Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NAPA OR SONOMA?
Napa and Sonoma Valleys run parallel, separated by the narrow, imposing Mayacamas
Mountains. The two couldn't be more different. It's easy to mock aggressively sophistic-
ated Napa, its monuments to ego, trophy homes and trophy wives, $1000-a-night inns,
$50-plus tastings and wine-snob visitors,but Napa makes some of the world's best
wines. Constrained by its geography, it stretches along a single valley, making it easy to
visit. Drawbacks are high prices and heavy traffic, but there are 400 nearly side-by-side
wineries. And the valley is gorgeous.
There are three Sonomas: the town of Sonoma, which is in Sonoma Valley, which is in
Sonoma County. Think of them as Russian dolls. Sonoma County is much more down-to-
earth and politically left-leaning. Though it's becoming gentrified, Sonoma lacks Napa's
chic factor (Healdsburg notwithstanding), and locals like it that way. The wines are more
approachable, but the county's 260 wineries are spread out. If you're here on a weekend,
head to Sonoma (County or Valley), which gets less traffic, but on a weekday, see Napa,
too. Ideally schedule two to four days: one for each valley, and one or two additional for
western Sonoma County.
Spring and fall are the best times to visit. Summers are hot, dusty and crowded. Fall
brings fine weather, harvest time and the 'crush,' the pressing of the grapes, but lodging
prices skyrocket.
NAPA VALLEY
The birthplace of modern-day Wine Country is famous for regal Cabernet Sauvignons,
château-like wineries and fabulous food, attracting more than four million visitors a year,
many planning to wine and dine themselves into a stupor, maybe get a massage, and sleep
somewhere swell with fine linens and a pool.
A few decades ago, this 5-by-35-mile strip of former stagecoach stops seemed forgotten
by time, a quiet agricultural valley dense with orchards. Grapes had grown here since the
Gold Rush, but grape-sucking phylloxera bugs, Prohibition and the Great Depression re-
duced 140 wineries in the 1890s, to around 25 by the 1960s.
In 1968, Napa was declared the 'Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve,' effectively block-
ing future valley development for non-ag purposes. The law stipulated no subdivision of
valley-floor land under 40 acres. This succeeded in preserving the valley's natural beauty,
