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UNITED STATES | Napa Valley, California Travel Guide
Thursday, November 28, 2024
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St. Helena
St. Helena
St. Helena is situated 2 miles north of Rutherford, more or less in the center of the Napa Valley, surrounded by no fewer than 40 premium Napa wineries. The town itself is an historic wine town. founded in the 1850s by pioneer vintners, and with an especially charming main street, lined with antique street lamps dating from 1915, and several old and lovely native-stone buildings, also from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The town’s great glory is its Wine Library, which houses more than 3,000 volumes on wine and wine-related subjects, believed to be the largest such collection of wine literature on the West Coast. Also nearby is the Silverado Museum, devoted entirely to the life and works of celebrated Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who honeymooned at nearby Mount St. Helena in the spring of 1880, and where he also gathered notes for his Napa Valley classic, The Silverado Squatters. The museum has over 7,800 items of Stevenson memorabilia—including first editions of the author’s hooks, original manuscripts and letters, paintings, sculptures and photographs of the author, and several of his personal and work-related items.
St. Helena Wineries
Among the St. Helena area wineries, most notable is the historic Beringer Winery, one of the oldest wineries in continuous operation in the Napa Valley. Beringer’s chief attraction is its majestic Rhine House, an elegantly restored European-style mansion, originally built in 1876. There's an excellent tour of the winery, which includes a visit to the Beringer’s 1,000 feet of ancient limestone caves and tunnels, dug into the hillside by hand in the 1880s, and where fine wines are still aged.
Other wineries here include the historic Charles Krug Winery, which has the distinction of being the oldest winery in the valley, originally founded by German immigrant Charles Krug, who was the first in the Napa Valley to make wine using a grape press. Public tours of the winery are offered daily.
Among others here are the historic, 19th-century Markham Winery, which offers a “sensory evaluation” course to visitors; and Freemark Abbey, which has a tasting room in a small complex with two delightful restaurants and an unusual gift shop. Yet others here include the Round Hill Cellars, housed in a modest facility on Lodi Lane, which goes off the highway eastward; and Folie a Deux, a small, family owned and operated winery, situated on a knoll overlooking estate vineyards.
South of the St. Helena township you can visit a few more well-known wineries, among them Heitz Cellars, a family owned and operated winery; Sutter Home, which has the distinction of being the largest of Napa Valley’s historic wineries built entirely from wood, dating from 1874; and the tourist-alluring, native-stone V. Sattui Winery, originally established in 1885 by immigrant Vittorio Sattui.
Spring Mountain
Also to be recommended to visitors to St. Helena is a detour to the adjoining Spring Mountain area—a small, well-regarded wine-growing region, located high in the Mayacamas Mountain Range, to the west of St. Helena, and with a dozen or so picturesque little wineries situated there. It can be reached by way of Madrona Road west off the highway (29), from just south of St. Helena, then Spring Mountain Road northwest off Madrona.
Last updated November 16, 2010
Posted in United States | Napa Valley
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