The tour guide (Roman) was excellent. Highly professional and very funny. Operationally he kept the tour on schedule and made sure everyone was able to see everything they wanted to see.
I don’t think anyone on the tour was disappointed.
I was impressed by how he handled the Spanish travelers who only spoke Spanish; the guide conducted tours in both languages flawlessly.
, Seattle, WA, Jul 2007
The young, green grape clusters of spring will hang and ripen through the summer months. The California Wine Country gets little if any rain in the summer so grapevines are either irrigated or “dry-farmed� (not irrigated) – forcing them to push roots deep down into the soil to find the moisture they need. Dry-farming actually stresses the vines, producing fewer, smaller grapes. These wine grapes however, harbor intense concentrations of unusually complex and rich flavors often resulting in superior wines. Early in the summer, all wine grapes are green. It is not until July that red wine grapes begin to take on their red-burgundy to purple-blue hues and white wine grapes go from bright apple green to pearly translucent.
Once Napa wine grapes have had enough “hang time� in the California sun, their sugar and acid levels will hopefully strike just the right balance and harvest can begin.
Summer is peak season for wine country tours. The days are hot and dry in the Sonoma and Napa Valley and the grapes hang tantalizingly on the vine. Book your winery tours early!