Wine and Dine Napa Valley Style

There's no more famous wine tasting experience anywhere than the Napa Valley, despite critics' complaints that it's become "over commercialized." I don't know what "under commercialized" would be, as selling something is simply that, trying to get your bucks. But I just spent a couple of weekdays in May running up and down the gorgeous thruways here, and it was a pure delight. I had to flinch a bit at the endless line of cars coming into the south end of the Valley on Saturday morning, though.

Two main roads run north and south through the Valley. Most visitors drive State 29, checking out places on one side going north, the other side going south (or vice versa). Many overlook an equally interesting route, the Silverado Trail, paralleling 29 to the east, and far less trafficked. I have not counted, but it seems there must be at least half as many worthwhile stops on the Trail as on the Highway.

A fine source for all the information you'll ever need, of course, is Frommer's Portable California Wine Country, the new edition just out.

COPIA, the Greek Goddess of Abundance

Head first to COPIA (tel. 707/259-1600; www.copia.org; 500 First Street, Napa), the magnificent food and wine complex in the town of Napa itself. The brainchild of winemaker Robert Mondavi and his wife, and with money from 70 supporters from here and the Bay Area, COPIA got started in November 2001. But it was on the wrong foot, say critics, when it decided to be primarily an upscale and static museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Right away, locals complain, the management brought in a bunch of museum mavens who gave the place an uppity ambience, angering neighbors and puzzling food and wine lovers. After a few years of this, new management took over, and the place is now defiantly user-friendly.

New president Arthur Jacobus and staff lowered the entrance fee from $12.50 to $5 ($4 for seniors, free for kids 12 and under), added programs to interface with the community, introduced movie nights, children's programs, and more. The full name of the place, by the way, is "COPIA, the American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts". A plaque here reads "America is not a melting pot, it's a buffet table," which says it all, I think. Among other innovations, COPIA plans to introduce its own Wine Tasting Passport this summer, details not yet firmed up.

Now, drive up there to have a good meal, either in the higher-end Julia's Kitchen (named for Julia Child, of course, and the only place to bear her name with permission), or in the American Market Cafe. (See Dining Out, below.) Check out their museum with its permanent and floating exhibits, and consider attending one or more of their ever-changing programs. Other facilities include classrooms, library, demonstration kitchen, tasting tables, concert terrace, fine gift shop (yes, they have seeds from the gardens here) and more. Gardens Director Colby Eierman and staff take care of 3.5 acres of organic edible greens, and pick from there for your meal in the center.

Tasting the Wines

There are about 400 vintners in Napa Valley, and about 300 of them have tastings, said a Vintner's Collective spokesman. So many wines, so little time.

A good place to begin is the Vintners Collective (tel. 707/255-7150; www.vintnerscollective.com; e-mail: info@vintnerscollective.com; 1245 Main Street, Napa) in downtown Napa, where you should also latch onto a Tasting Card. At the collective, which opened in 2002, 19 boutique vintners are represented, located here in the town's oldest stone building, once home to a brewery, a saloon and a brothel (not all at the same time). You taste four wines (e.g. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel, ranging from vintages of 595 to 2,000 cases and bottle prices of $22 to $36) for $15; or three (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Asante Sana, the latter a Swahili phrase, ranging from vintages of only 280 to 530 cases and bottle prices of $40 to $50) for the Luxe Tasting at $25. Open daily except Tuesdays.

The Tasting Card costs $20, and allows you access to ten tasting rooms with thousands of wines, for only ten cents (that's right) a tasting, all within walking distance (or you can take the free Downtown Trolley). The ten tasting rooms include COPIA and the Bounty Hunter, the latter said to be a local hangout. More info at www.napadowntown.com.

At Cosentino Winery (tel. 707/944-1220; www.cosentinowinery.com), tastings cost $10 for four wines, $15 for three reserve labels. They produce about 75,000 cases a year and have been in business since 1980 with 18 varieties and 40 wines to their credit. I loved both the 2002 M Coz ($120 per bottle) and a 2005 Pinot Grigio ($18). Among their other virtues, Cosentino is the headquarters of the Meritage Association (www.meritagewine.org) (born c.1986), the Bordeaux-like wine that contains Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc and Malbec grapes, and perhaps up to four other varieties.

At Haven's Wine Cellars (tel. 707/261-2000; www.havenswine.com), a tasting of three or four Napa Valley selected wines is free including their white Albarino, which I enjoyed. A sampling of about four Reserve labels costs $10, which is applied to your purchase. Their famous Black & Blue runs $40 a bottle for the 2002, for which there's a limit of three per customer. Other bottles (e.g. Merlot, Syrah, etc.) range from $24 to $40.

Perched on a hillside (with an elegant cave), the Miner Family Winery (tel. 800/366-WINE; www.minerwines.com; 7850 Silverado Trail, Oakville) offers an outdoor verandah for your picnic lunch, assuming you've bought a bottle or three in the tasting room adjoining. My tasting covered six wines for $10, including a Rosato, a Cab, a Viognier, a Pinot Noir, a Syrah and a Sauvignon Blanc, ranging in price from $15 to $54 per bottle. Not surprisingly, the priciest (a 2003 Cab) suited me best. Reserve tastings cost more, a Grand Cru Tasting (with cheese) going for $40. Open daily 11 to 5.Tours by appointment only.

Pine Ridge Winery (tel. 707/252-9777; www.pineridgewinery.com; e-mail: info@pineridgewinery.com; 5901 Silverado Trail, Napa) tastings run $10 for four varieties (e.g. Chardonnay, Merlot, Rose) with bottle prices from $15 to $30, a special Cab tasting at $20 with four labels, two of Cab, a Cab Franc and an Andrus reserve, bottle prices of $35 to $95. I tried a 2005 Cab from the barrel in the cave here, enjoying what must surely be superb when it is released in 2008. There are separate tours for those interested in history, the vineyard itself, or production, costing $20, max. eight persons, including barrel sampling in the marvelous caves, where tables sit before a large Chihuly glass sculpture. Their 300 acres are for Bordeaux-type grapes only, and their gift shop has only wine, t-shirts and caps, no jams, foods, books or other distractions. Half a dozen goats keep the weeds down in the vineyard.

A different kind of tasting can be had at Round Pond Olive Oil (tel. 877/963-9364; www.roundpond.com) in Rutherford, where you can sip or suck on olive oils and red wine vinegars. (You sip the oil and pour the vinegar on sugar cubes, sucking them quickly before they collapse.) Note the exquisitely clean machinery for producing the oil. I preferred the Italian Extra Virgin 2006 to the others, including a blood orange variety. Tour and tasting costs $20, or you can arrange an al fresco lunch for $45 per person (4 person min.) in advance. Bottles of oil at $25, vinegar at $18 (mini bottles of either $6).

Attractions Without Food or Wine

Environmentally correct and attractive are the wreath and baskets made by the Napa Valley Grapevine Wreath Company (tel. 877/776-NAPA or 707/963-8893; www.grapevinewreath.com; e-mail: napawreath@aol.com; Highway 128, just off Silverado Trail), the only enterprise of its kind in the area. An offshoot of a family vineyard, the project started 20 years ago at a highway fruit stand, but now has its own quarters at the vineyard in Rutherford. Wreaths start at just $12.

The Opera House (tel. 707/226-7372; www.nvoh.org) in Napa has performances throughout the year, mostly of pop music or family-oriented shows.

Outdoors

If the weather and tides are right, take a cruise on the Napa River with Napa River Adventures (tel. 707/224-9080; www.napariveradventures.com), said to be the only such enterprise on the water here. You can bring a lunch, binoculars for spectacular bird watching, or just laze around as you experience the serenity of the trip. The boat engine is electric, hardly a hum, so perfect for bird watching. The tidal river is good for fishing bass, too, says the knowledgeable and genial captain, Kevin Trzcinski. The area is undergoing a vast $250 million flood control project, so you have to use a temporary dock until the new one is finished in 2008. The cruise is priced at $40, or you can rent a kayak, double kayak or canoe from $45 a day. Captain Kevin says this is the only navigable river in any of the 50 or so wine countries in California.

Lodging

The Carneros Inn (tel. 888/400-9000 or 707/299-4900; www.thecarnerosinn.com; 4048 Sonoma Highway, Napa) opened in 2003 after $110 million worth of construction. It boasts 86 individual cottages, starting from $325 a night. To blend in with the farmland surrounding them, the developers made the outsides look like rural buildings, using a lot of steel and bare wood. The result may look like a Green Acres TV set on the outside, but inside, the luxe interiors are all Beverly Hills. They're in the process of building a town here, complete with village square and a post office, to open within another year or sooner. The Inn is managed by the Plumpjack people (think Gordon Getty and Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco). If you stay here, you can enjoy the Hilltop dining room, with excellent cuisine and service. Otherwise, non-guests can eat well at Boon Fly (See Dining Out). Homes in the complex start at $1,400,000, if you're looking.

The Napa River Inn (tel. 877/251-8500 or 707/251-8500; www.napariverinn.com), right downtown, has 66 rooms starting at $179, and pets are welcome. Dating from 1884, the hotel is on the National Registry of Historic Places and is a National Trust member, with four restaurants, food market, bakery and more at its adjacent Napa Mill (www.napamill.com).

Dining Out

Since COPIA should be your first stop in the valley, I suggest you have lunch or dinner here, too, in Julia's Kitchen (tel. 707/265-5700), where outstanding chef Victor Scargle holds sway. I had a marvelous lunch with a fresh carrot/beet greens salad ($10) direct from the gardens here, and a delicious breast of chicken with brussels sprouts and hash ($17). Choosing from the "French-inspired, California-based" menu is difficult, but not, apparently, for the Wine Spectator, which named Julia's Kitchen as one of the top three upscale restaurants in the Valley, or by the San Francisco Chronicle, which praised the place as one of the Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area. You can make reservations online at www.opentable.com.

If you have no time for a sit-down lunch, you can grab a sandwich from the American Market Caf¿ at COPIA, a smoked turkey wrap with Swiss cheese, garden greens and honey Dijon aioli costing just $7, for instance.

Brix (tel. 707/944-BRIX; www.brix.com; 7377 St. Helena Highway, Napa) is an upscale restaurant that serves its own wine (only 48 cases a year, the manager said) but has plenty more of other labels available. Very good meals (I had an excellent fettuccine/prawn combo, $23) with the best ciabatta bread I've ever had, and outstanding service. The roasted baby beet salad ($10) is also scrumptious. Get a window table if you can, overlooking the patio and kitchen gardens, with grapevines beyond. Lunch main courses run from $14 to $21, Sunday brunch $23.95, $12.95 kids 3 to 12. (The word "brix" is a unit of sugar measurement, such as in grapes.) Nice wine shop, also.

Boon Fly is named for an individual, not an insect, and it serves excellent roadside food, gussied up and almost glamorous, such as Poppa Joe's Eggs in a Hole (grilled sourdough bread with two fried eggs in the center), $9, or a Kobe beef burger ($12.50), for instance. In a red barn on the Sonoma Highway, part of the deluxe Carneros Inn (tel. 707/299-4870; www.thecarnerosinn.com) complex west of Napa.

The Oakville Grocery (tel. 800/973-6324 or 707/944-8802; www.oakvillegrocery.com; 7856 St. Helena Highway, Oakville, three miles north of Yountville) is one of the two best known delis in the valley, with plenty of gourmet goodies for any level of picnic you may be planning, as well as wine to go. Sample price: ham and brie on ciabatta with wild grain mustard, $7.95.

Information and Planning Your Trip

Two excellent sources to help you plan your trip are (alphabetically) Wine Country Concierge (tel. 707/252-4472; www.winetrip.com; e-mail: info@winetrip.com) and Wine Destinations. The concierge is Jackie Richmond, who creates itineraries for the Valley (and Sonoma), including places that are "off the radar," small family-owned wineries and the like, creating customized trips for singles, couples, groups, "you name it." Featured in at least two national magazines, including Martha Stewart Weddings, Jackie knows her wine countries, for sure.

Jim Tennant runs Wine Destinations (tel. 866/918-8500 or 707/224-8500; www.winedestinations.com; e-mail: Jim@winedestinations.com), also specializing in Napa and Sonoma, and will plan your trip and take you on it, if you wish. He is the "Wine Country Insider" he advertises, and has several marvelous tours, some new, some tried successfully for several years, all described at www.napainsiders.com. His tours stop at some of Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s recommended wineries, using a deluxe limo bus, sometimes with a lunch prepared by a winery owner's private chef, often a meal in a winery's cave, and more.

The local Visitors Bureau (tel. 707/226-5813; www.napavalley.org) can fill you in on anything you want to know.

Check out our California Message Boards. Click here to go there.