Napa Valley Mythbusting

Napa Valley -- for some it means a nirvana of wine tasting, spas, shopping, golf, outstanding restaurants and enchanting scenic beauty. Others think words like overpriced, overcrowded and over-sold.

For me, Napa Valley is home. It's where I've lived for almost 40 years, have raised five kids, made life long friends and run a family winery with my dad.

Over the decades I've seen myths of all kinds build up around wine country and as someone who's on the inside, I'd like to play mythbuster to some of the big ones.

 

Comments

[tlb73737]

12:16 AM on 06/16/2012

That's right. Only 4% percent of California wine is in Napa. I'll bet that most people -- even those who live in California could not tell you the largest wine region in the state. Where are most of the grapes grown that flow into 90 percent of all California wine? Also, there are some absolutely great wine makers in that region. There was a wine maker who sold the EXACT same wine in this region for well under $10 a bottle. A friend of his bought the EXACT same wine and sold it in Napa for $28 a bottle -- and people bought it because it was "from Napa." Don't get me wrong -- there are some absolutely fabulous wines and wine makers in Napa. However, one does not have to visit Napa to be in the California Wine Country.

[captainkennedy]

03:21 PM on 05/16/2012

This is nothing more than a paid-for advertisement,written by a Napa winemaker. Very disappointing that this is the best news that could be found about wine.Guess he who pays - plays....

[Nepenthys]

11:01 PM on 05/15/2012

Speaking as a former Napan...born and raised...c'mon, Doug. You gotta admit, it was a lot nicer place to live even 25 years ago. Every time I go back to visit my mom and grandparents, I am SO glad I moved away. And the wineries in Sonoma and Lake Counties are much friendlier and so much more accessible. The wines are just as good if not better and the ambiance is much more relaxed and enjoyable. I wouldn't move back to the Napa Valley on a bet. Let the tourists have it, I say.

[LindySez]

12:03 PM on 05/22/2012

ITA - Love Sonoma, more diverse and with farms and farm fresh products...

[jefechip]

05:26 PM on 05/15/2012

We visited Napa and Sonoma a few years back and had a great time, truth is, if I was younger I would move out there to become part of the culture. I was impressed with the industriousness of the people while maintaining a laid back attitude. Loved St.Helena and Callistoga but disliked Napa.

[traceymarie]

02:13 PM on 05/15/2012

I do enjoy Napa vacations at least 2x yearly, they are expensive. Most tastings are between $25-$50 per person. Sonoma has a more relaxed and less expensive experience, but they are much more crowded. Visit both on your trip and get the best of both

[Nepenthys]

11:03 PM on 05/15/2012

Don't forget Lake County...the neighbor to the North. Yah, it has it's reputation, and some of the towns are total dumps, but the wine is pretty darned good, not much in the way of crowds, and the vintners are friendly, approachable and friendly. It's worth the drive "over the hill" as the locals say.

[traceymarie]

03:25 PM on 05/16/2012

Very true but I only have a week and I have to fit SF in my visit. I also like finger lakes in NY

[chito bautista]

10:25 AM on 05/15/2012

My first experience of Napa Valley was in 1975. I had my first taste of Napa Valley wine around 1972 and when it came time to plan our honeymoon, I convinced my fiance to drive up Highway 1 through Big Sur, Carmel, San Francisco and Napa Valley. Back then, there weren't that many wineries yet and the French turned up their noses at California wines. I remember Beaulieu,Robert Mondavi, Joseph Heitz among some of the pioneers and if you talked like you knew something about wines, the tour guides would pull you aside and break open a bottle of their special reserve. And it was all free.

On ou r return trip, Sterling Vineyards was owned by Coca-Cola and you had to pay for the cable car ride to get up to their winery. That's when I realized the once best-kept travel secret was getting commercialized and we never came back.

[Francois G]

04:49 AM on 05/15/2012

Thanks for sharing your views.
I was in a bus in 1982, driving me to the Mondavi Estate. I saw very little of the vineyard and, at that time, had lots of hearsay about Californian wines. That little experience, a short visit and a small tasting (quite not worth remembering), did little to change my views. It took me years afterwards to improve my knowledge and another visit would certainly be worthwhile.

[TableToGrave]

11:08 PM on 05/14/2012

We are continually amazed by how many people make claims based on absolutely no information and oversimplify complex issues. Example: dry farming = good. Irrigation = bad.

[liberalbug]

09:26 PM on 05/14/2012

2 words for those who have had it with Napa and overpriced wines. Walla Walla. Get there before it's gone too. And it's getting close to gone.

[trumbull desi]

11:26 AM on 05/15/2012

I'm partial to Oregon wines. They have some very lovely vintages.

[ToutSocial]

08:19 PM on 05/14/2012

Yes, love this. And that is why we made toutsuite! The Napa Valley is home to so many truly original characters that you'd love to hang out with, truly special once you get to meet the people who built and are building this valley. Both sides of the spectrum from the old guard to the Next Gen. The common thread is passion for life and friends. And because they are winemakers, you can taste it in their product.

[notjamesdean]

05:58 PM on 05/14/2012

Interesting, but you neglect to mention that Napa (at least Napa proper) it is a horrible place to raise kids, because they will be expecting everything that the kids of the nouveau riche get (and they will be made to feel less valuable if they don't), and the schools are dreadful and for everyone not in the (very problematic) Advanced Placement-track or able to afford private school or proper English-lessons. You may also want to re-examine some of your "Myths," because actually, it truly sucks to be poor or/and brown or/and queer in Napa because the town is run by and for classist, racist, monied white folks heavily investing in patriarchy/capitalism. If you think that the rest of the vineyards are treating their laborers as nicely as you do, you are living in a dream. It is wonderful that you all are applying some permacultural principles to your vineyards (saw y'all on Earthrise), but the rest of the valley is NOT. It is great that we still have a decent amount of open space, but that does NOT mean that the valley isn't over-planted with grapes--our agricultural land is still DOMINATED by monoculture. I appreciate the sentiment of this article, but you need to do a little more critical thinking about the valley you call home.

[ToutSocial]

08:21 PM on 05/14/2012

That's not even true.

[Nepenthys]

11:15 PM on 05/15/2012

Actually...yah, most of it is. I grew up there, saw the changes, got the hell out, and wouldn't move back there on a bet. Tourists suck, the corporations moved in and took over the "local" wineries and the whole damned Valley got a stuck-up attitude that is miles beyond what it used to be. I'd rather spend the day visiting Sonoma or Lake County wineries than wasting my time in the pretentiousness that Napa Valley has become.

[mlsia]

05:45 PM on 05/14/2012

Once upon a time, I lived there for two years. When I come back for a visit, I try to bring people who have not been there before and show them a variety of what Napa Valley has to offer - depending on the amount of time we have. Thanks for helping people understand how much more the region is that just 'big business' wineries. Only the jaded hang on to such stereotypes instead of trying to learn something for themselves.

[boxhead]

04:42 PM on 05/14/2012

My dad has been on the Hillside Select and regular mailing list ever since John Shafer, your father, decided to attend his winemaker dinner in Los Angeles despite that day was the start of the Rodney King riots. He told the story about how he pulled over to call his wife to ask her advice. She told him that all the people at that dinner were waiting for him and he should continue. Shafer wines have been part of all our family celebrations. We drank four bottles of One Point Five last night. From my family to your family, thank you very much for doing what you do so very very well!

[miz mendo]

03:58 PM on 05/14/2012

I recently learned that Napa Valley grapes were once all dry-farmed, which absolutely produces more flavorful vintages. Now most all the vines are drip-irrigated, creating a sad little root ball that hasn't a chance to grab all the nutrients the expensive ($100,000 per acre!) soil of Napa has to offer. Those elements in the soil are what gives grapes flavor, something lacking in most of the wines produced with the drip system.

[Ishmael1]

09:01 PM on 05/14/2012

Perhaps they should have listened to my late Father-in-law, Al Lauritsen, who was a Napa County Supervisor in the 50's when the Bureau of Reclamation wanted Napa County to buy in to the Berryessa Dam when it was built in Napa County flooding the Monticello Valley. All the other supervisors voted no, Napa opted out, Solano Couty opted in then bought the dam from the BOR as soon as they could. Now Solano County owns all the water in the Monticello Creek watershed, the Berryessa reservoir and Napa County has to buy their own water from Solano County.

[miz mendo]

10:25 PM on 05/14/2012

Well, that's great history you're connected to, but you kinda missed my point:  wine grapes don't need to be watered, and in fact make better wine if they're dry-farmed.

[Wylde Haire]

02:14 PM on 05/18/2012

Perhaps a trip to the Napa Valley Wine Library [located in the St.Helena Public Library] you could read up on how misplaced your opinion is on irrigation and how it relates to health of the vine and quality of the grapes. Viticulture and Wine making has come a long way since Roman times!