Napa Valley Strong – Still Beautiful As Ever

Many of us have seen via the media the devastation the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley fires had caused in October.  Yes, entire neighborhoods were destroyed especially Coffey Park in Santa Rosa.  Yes, a few businesses had burned down including about 3-4 tasting rooms/wineries.  But no, the entire wine country did not burn down.  The 2017 harvest had been more or less completed before the fires erupted so hundreds of wineries are open for business as usual as are downtown businesses.  Unfortunately based on how saturated the media coverage was on solely the fires itself, many have the wrong impression canceling their visits and avoiding wine country altogether even two months later. 

Normally I do not go up during the holiday season since enjoying all the holiday lights and decorations around the immediate Bay Area is enough to fill up all my weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas - https://aroundthebayandaway.blogspot.com/2017/12/may-your-christmas-still-be-merry-and.html.  This year, I made it a point to support wine country as they need us more than ever and spent a day in Napa Valley.  Not surprisingly it was quieter than it should be this time of year but that means not having to fight for parking down at the Oxbow Market area and at V Sattui Winery,

 

 

 

 

you can finally try that restaurant at the spur of the moment that you might not otherwise have gotten into beforehand, like we had at C'a Momi. 

 

 

 

there is a shorter line at Bouchon Bakery for those palm sized macarons

 

 

 

and little buche de noels,

 

 

 

towns like Yountville has special events for the holidays to show visitors that nothing has changed. 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact this is the best time to go to Napa Valley. 

If you are still looking for a last minute Christmas gift or a place to get together with family and/or friends to exchange gifts and enjoy a nice meal or need delicious wines for upcoming holiday dinners and parties and sparkling wines for the upcoming New Year’s Eve, consider Napa or Sonoma Valley. 

The brave firefighters have done their job working tirelessly to save as much as they could, the residents, some who have personally loss everything are picking up the pieces and trying to rebuild, the rest is up to us to help them in their recovery efforts and keep them Napa Valley and Sonoma Strong.  I have seen it firsthand, it is still as beautiful as ever.