Discovering the Napa Valley

A Note from The Wine Tutor

Truth be told, you can experience the Napa Valley in many different ways. You might take a Gray Line Tour from San Francisco and enjoy a fine day of sightseeing. Or you might rent a car and hop from winery to winery and have a picnic in a local park. No doubt pleasurable too (but be careful about the number of wineries and number of tastes!).

After a few such outings, perhaps with a sortie to France or Italy, it dawns on many people that wine is, after all, a unique beverage with a fascinating long history, a rich culture - both religious and pagan - and an esthetic reminiscent of the arts.

Getting a full perspective on wine is a life long study and Napa's place in it is fascinating. The world's first wine was made 7,000 years ago while Napa saw its first vineyard in 1838 an did not have a commercial winery until 1860. Yet for all its newness -- Napa has already enjoyed international acclaim twice, first in the late 19th Century and again over the last 25 years. While regions like Bordeaux and Tuscany can bask in their centuries of wine culture, the psyche and body of Napa are just taking shape. Observant visitors can watch and "taste" it happen!

In the time I've lived in the Napa Valley the number of wine producers has grown from 25 or 30 to around 500, no one knows for sure. The restaurants have multiplied from one or two serving noteworthy meals to several dozen and Napa has become a foodies' Mecca. More are opening each year. An extra pleasant esthetic layer lies in the several ways the wine community and the fine arts nourish one another.

If these facts and this way of thinking about Napa's role in the world of wine intrigue you, your should book an event with The Wine Tutor. He works somewhat like a dream catcher, the Native American bead and feather ornamented woven web that filters out the undesirable and lets through the best dreams – for you. You tell The Wine Tutor your Napa wine country dream and I will use the web of Napa Valley vistas, vineyards and wineries to make it come true.

To your health,

"'There are times,' Thoreen says, "When I feel I'm still a professor of humanities. What is wine, after all? Through wine we can talk about almost anything. My "students" have a good time, they come back, and we become friends. I get to feel exhilarated by what I do. You can't beat that"

Gerald Asher
Quoted in GOURMET
"The Privileged Class, Learning in Style"

"The Wine Tutor has been bringing his students to Cakebread Cellars for years, especially for our work-in-the-kitchen classes that my wife, Dolores and our Winery Events team designed to fit hand in glove with our wine. Even though John is a rascal, we consider him the guru of wine education and we always enjoy having him and his students here at Cakebread."
- Jack Cakebread
CAKEBREAD CELLARS