{"id":1184,"date":"2019-01-31T15:43:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T15:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1184"},"modified":"2019-01-31T16:10:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T16:10:07","slug":"visiting-napanoma-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1184","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Napa\/Noma in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe March comes in like a lion where you live, but it\u2019s definitely lamb-like in Napa\/Noma.\u00a0 The US Weather Service says that the average daily temperature in Napa tops out at 67o<\/sup>.\u00a0 There\u2019s just enough rain to make the flowers \u2013 and the grape vines \u2013 grow.\u00a0 Everything is coming alive again, and all\u2019s well with the world. And if you travel to Napa\/Noma in March you can see it and even participate in it a bit.<\/p>\n

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Bud break in March.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of flickr.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

In particular, March is the time of year in winemaking known as \u201cbud break\u201d.\u00a0 The leaves are on the vines and the tiny buds on the vines begin to swell up and send out shoots.\u00a0 The brownness of winter gives way to a light green.\u00a0 The annual cycle that leads to barrels full of wine starts anew.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s not all green.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of yellow, too, in the form of mustard flowers, which begin to blossom in late January and reach their peak in March.\u00a0 Some people think (okay, we used to think) that this was a trick that vineyard managers used to enrich the vines.\u00a0 But no, it\u2019s just because it\u2019s pretty and vineyard managers like things to be pretty as much as tourists do.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Wine Country Inn<\/em><\/p>\n

March is an especially good time of year for tasting the new releases from many of the best vineyards.\u00a0 If you do the math, you\u2019ll see that wines aged in barrels for 16 months from harvest (i.e., September) reach maturity at the end of January.\u00a0 Allowing a month for getting it out of barrels and into bottles, you\u2019ll have the chance to taste many of the newest wines in March.\u00a0 At the same time, there will probably be many bottles left from the previous vintage at some wineries, so you\u2019ll have the opportunity taste wines that have a little maturity to them.<\/p>\n

With the crazy weather patterns that are typical of Napa\/Noma, you may well want a winter coat in the mornings in March, as well as in the later evening.\u00a0 But by midday, you\u2019ll shuck the outerwear and visit wineries in your shirtsleeves.\u00a0 Overall, it is wise either to wear a sweater or wrap it around your neck.<\/p>\n

There are no national holidays in March, so hotel rates are a little lower than in the high summer season.\u00a0 On the other hand, crowds do begin to show up on weekends, so be prepared for more crowded tasting rooms than you will find in the coldest winter months, but less so than in summer.<\/p>\n

There is, of course, St. Patrick\u2019s Day in March.\u00a0 Napa\/Noma doesn\u2019t do it up like New York or Chicago, but there are places that celebrate rather boisterously.\u00a0 One such is Hurley\u2019s in Yountville.\u00a0 Now, a hurley is the lethal instrument used to play Gaelic football, so this restaurant\/bar is honor-bound to make a St. Pat\u2019s statement.\u00a0 (It\u2019s also one of our favorite restaurants in Napa Valley.)<\/p>\n

So see if you can find a shamrock among the mustard flowers and enjoy your time wine tasting in Napa\/Noma in March.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe March comes in like a lion where you live, but it\u2019s definitely lamb-like in Napa\/Noma.\u00a0 The US Weather Service says that the average daily temperature in Napa tops out at 67o.\u00a0 There\u2019s just enough rain to make the flowers \u2013 and the grape vines \u2013 grow.\u00a0 Everything is coming alive again, and all\u2019s well … Continue reading Visiting Napa\/Noma in March<\/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":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1184"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}