Napa Valley Wineries

A trip to the Napa Valley wineries can be a great way to learn about wine culture and sample a variety of delicious and refreshing wines.

One Napa Valley winery that everyone should check out is the Domaine Chandon winery. This winery has some particularly beautiful landscaping, and features a variety of 35-minute tours, some of which include a wine tasting at the end. Most of these tours are priced at under $30. Appointments for tastings are not necessary, but these tastings are well worth your while if you are interested in trying Chandon's premium sparkling wines. Domaine Chandon also has a fine dining restaurant located within the winery known as étoile. The menu for this restaurant is seasonal, so the ingredients are very fresh and tasty.

Havens Wine Cellars is a smaller winery that is known for their red wines, including their Merlot. Unfortunately, many wineries stopped making Merlot after the popularity of the film Sideways, in which the main character despised this type of wine. However, Merlot can be a very rich and tasteful wine when done right.  Havens Wine Cellars provides a very intimate tasting room, and has the requisite cheeses to go with the wine. Reservations are required to take a tour or have a tasting at this winery.

There are many more Napa Valley wineries - over 700 as a fact. Napa Valley is actually the second most popular tourist destination in California, behind only Disneyland in number of visitors each year. This is a true testament to the popularity of wine and its importance in American culture.