NAPA, CALIFORNIA (CA), USA
Napa bed and breakfast accommodation in American wine country
Napa County bed and breakfast businesses cater to wine lovers, whether these are tourists who come to taste the various vintages or business people connected with the industry. It is no wonder that many B&B, inn and lodge names are associated with grapes and wine, and hark back to the old countries of the European immigrants who started the Californian wine-making. Napa city is the county seat and the county itself is one of the oldest in California. It was created in1850. The word “napa” is of Native American derivation but it is unclear what its original meaning was. But today the name Napa is synonymous with the wines produced in this region with its Mediterranean climate. So beautiful is the area that the local residents swear that “Napa” means “you will always return”! Napa bed and breakfast visitors receive such a warm welcome that they definitely believe this interpretation.
Although wine was produced in the county from the earliest days of European settlement, it was in the 1960’s that the region rose to a rank on a par with major wine producing countries such as Italy and France. Napa county itself is large, with the US Census Bureau stating its area to be 788 square miles. Napa’s climate is warmer than that of neighboring Sonoma county or Santa Barbara County, a wine producing area in Southern California. Due to the warm climate, Napa wineries favor varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon. It is entirely likely that if you take a meal at your Napa B&B, lodge or inn, or visit one of the splendid restaurants in the county, the local red wine will be on the wine list. At the north end of the county, in the Mayacamas Mountains, lies Mount Saint Helena, the Bay Area’s second tallest peak at 4,344 feet and home to the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. In the western part of the valley is Hood Mountain (2,750 feet). Some Napa bed and breakfast visitors make the journey to the top of these peaks but by far the most B&B visitors prefer to stay in the valleys, close to the wineries!
The Napa Valley is considered to be one of the top American Viticultural Areas in California. Consider that by 1900 there were more than 140 wineries in the valley. Of these early wineries, several have survived including Shramsburg, Beringer, Chateau Montelana and Charles Krug. There are Napa bed and breakfast establishments, lovely comfortable inns and lodges nearby to accommodate visitors to these wineries. These bed and breakfasts are well situated for visitors who visit the less well-known wine estates such as Colgin Cellars, Grace Family, Shafer Hillside Select and Vineyard 29. Today there are over 200 Napa wineries and some of them have their own B&B, lodge or inn. When you consider that over five million people visit Napa each year, making it the second most popular tourist attraction after Disneyland, it is no wonder that the Napa bed and breakfast industry is thriving.
