{"id":1421,"date":"2019-11-30T17:30:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-30T17:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2019-11-30T17:30:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T17:30:16","slug":"visiting-napanoma-in-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1421","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Napa\/Noma in May"},"content":{"rendered":"

They say that the month of May is merry.\u00a0 We can\u2019t vouch for that, but we do know that it is an excellent time to visit Napa\/Noma.\u00a0 (Not to say that the other months aren\u2019t excellent in their own ways.)\u00a0 This is the time of year that the vines are flowering and getting ready to set the fruit that will be crushed in September.\u00a0 It is also a time when many vineyards release their new wines for sale, so there\u2019s a lot to taste.<\/p>\n

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A grape vine in bloom.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Jordan Winery.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Another very important benefit of visiting Napa Valley and Sonoma County in May is that the Big Heat has not yet arrived (although global climate change is pushing the heat sooner in the year) while the crisp coolness is out of the air.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say you won\u2019t encounter chilly, humid, misty mornings; these happen all year long in this sector of Wine Country.\u00a0 Almost dependably, however, by around 10:30 the mist lifts and you are greeted by glorious sunshine.<\/p>\n

Weekends, particularly Mothers and Memorial Day weekends, can be very crowded in the Napa\/Noma tasting rooms and the roads leading to them.\u00a0 If possible, avoid Route 29<\/a> in Napa Valley.\u00a0 Sonoma County, being more spread out, doesn\u2019t have quite the traffic problem that is found in Napa but Route 101 is likely to be more backed up.\u00a0 On the weekends, it\u2019s a very good idea to make reservations for tastings in the top wineries you might be interested in.\u00a0 Another idea is to use these days for in-town tastings in Napa<\/a>, Yountville<\/a> or Healdsburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Springtime vineyards. Photo courtesy of TripSavvy.<\/p>\n

The farm-to-fork restaurants that abound in Napa\/Noma find themselves with fresh local ingredients again in May.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the same as the bonanza of fruits and vegetables that will come during the summer, but it is time to say goodbye to root vegetables and preserved fruits in favor of products right off the vine.\u00a0 (No, not grape vines.\u00a0 That comes later.)<\/p>\n

If you can find the time to go wine tasting during the week in May, you will have the advantage that in most places school is still in session.\u00a0 We love little children but they really don\u2019t belong in tasting rooms<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say that you will find the wineries empty in May.\u00a0 Far from it.\u00a0 But you will be able to sip somewhat more peacefully in May than in the following month.<\/p>\n

Figuring out what to wear in Napa\/Noma in May is a bit of a puzzle.\u00a0 In a local climate that has cold mornings, warm afternoons (up into the 80s) and cool evenings (down to the 50s) you may want to have a wider variety of clothes than in other times of the year.\u00a0 Wearing layers makes sense, because you can put on a sweater or a jacket at one time of day and take it off as things warm up.<\/p>\n

In song and verse, springtime is seen by many as the best season.\u00a0 Why not enjoy it wine tasting in America\u2019s foremost winemaking region?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They say that the month of May is merry.\u00a0 We can\u2019t vouch for that, but we do know that it is an excellent time to visit Napa\/Noma.\u00a0 (Not to say that the other months aren\u2019t excellent in their own ways.)\u00a0 This is the time of year that the vines are flowering and getting ready to … Continue reading Visiting Napa\/Noma in May<\/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\/1421"}],"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=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1426,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions\/1426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}