The Napa Valley Book

This is the third edition of this popular guide to California's Napa Valley. It contains everything you need to know about America's favorite wine and food destination. You'll discover the most popular tourist attractions as well as those that locals try to keep secret. With this book you won't miss a thing. Whether it's your first visit or your tenth, you'll find new and enjoyable things to do. Lodging, wineries, spas, restaurants, parks and camping, walking and biking, sightseeing, shopping, events, arts, entertainment and nightlife. Plus: historic attractions, maps, photos, kids' attractions, drive-it-yourself tours, more than 700 website links, a list of Napa Valley wineries, and a special 50-page supplement on Napa Valley wines, vineyards, winemaking, wine tasting, understanding a wine label, and a glossary of wine terms and pronunciation. It's everything you need to become an "instant Napa Valley insider."

Everything you need to know about America's favorite wine and food destination. You'll discover the most popular tourist attractions as well as those that locals try to keep secret. With this book, you won't miss a thing. Whether it's your first visit or your tenth, you'll find new and enjoyable things to see and do. Includes over 700 listings of lodging, spas, wineries, restaurants, parks and camping, hiking and biking, sightseeing, shopping, events, arts, entertainment and nightlife in all towns and areas of the Napa Valley. Readers will also find historical landmarks, a chronological history of Napa County, Napa County statistics, maps, photos, wedding planning contacts, kids' favorites, help on relocating to the valley, and even a section on Napa Valley trivia, including movies made in the valley, ship building, and the World War II era POW camp. There's also a special and very comprehensive 45-page wine supplement, with information on Napa Valley wines, vineyards, varietals, winemaking, wine tasting, understanding a wine label, a glossary of wine terms and pronunciations, and much more.

The New York Times–bestselling history of the rise of California’s wine country and its most famous vintners—from the author of Napa at Last Light. James Conaway’s remarkable bestseller delves into the heart of California’s lush and verdant Napa Valley, also known as America’s Eden. Long the source of succulent grapes and singular wines, this region is also the setting for the remarkable true saga of the personalities behind the winemaking empires. This is the story of Gallos and Mondavis, of fortunes made and lost, of dynasties and destinies. In this delightful, full-bodied social history, Conaway charts the rise of a new aristocracy and, in so doing, chronicles the collective ripening of the American dream. Napa is a must-read for anyone interested in our country’s obsession with money, land, power, and prestige. “An extraordinary American success story: a pageant of family dramas and blood feuds.” —People “This is more than a ‘wine book’—it is a fascinating and closely reported social history.” —Tracy Kidder

Five million visitors a year travel to California's Napa Valley to experience the good life: to taste fine wines, eat fine food, and immerse themselves in other sophisticated pleasures while surrounded by bucolic beauty. Tourism is the world's largest employer, and tourists today want to experience the world through all five senses. Tasting the Good Life tells the story of Napa tourism through the words of the tourists who visit and the men and women who provide the products and services they rely on. The stories of 17 people--from winemaker to vineyard manager, from celebrity chef to wait staff, from hot air balloonist to masseuse--provide extraordinary insight into this new form of tourism and its impact on an iconic American place.

A concise history of wine in the Napa Valley that helps visitors to the valley to enjoy their wine country experience even more, and Napa Valley wine drinkers to appreciate how the beautiful valley wines came to be. This book traces the evolution of the Napa Valley "wine culture" whose five core attributes--wine excellence, varietal diversity, innovation, ambience, and hospitality-make the Napa Valley the unique, world-class wine region that it is today. Beginning in the age of Fernando Cortez when Spain laid claim to California and the territory that would become known as the Napa Valley and continuing through to the New World wine revolution in the age of Robert Mondavi, this book reveals the major historical influences on the evolution of the five attributes of the Napa Valley wine culture. And, it teaches you how use your knowledge of those attributes to enjoy the Napa Valley and its wines to the fullest.

At the age of 47, when he a successful publishing executive and living with his wife and four children in an affluent Chicago suburb, John Shafer made the surprise announcement that he had purchased a vineyard in the Napa Valley. In 1973, he moved his family to California and, with no knowledge of winemaking, began the journey that would lead him, thirty years later, to own and operate what distinguished wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. called "one of the world’s greatest wineries." This book, narrated by Shafer’s son Doug, is a personal account of how his father turned his midlife dream into a remarkable success story. Set against the backdrop of Napa Valley’s transformation from a rural backwater in the 1970s through its emergence today as one of the top wine regions in the world, the book begins with the winery’s shaky start and takes the reader through the father and son’s ongoing battles against killer bugs, cellar disasters, local politics, changing consumer tastes, and the volatility of nature itself. Doug Shafer tells the story of his own education, as well as Shafer Vineyards’ innovative efforts to be environmentally sustainable, its role in spearheading the designation of a Stags Leap American Viticultural Area, and how the wine industry has changed in the contemporary era of custom-crushing and hobbyist winery investors.

A travel and lifestyle guide celebrating the beautiful California region famous for its wine and food, featuring juicy tips and in-the-know info. Napa Valley is a wonderland boasting beautiful weather, exquisite vistas, bespoke hotels, Michelin-rated restaurants, and world-class wineries. From Napa with Love is equal parts travel- and lifestyle-guide celebrating this famed and incredibly popular California destination. Featuring itineraries, interviews, sidebars, recipes, and entertaining 101s, this highly visual volume provides insider information about the best the area has to offer, as well as tips on how to bring home that much-envied Napa lifestyle. Each of the nine chapters offers up a distinct point of view (the Bohemian, the Oenophile, the Foodie, etc.), and these roles are filled by the region’s most notable residents, weekenders, and summer folk. Advice from Andy and Kate Spade, Thomas Keller, Ken Fulk, Carlo Mondavi, and Roman Coppola ensures you’ll learn the best and most authentic ways to enjoy the Napa experience that they all are so passionate about.

California's upper Napa Valley is regarded by many as the premier wine-growing region in America. Producing vintages since the 1850s, the mountain-ringed valley studded with ancient oaks is the setting for several wineries that have been active for more than a century, overcoming a variety of challenges from insect invasions to Prohibition. But Napa's "Up Valley" also has a rich pioneer heritage that extends beyond its famous vineyards and cellars. Home to some of California's earliest settlers and the staging and recruiting area for the Bear Flag Revolt, the region was also home to California's first resort spas and a silver and cinnabar mining industry that brought wealth to some investors but disappointment to many others.