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WINE COUNTRY
Featuring Napa’s best wines, wineries, and winemakers
Plate to Palate
Hosts at Heart: Chandon
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Stark Advantage
Scotti Stark moved to Napa Valley from Texas shortly after Food & Wine Magazine bestowed the Best Sommelier award on his team at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse in Houston, Texas. He began his journey in Napa in 2004 as the...
Newton Vineyard
In a valley defined by agricultural expression, Bordeaux varietals thrive as Mother Nature creates a sense of place, capturing quality and character from vineyard to bottle. For Newton Vineyard, craftsmanship, precision,...
Napa’s New Frontier Wine Company
With its status as America’s top food and wine destination—and with well over 500 wineries to visit—calling any experience in Napa Valley “new” verges on hyperbole, but that is precisely what New Frontier Wine Company has...
The Exquisite Expanse of Alexander Valley
As the largest AVA in Sonoma County, Alexander Valley is best known for its superior Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends grown in areas of Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Jimtown, and Maacama. Recognizable wineries...
Zinfandel: Napa’s Treasure Trove
by Melissa Vogt | Photo above courtesy of Chateau Montelena Zinfandel vines have been rooted in California soils since the mid-1880s as far south as Paso Robles and as far north as Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Its...
Sam’s General Store
Over 150 years ago, California’s first millionaire, Samuel Brannan, envisioned Calistoga as a resort town for wealthy city folks drawn to the area’s hot springs. He was instrumental as the town’s founder and for pulling the...
THE BIALE FAMILY LEGACY: Black Chickens and Zinfandel
BY MARK GUDGEL | PHOTOS COURTESY OF BIALE FAMILY VINEYARDS “Buongiorno. This is Antonio. I need four dozen eggs and a gallina nera.” “Gallina nera? But sir, we only have leghorns—white chickens.” “Just...
KNIGHTS BRIDGE WINERY: So Much Below the Surface
BY MARK GUDGEL | PHOTOS BY MIKE LARSON Just north of Calistoga, where Mount St Helena looms larger than ever over the warm, jagged hillsides that have proven to be some of the most fertile lands in all of...
KASCADIA WINE MERCHANTS
Introducing the Wine Gems of Canada to the U.S BY FRANCIE LOW | PHOTOS BY ALINA ROZ PHOTOGRAPHY Of the many great wine regions in the world to experience, there is a must-add to the list: the Okanagan Valley in...
A SLEEPING GIANT AWAKENS
BY MARK GUDGEL | PHOTO COURTESY OF DEARDEN WINES “There are five hundred places to go in Napa Valley. So we feel privileged when people choose us,” said Sam Dearden, son of Chris Dearden, who after years of toil...
Frattey and Frattey Shams of Anderson Valley
On a leisurely drive from Napa Valley to the hills of Anderson Valley along scenic highway 128, views of old oak trees, vineyards, and the Mayacamas Mountain range impress. The best way to take it all in is to roll down the...
Introducing Brashley Vineyards to Napa Valley
by Laurie Jo Miller Farr | Photo by @quickdrawpics It’s a long way from the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York, but it’s a fun second career for the husband and wife team, Bram and Ashley Palm. They’re proud to...
The Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation Changes Lives
Arnulfo Solorio ventured to Napa from his native Mexico at age 14 to follow his dream of attending school. In Mexico, he was told by his rancher family that “books do not feed you; land and animals do.” But from an early...
Napa’s Decadent Side: dessert wines from across the valley
by Melissa Vogt With the onset of the holiday season, there’s no shortage of comfort food, decadent desserts, and an endless array of festive beverages. So stocking wine selections in preparation for celebratory feasts and...
Meet Lithology Winemaker, MATT SANDS
by Charlene Peters | PHOTO By Sandoval Media Matt Sands, a native of New Zealand’s Waiheke Island, found his way to California through snowboarding. The wine came later, following a career as a snowboard...
PAULA KORNELL SPARKLING WINE: Spectacular Sparklers, Napa Style
by Francie Low | Photos courtesy of Paula Kornell Sparkling Wine Sipping a sparkling wine, one cannot help but feel festive and happy. “Bubbles are for celebrations,” is the customary thinking. However, wine producer, Paula...
FRANK FAMILY’S TODD GRAFF: Celebrating 20 Years
BY MARISA MCCANN | PHOTOS COURTESY OF FRANK FAMILY VINEYARDS Frank Family Vineyards has exploded in popularity since its founding by former Disney Studios President, Rich Frank nearly three decades ago. But while...
Scalon Cellars: Good Fortune Plus Good Genes
by Laurie Jo Miller Farr | PHOTOS By SUZANNE BECKER BRONK Sometimes, serendipity is the spark for the best things. And Scalon Cellars seems to have more than its fair share of good fortune. Even the name was born by chance,...
BAZÁN CELLARS: Brand Building Fires Up Vintner Gloria Bazán
by DANIEL MANGIN | PHOTO COURTESy OF Bazán Cellars “What can I say—I like adventure,” laughed Gloria Bazán, explaining her decision to abandon a 15-year professional career in Michoacán, Mexico, to marry a Napa Valley...
601 Cellars: Grenache with Panache
Photo by Lowell Downey, Art & Clarity For many reasons, some vintners and growers in Napa Valley are starting to cast wider nets when determining which varietals to produce, breaking the conventional mold of making Napa...
