Michael Mondavi’s venture at the Oxbow Public Market has ended. The Folio Enoteca and Winery quietly pulled out of the Oxbow Market at the end of March. This has to be a major blow to the Oxbow Market and their merchants. No doubt the recession has made it tough on the Oxbow Market but perhaps a greater concern might be its location. The Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco owned by the same company is teeming with tourists and visitors on a daily basis.
Next door to Oxbow is the Copia building that has remained empty for almost two years. Copia just could not attract enough visitors to make a go of it. The Oxbow Market has a more interesting fare than Copia to attract tourism, but nonetheless one has to wonder if its location and not the recession is to blame for the Folio Enoteca deciding to close shop. The Enoteca has no plans to reopen at a different location. A company spokesperson told us they plan to focus on their wholesale wine business that has been growing steadily over the years.
Napa Valley Online Auction Set
Would you like to have fun in the Napa Valley wine country and support four Napa County nonprofit family agencies? Then take part in an online auction that will run from April 23 to 30. Check out the auction site and bid on one of the 47 very cool items. We would love to win the Chappellet Vineyard Picnic for 8. That would fit in nicely with our group of wine traveling friends. Find out complete details at the Napa Valley Register.
Get your beach chairs and picnic baskets ready for the Amgen Tour
On May 17th the Amgen Tour of California will make its way through the Napa Valley. The riders will take off from Davis and finish in Santa Rosa. The cyclists will climb Howell Mountain and descend onto the Silverado Trail and head south to Oakville Cross Road. From there it is across the Valley and onto Highway 29 and then up the Oakville Grade. Get your beach chairs and picnic baskets ready and do like the French do for the Tour de France. Find a great spot, arrive early with your picnic lunch and watch some of the world’s greatest cyclists in the world, while sipping wine in the world’s greatest wine country. The cyclists should arrive on the Silverado Trail at about 1:30 pm. At that point in the race, there should be a break-away pack to watch, then minutes later the main pack of riders (Peloton) will pass through. The Amgen Tourwebsite has an estimated time of arrival at various points so you can gauge when the cyclists will arrive. In a week or two, we will scout the course and map some potential great vantage points for watching and enjoying this great event in wine country. We will get back to you with the scouting report.
Festival del Sole and Robert Mondavi Summer Concert Series Announced
The Napa Valley Festival del Sole runs from July 16-25. In its fifth year, the Festival del Sole has become one of the country’s leading summer music festivals. Over 80 wineries, resorts and partner organizations support it.
Robert Mondavi Winery and the Napa Valley Opera House Summer Music Festival kicks off July 3rd with a performance by a Napa Valley tradition, Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The concert runs through July 24 and proceeds support the Napa Valley Symphony and Napa Valley Unified School District’s music program.
great post as usual!
When I was in Napa this spring i found an app called iNapa that helped me and my wife used and was very helpful, also it only cost a few dollars. It saved our whole trip because it was very rainy and we could not do any of the things we were planning on doing.
Hopefully everyone else finds this app for the iPhone helpful, if you need more info about the app it is made by a company called i3G.
Glad to help,
Jack