NAVIGATING NAPA

Posted on 08/10/2016 | About Napa, California

Last June I hopped into my rental car at San Francisco Airport and headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to Napa. Then I plodded along in stop and go traffic for three hours. Lesson learned. Timing and choice of route is key when heading to this very popular wine region. Nonetheless it’s a bucket list trip for every wine lover and here’s why.

Napa Valley is the most renowned winegrowing region in the United States while also one of the smallest. The valley floor is only about 50 kilometres long and eight kilometres across at its widest point so really easy to navigate and see all. It should have only taken me 90 minutes to get to my destination of St. Helena, one of the farthest sub-appellations within Napa. With the right timing (never rush hour) the trip from San Francisco can be done in a day including wine samplings and a good meal or two.
However why rush? I recommend staying in the valley for at least a couple of days. The wineries are small (nearly 80% produce less than 10,000 cases annually) but numerous – about 475 physical wineries in Napa County producing more than 1,000 different wine brands. About 400 have tasting rooms. Napa Valley is the appellation (called an AVA or American Viticultural Area) and there are 16 sub-appellations starting with Los Carneros in the south and ending with Calistoga in the north.
I based myself in St. Helena, a few AVA’s south of Calistoga. The town, population about 6,000, is small but lovely with good eats and shopping. It’s also home to the CIA – no not that one -rather The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. My hotel, the Wydown, was right on Main Street near to Model Bakery, a local favourite breakfast and coffee spot and Market, a fresh market American cuisine restaurant with great cocktails and no corkage charge on BYOB wines.
For a place to lay my head in-between winery visits, the hotel was kinda perfect. Reasonably priced clean modernized rooms and a swanky new lobby where there was complimentary self-serve breakfasts every morning of homemade granola, artisanal sheep milk yogurt, juices, coffee, tea selection and pastries from Model Bakery. Free parking was at the rear.
With so many wineries to visit it’s best to come up with a theme and a list for the day. I picked a couple of wineries with a Canadian connection and a biodynamic one. All were less than 20 minutes from my hotel.
I went first to Cliff Lede Vineyards in Yountville. The winery was founded in 2002 when Alberta born Cliff Lede (pronounced lay-dee) purchased 60 acres in the Stags Leap District of Napa. To keep track of the vine plantings, precise to each soil type and exposure, Lede decided to name each block in his vineyards after his favourite rock songs and albums. These “Rock Blocks” go by such names as Dark Side of the Moon, Light My Fire and Stairway to Heaven.
His state-of-the-art winery was designed by world-renowned architect Howard Backen, who also did a redesign of the 1913 craftsman-style tasting room in Yountville. Tastings are $30 per person in the tasting room or $40 if you want to sit in style in the comfy veranda area. His cabernet sauvignon wines are something to sing about – big, dense and bold with rounded tannins.
Poetry Inn, perched above the vineyards with sweeping views of the Napa Valley, is Lede’s five room luxury boutique hotel also a Backen design. Rooms have private balconies, soaking tubs, indoor and outdoor showers and wood-burning fireplaces. This romantic place has fostered several marriage proposals. Rates range from a low of $650 to a high of $1975 so definitely a special occasion spot.
Frank Family Vineyards, founded in 1992, has become a household name for lovers of premium Napa cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. The tasting room off Larkmead Lane near Calistoga is one of the most popular in the valley (voted best tasting room in the Napa Valley for seven years in a row in the Bay area's A-List competition) and reservations are recommended during high season. Owner Rich Frank, is a former Hollywood film and TV exec who was once President of Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Television Group.
The Canadian connection is his wife, Leslie, an Emmy award winning broadcast journalist who was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Both Leslie and Rich play an active role in marketing Frank Family Vineyards and joined my group when we arrived for our tasting. The winery makes four champagne method sparkling wines as well as the block buster still wines.
Tastings are $20. (Reserve tastings are $30). Just outside the winery, visitors are welcome to sit under the giant elm trees, relax at wooden picnic tables and enjoy spectacular vineyard views.
Ehlers Estate just off Highway 29 in St. Helena is one of the oldest in Napa Valley. The 42 acres of vineyards are all organically farmed and in fact take it a step further by following biodynamic practices. The tasting room is in an old stone barn dating back to 1886. Winemaker Kevin Morrissey was in the barn while I was sampling wines and boy was he ever passionate about his craft. He takes a holistic approach to every aspect of farming and winemaking and it shows in the pure expression of the wines.
Maria Newman runs the friendly tasting room and greets guests with warmth and affection. The comfortable sofas and chairs make the place feel like a living room. Tasting are $35 and if you go in morning include a croissant from Bouchon Bakery. The Canadian connection is Ehlers Estate’s big fan base in Alberta and Ontario.
I wound up the day at Market, a half block from my hotel, dining on fresh Oregon sole and sipping a white I had acquired during my tasting foray. Now that’s navigating Napa.