California’s Napa Valley
We spent Christmas with June’s sister, Lourdes, and her husband, Cesar, in California. Knowing my passion for winewalking, one day they very kindly took us on a wonderful excursion to Napa Valley.
Napa Valley has of course become one of the world’s premier wine regions, boasting more than 400 wineries. Its combination of Mediterranean climate, geography and geology are conducive to growing quality wine grapes, and are certain proof that France does not have a monopoly on the making of fine wines.
Although many French look down on “New World” wines, Napa Valley actually has a long history. John Patchett established Napa Valley’s first commercial vineyard in 1858.
We did some wine tasting at Domaine Carneros, a winery established in 1987 by Champagne Taittinger to create California sparkling wine using the Traditional Method. The wines we tasted were of very high quality.
The business is a joint venture between Champagne Taittinger and Kobrand Corporation. The château winery building is modeled after Taittinger’s Château de la Marquetterie in the Champagne region.
The Napa Valley is a very beautiful area, although late-December is not an ideal time to visit, there being no leaves or grapes on the vines. Moreover, the two vineyards we visited were very trendy and commercialised, and highly geared up to receiving “wine tourists”. They did not have the rustic charm that one can still experience in France, when you stumble across a family vineyard.
A very pleasant surprise was visiting the town of Napa, with its charming late-1800s and early-1900s architecture. Lunch in the Oxbow Public Market, a rather trendy indoor food hall and shopping area located at a bow curve along the Napa River, was certainly a highlight.