Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
genous beer-brewing style originated right here, and grapes thrive not only in the revered
Napa and Sonoma Valleys, but north along the coast to Mendocino and all the way south
to Santa Barbara and even San Diego County.
Growing Up on the Grapevine
Mission-grown communion wine was fine for Sundays, but when imported French wine
was slow to arrive during California's Gold Rush era, three brothers from Bohemia named
Korbel started making their own bubbly in 1882. Today, the Russian River winery they
founded has become the biggest US maker of traditional sparkling wines.
Some of California's heritage vines survived federal scrutiny during Prohibition
(1920-33), on the specious grounds that grapes were needed for Christian sacramental
wines back East - a bootlegging bonanza that kept speakeasies well supplied and saved
old vinestock from being torn out by the authorities.
By 1976 California had a lamentable reputation for mass-market plonk and bottled wine
spritzers until upstart wineries in Napa Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains suddenly
gained international status. Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Ridge
Monte Bello and Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena beat venerable French wines to
take top honors at a landmark blind tasting by international critics now known as the Judg-
ment of Paris.
Nowadays, the Napa and Sonoma Valleys north of San Francisco Bay continue to pro-
duce some of California's most prestigious wines, thanks to cool coastal fog, sunny val-
leys, rocky hillsides and volcanic soils that mimic wine-growing regions across France and
Italy.
The outlandish film
Sideways
(2004) captures the folly and passion of California's wine-
snob scene. It was a critical hit, but California winemakers have a love/hate relationship
with it for praising Pinot Noir at Merlot's expense.
Sustainable Vines & Wines
During California's dot-com boom of the late 1990s, owning a vineyard became the ulti-
mate Silicon Valley status symbol. Believing the dread phylloxera blight had been
conquered with the development of resistant California rootstock AxR1, it seemed like a
