California Wine Country
California is home to big, established and very famous wineries and small, new and lesser known vineyards alike. Some of the more popular chateaus in the whole of California and the world are the Robert Mondavi winery, Domaine Chandon, Niebaum-Coppola Estate winery, Beaulieu Vineyards and Beringer Vineyards. These are the historic wineries that have brought international attention to California as a wine country.
Robert Mondavi is considered to be the father of California wine. His winery is one of the most renowned in the world. It was founded in 1966 when Mondavi used novel techniques in winemaking to produce high quality wines. Since then, the chateau has garnered worldwide interest in Napa Valley.
At present, Domain Chandon is renowned for its premium sparkling wines. In the 1970's. Moet and Chandon, a great champagne house from France, decided to start making sparkling wines in Napa Valley using the French traditional techniques. Domain Chandon was instituted and it produced its first vintage wine in 1976. Today, the winery is famous not just for its sparkling wines but its majestic landscaped grounds and architecture.
The Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery is probably the most scenic vineyard in California, thus it is very popular and busy. It was previously owned by Gustave Nebium but the whole estate was purchased by Francis Ford Coppola, the famous director of "The Godfather." He restored the historic chateau and made it into the spectacular winery it is today. The winery produces a variety of products, of which the Rubicon series epitomizes the highest quality in winemaking.
The Beaulieu Vineyards is one of the oldest wineries in California. It was founded in 1900 by Frenchman George de Latour. The winery is well-known for its fine reserve wines, especially the George de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon. BV also invented novel techniques in winemaking.
Beringer Vineyards is the oldest operational winery in the Napa Valley. It was founded in 1897 and is a classic German style estate.
There are several budding Napa Valley wine producers awaiting their hit in the winemaking business. California has been for a long time, and hopefully forever will be, a prolific wine country producing some of the best in the world.
