Author Description

Product description This is an indispensable travel guide to California's world-famous wine country: the Napa and Sonoma valleys and the Russian River region. There are more than 300 wineries here, where the author sipped and sniffed the wine and squeezed the cork (not in that order, though), and took notes to share with the reader. The exploration is thorough, region by region, appellation by appellation, from the baronial wine estates of the Napa Valley to the historic Sonoma Valley where in 1857 Count Agoston Haraszthy planted California's first vineyards, to the wine-rich region in the watershed of the Russian River where more than a hundred microclimates determine the characteristics of the grapes. Yountville, Rutherford, St Helena, Calistoga, Sonoma, Kenwood, Healdsburg, Geyserville, Asti, Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill, Los Carneros, Sonoma Mountain, Stag s Leap District, Oak Knoll, Atlas Peak, Mount Veeder - they re all there. The book includes winery-locator maps as well as appellation maps, and sections on winemaking, champagne-making, wine tasting, wine varieties, and a wine glossary. It also contains over 500 listings of wineries, accommodations, restaurants, area attractions and events, with hundreds of web addresses.