Planning a visit to Napa Valley, California

Napa. The word, the location, has come to define “fine” wine from the United States. But what is Napa? It’s the main town (really a small city) at the southern end, the mouth, of the namesake’s Valley. Yet in the world of wine, Napa is Napa Valley, the 1st AVA (American Viticultural Area) in California, and the 2nd in the U.S. Then within Napa Valley (Just “Napa”for the rest of this article) there are 16 nested AVAs! According to the Napa Vintners association, Napa AVA is 122,735 acres, 612 recognized wineries with more than 400 vineyards! Ooofff, where to start?!The main thing that makes Napa so special, and the reason that there are 16 nested AVAs with the main Napa AVA, is the unbelievable diversity of “Terroir.” Terroir is everything, ground, climate, etc, that influences a grape by the time of harvest. To keep the geology simple; Napa sits between volcanic soil and ancient seabed soil, containing both. It sits at the confluence of hot winds blowing south and cool bay winds blowing north. Therefore there are hundreds of Terroir possibilities for grapes, so there can be large taste differences in Napa wine depending on where those grapes where grown.It can get complicated! With a little bit of knowledge you can begin to break Napa down and choose where to visit. I would break it down in this way: first; Valley grown grapes from the north, middle, and south. Second; mountain grown grapes. The Vaca Mountains on the east side of Napa Valley are volcanic. The Mayacamas Mountains on the west side are ancient sea bed, and form the boundary between Napa and Sonoma. Break down the mountain ranges the same way as the Valley; from north, to mid/central, to south. You could easily go from south to north, one direction is not better than the other.The biggest differences in Napa wine come from Valley grapes vs Mountain grapes. Next are the differences between grapes grown on the Vacas vs the Mayacamas. Finally, the differences in latitude (south to north or vice versa). Keeping it as simple as possible (because there are 16 different AVA’s), that’s three main wine tasting areas to plan a visit; the Valley, the Mayacamas, and the Vacas.SOOO, you could potentially do one of those three areas in one day, but only if you run and gun through your wineries, and with A LOT of planning! More realistically, I would plan at least two days for each of the three main areas, and that still might be pushing it. If you have only one day, DO SOME RESEARCH! You could do four wineries, with tasting at each, in one day, but it will be a FULL day, and you would need a DD, and bring a lunch! I would also highly recommend doing a Napa visit in the late winter/early spring, and during the week. The fall is fantastic, but very busy.So that is my recommendation on how to break down Napa for a wine trip. At a minimum, drive the entire valley, roughly 40 miles from top to bottom. Go up (or down) the Silverado Trail and then use Rt 121 to reverse course. Silverado Trail is the “original” road on the eastern side of the valley and Rt. 121 in on western side.Stay turned for next week where I will tell the stories of three Napa Wineries!Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Galentine’s Day, or at least cheers to enjoying a glass of good wine!