Favorite Wineries to Visit in Napa
A romantic trip to wine country is a must for anyone but especially if you consider yourself a foodie or sometimes find yourself lingering in the wine aisle just a little bit longer than the average shopper. A true culinary mecca featuring many of the country’s best restaurants who showcase deep commitments to the farm-to-table philosophy and of course, some of the world’s best wine. Wine tasting has been elevated to an art form here but with hundreds of wineries and tasting rooms it can be overwhelming. So here’s a quick summary of some favorites, each for a different reason, that can all be plotted on a single-day tasting itinerary.
Favorite ‘Off-The-Beaten Path’ Winery
Cliff Lede Vineyards
Cliff Lede built his fortune with construction in Canada but is now making a name for building something else. An estate known for incredibly robust reds with a rock n’ roll touch. Each of the plots across the 60-acre vineyard are named honoring his favorite rock songs. From Dark Side of the Moon to My Generation, or the Gram thirsty Abbey Road (pictured). There are 46 different rock anthems growing across the estate.
Which leads to the next little bit of fun, most recently the winemakers start blending between the ‘Rock Blocks’ creating small-batch blends available only at the winery’s tasting room or through it’s membership mailing program. Suddenly, a fun novelty gets serious when tasting Landslide Fire - a blend of Fleetwood Mac’s ripe Landslide Cabernet grapes and The Door’s intense hillside Light My Fire Malbec.
The whole estate got a makeover in 2005, modernizing the wine production and also adding a tasting room, verandah garden and five luxurious villas. They even offer Spotify playlists to pair with your tastings and are some of the nicest and down-to-earth folks around.
Favorite Organic Winery
Robert Sinsky Vineyards
This winery brings a ‘whole farm’ approach to winemaking. Sheep graze amongst luscious Pinot Noir vines, beehives dot the estate pollinating orchards and an extensive garden that produces fresh produce for the restaurant in the gorgeous brick covered tasting room.
The philosophy extends across 200 acres of vineyards which are intermingled with permanent wild areas and natural habitats so that Mother Nature’s checks and balances help build a healthy biodiverse ecosystem. The result is vineyards certified C.C.O.F. by the California Certified Organic Farmers organization and some beautiful juice that is elegant, balanced and respectful of the land it’s grown on.
Favorite ‘Mass Production’ Winery
Clos Du Val Winery
Ok, we’re using mass produced a bit loosely but at 45,000 cases per year it’s significantly more than any of the wineries on this list and the only one you can find widely distributed in your local wine shop or grocery store. But they are a big company in production only, it is still a family-owned business founded nearly 50 years ago that is onto its third generation and they make some really nice French-inspired wines.
Their original winemaker was the son of French winemaking royalty (hello Château Lafite Rothschild!) and played a big part in putting California wine on the global map, with Cabernet Sauvignon specifically, during a landmark wine event known as the Judgement of Paris. So it should be no surprise that these are still their showcase wines including both single estate bottles and blended selections that take their best Cabernet grapes from each of their three vineyards.
Favorite ‘Cult’ Winery
Promontory Winery
When wine geeks talk about the first California ‘Cult’ wines they invariably bring up Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estates which means wine producer William Harlan is a bit of a legend. So when a cult wine legend producer finds a plot of land and obsessively pursues it’s purchase for over TWO decades you better believe the juice is going to be special, and that’s precisely what Promontory is.
Visits are highly personalized and often start with a Dom Perignon welcome before a tour of the fermentation hall and aging room where the wine is uniquely aged in large Austrian wine casks. Part of what makes the wine so special is the isolated and steep terroir of the land where small plots of grapes grow in a hidden canyon amongst old growth forests. The other part is a deep determination for winemaking as a craft, where the juice in the bottle is truly a piece of art. And that’s just how a visit here feels, you leave floating like you’ve just heard a Mozart concerto in a European opera house, or spent the afternoon gazing at a series of frescos painted by Michelangelo.