Napa Valley 4K - California Vineyards - Scenic Drive

Sunday afternoon drive through Napa Valley near San Francisco California along the popular Silverado Trail. This area is the premier wine region of the USA and home to over 800 wineries. The video starts in downtown Napa, continues along the Silverado Trail to Calistoga, and back towards downtown Napa.
Route: https://goo.gl/maps/KMf9qb5sq6TjGbfSA .
Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier wine regions in the world. Records of commercial wine production in the region date back to the nineteenth century, but premium wine production dates back only to the 1960s.

The combination of Mediterranean climate, geography and geology of the region are conducive to growing quality wine grapes. John Patchett established the Napa Valley's first commercial vineyard in 1858. In 1861 Charles Krug established another of Napa Valley's first commercial wineries in St. Helena. Viticulture in Napa suffered several setbacks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including an outbreak of the vine disease phylloxera, the institution of Prohibition, and the Great Depression. The wine industry in Napa Valley recovered, and helped by the results of the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, came to be seen as capable of producing the best quality wine – equal to that of Old World wine regions. Napa Valley is now a major enotourism destination.

Napa Valley as a top wine region
In 1976, the region got a boost from the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, which featured a Napa Valley Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon besting several famous French labels in a blind tasting format. The story of the wine competition, termed the "Judgment of Paris", was made into a Hollywood movie in 2008, called Bottle Shock. The results of this tasting cemented the region's reputation as a producer of world class wines.

A trend of larger national and international companies like E & J Gallo Winery, Diageo and Constellation Brands buying smaller wineries, vineyards and brands began to gain momentum in the early part of the 21st century. Today Napa Valley features more than 450 wineries that grow grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Merlot, Zinfandel, among others. While winemakers may produce wines from specific AVAs within the valley, many wines are made as a blend from grapes grown on the valley floor and the surrounding hillsides.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_Va...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_Co...

https://www.napavalley.com/guides/sil...

https://www.visitcalifornia.com/exper...

https://www.wines.com/blog/the-silver...