Napa Cellars is located close to Cosentino Winery on the west side of St. Helena Highway just north of Yountville. It is one of the first few wineries you will see as you drive up Highway 29 from the town of Napa - and a result of their location can often see first time visitors to the valley. This winery is owned by the Trinchero Family You get to double your money here as the Folie a Deux Winery is also housed within Napa Cellars and you get to enjoy their wines as well. This winery dates from 1996 and was founded by two well known winery names in the valley - Rich Frank and Koerner Rombauer both of whom own and run other wineries. This winery was purchased by the Trinchero Family in 2006 (also owners of Sutter Home). The tasting counter is located in a non-descript building right next to St. Helena Highway and the wine tasting is casual & relaxed. Their tasting room in fact used to be the original barrel room on site and the original brick floor is still in place. Upcoming plans as of press time, include some updating and renovation to the facilities. Only Napa area grapes are used in their wines; they make two whites, a Chardonnay & a Sauvignon Blanc. We tried their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc - this is a crisp steely wine with lots of citrus notes on the nose. The palate is very clean and you will probably pick up some pineapple flavors. Their 2006 Chardonnay is from vineyards south of Napa which have cooler growing climates than up valley. A small percentage of the fruit for this wine is from the well-known Hudson vineyard in the Carneros region. Hints of pineapple hit your nose and the mouth feel is round and creamy with notes of vanilla. Napa Cellars makes a variety of reds which is what they are most known for. All their wines are quite reasonably priced for Napa standards ranging from approximately $20 to $55. We enjoyed their 2005 Zinfandel - a very large nose on this wine and nice layers of spice coat the palate including anise and cloves. Good tannins anchor the finish, but they are not too strong. Several Cabernet's are offered including their much in demand Oakville Cabernet (which is very reasonably priced for Oakville fruit!). The winemaker here is also the winemaker for Nap a Cellars. A tasting is either Foliex a Deux wines or Napa Cellars but you can certainly do both. Several complimentary tastes are also given. Also nice picnic grounds on the side of the winery next to their 3/4 of an estate planted vineyard. Visit: www.napacellars.com

Quick Info Open to Public: Yes Appointments: No Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-6pm Phone: 963-5292 Address: 2812 St. Helena Highway North Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Napa General Store Napa General Store is located in the historic brick Napa Mill all the way at the south end of Main Street. Its location was a former feed store. For reference, the Napa River Inn is almost next door in the same building. A river running through a town always adds a nice touch and the Napa Mill is built right above the Napa River. There is even a river walk you can take which wraps around the actual mill building. It is called the River Promenade & Plaza at Napa Mill and connects with several nearby outdoor restaurant patios. This is a very relaxing stroll. Parking is a bit tight at the Napa Mill especially on weekends, but a nearby parking garage will help alleviate the congestion. Napa General Store is open 7 days a week and they offer a variety of wine related items as well as boutique type gifts and souvenirs. The focus of their merchandise is typically artisan based so you will find many neat souvenirs, knick knacks and other wine related items not often found elsewhere. Walk through the long hallway past the restrooms to enter the store. The inside is very modern with a high ceiling and a nice atmosphere. Their sit down wine bar is to the right past the merchandise as you walk in. If the bar is crowded, there are nearby tables you can take your tastings to. In addition when the weather permits there is outdoor patio dining overlooking the Napa River. A little secret - should you happen to be in Napa during the 4th of July weekend this is one of the best places in Napa to watch the fireworks over the river - as you can sit down outside on the patio for the best viewing. The Napa General Store also typically has some live music on the 4th as well as during select times throughout the year. They have a good selection of mostly Napa and Sonoma wines. Check the laminated printed tasting menus on the counter top for that days selection. The wines represented on their wine list are from mostly small vintners and labels that you will most likely never heard of. That is not a bad thing! They try to represent "artisan" wineries - those who have small production and also do not have a tasting facility of their own. Want some food to go with your wine tasting? You can also choose from a cafe style menu for breakfast and lunch (they are not open for dinner - as the evenings are often reserved for special events, weddings etc). Need a nice lunch to take with you for between wine tastings? Choose from their basic or luxury box lunches which are available for takeout. Nearby shops, other wine tasting venues and a plethora of dining options are available within walking distance. With the new hotels, and apartments being built in this area, the Napa General Store finds itself in an ideal central location. Interested in hot air ballooning over Napa Valley? Balloons Above the Valley meets here before their trips and one of their outings incorporates a post trip champagne brunch at the store. Visit: www.napageneralstore.com

Quick Info Open to Public: Yes Appointments: No Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-6pm, last seating for food is at 4:30pm Phone: 259-0762 Address: 540 Main Street, Napa Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Napa Style , owned by well-known culinary chef, Michael Chiarello, maintains their flagship store in the charming historical Vintage 1870 shopping center in the heart of Yountville. This building was originally a winery called Groezingers (the faded name is found on the brick archway located above the main entrance to the store), and in a way, Napa Style is part of the tradition of having wine on site - especially considering the nearby V Wine Cellar wine shop used to be located in their current home. In fact when we were there - not long after they opened, several employees from the nearby V Wine Cellars came over to do some wine tasting. Michael has a lot on his plate so to speak; he is a long time chef in the Napa Valley having served as the Founding and Executive Chef of Tra Vigne, a popular restaurant in the town of St. Helena, he is the Emmy Award-winning host of the Food Network's Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello and the author of a number of cookbooks. It is very hard to find rural agricultural areas that have the type of culinary selection you find in the Napa Valley and Yountville is really the culinary capital of the valley. You can think of this store as the culinary kitchen of Napa Valley. For those who enjoy cooking, or like food and wine, there is a lot to busy oneself with in this store. There is a great selection of cookware, culinary books, olive oils, wines and other kitchen related items. Michael is very hospitable and is often around talking to customers or cooking in their state of the art kitchen. Their Ottimo Paninoteca features small dishes using fresh seasonal ingredients. Watch the chefs prepare the food in the open kitchen located right next to the sit down dining area. After hearing a number of people rave about the food we finally had to try the sit down during another visit here. The food does not disappoint! Fresh ingredients are used - great salads and sandwiches especially the spicy chicken. As the name of this cafe indicates, Panini is a big part of the menu, choose regular or pressed. Also a nice selection of salads and Salami. Various delectable samples are strategically located around the store. The Enoteca is a big part of the experience here - several flights are available for tasting at the small counter including local wines as well as from select wineries in France and Italy. This is the only public tasting venue, and distribution for Chiarello Family Cellars - these are wines hand crafted in Napa by Michael and his winemaker. All wines are from his estate and are produced in very small quantities. We have reviewed these wines here. Through the store, you can also sign up for their Napa Style Wine Club which include some of Michael's favorite International wines along with recipes for pairing. Choose from the Cucina Selection which features wines for everyday enjoyment or the Enoteca Selection which features high end special occasion wines from Italy and Napa. Outdoor seating is available in the back of the store when the weather permits. A plethora of parking surrounds both sides of the Vintage 1870 center but on busy summer weekends sometimes even this is not enough. Yountville is small and chances are a brisk stroll will get you here from one of your nearby hotels. Throughout the year special events are often held at Vintage 1870 including the Taste of Yountville Appellation event. Several Napa Style stores are located in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles metro areas. Also of note is the old Groezinger's "barrel room" that is nearby to the Napa Style store. In the near future this is going to be home of Chiarello’s new television show that will feature a live studio audience. Its small, but should get the job done! Visit: www.napastyle.com

Quick Info Open to Public: Yes Appointments: No Regular Tours: No Hours: M-Sat, 10-6pm, Sun 10-5pm (Deli 11-4pm daily) Phone: 945-1229 Address: 6525 Washington St., Yountville Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Napa Valley Farms is owned by Todd White, a native of the Carolinas. Today he makes his home in the valley and in late 2007 opened a tasting salon in the town of St. Helena. The actual main street St. Helena has pretty well been bypassed for tasting rooms by other area towns and this is one of only two winery tasting rooms that we are aware of located along main street. This is one of those small wineries that combines both a fantastic experience with excellent hand crafted wines - all available in very limited quantities. Todd has no distribution outside of California and because of the limited quantities produced the best way to secure the wine is through their website or during a visit. Direct shipments are typically fine. This is one of the nicest sit down tasting experiences that we've had to date during our Napa winery visiting odyssey. The actual tasting salon is located in a non descript one story building next to an Enterprise Car rental office of all places. It is amazing what you can do with a small room. It is extremely well furnished with a western motif; look for a candle that drips wax on the top of a statue's head, a huge mirror and a huge painting by an artist who reserves the bottom few inches for landscape with the rest of the huge painting being merely sky. This is not a formal tasting as you may find at other tasting salons in the valley. Rather it is relaxed - the purpose is merely to to enjoy the wine, get to know each other and have a good time, a drinking experience rather than a "tasting" experience. Unlike other Napa wineries this tasting room typically opens in the late afternoon with pre-dinner visits preferable - although they have been known to stay open very late. As a result when you leave most of the traffic along this very busy section of highway will have emptied out (typical visits often run 2-3 hours +). Another difference from all the other wineries we have tasted at in Napa (450 to date), is Napa Valley Farms charges the exact same price for all of their wines! (the exception is their one white, the Viognier). A pricing system like this is uniquely refreshing; it does not place value on the the type of wine, varietal or vineyard source (we must mention here that Napa Valley Farms sources from several high end vineyards in well-known Napa appellations - Oakville, Howell Mountain etc). In addition this type of pricing does not create a preconceived notion of value. Hmm remember Sideways, the movie that killed Merlot for some? What happened there? All of the sudden a number of people's tastes changed because of seeing a movie. Right. This pricing leaves everything up to you, i.e. your palate and what you find desirable. Excellent! Because of the fairly large number of wines produced, we will provide tasting notes for just a few of our "highlights". Overall, their wines usually run about 50% Bordeaux style and 50% more traditional California style. We started our tasting with the 2006 Viognier, their one white wine. This is a nice departure from the almost obligatory Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blancs you find at many Napa wineries. This wine has nice notes of pineapple, green apple - its a lively crisp wine with a good balance between acidity and fruit. The only red wine that is 100% varietal is their Cabernet Franc. This is a very nice example of what you can do with California grown but styled as an elegant old world wine. This unfortunately was sold out but hopefully future vintages will be available. Two distinctly different Cabernets are produced. The one from Howell Mountain is the typical Napa Cab that people flock to this area for. Its a "muscular" wine that is rich and intense in aroma and layers on the palate. As with the other Red wines this one is blended with Petite Verdot which helps provide the dark inky color and aroma. In contrast to this wine, is the more silky smooth very approachable Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very food friendly wine more "old world" in style - nice spices with notes of ginger complete the finish. Astute listeners may be able to pull out some recognizable songs from Todd's very eclectic playlist (yes music is a big part of the experience here), but you would need to have an uncommon knowledge of music in order to recognize most of these songs. It is possible to get the playlist, ask Todd. All wine is poured in the stemless O-Riedel glasses. People have mentioned that it is easier to warm up the wine with your hands with these type of glasses, but the spirit here is if you are leaving the wine in the glass that long something is wrong! It was here that we also first came across a wonderful new invention in glass ware. The Go Vino glass looks just the O-Riedel glass mentioned above. Hold one in front of your friends, make sure they are watching you and utter the word "damn" and then let it slip from your fingers onto a hard floor. Right, this "glass" is plastic and totally resembles a real wine glass. Visit: www.napavalleyfarms.com

Quick Info Open to Public: No Appointments: Yes Regular Tours: No Hours: Call, typically late afternoon onwards Phone: 800-341-4993 Address: 929 Hwy 29 Main Street, St. Helena Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Napa Wine Co is located at the corner of Highway 29 and the Oakville Crossroad (within walking distance of the opposite corner located Oakville Grocery). The small tasting room is located near the large winery building. Park in the shade of the front of the main winery building and walk over to the tasting room. This is one of Napa's great wineries in a historical and influential sense. The original winery was called Nouveau Medoc and dates back to 1877. The long time Napa Bartolucci Brothers/Family built another winery called Madonna Winery on site in 1892 - which if you are up on your Napa history, you will know that Madonna has been located in the Carneros region to the south for many years. Ownership has changed at Napa Wine Co over the years with notables being Louis Stralla, one of the founding members of the Napa Valley Vintners Association (he produced the Betsy Ross label here in the 1940's) and years later, the famous Inglenook wines were produced on site. One winery in the late 1880's even used a huge mirror near Howell Mountain to flash signals down to Napa Wine Co that they had just picked the grapes and were going to wagon them down to the facilities here. Today Napa Wine Co is privately owned by the long time Napa Family, the Pelissas and differentiates itself from other area wineries in Napa Valley in that they have one of the largest custom crush facilities in Napa. Under a variety of programs, they allow other winemakers to use their facilities to make wine - typically 1000 gallons is the minimum which is equivalent to about 500 cases. Choose from Custom Crush, an Alternating Proprietorship, or a Garagiste/Home Winemaking Program. An "AP" is for wineries who do not have a winery of their own but need a place to make their wine which is where Napa Wine Co comes in as the "host" winery. As a result of their reputation for providing state of the art wine making equipment in a cooperative environment several wineries got their start here who today are quite well known as cult wineries including Bryant Family, Colgin & Marcassin. Napa Wine Co actually only produces about 8000 cases a year under their own labels - but there are thousands and thousands of cases produced under the labels of individual wine makers, made using their facilities. The original winery on site as mentioned above was called Nouveau Medoc and was Napa county's 9th bonded winery. Today Napa Wine Co operates Bonded Winery #9 which is the umbrella company for exclusively their own wine labels which as of press time include: Ghost Block, Elizabeth ROSE, and Napa Wine Company. The Pelissa family are among the largest vineyard growers in Napa County and as a result they have a plethora of vineyard choices from which to source fruit for these three labels. All 600+ family owned acres are CCOF certified organically farmed. Their famous tasting room called Cult Wine Central serves several tasting flights from many of the small winemakers who make their wine here including Napa Wine Co's own labels. Each winery has their own plaque in the tasting room. Tastings are limited at any one time to wine from 25 winemakers. This is a great chance to taste a variety of smaller vintages and much lesser known - but still very highly sought after wines. Wine bottle prices range in price from about $14 to $100+ Visit: www.napawineco.com

Quick Info Open to Public: Yes Appointments: No Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-4:30pm Phone: 944-1710 Address: 7830-40 St. Helena Highway, Oakville Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Naughty Cellars is a winery we have been meaning to visit for a while as we are familiar with the other wines the two partners in this venture create. They are Oscar Renteria of (Renteria Wines) and Steve Reynold's of Reynold's Family Winery located on Silverado Trail. No, these are not the only wineries both are involved in - also see our write-up on Thirteen a one of a kind winery that creates wines blended from all of the Napa Valley sub appellations. We finally caught up with Naughty Cellars in Los Angeles. The idea for this winery started as a "joke label" when both men started making garage style wine and giving it away to their friends and family. For some reason the friends and family started asking if they could purchase this wine - we would have stayed put with the free giveaways, but in any case word spread and eventually Renteria and Reynold's decided to bottle it commercially. Their labels are one of a kind and maybe with wine from lesser premium vineyards would be the only selling point - but with the experience and land holdings between Reynolds and Renteria, this pair produces some fine wine priced very affordably based on Napa standards (as of press time, no more than $30/bottle). Before trying the wine the label and names of their wines will certainly catch your eyes and ears. The label is a zany little figure dressed in red complete with two sharp red horns and names such as Racy, Inky, & Sticky certainly perk the ears. Our favorite is their Racy. We tried the 2002 version which is a fruity blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Zinfandel. The Zinfandel overwhelms the nose which is not a bad thing, unless you hate Zinfandel which we don't and has some deeper aromas including black cherry and Santa Rosa plum - both follow through to the palate. The Inky is a very interesting blend of Petite Sirah and Syrah. The nose is decidedly earthy in flavor with some exotic aromas jumping around and a complexity of flavors not often found in wine priced this affordably. Fleshy blackberry, strawberry, black licorice and clove spices complete the flavors. Production on each of Naughty's labels is typically extremely limited with one offering a mere 41 cases! This is where it pays to do some homework - good vineyard sources, well respected owners in the industry, small quantities and affordable prices. Yea - tough to be beat!. Visit: www.naughtycellars.com

Quick Info Open to Public: Private Appointments: No Regular Tours: No Hours: N/A Phone: 253-7686 Address: 1106 Clark Street, Napa Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Neal Family Vineyards is located mere minutes from downtown Angwin in the north eastern hills above Napa Valley in the Howell Mountain Appellation. The winery sits on a beautiful piece of property surrounded by vineyards and hillside pine & oak forests. If you visit in the Spring or Summer the entrance to the winery is surrounded by a plethora of flowers. The Neal Family has been growing and managing vineyards in the Napa area since 1968 making them one of the older continuous family-owned growers in the region. Their vineyard management company was started by Jack Neal and today his son Mark is in charge of all operations. Visit: www.jacknealandson.com They have a large vineyard management company with many employees and several offices. After a many years of vineyard management the family decided to produce their own wine in 1997 and today they have a state of the art winery. It only makes sense to start making your own wine when you are managing some of areas best vineyards of which the grapes are going into wines for other high end wineries. Neal's production is very small and their focus is on Cabernet Sauvignon and a very few number of other red varietals. For a small winery, they have a nice number of Cabernet's represented - typically 4 to 5 different Cabernet Sauvignons are produced each year. Their 2005 Napa Cabernet is predominately hillside grown yet is very approachable now. Part of this approachability is with the winemaking; native yeast fermentations and extended maceration help develop a wine without huge tannins and alcohol while still retaining the gorgeous fruit. Blocks within vineyard sites are hand selected for the highest quality fruit and all their family vineyards are CCOF organically certified. We also tried the 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyards that surround the winery. Again, the tannins are very well managed for mountain grown fruit - as a result this wine is very approachable now and has a smooth rounded mouth feel. Notes of tobacco, chocolate, spices and hints of toasted oak can be found on the palate. They make a very nice Napa Valley Zinfandel blended with a bit of Petite Sirah which certainly provides additional color to the wine as well as increased aromatics. 2007 saw the introduction of their first ever white wine, a Sauvignon Blanc. Your tasting and winery tour will typically be with the winemaker, the assistant winemaker or the owner. As with most Howell Mountain based wineries your visit is personal in a boutique-style setting. As a result you will receive a very informative look at the winery operations. They have their own bottling line which is somewhat unusual for a winery of this size but it gives them the flexibility to bottle when they want to, not based on a pre-determined mobile bottling schedule. Parts of this machine have even been custom made to meet their needs. All metal work is done in house - there are some interesting functional works of art scattered around. They are closed on weekends as this is a small family operation. Visit: www.nealvineyards.com

Quick Info Open to Public: No Appointments: Yes, Tasting M-F only, Tours only on Thurs & Fri, between 9am & 2pm Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-5pm Phone: 965-2800 Address: 716 Liparita Road, Angwin Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Newton Winery is prestigious hillside estate complete with small formal English gardens, caves and a slight Asian touch to the property. The famed American wine writer Robert Parker once called this winery "one of the most gorgeous mountain estates in California". The winery was developed by the late Peter Newton (native of England) who also founded Napa's only "tram" winery, Sterling Vineyards. Newton loved to design elegant formal gardens and his work shows wonderfully here. Dr. Su Hua Newton, the current owner and founding winemaker is from China. The estate lies just west of St. Helena. From where Madrona Ave ends against the hills in a "T", take the road to the right. This winery has the most aggressive speed bump program of any Napa Winery we have visited and more than once on the long road to the top, we bottomed out in our excitement to reach the actual winery. You know you are getting close to the winery when you pass the large Red English looking telephone booth. Parking is very tight and tours are very limited - held merely once a day at 11am Thursday to Monday. Tours involve walking around the property (it is hillside so there is not much flat space on site). You will see the Pino Solo or Lone Pine Tree in the distance. This is a 100+ foot tall tree at the top of the ridge all by itself; it appears on one of their labels and is one of the icons for this estate. At certain times of the year it is lit up with lights. Your tour will start next to the stately tall fir trees - with great views overlooking the valley. You will walk through the formal gardens (which sit on top of the barrel room) and then enter the wine caves where the highlight here is the Library Wine Cave. You will proceed through their very cold cellars - large doors partition this cellar so each block of the cellar can be at a different temperature. You end in a window surrounded room for the actual tasting. All their wines are naturally fermented. The highlight here is tasting their unfiltered wines - they make a delicious unfiltered Chardonnay which is in extremely high demand and was sold out at press time. They have several different tiers of wine. Our favorite was their Merlot (falling under their Unfiltered tier) - it had a very fruity nose as well as slight hints of old leather. A visit here is highly recommended, both for the wine and for the tour experience. Visit: www.newtonvineyard.com

Quick Info Open to Public: No Appointments: Yes, 11am or 2:30pm, Tues - Monday Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-5pm Phone: 963-9000 Address: 2555 Madrona Ave, St. Helena Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Neyers Vineyards , founded in 2000, is located on a short gravel road off of Sage Canyon Road about 10-15 minutes from the Napa Valley floor. The owners Barbara and Bruce have been affiliated with the wine industry in various degrees for many years. Bruce is a wine distributor and he and Barbara worked several harvests in the early 1970's at Mayacamas Winery. A group of French Vintners associated with Bruce's wine import company influenced much of Neyer's farming and wine making practices - including organically farming, and for the most part not using cultured yeast or filtration. We visited during harvest and the winery was a buzz of activity with the grapes bubbling in their open top fermenters, barrels being moved around, and grapes arriving by the truckload. As with many "hands on" Napa wineries, harvest is a great time to visit as you can see the winery in "action". Several barrel aging facilities are located on the property - one for their Chardonnays and one for their Reds. They have near future plans to build a cave next to the winery and this should be complete within a few years. A visit is here is very personable and is usually with one of the owners. They have their own property in Conn Valley planted with Merlot and Cabernet. In addition they source fruit from premium vineyards, mostly within the Napa area. They are making a name for themselves with their several chardonnays and after tasting these we can see why. They produce 3 different Chardonnays from the Carneros district and Napa Valley. All are excellent but if we are to pick our favorite it would be the 'El Novillero Vineyard' Chardonnay - it is the most golden of the three wines, very fruity with a beautiful long soft finish. Three types of Syrahs and Zinfandels are produced including a Zinfandel from the Toffanelli Vineyard Their Merlot and Cabernet both come from their own vineyard - the Merlot is a very dark elegant wine with lots of red cherries on the palate. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of their better vintages and they have a long track record to compare this to! Also worth mentioning is their 2005 AME - which in French means "soul" and also stands for the first initials of each of their three children's names. This Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from their "best" vineyard block - resulting in a wine that is very dark and extremely intense in flavor. This vineyard block happens to be the highest and most rocky on the property. Magnums are are usually available for any of their wines. Visit: www.neyersvineyards.com

Quick Info Open to Public: No Appointments: Yes Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-5pm, T-Sat Phone: 963-8840 Address: 2153 Sage Canyon Road, St. Helena Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Nichelini Winery is a very historical winery founded in 1890. It is about a 15 minute drive from the valley floor up Highway 128 (Sage Canyon Road) towards Lake Berryessa (up the grade and a bit past the entrance to Kuleto Estate). This is eastern Napa County's oldest same family owned continuously operated winery. They actually stayed open during Prohibition by providing Sacramental wines to the Catholic Church. Anton Nichelini was the original owner and today the winery is owned and operated by four of his grandchildren (Anton had 12 children!). One of the family members is always on site for the tastings - as they run every aspect of the business themselves. The winery is located as close as you can get to the main road without actually being on the road itself! Parking is tight - as there are only a few spaces next to the road. Walk down the steps to the actual winery and tasting bar. Weather permitting the tasting is held outside under an old Roman Press. The person serving our tasting told us that it can take some very severe weather to move the tasting inside - as sometimes there are skunks roaming the inside of the old winery...perhaps! The inside walls contain some printed historical information about the old winery - also check out their cozy tasting area built inside a huge wine barrel. The Roman Press looks sort of like a child's teeter-totter and it is how Nichelini used to crush their grapes until the 1950's. One end was weighted which dropped down onto the freshly picked grapes. To the best of our knowledge there is only one other Napa winery who still has a standing Roman Press and that is Yates Family (although to be fair, they don't actually make their wine at their ghost winery). Nichelini encourages people to bring their own lunches and snacks and make use of the picnic tables on site. There is also a bocce ball court. There are several wines served here that you will have a hard time finding at most other Napa Valley Wineries. For example, their Sauvignon Vert (under 60 acres grown in all of California - 10 at Nichelini) is a very light refreshing crisp Bordeaux style white wine that is decidedly tropical both on the nose and palate. The grapes for this wine come from their original planting in 1946. Now there is a variety we have not seen at any of the other 500+ Napa wineries we have visited! Another wine not often found in Napa is Primitivo; this is a red Italian varietal somewhat similar to Zinfandel. They also make a very nice Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. Not many wineries make a Port from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes - Nichelini makes one interestingly titled Cabaret. Visit: www.nicheliniwinery.com

Quick Info Open to Public: Yes Appointments: Yes, weekdays only - Weekends, walk ins Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-5-6pm Phone: 963-0717 Address: 2950 Sage Canyon Road Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Nickel & Nickel is a prestigious winery founded by Gil Nickel after he founded Far Niente - another winery well worth visiting. Gil unlike many of the wealthy winery owners actually went to college (UC Davis) to learn more about winemaking after becoming smitten with wine when he was already in his 30's. This is an appointment only winery and the "10 second Napa Valley appointment" does not apply here as you actually have to reserve ahead of time - far ahead of time during busy weekends and the summer months. They are located right next to highway 29 - you can't miss the antique Nickel & Nickel truck parked in front next to the highway. The white wooden gate is always locked and you must key in 000 to speak to the receptionist who will open the gate for you. Parking is to the right after you enter the gate in front of the 2 story white wooden building under the oaks. Before the tour starts, enjoy a light white wine in their tasting salon. This is one of the classiest properties in Napa Valley and attention to detail is everywhere you walk. An old building dating from 1770 was removed from New Hampshire and completely rebuilt on the grounds. This is now probably one of the oldest buildings in Napa County! Not a single metal nail was used in the inner construction as the beams are all held together by wood. The tour also winds through the cellar and fermentation tank area. Since this is a fairly new winery and built first class - the latest state of the art technology is used in the wine making - the winemaker can actually remotely control various aspects of the fermentation tanks directly from her laptop! At the end of the tour you sit down and try various Cabernets - typically they will serve you the same vintage cabernet but from different soil types and vineyards - it is really quite dramatic to taste the difference between all of these "same wines". Nickel & Nickel's claim to fame is they produce single vineyard wines - the "b" (blend) word is not to be spoken in this winery! However, we tasted one wine from Nickel & Nickel which is supposedly a winery "mistake" in which their winemaker accidentally produced a blended wine. This is very hush hush - and if you want a bottle of this, you have to ask at the winery itself. Perhaps this one blended wine just might become a collectors item! For the quality Nickel & Nickel's red wines cannot be beat. At press time they make 25 different reds - and plan to expand their repertoire even further. Visit: www.nickelandnickel.com

Quick Info Open to Public: No Appointments: Yes Regular Tours: No Hours: 10-3pm Phone: 967-9600 Address: 8164 St. Helena Highway Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

Nord Estate Wines has been a vineyard management company for over 40 years in the Napa area. The founder Will Nord came to Napa in 1968 and was a pioneer in Napa Valley vineyard management. In addition, he established the Viticulture program at Napa Valley College. Today Nord sustainably farms, manages or owns over 1000 Napa area acres for various wineries making them one of the larger vineyard management companies in the valley. Their attention to detail is amazing in the vineyards - if you are not involved in the wine industry and you look at a vineyard you may think "how much work can go into managing grape vines?". After a visit with Nord in the vineyards you will have a deep appreciation for the hard work that goes into producing high quality fruit from carefully managing the vineyards. As a result, fruit from their vineyards are highly sought after by local wineries. In 2000 they decided to start making their own wine and currently custom crush at an area winery. They are able to pick some of the highest quality grapes from select blocks among their vineyards. A visit here is always with one of the owners and is for the very serious wine enthusiast as they are not open to the public. Your visit usually starts in the vineyards with an overview of growing, trellising and basic vineyard management. Weather permitting, the tasting is held outside next to the vineyards and a small seasonal creek that does see salmon runs during parts of the year. We tried a Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, a nice Cuvee and a large fruit driven Petite Syrah. Nord typically ages their wines an additional year or two longer than the normal "current vintages" found at most area wineries and they will not release a wine until they feel the flavor profile is what it should be. Their Pinot is a blend from two rootstocks 115 and 777, each of which contributes a specific component to the wine (777 for the structure and 115 for the fruit). The fruit for this wine comes from one of the furthest south Napa county vineyards - oak is used minimally resulting is a very fruit forward wine with lots of notes of blackberries and cherries. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is a strong fruit forward Napa Cab - the clone they use produces very small fruit with concentrated flavors - this wine would be great with meat dishes. The Cuvee is a 60/40 Merlot Cab blend and pairs with chocolate very well. The highlight wine for us was their Petite Sirah - this wine has a huge nose, and is rich with complex fruit flavors including blueberries. It is a dark inky wine. You can find their wines locally at JV Wine in downtown Napa. Visit: www.nordestatewines.com

Quick Info Open to Public: No Appointments: Yes Regular Tours: No Hours: N/A Phone: 945-1094 Address: Yountville, Call Winery Photos Winery Website | View Comments (0) | | Add Comment |

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