The Thomson family history in Napa Valley dates back to 1938, when grower and proprietor of Thomson Vineyard, Jennifer Thomson's great-grandmother, Jenny Ophelia Barnum Thomson, and her husband, Matthew Alexander Thomson (Sr.) relocated from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. Matthew and his two brothers helped build the Oklahoma City airport before moving west ... [Read More]

It was another extremely busy year in Napa Valley; we visited, tasted with and profiled 40 new Napa Valley wineries/producers bringing us to a total of 1,260 now completed for the Napa Wine Project. For reference, that was only one less than the previous year. We continued to taste up and down the valley most every day and updated the majority of our active ... [Read More]

While we have known about the highest elevation vineyards in Napa Valley for many years, we finally took some time to pinpoint the highest vines on each of these properties. For reference the highest vineyards in Napa Valley are: The highest vineyard in Napa County is the Harris Blue Ridge Vineyard planted to Zinfandel; their highest vines are at an ... [Read More]

We achieved a milestone platform this year reaching our 1,200th Napa Valley winery or brand personally visited, tasted with and profiled; for reference that coveted producer was Sylvan Lake. We added 41 new Napa Valley winery/brand profiles to this site in 2024 reaching 1,219 to date as of December 31, 2024. We have many brands to visit with still but very ... [Read More]

Join the Vintner's Vanguard for an unforgettable afternoon of wine tasting and celebration at Brasswood Winery Estate. Vintner's Vanguard is an annual Grand Tasting event that gives you the unique opportunity to taste current and newly released wines from the boutique producers of Brasswood Cellars. This event is a true celebration of our community's ... [Read More]

We have reached a point in our project where we are visiting, tasting and writing about between 40 and 50 new Napa Valley based producers each year. We visited, tasted and added exactly 50 new reviews of Napa wineries/brands to the site in 2023. This leaves us less than 25 new reviews of Napa wineries/brands for 2024 to reach another coveted milestone, 1,200 ... [Read More]

Dave’s Wines began as a value-added service to readers of the Napa Wine Project in 2023. Since 2006 Dave has visited, tasted and interviewed more than 1,150 wineries and brands in Napa Valley and created extensive written reviews of each one. He continues to revisit wineries and stay current with the pulse of Napa Valley. He knows the valley extremely well ... [Read More]

Are you a wine enthusiast looking to plan a memorable tour for seniors? Look no further! Wine tours are not only a great way to bond with friends and family, but they also offer the opportunity to explore new vineyards, taste different varieties of wine and create lasting memories. However, planning a wine tour that caters to seniors requires careful ... [Read More]

Greetings from Thailand, home base for the next several months. As we continue to spend countless hours working on the Napa Wine Project, we have found the project has significantly evolved over the years. Initially we tried to visit as many wineries as possible, focusing on quantity of visits rather than quality and as a result all of our early reviews ... [Read More]

Wine represents something much bigger than just fermented grape juice. We know how wine is made today, but imagine figuring that out around 8 000 years ago. It is a very complex process that requires a lot of knowledge in microbiology and chemistry to fully understand. Yet, our ancestors wanted this delicious and fun drink, so they kept on perfecting the ... [Read More]