Somewhere around hour 11 of a recent 26-hour marathon trip by train, plane and automobile from Soave to San Francisco I was struck by a thought: Have you ever noticed that the people hauling the biggest suitcases around airports are often not really dressed that well? As in you almost want to ask...
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Looking for something a little different? Raymond Vineyards fits the bill and then some. Interested in organic and biodynamic farming? They’ve got that. Want to meet a weed-eating sheep named Woolly Wonka? Check. Meanwhile, if you want to indulge your inner hedonist there’s the Crystal Cellar, which has the usual tanks, etc., you’d find...
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A few weeks from now the weather in the Napa Valley will be tilting toward toasty in the afternoons and there will probably be more people around than you may want to rub shoulders with. But right now conditions are pretty near perfect. Sunny skies, mild temps, moderately trafficked tasting rooms. Here’s a few...
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If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair. But if you’re headed for wine country, forget the flowers and pack your camera. Doesn’t matter if your photographic equipment consists of a battleship of an SLR you paid way too much money for or a point-and-shoot _ there...
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Yes, it is a little late to be posting a slideshow of mustard season in the Napa Valley. It begins in January, flies into full bloom in February and winds down in March. However, repeatedly crashing one’s site by trying to install slideshow plugins that apparently were manufactured by Webmistress Torture, Inc., will slow...
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Francis Ford Coppola has worked for years to restore the good name of the Napa Valley’s Inglenook winery. This week he made it literal with the announcement that he had acquired the Inglenook trademark. The director _ although these days he may be known as much for wine as for movies _ also...
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Just off Highway 29 on the outskirts of Napa, Bistro Don Giovanni is popular with locals and visitors. The food here is rustic and hearty. Eat indoors in the big, warmly decorated dining room or dine in a glassed-in terrace where a log fire crackles in winter. On warm days, you can sit on...
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Sure, there are a lot of great vistas in Northern California wine country. But if you had to pick just one place that would be Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga. You know you’re someplace different when you step into the aerial tram that whisks you up a steep hillside to the winery, a white, monastic-style...
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Located about an hour’s drive northeast of San Francisco, the Napa Valley has a big reputation. But it’s quite small _ only about 30 miles long from the southern tip, just south of the city of Napa, to Calistoga in the north. Still, there’s a lot to do and see tucked into this compact treasure...
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Is your name Raymond? The folks at Raymond Vineyards want to hear from you. In what has to be one of the more charming campaigns I’ve come across recently, the winery is interested in hearing from people with the first, last or middle name of Raymond for its I Am Raymond Club. Membership is free...
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