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For wine buffs, Calistoga has much of interest. There are, in fact, in and around Calistoga, at least a half-dozen or so well-known wineries, some of them indeed quite historic. Just to the south of town, for instance, on a small side road off Highway 29 are the celebrated Schramsberg Vineyards, founded in 1862 by pioneer vintner Jacob Schram, and memorialized, in 1880, by noted author Robert Louis Stevenson in his book, The Silverado Squatters. Schramsberg makes bottle-fermented champagne primarily.
Domaine Chandon, another great glory of Yountville, is located just west of town on California Drive, which goes off the highway (29). This is the best-known méthode champenoise sparkling wine producer in the Napa Valley, owned by Möet Hennessy of France, makers of Champagne Möet & Chandon and Hennessy Cognac. The winery is housed in a striking, architect-designed modern structure, built into the hillside, and with beautiful, landscaped grounds, featuring large shade trees, a stream crossing, and duck ponds. There is also a delightful little gourmet French restaurant here, and a patio for tasting wines. Besides which, Domaine Chandon offers an excellent tour of its facility, on which you can learn, step by step, the entire champagne-making process.
Among the wineries in Oakville are the landmark Robert Mondavi Winery, housed in an impressive, Mediterranean-style stucco building, with manicured lawns and modem sculptures. The winery has guided tours, an art gallery featuring works of California artists, and a wine and gift shop. It also schedules music concerts and other events in the summer months.
Rutherford lies 2 miles north of Oakville and is home the old Inglenook (now the Francis Coppola Estate) and Beaulieu wineries, both with supreme tourist interest. Beaulieu Vineyard, founded by Georges de Latour in 1900, has an excellent public tour of its facility, highlighting the winery’s open-tank fermentation method; it also has an audio-visual program, as part of the orientation..
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.
