The Napa Valley is the most famous wine region in the entire USA. The reason for this is the incredible quality of the wines coming out of that region and its historical position in the annals of truly fine wines in the USA. The history of the region is storied with many individuals playing crucial roles in the promotion and success of wines from this special Northern California AVA or American Viticultural Area, as wine regions are known in the United States. From early wine Industry pioneers like Jacob Shram, Jacob and Frederick Beringer, Charles Krug, Gustave Niebaum and later Louis Martini, Samuel Sebastiani, Cesare Mondavi and his sons Robert and Peter. While the Napa Valley enjoyed favorable press and competition notoriety going back into the latter 19th century, it was not unti the late 1960's and early 70's that its fame reached International acclaim. One man responsible for much of this was Robert Mondavi, the tireless ambassador of high quality wines from this region under his eponymous label. Still today, long after his passing, the Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve Fume Blanc continue to be two of the best of their kind made across the Globe. In 1973, Napa wines won notoriety in their victorious showing at the fables "Judgment of Paris" tasting in which they took the top spots for both the red and white wine categories. Even though the Chardonnay for Chateau Montelena's winning entry was made with grapes from Sonoma, it was a product of a Napa Valley winery. 

Over 50 years later, the Napa Valley has grown more diverse and distinctive with not just the one overarching AVA but 17 "Nested" AVA's as well. It has also grown from dozens of producers to over 300 with many more vineyard growers as well. The diversity of styles and grapes used in Napa covers a wide spectrum of some of the most famous vine types on the plant, albeit some in very small quantities and only produced by a handful of wineries. Universally, this is an AVA noted for wines grown from Bordelais varieties, most notably Cabernet Sauvignon, which is the signature grape of the Napa Valley AVA. Here you can find amazing Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Viognier and even pockets of fine Riesling, Pinot Noir and Gamay. One of the finest producers of "Champagne" type sparkling wine is to found at the historic Schramsberg Winery, which produces Traditional Method sparkling wines of a quality on par with the finest French Champagne Houses. The most famous of the smaller nested AVA's are Stag's Leap District, Howell Mountain, Mt Veeder, Spring Mountain, Oakville, Rutherford and Carneros (Los Carneros), though the others are quickly gaining notoriety of their own. The Valley stretched from very warm Calistoga in the north to the cooler AVA's of Carneros and Wild Horse located within the influencing reaches of the San Pablo and Solano Bays as well as the cooling breezes of the Petaluma Gap. The AVA regulations of the USA unlike the wine regulations of places like France, Germany and elswhere in Europe, do not put restrictions on what grapes can be grown in which AVA and this give winemakers much more creative ability and the freedom to utilize more of the potential vineyard land on their properties. This creates a lot more diversity of offerings for any one winery and it is not uncommon to find a dozen different single varietal wines offered by winery, truly something for everyone! Thanks to the consistently warm climate and relatively dry conditions, Napa Valley produces outstanding fruit year to year. It's many high elevation vineyards and various cooling breezes moderate temperatures within the vineyard areas that is condusive to well structured and balanced wines. If you don't make a good wine in Napa Valley, your simply are not trying. Aside from the wineries already mentioned, some notable ones include Araujo, Joseph Phelps, Freemark Abbey, Stag's Leap Winery, Barnett, Beaulieu, Blankiet, Cade, Cakebread, Cain, Chappellet, Cardinale, Chateau Montelena, Del Datto, Failla, V. Sattui, Burgess, Favia Erickson, Frank Family, Girard, Hall, Harlan, HdV,Hendry, Hourglass, Kelly Fleming, Keever, Kapscandy, Ladera, Lewis, Lokoya, Heitz, Mayacamas, Melka, Morlet, Mira, Outpost, O'Shaugnessy, Opus, Palmaz, Relic, Revana, Rivers Marie, Robert Foley, Robert Keenan, Rombauer, Spottswoode, Scarecrow, Staglin, Titus, Turnbull and ZD.