Vintage Napa Valley - hotels and restaurants - Recipe - Directory

Sunset, Oct, 2000 by Andrew Baker, Lora J. Finnegan

WINERY TOURS

With more than 250 wineries in the valley, it's easy to find a good tour on wine basics. For going beyond the rudiments, these in-depth tours are real corkers. For more information contact the Napa Valley Conference & Visitors Bureau. 226- 7459 or www.napavalley.com.

Robert Mondavi Winery. The mission-style winery-designed by legendary architect Cliff May--is undergoing a face-lift, with new facilities set to open in spring. Meanwhile, you can enjoy Mondavi's fine series of existing tours, including the To Kalon vineyard tour ($ 10), the vineyard and winery tour ($10), and the guided tasting ($10). Or try an essence tasting and tour ($25), winegrowing tour and tasting ($25), a vineyard picnic ($48), or the art of wine and food seminar ($65, includes lunch). 10-5 daily. 7801 State 29, Oakville; (888) 766-6328, ext. 2000, or www.robertmondavi.com RMS Distillery. In the Carneros area this tour covers a process you'll see nowhere else in Napa: brandy making. A scale-model distillery (built by Industrial Light and Magic) begins the tour, then you pass the huge alambic pot stills, shaped like giant peaked caps, where wine becomes brandy (the processing takes place in the fall). Finally to the accompaniment of Gregorian chants, you enter the barrel, or "angels' share," room: As the brandy ages, small amounts evaporate from the barrels. Early monks dubbed this loss the angels' share, figuring the heavenly beings took a cut for their services when visiting to bless the brandy. Tours are free; reservations are recommended. 10:30-4:30 daily. 1250 Cuttings Wharf Rd., Napa; 253-9055.

Schramsberg Vineyards & Cellars. You'll see how sparkling wine is made the old-fashioned way from a tour guide who is energetic--if not downright bubbly You begin with a briefing on Schramsberg history and on the methode champenoise (the traditional French method). Then you walk into cool, musty, 2-mile-long caves, carved out by Chinese laborers at the turn of the century, now lined with racks filled with bottles on their sides. Hand-riddling (turning the bottles) is still a favored art here--if you've got strong hands you can give it a try at a sample rack. Tours are free and by appointment. 10-4 daily. 1400 Schramsberg Rd, Calistoga; 942-2414.

Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage. Hang with the coopers at the only U.S. outpost of the famed French barrel makers, Tonnellerie Seguin Moreau. Watch a small army of barrel makers bend, shave, roast, and toast the oak staves. It's like a workshop in Hades--you feel the heat from barrels set over open fires in the floor and hear the piercing din of hammers on steel as hoops are pounded onto staves. Tours are free; reservations recommended. 8-4 Mon-Fri. 151 Camino Dorado, Napa; 252-3408.

St. Supery Winery & Wine Discovery Center. A clever self-guided tour guides you through the process of winemaking; pause at a cutaway of a grapevine or at a SmellaVision station, where you sniff out wine essences. At an outside planting area, you'll see various trellising methods. One-hour guided tours ($5) are also available (at 11, 1, and 3). 9:30-5 daily. 8440 State 29; (800) 942-0809, ext. 44.