{"id":722,"date":"2017-09-27T19:39:47","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T19:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2019-01-29T17:50:24","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T17:50:24","slug":"visiting-napanoma-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=722","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Napa\/Noma in October"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are returning to the topic of the best time to travel to Napa Valley and Sonoma County, which we consider to be essentially one place called Napa\/Noma.\u00a0 All times of the year are good times, but each month presents its own enticements and occasional challenges.\u00a0 Previously we have discussed January<\/a> and April<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

As East Coasters and Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, we see one of the advantages of autumn to be the extraordinary coloration of the foliage that we are treated to each October.\u00a0 Until we first visited California Wine Country, it had never occurred to us that the vineyards come alive with color each year as well.\u00a0 I guess we never took the Turning Leaf brand from Gallo all that seriously.<\/p>\n

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This photo was taken on St. Helena\u2019s Pritchard Hill, looking towards Lake Hennessy<\/em><\/p>\n

If you go in the first part of the month, especially the first week, you\u2019ll have the chance to see the last days of the harvest.\u00a0 As global climate change takes hold, the beginning of the crush is coming earlier and earlier.\u00a0 It used to start in mid-August but now July harvests of some white grapes is not unheard of.\u00a0 In October, most of the grapes are in the process of becoming wine, so you\u2019ll have less chance to see them hanging on the vines.\u00a0 What will be there will be red grapes in the higher elevations and those that are destined to be late harvest dessert wines.\u00a0 October is, after all, late for a harvest.<\/p>\n

All of this is made up by the glorious display of colors in the vineyards.\u00a0 We\u2019d like to say that the red leaves are Cabernet Sauvignon leaves and the yellow ones are Chardonnay, but that just isn\u2019t so.\u00a0 As with oak trees and maples, different leaves have their own pigmentation that is overwhelmed by chlorophyll during the spring and summer.\u00a0 As the chlorophyll fades in fall, these colors come out.\u00a0 The predominant hues are a golden yellow and orange.\u00a0 In time, as they dry they become a light brown.\u00a0 There always seem to be some green leaves that hang on, so it\u2019s quite a palette.<\/p>\n

The red leaves you see in the photos accompanying this article are a special case.\u00a0 As tourists, we love to see them.\u00a0 Vineyard managers and wine makers aren\u2019t very happy though.\u00a0 Red leaves are a sign of leaf roll, a virus carried by bugs that live in vineyard soil.\u00a0 It seems to be an increasing problem, according to some industry publications.\u00a0 So temper your pleasure at seeing fields of blazing red, as it\u2019s an indication that there may be problems down the road for some of your favorite wines.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

When you visit wineries in October, and taste at their bars, the staff you encounter would have a right to be a little tetchy.\u00a0 Harvest season is full of stress in the wine business.\u00a0 We\u2019re glad to report that we have never encountered anything like that, but we also haven\u2019t seen too many wine makers at that time, either.\u00a0 One time<\/a>, however, a wine maker handed us a stick and asked us break the cap on a vat of bubbling grapes, so be prepared!<\/p>\n

Since autumn is the harvest season for fruits and vegetables other than grapes, you\u2019ll have the chance for something special in the Napa\/Noma restaurants that feature local produce.\u00a0 Mustards \u00a0in Yountville and Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg fall into this category of restaurant, and there are many others.<\/p>\n

Days are still warm, although you may want a sweater in the morning and in the evening.\u00a0 You won\u2019t usually encounter the blazing heat of Napa\/Noma\u2019s summers but again with climate change, you can never tell for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are returning to the topic of the best time to travel to Napa Valley and Sonoma County, which we consider to be essentially one place called Napa\/Noma.\u00a0 All times of the year are good times, but each month presents its own enticements and occasional challenges.\u00a0 Previously we have discussed January and April. As East … Continue reading Visiting Napa\/Noma in October<\/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\/722"}],"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=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}