If you’re a wine lover and also demophobic, then Napa County in the winter is the perfect solution for you. This is the heart of northern California’s wine country and the birthplace of American wine with so many of the biggest names represented within its 350 wineries. The success of the wines from the area since the mid-seventies has made this the second biggest tourist attraction in the state behind Disneyland. Accordingly, the summer is high tourist season and the costs reflect that. The hotels are booked and expensive, the traffic backs up along the small roads, and the tasting rooms look like commodities trading pits. But Napa Valley doesn’t shut down just because the hordes have made a mass exodus by early September. And as long as you don’t require the grapes or leaves to be on the vines, you’ll find the experience special, as if you’re discovering places of which few are aware.
The upsides are many. You can often happen upon winery tours and tasting rooms to yourself, allowing you to bask in a sense of exclusivity, a slower pace, and greater insight into the local wineries’ offerings and the people behind them. Instead of pushing to ensure that you get to through the list of wineries and wines on your itinerary, the tour has time to relax and take in the scenery and become immersed in the bucolic setting and the camaraderie of the locals.
Napa Valley wineries charge for their tastings as the land isn’t cheap and neither is the wine they’re producing, and with the throngs of tourists through their tasting rooms it only makes economic sense. Therefore a winter visit can make a lot of sense. While some wineries may come off of their summer tasting room prices, the best defense is to capitalize on the wonderful hotel deals that abound throughout the winter at almost all of the hotels and resorts, especially if you can plan to visit during the weekdays when even the San Francisco bay area locals are absent. You can also find reduced rates at restaurants and when buying wine by the bottle or case directly from the local wineries.
Whether you’re on the main drag through the Napa Valley with the biggest names in wine along Hwy 29, or the smaller vineyards of the Silverado Trail road, you’ll find the atmosphere so much more civilized in winter than at any other time of the year. The obvious exclusivity borne from the time you’ve chosen to visit will not only afford you far greater value for your money while you’re there, but it might also afford you a sense of what it would mean to rule over a winery of your own, and with the staff serving at your pleasure, and your pleasure exclusively, it’s not a fantasy that is difficult to conjure up.
