Napa Valley in the town of Calistoga. The vineyard is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.

The photo below shows the lower tram terminal and the attractive landscaping.

Below is a composite of some of the beautiful flowers we found in the gardens at Sterling Vineyards.

There is a charge of $20 for adults to ride the tram and to participate in wine tasting. We found an online coupon for $5 off (We love our satellite internet access!), so that made it a little more reasonable, especially since we weren't going to sample much wine. The next photo shows the tram car ahead of ours departing from the lower terminal.

 

We were next, and it only took a few minutes to get the top. The photo below shows Margery getting ready to enjoy the view as we took off for the top.

 

We went over a pond with a huge colony of water lilies.

 

At the top, Margery liked the sample of a not-too-dry sauvignon blanc they were pouring. The lovely view in the photo greeted us at the start of our tour of the wine-making area.

Fall is harvest time, and there isn't much going on at the wineries at this time of year. In spring, all the action is in the vineyards tending the vines. The vines had recently leafed out and small grapes are just started to form. The grapes in the photo below are less than a quarter inch in diameter.

Although the wine-making area was quiet, we still got to see the facilities from an elevated walkway where they had plaques explaining the process. First, the grapes are crushed. White grapes are then pressed, but red grapes go directly from the crusher to primary fermentation to undergo the first part of fermentation on the skins. Almost all grape juice used for wine is white, but red wine gets its color and bold, complex flavors from the skins.

From the crusher and/or press, the juice goes to the primary fermentation vats. Some wine, especially white wine, is fermented in stainless steel to preserve the light, fruity flavors.

 

Other wines, especially reds, are fermented in large oak vats to add complex flavors and to help soften any harshness.

Secondary fermentation takes place in oak barrels like the ones in the background of the photo above.

After fermentation and initial aging, the wine is bottled and aged for an additional period. Red wines are aged for a longer time than whites. Red wine that is aged properly will often continue to improve for many years after it's bottled.

From the wine-making process, the self-guided tour goes to the south terrace, which is shown in the photo below.

More wine tasting is available on the terrace. Margery sampled a second white wine, and we checked out the views. The next photo shows us on the south terrace.

 

And the next two photos show views of the surrounding vineyards.

 

From the terrace, we walked through the tasting rooms and the wine shop, then caught a tram back down to the parking area. After our visit to Sterling Vineyards, we went off in search of some new sightseeing adventures.