{"id":1278,"date":"2019-05-31T01:27:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T01:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2020-01-27T20:20:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T20:20:54","slug":"visiting-napanoma-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1278","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Napa\/Noma in August"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no getting around the fact that Napa\/Noma in August is hot.\u00a0 The average temperature in Santa Rosa is 82o<\/sup>, which many people would not consider too difficult to take.\u00a0 But beware of the law of averages.\u00a0 Nighttimes cool off quite a bit in Napa and Sonoma counties and the mornings can be foggy, humid and almost chilly even in mid-summer.\u00a0 But when the clouds lift in the middle of the morning \u2013 the time you will likely be setting off to visit wineries \u2013 and into the afternoon, the temperatures usually reach into the 90\u2019s and by 3:00 it\u2019s not unusual to have the heat break over the 100o<\/sup> mark.<\/p>\n

Now tastes in weather differ.\u00a0 If you\u2019re an Arizonan, these temperatures don\u2019t sound too scary.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re a Canadian, for example, even the average daily temperature in August seems pretty hot to you.\u00a0 So why go wine tasting in Napa\/Noma in summery August?<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of medium.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps the best reason is that August is the beginning of the harvest in this area.\u00a0 Sauvignon Blanc is usually the first grape to ripen, with Chardonnay coming after that towards the end of the month.\u00a0 The whole year in the vineyards has been leading up to this time, and there\u2019s a burst of energy that even visitors can feel among the growers, the harvesters and the production line personnel actually turning the crop into wine.\u00a0 It\u2019s really fun to see.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the vines are heavy with fruit, both white and red.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s interesting to see the bare branches of winter and the bud break of spring, but there\u2019s nothing like seeing a vineyard with nearly ripened clusters of grapes just waiting to be harvested.\u00a0 Power Tasting<\/em> has said many times that one of the premier reasons to visit Wine Country, after the tastings, is to revel in the beauty of the vineyards<\/a>.\u00a0 And they are never so beautiful as when they are laden with grapes.<\/p>\n

Another benefit of Napa\/Noma is August is that it is not only grapes that are in season at this time.\u00a0 California is America\u2019s fruit basket and peaches, plums, strawberries, mangoes and much more can be found in the markets<\/a>.\u00a0 Between the wine grapes and the rest of the produce, you really do feel the bounteousness of Nature.<\/p>\n

For many people, August is vacation time, so it can get crowded in Napa\/Noma in August.\u00a0 But a lot of those vacationers have their children with them and Wine Country really isn\u2019t for kids<\/a>.\u00a0 Nonetheless, you will encounter many tasters with little ones in tow, from infants to teenagers.\u00a0 Sorry to say, they do detract from the wine tasting experience a bit.<\/p>\n

Again because there are so many people who enjoy wine tasting nowadays, there can be a lot of traffic.\u00a0 There\u2019s no gainsaying the many wonderful wineries along Napa Valley\u2019s Route 29, which gets the most crowded.\u00a0 Don\u2019t avoid it, but do give some thought to when and where<\/a> you intend to taste.\u00a0 You want to be in the tasting rooms, not behind the wheel.\u00a0 And again, weekends are always more crowded than weekdays.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that the back roads of Russian River or the crossing roads at the center of Napa Valley are a little less traveled while at the same time a good deal cooler.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hesitate to visit Napa\/Noma in August.\u00a0 Take advantage of the best there and be forewarned about some of the drawbacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no getting around the fact that Napa\/Noma in August is hot.\u00a0 The average temperature in Santa Rosa is 82o, which many people would not consider too difficult to take.\u00a0 But beware of the law of averages.\u00a0 Nighttimes cool off quite a bit in Napa and Sonoma counties and the mornings can be foggy, humid … Continue reading Visiting Napa\/Noma in August<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}