Sparkling Wine Archives - Wine Country Getaways

Sparkling Wine Hideaway

by Joe Becerra

Roederer in the Anderson Valley When wine country travelers think of California sparkling wine, Domaine Carneros, Mumm Napa, and Schramsberg come to mind. All of these are in the Napa Valley. An excellent alternate choice is the Roederer Estate in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County. It is off the radar for most sparkling wine … Read more

Where and What is Franciacorta?

by Joe Becerra

Where and what is Franciacorta? Franciacorta is an area of Italy that produces a high-quality sparkling wine.

Sparkling Wine Adventures in the Napa Valley & Carneros

by Joe Becerra

The season of sun and celebration is arriving soon and with that it is time to pop open a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate. It is also the time to return to the beautiful wine country of Carneros and the Napa Valley. Visit one or more of these wineries that specialize in producing magnificent sparkling wines.

Domain Carneros – The Best View
Domain Carneros is located along the Carneros Highway just west of the Napa Valley. The beautiful landmark Chateau sits atop the hillside and provides a wonderful setting for a tour and tasting of sparkling wine. The view from the Domaine Caneros terrace is one of the best vineyard views in all of Napa. Take a tour, sip some sparkling wines at one of the terrace tables and take in the views. It is so scenic and relaxing. Our favorite sparkling wine at Domain Carneros is Brut Rose Cuvee de la pompadour. What a joy!

If you like Napa you will love Champagne

by Joe Becerra

We just returned from a fascinating and wonderful three-week trip to France. Our last week was spent in the Champagne Region. If you like visiting Napa, you will love visiting the Champagne region. In spending just one week in Champagne we barely scratched the surface exploring this historic wine region. There are some 300 villages in the Champagne wine region and more than 3000 Champagne producers.

Only three varieties of grapes are grown here, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. These are the grapes used in blending Champagne. The majority of the soil is limestone The vines are grown in rows about one meter apart and are allowed to grow just over a meter in height. The vines are kept short and are constantly pruned. The idea is to keep the density high so the grape production is lower and the vines must compete for the needed ingredients. The vines grow deep into the chalky limestone soil. No irrigation is needed because there is enough rain and the chalky soil acts like a sponge to absorb the water. The limestone soil gives the Champagne that unique character that is found in no other bubbly around the world.

Valentine’s Day Getaway to the Napa Valley Ideas

by Joe Becerra

If you are thinking about getting away to the Napa Valley with that someone special on Valentine’s Day, you’d better think quickly. Although tourism is down in the Napa Valley, Valentine’s Day is always one of the most popular weekends in the entire year and waiting until the last minute can get you in the doghouse. So, you have two things to do immediately after reading this posting. Make a lodging reservation and dinner/lunch reservations.

Downtown Napa, The Good & The Bad

by Joe Becerra

Last week we spent one night in downtown Napa. That is not much time to explore Napa but enough for us to discover some wonderful delights and a few things not so appealing for tourists.

The new Avia Hotel is where we lodged for one night. It is certainly a very beautiful venue but so new that a few kinks need to be ironed out. The price for our room was listed at $900 a night on the door. We received an alert from the Travel Zoo and paid $119 for our room. I can’t imagine anyone paying the full price in this economy.

Mumm Napa Celebrates The 2009 Harvest

by Joe Becerra

Toasting and drinking sparkling wine is synonymous with celebrations. When Mumm Napa celebrates the Harvest, they do so in a most unusual manner. Friday, August 14, 2009 was the first official day of harvest for Mumm and when the first grapes arrive at the Mumm crushpad it’s cause for a jubilant celebration for all employees.

At 6.am that morning the harvest crew began picking Pinot Noir grapes at the Game Farm Vineyards in Oakville. The harvesters fill small yellow bins repeatedly with amazing speed and by 9:30 am the first truck load of grapes arrives at the Mumm Napa crushpad. This marks the beginning of the Mumm Napa harvest celebration.

Napa Valley Bits & Pieces of Wine News – June 15th

by Joe Becerra

Amazon Closer to Selling Wine When New Vine Logistics closed its doors a couple of weeks back many were predicting that Amazon would either drop or have a long delay in launching their plan to sell wine online. Amazon had contracted New Vine Logistics to handle the sales. New Vine Logistics is back and word … Read more

Napa Unsettling Problems

by Joe Becerra

With redevelopment projects along the Napa River and the buzz created by the Oxbow Market, you would think that all is joy among Napa businesses, restaurants, and lodging establishments. Not so. The last few weeks have not brought good news to the city of Napa.

One of Copia's exhibits,
interesting or humdrum?

Copia continues to have its share of financial problems. Copia recently announced layoffs and surprisingly their winter hours leave Copia open only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Copia store and Julie’s Kitchen restaurant remain open on a daily basis. We stated in a blog post a year ago that on our last visit to Copia we felt that the exhibits were sparse and not very compelling. The most interesting area to us was the vegetable garden and now we hear that the garden plot might be up for sale to shore up Copia’s financing. You would think that with the addition of the Oxbow Market next door, Copia would see an increase in visitors. Apparently, that has not happened.

Schramsberg – Napa Valley’s Sparkling Wine Icon

by Joe Becerra

Schramsberg Vineyards is the last of the wineries on our sparkling wine trail to be reviewed. It is perhaps the most interesting and fascinating of the five wineries that we have visited and posted to our blog. Jacob Schram originally built the historic winery and the magnificent Victorian house in the mid 19th century. After … Read more