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Napa

Gateway to

CaliforniasWine Country

Photographer: D Ramey Logan

WineCountry

Napa Valley AVA is an American ViticulturalArea located in Napa County, California, USA.Napa Valley is considered one of the top wineregions in the United States and one of only

nine Great Wine Capitals on earth, with a his-tory dating back to the nineteenth century.

The combination of Mediterranean climate,geography and geology of The Valley are con-ducive to growing quality wine grapes. JohnPatchett established the Napa Valleys firstcommercial vineyard in 1858. In 1861 CharlesKrug established Napa Valleys first commer-cial winery in St. Helena. Viticulture in Napasuffered several setbacks in the late 19th andearly 20th centuries, including an outbreak ofthe vine disease phylloxera, the legal institu-tion of Prohibition, and the Great Depression.

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Photographer: D Ramey Logan Photographer: Sanfranman59

Climate

Napa has a Mediterranean climate (Kppenclimate classification Csa), with cool, wet win-ters and very warm, dry summers. In January,average temperatures range from 58.5 F (14.7C) to 38.9 F (3.8 C). In July, average temper-atures range from 82.1 F (27.8 C) to 55.0 F

(12.8 C). There are an average of 25.3 days withhighs of 90 F (32 C) or higher and an averageof 6.4 days with lows of 32 F (0 C) or lower.The record high temperature was 113 F (45C) on June 14, 1961. The record low tempera-ture was 14 F (10 C) on December 22, 1990.

History

The name Napa was probably derived fromthe name given to a southern Nappan village

whose people shared the area with elk, deer,grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, ac-cording to Napa historian Kami Santiago.

In the mid 1850s, Napas Main Street rivaledthat of many larger cities, with as many as 100saddle horses tied to the fences on an averageafternoon. Hotels were crowded, cash slugsand California coinage were plentiful. Saloonsand gambling emporiums were numerous. TheLyceum movement established a facility and

reading room and an agricultural society wasstarted. Two newspapers began publication inthe 1850s. The Napa Valley Register made itsdebut in 1853 and Alexander J. Cox publishedthe Napa County Reporter for the first time onJuly 4, 1856. The Napa Valley Opera House

became popular after its debut on February13, 1880 with a production of Gilbert and Sul-livans HMS Pinafore but, it later languishedand was closed for many years. In the 1980s,a popular movement was started by RiccardoGaudino, Penny Dizmang and Veronica DiRosato re-establish and rebuild the building. Today,it currently hosts many popular entertainers.

Napa had become the primary business andeconomic center for the Napa Valley by thedawn of the 20th century. As agricultural and

wine interests developed north of the citylimits much of the light industry, banking,commercial and retail activity in the countyevolved within the city of Napa and in ear-

lier times along the Napa River through thehistoric downtown. In 1915 Edwin Pridhamand Peter L. Jensen invented the moving-coilloudspeaker in their Napa workshop while

working on an improvement for the tele-phone receiver. Pridham and Jensen went onto found the Magnavox Company in 1917. Inthe late 19th century and early 20th centuryNapa was known for having the largest red-light district for a California city of its size. In1905, Napa had over twenty brothels primar-ily concentrated on and around Clinton Street.

GeoGrapHy

The combination of Mediterrangeography and geology of the vaducive to growing quality wine

valley floor is flanked by theMountain Range on the western

ern sides the Vaca Mountains onside. The Oakville and Ruthecan Viticultural Areas (AVAs) geographical area known as theBench in the center of the vallesoil in the southern end of thesists mainly of sediments deposlier advances and retreats of Sa

Almost 4.5 million people visiteach year, making it a very populatination in California, and The

Wine and Food Destination asTripAdvisors 2010 Travelers Ch