The Northern California wine community has the most commonly practiced organic winemaking and winemaking technique in the world and one of the few to measure and record effectiveness statewide. This system has won California’s top green award. Sadly, many great wine options have already been destroyed as a result of lack of stability in temperature and humidity. High temperatures (>65ºF) cause your wine to age too soon, thus losing its flavor and balance. When it gets too cold, your wine also loses its flavor and aromas. Keep your wines away from sunlight and exposure to heat; store them in wine cellars, wine refrigerators, and even in heated rooms. A large temperature fluctuation will ruin the wine and the cork. The ideal choice of temperatures for storing dark wine is 50-55°F or 10-16°C. White wines are often kept in the lower ranges at 45ºF.
Northern California winery tour is appropriate for Valentine’s Day activities. It is the most important event of the month. The California winery is the perfect loving area for a vacation with your loved one. When you’re trying to unwind in Napa Valley, Sonoma, or Healdsburg, it may be too late to book that most popular B&B and intimate restaurant. You might find a couple of places open this late in the Napa Valley in the cities of Calistoga, Sonoma, or Geyserville.
Popular Northern California County of Calistoga is actually a more relaxed city with much more casual dining and lodging establishments. Calistoga may not have the flair of the other Napa Valley towns, however it really does come with something the other neighborhoods don’t, mud baths and hot springs. Geyserville, several miles north of Healdsburg, is maybe 2 blocks long, but offers quite a few wonderful tasting rooms and one of the best places to eat in the neighborhood. Try these places to find some great, reasonably priced accommodations.
You can get vineyards to enjoy throughout most of California, from Temecula in the south near San Diego to the northern California coast in Mendocino County to the Foothills of the Sierras. Arguably the most famous though is Napa Valley, but there are amazing wine producers all over the state. As featured on Sideways, you can get great Pinot Noirs from Santa Barbara County. Whatever wine you want, you can find some amazing good examples all over California. Napa Valley is a wine tourism region for finding just about anything from fine Cabernet Sauvignon to Chardonnay and Ports. Napa Valley is by far the most visited wine region in California. Consequently, you probably get the best-developed tourist services, from accommodation to restaurants to winery tours. As a result, it is also by far the busiest wine region in Northern California.
The wine capital of Northern California, Napa County includes 485,120 acres with 45,000 acres planted in vineyards. This constitutes about 4% of wine making in California. One can find over three hundred vineyards ranging from small family operations and not using a tasting room to large vacation resort vineyards with world-class galleries, stable chefs, and a renowned international division. Some vineyards have histories and facilities dating back to the late 1800s, while some are new features with state-of-the-art apparatus producing small quantities of highly desired wines. 5 million visitors descend on the region annually with most arriving during the summer or during the fall harvest. World-class hotels, resorts, restaurants and spas contribute to the area’s reputation for good quality.
