{"id":1472,"date":"2020-01-31T02:12:40","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T02:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2020-01-31T02:39:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T02:39:48","slug":"visiting-napanoma-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1472","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Napa\/Noma in September"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Wine Country, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, September is a glorious month, the time when all of a year\u2019s work comes to fruition.\u00a0 It is a beautiful month; the hot summer days are gone and comfortable weather is there to enjoy long walks and outings.<\/p>\n

In Napa Valley and Sonoma County, which we refer to as Napa\/Noma, you will see pickers in the vineyards filling baskets with grapes.\u00a0 Huge harvesters will be gathering grapes on an industrial scale.\u00a0 And even though the wineries are open for tastings, you will see people scurrying to fulfill the hundreds of tasks that change grapes into juice into wine.<\/p>\n

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Destemming the grapes before they get crushed.<\/em><\/p>\n

As visitors, you get to share in the excitement without the necessity of doing any hard work.\u00a0 Many wineries curtail tours during the crush, primarily for reasons of safety as well as keeping tourists out of the way of the workers.\u00a0 What you see in the vineyards reminds you that wine is agriculture; in the working parts of the wineries, you remember that wine is industry, too.<\/p>\n

There are advantages to visiting Napa\/Noma in September other than observing the harvest.\u00a0 The weather is foremost among them.\u00a0 It can still be quite warm, especially in the earlier weeks of the month.\u00a0 You can plan on taking a dip in the pool after a day\u2019s tastings.\u00a0 However, the mornings can be cool and damp and it\u2019s a good idea to have a sweater in your bag, because temperatures sometimes cool off in the evenings.<\/p>\n

And speaking of evenings, the late summer\/early autumn sunsets come in right about aperitif time.\u00a0 Sitting on a terrace or by the pool with a glass of local wine just adds to the pleasures of being in Napa\/Noma.<\/p>\n

There are fewer cars on the roads, particularly Napa Valley\u2019s Route 29<\/a>, because many of the summer vacationers are back at work.\u00a0 That means fewer little children<\/a> in the tasting rooms, as well.\u00a0 On the other hand, the harvesters and the bins carrying grapes to the crushers use the same roads as the cars, so traffic can still get backed up.<\/p>\n

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In the first weeks of September, you\u2019ll see the vines heavy with grapes.\u00a0 You can even \u2013 shh, don\u2019t tell \u2013 sneak a grape to taste.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that wine grapes are far sweeter than any fruit you\u2019re likely taste at the supermarket.\u00a0 Alas, by the end of the month, you may have to keep your eyes peeled to see any laden vines left.<\/p>\n

For the most part, restaurants and tasting rooms are still pretty busy in September, especially on the weekends.\u00a0 Hotel rooms are somewhat difficult to find, too, since so many people want to be in Napa\/Noma for the crush.\u00a0 It\u2019s best to book a room well in advance.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be able to get a table for dinner on the same day, but if there\u2019s a place you\u2019re particularly eager to try it\u2019s best to make an advance reservation.<\/p>\n

The wines taste the same in February as they do in September and you might even find more of a selection of wines to taste early in the year.\u00a0 But for real wine lovers, there is a certain thrill to tasting wine as it is being made that can\u2019t be experienced as well at any other time of year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Wine Country, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, September is a glorious month, the time when all of a year\u2019s work comes to fruition.\u00a0 It is a beautiful month; the hot summer days are gone and comfortable weather is there to enjoy long walks and outings. In Napa Valley and Sonoma County, which we … Continue reading Visiting Napa\/Noma in September<\/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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472"}],"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=1472"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1488,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}