Sparkling Wine Archives - Wine Country Getaways

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!

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.

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.

In Search of Sparkling Wine in Napa Valley and Carneros

by Joe Becerra

Any day of the year is a great time to enjoy Sparkling wine but in the warm days of late summer, this bubbly wine is particularly refreshing and tasty. Carneros and the Napa Valley have several wineries that produce great sparkling wine. With this blog post we begin a series of posts on some of these. But first, here is some quick information about Sparkling Wine.