Napa Valley, California
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Napa WineWalksm |
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Napa Valley, California
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Napa WineWalksm |
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The Napa Valley Book You're welcome to download our free Napa WineWalk Guide. It's in PDF format, so you can print it out or run it on your iPod or other handheld gadget. If you'd like more, we recommend our comprehensive guidebook to the entire Napa Valley. You can order it through your local bookseller, or find out more and buy it by clicking on the cover:  |
| The Napa Valley Book - Everything You Need to Know About California's Premium Wine Country |
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Download a free PDF version 
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Downtown Napa, the heart of Napa Valley's biggest town, has a large and concentrated collection of wine tasting locations. Currently there are 17 of them; and more are on the way. You can walk from one tasting room to another in minutes (sometimes it's right next door), and experience wines from more than 150 different wineries.
You'll notice that as you walk, you'll also pass many of Napa's finest restaurants. Do yourself a favor, and stop in during or after your walk for a thoroughly enjoyable meal, whether it be lunch, dinner or a midafternoon snack.
Most wines available for tasting on the Napa WineWalksm are from small, low-production wineries in the Napa Valley—many of them hard-to-find "cult" or "boutique" wines. Others are from elsewhere in California and throughout the world.
Some tasting rooms are operated by a single winery pouring its own wines. Others are a cooperative effort where wines from a number of different wineries are served. Still others are “wine bars”, not connected with any particular winery but pouring wines by the taste or the glass from as many as 40 different wineries from the Napa Valley and beyond.
Wine samples on the Napa WineWalksm can vary from an ounce to a full glass. There's a fee, of course, but the Napa WineWalksm is a rare opportunity to not just sample but purchase some of the finest wines in California and in the world. The wine shops and tasting bars will be happy to deliver your wine purchase to your hotel, or arrange for shipment to your home or office, assuming you live in a state where direct delivery is legal. (See www.freethegrapes.org for more information.)
Nowhere else can you try so many wines so conveniently. And nowhere else can you buy so many hard-to-find wines knowing with certainty that you'll like them—because you just tasted them.
Join us on the Napa WineWalksm.
Note: Many of these businesses accept the "Taste Napa Downtown" card which for one fee lets you taste wines at many different places. For more information, see the Napa Downtown website.
In most cases we've avoided specifying tasting fees, as those are subject to change, particularly as the cost of the wines poured changes. Where we have listed them, they're apt to change too, although probably less frequently.
When you actually do the walking—and tasting—you can start your Napa WineWalksm anywhere on the route you wish. And, of course, we don't expect you to visit every tasting room in one day. But we thought it might be helpful to give you a suggested route so that you can familiarize yourself with all the possibilities.
We'll start you off at Stonehedge Winery, on Clinton Street near the intersection of Main Street on the edge of Downtown Napa. If you're hungry, you might consider Uva Trattoria Italiana, for Northern Italian dining just a few doors down the street (1040 Clinton Street).
Stonehedge Winery
1004 Clinton Street
Napa CA 94559
707.256.4444
The winery is upvalley in St. Helena but the tasting room is in Napa. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
When you're ready to journey on, go out the front door, and you'll see your next stop across the street. Go across Clinton Street and you're at the Vintner's Collective, located in the historic Pfeiffer Building, the oldest stone building in Napa. Over the years it's been a brewery, a saloon and brothel, a laundry, and a delicatessen. Now it's got great wines.
Vintner's Collective
1245 Main Street
Napa CA 94559
707.255.7150
A co-op tasting room representing a number of Napa Valley boutique wineries. This is the only place in the valley you can sample these excellent wines. Wines are available from more than 15 wineries. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
When you're ready, go out the front door, cross Main Street to the other side and you'll be at Azzurro Pizzeria e Enoteca (1260 Main Street). Turn right to walk along the sidewalk along Main Street. Your next stop is Rocca Family Vineyards. On the way you'll cross Pearl Street and pass by Annaliên Restaurant (1142 Main Street)—with a Vietnamese menu—and Ubuntu Restaurant (1140 Main Street), a vegetarian restaurant that the New York Times considers one of the top 10 new restaurants in the United States. Two doors later, you're at Rocca.
Rocca Family Vineyards
1130 Main Street
Napa CA 94559
707.257.8467
Although their vineyards are in Yountville and Coombsville, Rocca offers tasting and sales at their location in downtown Napa. By the taste, glass or bottle. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah. They're currently closed Sundays but open afternoons other days. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Time to leave Rocca? Go back out to Main Street and turn left. Go along Main Street, go by Cole's Chop House (1122 Main Street), a magnet for carnivores and martini fans, cross over Napa Creek, pass the Napa Valley Opera House (1040 Main Street), and come to First Street. To your right across the street, is the Napa River mural. Turn left at the corner and you're immediately at Back Room Wines.
Back Room Wines
1000 Main Street (974 Franklin Street until June 2008)
Napa CA 94559
707.226.1378 877.322.2576
Note: Located at 974 Franklin Street until June 2008.
Dan Dawson operates a very popular and knowledgeable wine shop and tasting bar. Winetasting by the half-glass or glass, as well as artisan cheeses and charcuterie. Tasting flights of six wines are also available on scheduled evenings. Free wi-fi Internet access.
Leave Back Room Wines, turn right, cross Main Street and walk two blocks—you'll pass Ristorante Allegria - Northern Italian (1026 First Street)—and you'll come to Ceja Vineyards Wine Tasting Salon at the corner of First and Randolph Streets.
Ceja Vineyards Wine Tasting Salon
1248 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707.255.3954
Wine tasting salon, lounge and art gallery. Artisan cheeses, works by local artists. Sample a minimum of four wines from Ceja's own portfolio. Next to Ben and Jerry’s in the downtown Napa mall. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Ready for more? Leave Ceja and turn right on First, then immediately right again on the pedestrian walkway into the Napa Town Center. Keep going and you'll see Gillwoood's Cafe - Home-style cooking (1320 Napa Town Center). Jog to the right, go left at the rotunda, and you'll see Wineries of Napa Valley.
If the weather's good, as it usually is, you'll see tables on the sidewalk in front of the Wineries of Napa Valley tasting room where you can sit while you enjoy your tasting.
Note: If you'd continued on through the rotunda you'd come to the Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau (1310 Napa Town Center). Stop here if you wish, then backtrack to where you were.
Wineries of Napa Valley
1285 Napa Town Center
Napa CA 94559
707.253.9450 800.328.7815
Open daily with sales, tasting and concierge services located very close to the Visitors Center in downtown Napa. Wines from a number of small wineries. Free Internet wi-fi when you purchase a glass of wine. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Time to move on. Walk out of the tasting room (you'll see the Independence Day Parade mural across the street at Randolph and Clay), turn left, continue just on the edge of the rotunda (Gillwoods will be on your right) and go directly along the pedestrian walkway (with Napa Valley Jewelers on your right) to First Street. (Piccolino's Italian Cafe—Old World Italian - www.piccolinoscafe.com—is just a short ways down First Street to your right at 1385 Napa Town Center.)
Cross First Street to Caffe Cicero —Italian American (1245 First Street). Turn left, walk along First Street, pass the historic Goodman Library (1219 First Street), built in 1901 and now home to the Napa County Historical Society), cross Coombs Street and you're at Stave Wine Lounge.
Stave Wine Lounge
1149 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707.259.5411
Wine bar with automatic wine dispensers. Buy a card, then use it to pour yourself one of the many available wines from small Napa Valley producers and elsewhere. The dispensers automatically give you a one-ounce taste. You can also buy a bottle of any of the tasting wines, and take it home or sit back and enjoy it in Stave's comfortable surroundings.
Thirty-two wines available for tasting, including eight international wines. Cost per ounce tasting ranges from $1.10 to $9.00. By the bottle from $10 - $100. Small production local wines are featured. Also dessert and sparkling wines by the glass, as well as delicious food pairings. Free wi-fi. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Coming out of Stave, turn right (you'll pass by the Hispanic Americans of Napa County mural) and continue to Main Street. At the corner, where Tuscany - California/Italian (1005 First Street) is located, turn right and walk south on Main. Along the way, after crossing Second Street, you'll come to ZuZu restaurant.
ZuZu
829 Main Street
Napa CA 94559
707.224.8555
ZuZu is a very popular restaurant serving Spanish/Californian tapas, but it's also an excellent place to sample wines to go with those tapas, as it offers more than 25 wines by the glass. Limited-release, off-the-beaten path wines from California, Spain, Italy, Portugal, South America and New Zealand are featured.
Leave ZuZu, turn right and continue along Main Street for a total of about three blocks (the river is on your left and after Third Street you'll pass the new courthouse and jail on your right, and the new Riverfront complex on the river on your left) until you come to the Napa Mill (500 Main Street).
The mill was originally a flour mill and a feed and grain business, but is now the Napa River Inn, Celadon restaurant - Global Comfort Food (500 Main Street, Suite G), and shops, including Sweetie Pies bakery (520 Main Street) and Vintage Sweet Shoppe (530 Main Street). Your next stop, the Napa General Store, is almost at the end of the brick building. At the very end is Angèle Restaurant - French Country (540 Main Street).
Napa General Store
540 Main Street
Napa CA 94559
707.259.0762
A specialty market and cafe (open for breakfast and lunch till 6 p.m.) with an American/Pan-Asian menu. Visitors can choose from a daily tasting selection of a dozen or more reds and whites by the glass, most from Northern California vineyards. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Leave the General Store and retrace your steps back to First Street, the main street of downtown Napa. Just after you pass Veterans Park with its amphitheater overlooking the river, you'll go by Downtown Joe's (902 Main Street), the only brew pub in the city of Napa. Turn right on First and you're quickly at the Bounty Hunter, on your right shortly before the bridge.
Bounty Hunter Rare Wine & Provisions
975 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707.226.3976 800.943.9463
Mark Pope focuses on rare, limited-production wines, primarily from California but including wines—and wine paraphernalia—from throughout the world. He's in the historic Semorile Building, constructed in 1888 and located between Main Street and the river.
Mark also offers a wine bar (more than 40 wines by the glass and 400 by the bottle) and bistro fare for tasting and fine snacking. Open late on Friday and Saturday nights, the Bounty Hunter has become a lively and popular hangout. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Leave the Bounty Hunter, turn right, and cross the First Street Bridge over Napa Creek. At the end of the bridge, use the crosswalk at the light to cross over to the other side of First Street. Then cross over Soscol Avenue and on over the railroad tracks. Go a little further and you'll come to Mason Cellars.
Mason Cellars Oxbow Tasting Room
714 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707.255.0658
Tasting room near the Oxbow Market and Copia. Mason's wines are made in Oakville and they specialize in Sauvignon Blanc, but also offer Cabernet Sauvignon. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Leaving Mason Cellars, you'll walk a few doors to the left and come to Taste at Oxbow.
Taste at Oxbow
708 First Street (at McKinstry Street)
Napa CA 94559
707.265.9600
Wine tasting from both Mahoney Vineyards and Waterstone Winery, gourmet food snacks and retail items. Enjoy a glass, or try a taste of five wines for one fee. Waterstone produces Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Mahoney's Carneros vineyards produce traditional Italian wines such as Vermentino and Montepulciano, and the Spanish Tempranillo, as well as Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Leaving Taste at Oxbow, turn left, turn left immediately again on McKinstry Street and you've come to GustavoThrace.
GustavoThrace Tasting Room at McKinstry
1021 McKinstry
Napa CA 94559
707.257.6796
A shared tasting room pouring GustavoThrace wines, and selling other wines as well. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
Note: Until May 2008, the tasting room is known as Napa Wine Merchants, and is located at 1146 First Street, corner of Coombs.
Leaving GustavoThrace, look across McKinstry Street. You'll see outdoor tables for the renowned Taylor's Automatic Refresher, with its "mother" hamburger joint in St. Helena, and a sister burger joint at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Cross McKinstry, go past Taylor's along First Street and you'll see a large, warehouse looking building.
You're at the Oxbow Public Market, where among 30 vendors, you'll find Folio Enoteca & Winery, on the right side of the hall as you enter from the First Street entrance.
Folio Enoteca & Winery
610 First Street #10
Napa CA 94559
707.256.3700
Located inside the Oxbow Public Market, Folio offers a microwinery, wine tasting room and shop, and a café. Folio was founded by Michael Mondavi and his family. Michael was formerly head of Robery Mondavi Winery in Oakville. Folio has a number of wine labels and imports others, so you can try a variety of Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Noirs, Syrahs and Chardonnays by the taste, the glass or the bottle. Tasting flights are also available. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
At the end of the Oxbow Market's hall, on the left side, you'll see the entrance to Oxbow Wine Merchant.
Oxbow Wine Merchant and Wine Bar
610 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707.226.5587
Offers tasting from 15-20 wines by the 2 oz. taste, the 5 oz. glass, a 375ml carafe, and the full bottle. Tasting flights as well. Ask them about their Wine Profile that will help you zero in on the types of wines you like best. Carries smaller production wines from around the world, as well as everyday, high-quality labels. You can also sit on the outside deck overlooking the river while you enjoy your wine or a pint of draft beer. Speaking of draft, you can even have a glass of draft wine. Along with your beverage, you can have a variety of charcuterie, cheeses, and other light dishes. You'll also find a huge selection of wines to take, or have shipped, home. The owners also operate the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in San Francisco. In the same large room is also the Oxbow Cheese Merchant.
The Oxbow Market offers other ready-to-eat food options, including rotisserie (Rôtisario), Venezuelan street food (Pica Pica Maize Kitchen) and oysters (Hog Island Oyster Company). Once you've wandered through the Oxbow Market, tasting, shopping and snacking, it's time to head for Copia. Leave the market and turn left along First Street. At the other side of the parking lot, you'll be at Copia.
Copia - The American Center for Wine Food and the Arts
500 First Street
Napa CA 94558
707.259.1600 (tickets) 707.265.5900 (admin)
Adults: $5.00 Seniors/Students: $4.00 Children 12 and under: free. Half-price Wednesdays for Sonoma and Napa County residents. Frequently admission is free for everyone thanks to corporate sponsors, and at the time of writing is free throughout 2008. Annual memberships available. Day pass is not required to visit the Café, Julia's Kitchen or the store, but is required for the Wine Spectator Tasting Table, demonstrations and exhibits. Copia is open 10 to 5 daily, except Tuesdays. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
There's a 30-minute class every morning that for a small fee will teach you the basics of wine tasting. There are several places to taste wine at Copia. Prices vary depending on the value of each wine, but first is a free taste at the "Winery of the Week" table that you'll see after you enter the building. A little further down in the same room, you'll see the Wine Spectator Tasting Table that on weekends offers themed wine flights as well as tastings by the glass.
Perhaps the most interesting tasting feature at Copia is the automatic tasting. Buy a card at the front desk with a credit of $10 and up, and you can use the card to pour wine from 40 different automatic wine dispensers. You can taste wines from the Napa Valley and around the world, taste the difference in wines with varying degrees of oakiness or different methods of fermentation, and taste others that demonstrate the same grape grown in different regions. Once you've tried a number of these wines, you can test yourself with some "mystery wines", as you try to guess the grape variety of each.
You can even taste wines with certain "defects", so that you'll know for sure what that taste is in a wine when it doesn't taste the way you think it should.
Copia is situated on 12 acres along the banks of the Napa River. The center celebrates America's contributions to wine, food and the arts. It includes a 280-seat theater for films and lectures, a café gift shop, an 80-seat demonstration kitchen, a 500-seat concert terrace, a restaurant—"Julia's Kitchen" (named after the late Julia Child)—and 3.5 acres of landscaped edible organic gardens for hands-on learning about soils, farming and viticulture. It offers films, classes, readings, lectures, demonstrations, tastings and workshops. Copia also has a free audio tour that lets you listen to commentary from your own cell phone. (Just dial 408-794-2854)
Copia offers a variety of wine education classes with such titles as The ABCs of Starting a Wine Cellar and The Carpenters of Wine: All About Wine Barrels and Cooperage, as well as Wine Certificate programs in partnership with the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. Over 40 different wine courses are offered, most paired with food. It also offers more than 200 food classes, including both cooking and non-cooking programs.
Walk out of Copia, and turn left on First, heading eastward toward the hills. Cross the bridge over the Napa River and then Juarez Street and you'll see JV Wine & Spirits across the street on your right. Cross First Street safely, and you'll be at the largest liquor store in the Napa Valley.
Note: This bridge will be closed for rebuilding for about 18 months beginning June 2008. The best alternative is to use Third Street.
JV Wine & Spirits
301 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707.253.2624
The place where Napans go for good prices on wine and spirits. The largest wine selection in the Napa Valley with over 1200 different wines, including more than 250 Cabernets, 320 Chardonnays, 120 Zinfandels and 140 Merlots. If that's not enough for you, try one of the more than 115 different micro and imported beers.
Wine tasting every day from 1-6 p.m. with a rotation of 40 different boutique wineries. There's a $5 tasting fee, but it's refundable with your purchase of wine. Friday evening offers winemaker tastings at a charge of $2.00 per person, also refundable with purchase. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
You can also order many of their wines online at www.jvwine.com
And that's the Napa WineWalksm. We hope you enjoyed it. We also hope you tasted moderately, so you could fully enjoy each wine.
No matter how you choose to experience the walk, it makes sense to have a room at one of the hotels, inns or B&Bs in the downtown area. You'll find them listed at www.napanow.com/napa.lodging.html. With a convenient location like that, you can can have a great meal at one of the downtown restaurants, walk back to your room, have a good night's sleep, and do it all again tomorrow, trying some of the wines you missed today.
Thanks for joining us on the Napa WineWalksm
Robert Craig Winery
880 Vallejo Street
Napa CA 94559
707.252.2250
Tasting by appointment only.
Directions: From downtown Napa take Main Street north to Vallejo Street. Turn right and continue two blocks east.
Although his Cabernet Sauvignons are made on Howell Mountain and come from vineyards in such varied locations as Coombsville, Mt. Veeder, Howell Mountain and Spring Mountain, Robert Craig has opened a convenient tasting room just minutes from downtown Napa. Also features Chardonnay and Zinfandel. [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]
X Winery
1405 Second Street
Napa CA 94559
707.204.9522
Tasting home of X Winery and Amicus Cellars wines. X Winery has facilities in St. Helena, Napa, and American Canyon and produces Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel. Amicus has vineyards throughout the valley and focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon [Accepts "Taste Napa Downtown" card]