This updated guide to the small and "secret" back-lane wineries and tasting rooms of Napa profiles over 70 hard-to-find, authentic boutique estates that feature world-class, artisanal wines revered by locals and critics. Beyond the crowded tasting rooms of Napa’s popular wineries, there’s an authentic, welcoming side of the valley waiting to be explored: boutique estates run by passionate winemakers who handcraft world-class wines. Back Lane Wineries of Napa uncovers more than seventy of these gems that locals and critics revere but few visitors ever see. Updated with new wineries, restaurants, and local attractions; maps; full-color photographs; and tips on wine-tasting etiquette, wine shipping services, and itinerary planning, this guide will prepare oenophiles and beginning wine-lovers alike to live the good life—Napa style.
Back Lane Wineries of Napa is a guide to wineries where you can find excellent handcrafted wines made by on-site proprietors, often with only local distribution and limited production, places where wine tasting gets down-to-earth—no one needs to show off how developed his or her palate is. These are often also where sustainable and organic viticulture is being pioneered. Above all, these are wines that are likely to be a new experience, and among the back-lane wineries of Napa, there are still discoveries to be made. Tilar J. Mazzeo reveals a different side of the valley—a place that’s vibrant, young, and far more accessible and friendly than you might assume. In addition to the profiles of more than seventy wineries, there are Wine Tasting Essentials, Wine Shipping Services, an overview of the area, ideas about how to plan an itinerary, the etiquette of tasting, general prices, and much more practical information. There are also restaurant suggestions and local attractions that can be worked into an itinerary spontaneously.
This updated guide to the small and "secret" back-lane wineries and tasting rooms of Sonoma profiles over 70 hard-to-find, authentic boutique estates that feature world-class, artisanal wines revered by locals and critics. Of the hordes of tourists who visit Sonoma each year, many are becoming frustrated by the crowded tasting rooms, lack of variety, and corporate atmostphere of the popular wineries. In Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma, author Tilar Mazzeo uncovers hidden gems of the valley: wineries growing grapes and crafting exceptional wines that often only have a local distribution and limited production. Amid these off-the-beaten-path wineries, many family-run by pioneers of sustainable and organic viticulture, is where oenophiles and beginning wine-lovers alike can relish in the laid-back atmosphere Sonoma has to offer. This pocket-sized travel guide is updated with new destinations, maps, and full-color photographs throughout, organized by area--including the charming Healdsburg, Dry Creek Valley, and Russian River Valley--and provides essentials like pricing and hours of operation. A resident of the valley, Mazzeo also adds insight on restaurants, attractions, and accommodations; wine-tasting etiquette; wine shipping services; and itinerary planning to ensure an unforgettable travel experience.
When acclaimed journalist Alan Deutschman came to the California wine country as the lucky house guest of very rich friends, he was surprised to discover a raging controversy. A civil war was being fought between the Napa Valley, which epitomized elitism, prestige and wealthy excess, and the neighboring Sonoma Valley, a rag-tag bohemian enclave so stubbornly backward that rambunctious chickens wandered freely through town. But the antics really began when new-money invaders began pushing out Sonoma’s poets and painters to make way for luxury resorts and trophy houses that seemed a parody of opulence. A Tale of Two Valleys captures these stranger-than-fiction locales with the wit of a Tom Wolfe novel and uncorks the hilarious absurdities of life among the wine world’s glitterati. Deutschman found that on the weekends the wine country was like a bunch of gracious hosts smiling upon their guests, but during the week the families feuded with each other and their neighbors like the Hatfields and McCoys. Napa was a comically exclusive club where the super-rich fought desperately to get in. Sonoma’s colorful free spirits and iconoclasts were wary of their bohemia becoming the next playground for the rapacious elite. So, led by a former taxicab driver and wine-grape picker, a cheese merchant, and an artist who lived in a barn surrounded by wild peacocks, they formed a populist revolt to seize power and repel the rich invaders. Deutschman’s cast of characters brims with eccentrics, egomaniacs, and a mysterious man in black who crashed the elegant Napa Valley Wine Auction before proceeding to pay a half-million dollars for a single bottle. What develops is nothing less than a battle for the good life, a clash between old and new, the struggle for the soul of one of America’s last bits of paradise. A dishy glimpse behind the scenes of a West Coast wonderland, A Tale of Two Valleys makes for intoxicating reading.
A rollicking wine country travelogue paired with the only comprehensive guide to Napa’s public tasting rooms Hank Beal is a wine pro–the executive wine buyer at an upscale supermarket chain. Rick Kushman is an ordinary joe–a guy who enjoys wine but doesn’t know a lot about it. Together, Hank and Rick set out to visit all 141 public tasting rooms in Napa during the course of a year. The result is A Moveable Thirst–an engaging, often hilarious book that’s one part Sideways, one part Frommer’s. The first part recounts their uproarious adventures on the road as Rick learns to sniff and spit like a true oenophile (but never stops asking stupid questions). The second part offers the most complete and detailed guide ever published to Napa’s wine rooms. For wine lovers and the more than 5 million people who visit Napa every year, A Moveable Thirst is a great read and an indispensable guide.
A compendium for wine lovers: a prominent vintner shares a lifetime of great wines, famous friends, deep knowledge, and insider insights Reflections of a Vintner recounts the lessons learned, relationships forged, and observations made from an insider’s nearly fifty-year journey through the burgeoning wine industry in Napa Valley. From the mid-seventies, when there were less than fifty wineries, to the present, with over eight hundred, Tor Kenward shares his recollections as the region became a world-class wine destination. Following the calendar year, each chapter opens with the challenges and opportunities a winemaker faces that month—in the vineyard, winery, tasting room, and out on the road. In addition to the wine knowledge Kenward imparts, the vintner shares stories of his friendships with legends of the modern American food and wine scene, including Julia Child, André Tchelistcheff, Andy Beckstoffer, and Robert Mondavi, among others. Kenward’s hard work as a vintner was recently acknowledged and celebrated. In the October 2021 Judgment of Napa, held forty-five years after the historic Judgement of Paris, TOR Cabernet was judged to be #1, outscoring legendary Bordeaux châteaux, Napa Valley, and international peers by leading critics and sommeliers. TOR wines, coveted by connoisseurs worldwide, received seven perfect 100-point ratings from leading critics for their 2018 Napa Valley wines. An iconic winemaker, Kenward has written, taught, and lectured on wine most of his adult life. What he is most often asked about are not facts or numbers about his wines, but the stories behind them. These are stories of inspiration and wisdom that shaped his journey. With Kenward’s impressive connection to Napa Valley and his legacy of creating inimitable wines, Reflections of a Vintner offers entertaining insights into an often intimidating and complex but highly enjoyable world.
At the age of 47, when he a successful publishing executive and living with his wife and four children in an affluent Chicago suburb, John Shafer made the surprise announcement that he had purchased a vineyard in the Napa Valley. In 1973, he moved his family to California and, with no knowledge of winemaking, began the journey that would lead him, thirty years later, to own and operate what distinguished wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. called “one of the world’s greatest wineries.” This book, narrated by Shafer’s son Doug, is a personal account of how his father turned his midlife dream into a remarkable success story. Set against the backdrop of Napa Valley’s transformation from a rural backwater in the 1970s through its emergence today as one of the top wine regions in the world, the book begins with the winery’s shaky start and takes the reader through the father and son’s ongoing battles against killer bugs, cellar disasters, local politics, changing consumer tastes, and the volatility of nature itself. Doug Shafer tells the story of his own education, as well as Shafer Vineyards’ innovative efforts to be environmentally sustainable, its role in spearheading the designation of a Stags Leap American Viticultural Area, and how the wine industry has changed in the contemporary era of custom-crushing and hobbyist winery investors.
This is the third edition of this popular guide to California's Napa Valley. It contains everything you need to know about America's favorite wine and food destination. You'll discover the most popular tourist attractions as well as those that locals try to keep secret. With this book you won't miss a thing. Whether it's your first visit or your tenth, you'll find new and enjoyable things to do. Lodging, wineries, spas, restaurants, parks and camping, walking and biking, sightseeing, shopping, events, arts, entertainment and nightlife. Plus: historic attractions, maps, photos, kids' attractions, drive-it-yourself tours, more than 700 website links, a list of Napa Valley wineries, and a special 50-page supplement on Napa Valley wines, vineyards, winemaking, wine tasting, understanding a wine label, and a glossary of wine terms and pronunciation. It's everything you need to become an "instant Napa Valley insider."
