Our Napa Valley Wine Travel Guide shares a brief history of the region, terroir, where to sip, where to stay and things to do beyond the vines

The Napa Valley is hands down the most famous of the American wine regions. With nearly 500 wineries within 30 miles, the Valley offers something for every wine lovers palate. However, there is a lot more to any Napa Valley vacation than wine.

The first vineyards in the Napa Valley were planted in 1838 by George Calvert Yount, who was the first permanent settler in Napa Valley. The Mexican government granted him 11,000 acres in an area that stretches from what we now call Yountville, through Oakville and north through Rutherford. He planted the first vines and named his new community Sebastopol. There were four other towns with the same name in California, so when Yount died in 1867, the town chose to renamed itself to Yountville, in his honor.

The Gold Rush began bringing immigrants who knew about wine making into the Valley in the 1850’s but it wasn’t until 1858 that the Valley’s first commercial winery was established by John Patchett on the outskirts of the town of Napa in 1858. His winemaker, Charles Krug, left in 1861 to establish his own winery in the town of St. Helena. The winery that is still in operation today.

St. Helena was growing in popularity as a wine destination. In 1876, the little town in Napa Valley brought German immigrants Jacob and Frederick Beringer who founded Beringer Brothers Winery (now Beringer Vineyards). By 1889 Napa Valley boasted more than 140 wineries, the area was thriving! This is until the pesky little aphid arrived. The “small yellow root-feeding aphid” known as Phylloxera wreaked havoc in vineyards for the next few years. The Valley’s plantings declined from 15,800 acres in 1888 to just 2,000 acres by 1900. Just when winemakers in the Valley thought they could recover from Phylloxera, National Prohibition hit. From 1919 to 1933 wine sales were illegal, forcing most wineries to close. Only a few were able to survive by exploiting the loopholes—either by making wine for religious or medical use or by supplying unfermented grape juice to home winemakers. By the time Prohibition ended, there were just a few dozen wineries in the Napa Valley.

Beringer Brothers Winery (now Beringer Vineyards) is the oldest continuously operating Napa winery, and one of the few that were able to stay open during Prohibition by producing sacramental wine.

The wine industry in Napa Valley reopened for business in 1933, but the region wasn’t on the world wine map until 1976 when a few wines were submitted to what has been named the “Judgment of Paris” and WON!

WINE FACTS EVERY WINE LOVER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT NAPA VALLEY

Napa Valley is one of the most renowned wine regions in the world, but it is also one of the smallest. The valley floor is roughly 30 miles long and five miles wide.

While Napa Valley may be small it’s rich in minerals. The Napa Valley contains half of the soil orders that exist within the world. To be more precise, Napa Valley contains 33 soil series with more than 100 soil variations.

Napa Valley contains 16 sub-AVAs that delineate different terroirs within the region. The nine primary AVAs within the Napa Valley follow the course of the Napa River down the valley. They include, Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, Yountville, Stags Leap, Oak Knoll, Coombsville and Los Carneros.

With nearly 500 wineries in the Napa Valley, you’re sure to find one a great sipping spot. Here are three of our favorites to uncork and more of top picks to sip in.

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CAN’T MISS NAPA VALLEY WINE FESTIVALS & EVENTS

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If you’re looking for things to do besides sipping in the Napa Valley wineries, we have A LOT OF IDEAS for things to do in Napa Valley that go well beyond the vines.

THINGS TO DO IN NAPA VALLEY…WITH KIDS

THINGS TO DO IN NAPA VALLEY BESIDES WINE TASTING