Learn what's new in
Napa Valley by reading
NapaLife
NapaLife is the insider's guide to Napa Valley; this
is only a taste of the whole newsletter. The weekly
newsletter is published by Paul Franson, an insider who
writes about doings in the valley for publications from
the Napa Valley Register to
Food and Wine.
NapaLife
runs 12 to 18 pages each week including a list of almost
everything happening in Napa Valley in the next two
weeks. It is e-mailed each Monday and costs only $1 per
week, $50 per year.
See a sample issue of NapaLife.
Publisher and Editor: Paul Franson (707) 258-0159
paul@napalife.com
Paul Franson writes about Napa
Valley
Recent articles
Aetna Springs holds open house
St. Helena Star
Charles Krug Winery:
Peter Mondavi's family emerges from his brother's shadow
St. Helena Star
Artesa Winery Napa Valley
Register
The wine tasting scene continues to
grow in downtown Napa
Napa Valley Register
Oxbow Wine Merchants brings new mix to Napa
Napa Valley Register
Visiting Napa Valley
55 Napa Valley Favorites,
from the Wine Enthusiast
A quick
tour of Napa Valley
Visiting
Napa Valley Alone
A
Perfect Day in the Heart of Napa Valley
A
Perfect Day in Carneros
A Perfect Day "East of Eden" in Napa
(NapaWeddingSource.com)
The best wineries to visit in Napa Valley
Food
& Wine
Trading spaces (homes)
Napa Valley Register
How 40 years of agricultural preservation Transformed Napa
Valley
Napa's Top Ten Gardens
Napa Valley Life
Napa's Top Ten Bike Rides
Napa Valley Life
The Ten Best Things on a Cold Day in Napa Valley
Napa Valley Life
Eating in Napa Valley
Finding fine food
in Napa Valley
Cakebread
Cellars teaches chefs to pair wine with food
Tuscan
dinner at Long Meadow Ranch
Outdoor kitchens light up Napa Valley entertaining
Brick
ovens underlie Napa Valley cuisine
Vino with
veggies
Corkage
costs at Napa Valley restaurants!
Living in Napa Valley
Glitz
Grafted onto Deep Roots:
Millionaire's Guide to Buying the Napa Dream
Food & Wine
The Perfect Kitchen: Architect Howard Backen's thoughts
Napa Valley Register
Staglin Festival Raises Almost $4 million
Napa Valley Register
How 40 years of Agricultural Preservation Transformed Napa
Valley
Wineries in Napa Valley
Howell at the Moon overcame obstacles
Napa Valley Register
Round Pond Winery
Napa Valley Register
Keever Winery didn't intend to make wine
Napa Valley Register
Judd’s Hill celebrates move into new winery
Napa Valley Register
Kuleto
Vineyards -- off the popular path but worth the drive
HdV Vineyards partners with best of Burgundy
Napa Valley Register
Many
generations keep Nichelini Winery alive
St. Helena Star
Napa Valley’s French connection
Dr. Madaiah Revana returns
to his roots to grow grapes
St. Helena Star
Doctors & wine.
Napa Valley Register.
PlumpJack expands reach with Cade Winery.
St. Helena Star
Home winemaking
in Napa Valley
Winery Village is coming to Napa Valley
Napa Valley Register
Make wine
at a microcrush facility
Interview
with Heidi Peterson Barrett.
Wines & Vines
Napa Valley wines
Napa’s
evolving Chardonnays
Napa wines
can age well
Are cult wines worth the price?
A unique
view of Atlas Peak
Napa's Top
Ten Holiday Wines
Napa Valley Life
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To wineries,
restaurants and non-profit groups: For a free guide to public
relations and media in Napa Valley, e-mail
paul@napalife.com. |
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Celebrate Napa Valley's
hidden gem –– Napa River
Visitors to California from other
states may not appreciate one of California’s rarest
attractions: the Napa River.
In most parts of the United States,
navigable rivers are common, but there are very few in
California. Most flow to the Pacific Ocean over an impassible
sand bar or they dry up part of the year.
The Napa River, in fact, is why the
city of Napa is where it is. It sits at the end of the navigable
river; above Napa, the river is really a seasonal creek.
During the 19th century, Napa
Valley’s largest crop was wheat, not grapes and ships loaded
flour to be loaded to feed the hungry citizens of San Francisco.
A mural on a building at First and Main Streets depicts that
scene.
Over time, however, the river lost
its importance in commerce. The river became little more than a
sewer carrying the valley’s wastes to San Francisco Bay. Still,
it flooded the city a few times each decade, discouraging
investment or even maintenance of the city’s core.
It also became inhospitable to the
salmon and trout that once traversed the river to spawn up
valley.
Fortunately, a few local citizens
recognized the importance of the river to Napa, and vowed to end
the flooding while restoring the river as Napa’s gem. In 1996
citizens of Napa Valley voted to tax themselves to restore the
river and return the river to a natural environment, fighting
the floods with flood plains, bypasses and gradual slopes rather
than concrete walls.
In the process, the city planned to
make the river a focus of recreation and life, with trails,
parks and new attractions that would draw people to the
riverfront.
The project is well underway. New
bridges allow water to flow freely, while buildings were removed
from the east bank and the banks sloped to give the water a
place to spread. New paths are underway and a shallow bypass
will be a park in dry weather. Most dramatically, the old Napa
Mill has been restored into a prime visitor attraction, Copia
rose in the oxbow of the river followed by the Oxbow Public
Market, and the Westin Verasa Hotel will open this summer,.
Many new restaurants, wine tasting
rooms, art galleries, shops and clubs have blossomed downtown,
and Napa shines at night as it hasn’t since World War II.
Still to come are a path that
eventually will stretch for miles along the river with cafés,
shops and housing on it downtown, and docks, terraces and other
attractions that showplace the river itself. Visitors can
already enjoy the river restoration and the path around the Napa
Mill should open May 10.
In a few years, the river
restoration will have transformed Napa’s whole downtown.
A good place to learn more is
www.napadowntown.com, while
www.napanow.com has a great map of the many wine-tasting
venues downtown.
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Paul Franson
NapaLife 2035 Oak St. Napa, CA 94559
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