Napa Valley

Many Napa Valley wineries are beginning to welcome visits from families, and they're making a serious effort to keep the kids engaged. Lest we forget, wineries are farms, and in many cases they have farm animals, game birds, fish ponds, picnic grounds and other kid magnets. Not all of wine country is kid-friendly, mind you, but you can find ample attractions to make this a satisfying destination for serious wine lovers … and grape juice lovers too. The tab: We spent about $647 for a family of four, including $315 for one night at the Villagio Inn, $260 on meals and $72 on a castle tour and wine tasting.

Many Napa Valley wineries are beginning to welcome visits from families, and they're making a serious effort to keep the kids engaged. Lest we forget, wineries are farms, and in many cases they have farm animals, game birds, fish ponds, picnic grounds and other kid magnets. Not all of wine country is kid-friendly, mind you, but you can find ample attractions to make this a satisfying destination for serious wine lovers … and grape juice lovers too. The tab: We spent about $647 for a family of four, including $315 for one night at the Villagio Inn, $260 on meals and $72 on a castle tour and wine tasting.

This is an astonishing Bordeaux-style wine from the Napa Valley. Supple and lush with loads of ripe fruit and undertones of leather and tobacco, it's half-French, half-California in style. White Rock Vineyards was established as early as 1870 and brought back in the late '70s by the Vandendriessche family. Made from a classic blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and a touch of Petit Verdot, the 2004 Claret is a splendid wine for the price.

Do San Francisco in style before heading out on a Princess cruise to Alaska's Inside Passage. Uncommon Journeys offers the 10-night cruise with pre-boarding extras: tours of Napa Valley wineries and the city while spending three nights at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. I like this offer for the three-day pre-trip itinerary, and the fact you don't have to go to Seattle or Vancouver , Canada, to board. Elegant Alaska , as the trip is called, also features a welcome dinner at the Presidio Social Club along with a day of wine tastings in the Napa Valley and a day touring San Francisco.

Come spring, Napa Valley is overrun with visitors and if you're planning a visit in the coming months, time to start planning now. If you're an app addict, you might be tempted by the iPhone and iPad app Wine Spectator's Guide to Napa Valley 2012 edition . Readers, I bought it and downloaded it, and there's just not very much there for $6.99. It's basically an address book with no particular critical voice to direct you toward this or another restaurant, this or another winery visit.

A California winery is conducting an aquatic experiment: Napa Valley-based Mira Winery is aging 48 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Atlantic Ocean. The winery said bottles of wine recovered from shipwrecks have a remarkable and unique flavor. Thus, the winemaker believes aging the 2009 Cabernet in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor will affect the red wine's taste. “The ocean has similar ideal elements that impact aging - temperature, pressure, humidity, pressure motion, light - or lack thereof - and oxygen,” said Gustavo Gonzalez, a Mira Winery winemaker, in a statement.

Napa Valley has lost a pioneer. Chateau Montelena released a statement today announcing the death of the winery's founder James L. Barrett at 86 on Thursday. Born in 1926, Barrett graduated from UCLA in 1946 and earned a law degree from Loyola Marymount University in 1950. After serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, Barrett became a senior partner is his firm Barrett, Stearns, Collins, Gleason and Kinney. In 1972, he went to Napa Valley with the idea of starting a winery.

A business park in Costa Mesa would seem to have little in common with the romantic California wine country. But step inside the low-slung building that houses the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center, and you could well be in the Napa Valley. Here are sun-washed rooms, striking art works, bouquets of vivid flowers, floors paved with Arizona flagstone in subtle desert hues. The mood is carefree, like a resort. But the intent here is all business.

Supermodel Kate Moss turned 39 on Wednesday and reportedly plans to celebrate later this year via a wine tour of California's Napa Valley with rocker husband Jamie Hince. [The Sun] In its February issue, Vogue features police, fire, hospital and utility workers and others who helped out during and after Superstorm Sandy. The shots were taken by Annie Leibovitz and also include models Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls and Liu Wen. The Cut carped a a bit about it: "The juxtaposition of hardhat-wearing, drab-looking Con Ed employees posing next to Karlie Kloss astride power plant equipment in a shiny Oscar de la Renta gown is jarring, and unflattering for all parties involved," wrote Charlotte Cowles.

The Milliken Creek Inn & Spa isn't big, just 12 rooms on three acres in Napa Valley . But sometimes small is nice. Conde Nast Traveler's Readers Choice Awards ranked the inn 29th of the 50 best small hotels in the U.S. For a limited time, the inn is offering rooms for a low $199 a night for a package that includes breakfast and a $75 spa credit. The deal: This is one of the lowest prices I've seen for rooms at this inn. Along with breakfast and the spa credit, the Refresh Package adds guest passes to a fitness center, a daily wine-and-cheese reception and a nightcap.

So Wine Spectator has determined there are good value wines made in California in regions other than the Napa Valley. Sorry, but Napa Valley would be the last California wine region I'd expect to supply bargains unless we're talking Cabernet priced at $50 instead of the $75 the vintner feels is deserved. Okay, maybe Im being a little unfair. Of course you have to look to other regions for good value! Wine just costs too much to produce in Napa Valley. And so the venerable wine mag has ventured into Mendocino County, Sonoma County, the Sierra Foothills and closer to home, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara County to ferret out “top-notch California wines under $25.” And by top-notch, they mean wines that have scored 85 points or higher on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale.

James L. Barrett, a pioneering Napa Valley vintner who stepped onto the world stage in a big way in 1976 when his Chateau Montelena Chardonnay won a prestigious Paris tasting, has died. He was 86. Barrett died Thursday in San Francisco, according to family spokeswoman Kristen Reitzell. The cause was not given. An attorney and senior partner at a Torrance law firm, Barrett decided to leave his practice, move to Napa Valley and devote himself full time to Chateau Montelena, the historic estate he and a group of investors had bought in 1972.

Napa Valley has lost a pioneer. Chateau Montelena released a statement today announcing the death of the winery's founder James L. Barrett at 86 on Thursday. Born in 1926, Barrett graduated from UCLA in 1946 and earned a law degree from Loyola Marymount University in 1950. After serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, Barrett became a senior partner is his firm Barrett, Stearns, Collins, Gleason and Kinney. In 1972, he went to Napa Valley with the idea of starting a winery.

Ha! I was just starting to write a post about Mira Winery in Napa Valley experimenting with aging wine in the ocean - yes, it's true! - when a video showing just what they're up to popped in my in-box. According to the winery, divers have placed four cases of the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon in specially designed cages in Charleston Harbor. Why? Mira Winery president Jim "Bear" Dyke Jr. has Charleston, S.C., roots. "The South is beginning to really distinguish itself as a food and wine destination," he says on the two-minute YouTube video . Okay, but why put wines in the ocean?

A California winery is conducting an aquatic experiment: Napa Valley-based Mira Winery is aging 48 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Atlantic Ocean. The winery said bottles of wine recovered from shipwrecks have a remarkable and unique flavor. Thus, the winemaker believes aging the 2009 Cabernet in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor will affect the red wine's taste. “The ocean has similar ideal elements that impact aging - temperature, pressure, humidity, pressure motion, light - or lack thereof - and oxygen,” said Gustavo Gonzalez, a Mira Winery winemaker, in a statement.

Come spring, Napa Valley is overrun with visitors and if you're planning a visit in the coming months, time to start planning now. If you're an app addict, you might be tempted by the iPhone and iPad app Wine Spectator's Guide to Napa Valley 2012 edition . Readers, I bought it and downloaded it, and there's just not very much there for $6.99. It's basically an address book with no particular critical voice to direct you toward this or another restaurant, this or another winery visit.

Here's a Merlot with both grip and grace--a lovely texture and a beguiling scent of raspberry. And all those deceptively soft ripe tannins mean you can lay this one down with confidence. On top of that, it's handsomely packaged, making it a good choice to wow the relatives at Thanksgiving or any other holiday meal. Available at most fine wine shops. If you can't find this wine, have your retailer call Swanson Vineyards, (707) 944-0905.

MARY McNAMARA's article featuring the Dolphin Bay Hotel in Shell Beach was excellent ["Cushy on the Central Coast," Weekend Escape, Aug. 6]. She also might have mentioned the hotel's excellent Sunday brunch ($29), which offers good selections, well-prepared, with well-trained servers. They even check to change silverware during the meal. Of course, we have many more excellent hotels, motels and restaurants here in the central part of the Central Coast, (Pismo, Nipomo, Santa Maria and Orcutt)

Supermodel Kate Moss turned 39 on Wednesday and reportedly plans to celebrate later this year via a wine tour of California's Napa Valley with rocker husband Jamie Hince. [The Sun] In its February issue, Vogue features police, fire, hospital and utility workers and others who helped out during and after Superstorm Sandy. The shots were taken by Annie Leibovitz and also include models Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls and Liu Wen. The Cut carped a a bit about it: "The juxtaposition of hardhat-wearing, drab-looking Con Ed employees posing next to Karlie Kloss astride power plant equipment in a shiny Oscar de la Renta gown is jarring, and unflattering for all parties involved," wrote Charlotte Cowles.

Wine-tasting in the ... Antelope Valley? OK, it's not the Napa Valley or even Paso Robles, but there's a good coupon deal for the family-owned Antelope Valley Winery in Lancaster. In this offer, two people receive a VIP tour and sipping for $40. The deal: LivingSocial features this deal that takes half off the price of the tour. The winery that has been open since 1980 produces reds, whites and sweet wines too. The VIP tasting provides samples, a barrel room tour, and cheese plate and bottle of wine for two. When: The offer is good through Friday and must be used by May 12. Details: There was still availability when I checked on this deal.