Raise your glass to America’s magic valley

Oakville and St Helena – while the more rustic, backwater Silverado Trail is ideal for intrepid cyclists. Venture up the wooded mountainsides and you’ll be rewarded with more recherché wineries – as well as spectacular views.

Wherever you visit, you can expect a warm, Californian welcome. Supremely consumer-friendly (if, on occasion, a touch “Disneyfied”), visitor facilities come as standard at most wineries of a half-decent size, and there are few wine regions with quite such an upbeat vibe. The active, on-the-go lifestyle; the perfect picketfence towns; the artsy galleries and cutesy cafés; the friendly, easygoing vibe born of a close, familiar community … it’s all remarkably contagious.

Don’t be surprised, then, if, while pondering which type of rye bread to order in the local bakery, you find yourself spontaneously swapping a breezy “How ya doing?” with a cheery chap in T-shirt and shorts grabbing his midmorning latte. Or, moments later, issuing a similar greeting to a jaunty jogger on the country lane, iPod strapped to her 24-inch waist (despite the glut of food and wine, America’s obesity crisis seems to have bypassed Napa). Even the locals here have the laid-back demeanour of a holidaymaker.

Goodness knows what they all do for a living. Perhaps they work from their iPad for one of the internet behemoths based on the other side of San Francisco, in Silicon Valley. Most likely, though, they have some sort of connection with the wine industry. And working in wine here doesn’t necessarily mean cleaning barrels or pruning vines. Instead it’ll probably involve pouring wine for some of the four million visitors who descend on the valley each year.

For, unlike many wine regions, Napa Valley has been styled as a tourist destination from the start. But don’t worry, though you may be one of many, you will be well looked after.

SILVER OAK

The upscale, polished visitor experience at Silver Oak is typical of Napa. Communal tours take in the valley’s history, the winery’s early days, the flood that nearly destroyed it, the fire that did so, and the spirit that overcame such adversity to make the producer one of Napa’s top names in a booming g industry that didn’t exist 50 years ago. After a tour of the vineyard and cellars, and a tasting of a handful of wines, the exit is via the gift shop. silveroak.com

Don’t miss: The cabernet sauvignon, which is Silver Oak’s – and Napa’s – signature grape.

BERINGER

One of Napa’s largest producers, s, Beringer has a correspondingly y slick visitor centre. It’s not without charm, though. The estate is home ome to a 19th-century, 17-room mansion sion that testifies to its status as Napa’s a’s oldest continuously operating winery. The original hand-dug caves make for a suitably Arcadian setting for tastings, while the extensive grounds are open to visitors for picnics, where you may or may not wish h to avail yourself of Beringer’s chocolate cabernet sauce or garlic cabernet mustard. beringer.com

Don’t miss: Another California a speciality: Zinfandel. Beringer er does a cellar-door exclusive which has the requisite dark-fruited punch.

RAYMOND

Prepare yourself for something g totally different. Owned by the flamboyant Jean-Charles Boisset, who is descended from a notable French winemaking family, this decadent shrine to ostentation couldn’t be more different from the more stately Opus One down the road. Rooms are decked out in red velvet and leopardprint upholstery and Baccarat chandeliers, while Boisset has been known to host burlesque cellar parties during the build-up to the Premiere Napa Valley auction in February. It’s the kind of experience you just don’t get in Burgundy, Rioja – or anywhere else, for that matter. raymondvineyards.com

Don’t miss: The Small Lot Collection Barrel-Fermented Chardonnay is the embodiment of Napa chardonnay – rich, buttery with a

touch of spice.

OPUS OPU ONE

Arguably Arguab Napa’s most famous name, this t began as a joint venture between betwe the pioneering Robert Mondavi Mon and French scion

Baron Bar Philippe de Rothschild. It’s It’ since been swallowed up by a corporate behemoth, but its it historic significance remains. re Visits here err on the th formal side, but it’s an impressive im experience – just driving through the vines down the central driveway is enough to set the pulse ra racing. The views only get better on the upstairs lawn te terrace, looking out to the va valley. By appointment only. op opusonewinery.com

Don’t Do miss: Though there is no now a second wine, Ov Overture, it’s all about the

a cabernet blend based on the Bordeaux model. Try to persuade them to open an o older vintage – the 1997 is

legend legendary.

STAG’S STAG LEAP WINE CELLARS CELL

Set on the more bucolic Silverado Trail ( (rather than the somewhat tour tourist traffic-heavy Highway 29 29), this side of the valley is ho home to a more rural vibe. Ho However, the winery’s newly re remodelled facility offers a typ typically comprehensive fli flight of tastings and tours, in including a $175 kitchen ex experience. A floor-to-ceiling Fo Foucault pendulum at the he heart of the vaulted cellar se sets the tone.

By appointment only. cask23. co com

Don’t D miss: The SLV ca cabernet was the wine w whose triumph in the Ju Judgment of Paris tasting pu put California on the global ma map.