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Travel Destinations: Wine Country |
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The Northern California Wine Country is renowned for its internationally acclaimed wines and picturesque wineries and vineyards. What is not as well known is that the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, of which the Wine Country is comprised, also offers world-class restaurants, hotels and spas and numerous other attractions like the Wine Train and hot air ballooning. All of these, make the Wine Country a must for Northern California visitors. |
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Over the years, the two valleys have developed distinctly different personalities; the Sonoma Valley has remained "quaint" in scale, retaining the scale of its still-existing central square from its early founding and electing to prohibit larger scale projects while the Napa Valley's direction has been to expand commercially with projects like Copia, shopping outlets and other larger attractions. What both valleys share are picturesque views, world class wineries and great restaurants. |
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Viansa Winery, Sonoma |
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One of the many special attractions is the Napa Valley Wine Train; a three-hour, 36 mile trip through the Napa Valley. The train consists of nine restored Pullman cars including three 1915 parlor cars, a wine tasting car, a deli car, one 1950's glass-domed Champagne Vista car and two dining cars. This memorable journey begins in the historic town of Napa, travels through the scenic wine growing region and ends in the village of St.Helena. In addition to the picturesque views, a full course gourmet meal is served and, of course, wine tastings
are featured. |
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About Wines Wine appellations are official wine growing regions as cetified by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco and Firearms (ATF). In the United States, these "appellations" are called American Viticultural Areas or AVA's. When a bottle of wine's label specifies an AVA, it means that at least of 85% of that wine comes from the designated AVA. Geographic regions are classed by climate, soil and geography to define a specific AVA; and, sub-regions are also designated. Both the Napa and Sonoma Valleys are designated AVA's on their own but both valleys are also subdivided in smaller regions defined by their own micro-climates, soil and geography - each with its own AVA. The concept here is that each AVA - because of its unique combination of climate, soil and geography - is best suited for a specific selection of varietal grapes. Estate bottled wines refer to wines in which 100% of the grapes used to produce the wine were grown on the premises. While "Estate" is a legal term defined by the ATF, "Reserve" is not a legal term but generally refers to special wine either of high quality or limited production.
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History The Wine Country was originally occupied by native Americans, principally the Wappo. The Wappos coexisted with the other inhabitants of the valley including grizzly and brown bears and mountain lions; they gathered roots and acorns, which they ground into meal and hunted for game for thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived in the area. The first Europeans to arrive were the Spaniards, through Mexico and Baja California; they were primarily Franciscan brothers sent by the King of Spain to colonize the native inhabitants and keep the Russians from the north and Americans from the east from colonizing the region. Under the leadership of Father Junipero Serra a series of twenty-one missions were constructed from San Diego northwards to Sonoma just north of San Francisco. |
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In 1823, a young padre, Father Jose Altamira, arrived at Mission Dolores in San Francisco but found little to do in that all the local Native Americans had already been converted. He was encouraged by the local governor to establish the 21st and last of the missions, Mission Solano in Sonoma. In 1835, Mexico won its independence from Spain and the missions were secularized. To supervise the secularization, Lt. Mariano Vallejo was sent from the Presidio in San Francisco.
He was to transform the mission into a Mexican pueblo centered around an 8 acre plaza which still exists today. With his duties came vast amounts of wealth and power and, in 1828, he was named military governor.
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Lt.Mariano Vallejo |
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By the 1840's, American settlers from the east were challenging Mexican hegemony in Alta California the name by which the Mexicans called what was later to become California. This climaxed in 1846 with the Bear Flag Revolt after which Mexico ceded California and the rest of its territories in the southwest to the United States. One of the first settlers to arrive was George Yount (after which the town of Yountsville is named). His work for now General Vallejo was rewarded with a large land grant on what was to become the Napa Valley where he built a block house and grist mill and planted the first grape vines in the valley.
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George Yount |
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In 1862, a Hungarian émigré, Count Agoston Haraszthy, after visiting the great wine producing regions of Europe, recognized the potential of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys to produce wines rivalling "as noble and generous a wine as any in Europe". Haraszthy helped establish the first winery Buena Vista and so began the up-and-down history of the Wine Country. Wine growing in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys grew tremendously with the growth of demand brought about by the Gold Rush and the number of wineries swelled to over 600. Wineries in the Napa and Sonoma valleys survived the phylloxera epidemic in the 1870's but could not survive Prohibition which completely eliminated the industry from 1920 to 1923; only a handfull of wineries stayed in business approved by the government to produce sacramental wines. By 1975, there were only twenty operational wineries in the Napa Valley while today there are over 200 and another 200 in the Sonoma Valley.
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