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Napa Valley is America’s Camelot of wine
culture. Its reputation rests securely alongside European
vineyards which have enjoyed a 2,000 year head-start.
Napa
was the name given by the one-time indigenous tribe, The Wappo,
for this was their chosen place of paradise. Napa means "plenty."
And the valley has seen plenty over the last 150 years.
Napa’s
foray into wine began in the latter 19th century, and it wasn’t
until the 1970’s that we once again matched the number of
wineries in the area due to the crippling social experiment
called Prohibition. Visionaries, among them the late Robert
Mondavi, saw the same thing in California that Thomas Jefferson
envisioned for America--that one day we would make wines just
as good as Europe.
What
makes Napa magical? “It’s small, contained, and rich (in all
the necessary resources),” says Michael Mondavi, owner of
Folio Fine Wine Partners. The young Michael was a partner
in his father's start-up winery in 1966, and after the sale
of the Robert Mondavi Winery in 2004, began plans to start
his own company.
At
609 licensed wineries, Napa is at the forefront of America’s
Golden Age of Wine, producing Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot,
Zinfandel and Syrah cherished in world markets. What makes
Napa Cabernet Sauvignon so compelling? Michael Salacci, winemaker
for Opus One, explains enjoying a glass “is like reading poetry,
where each line is more revealing than the last.” A recent
trip afforded me the opportunity to taste over 150 highly-rated
wines, mostly Cabernet, with the least expensive at $40/bottle.
To suggest you “pay for what you get” is dead-on here.
The
wine lifestyle takes all forms in the valley, offering early
morning hot-air balloon rides, equestrian romps through vineyards,
world class dining al fresco, 5-star resort accommodations,
golf and even tournament grade bocce and croquet courts. All
of California’s wine growing regions are diverse and offer
excitement, however, the royal treatment experienced in Napa
isn’t feigned, it’s just their way of life. |
