| Length | 29 mi (47 km) |
|---|---|
| Location | Napa County |
| Southeast end |  |
| Major junctions |  |
| Northwest end |  |
The Silverado Trail is a scenic route that travels 29 miles along the Eastern edge of the Napa Valley, parallel to and several miles to the east of California State Route 29. [1]
The road began as a trail built in 1852 after flooding made the main Napa Valley road impassable. Later, it served as a wagon trail to link cinnabar mines on Mount St. Helena to San Pablo Bay, the northern portion of the San Francisco Bay, [1] and was the first permanent road from Napa to Calistoga. [2]
Silver was discovered in Napa Valley in 1858, and wine production began in the 1870s, making the road an important trade route. Charles Bolles, a highway bandit also known as "Black Bart", preyed on the road's travelers in the 1880s. Safety improved when motorized bus service began in 1910. A Phylloxera plague and Prohibition forced most but not all of the local wineries out of business. [2]
The area thrived with the growing prominence of California wine. One of the wineries on the road, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, made Napa Valley world-famous in 1976 when it won the Judgment of Paris, a promotional wine competition among French and California wines. Today, at least 40 of the Valley's more than 200 wineries are along or near the road. [2] Each year in March, the route also plays host to the annual Napa Valley Marathon.
| Location | Postmile | Intersection | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napa | | Southern terminus | ||
| Coombsville Rd. / 3rd street | ||||
| 1st street | Copia, Ritz-Carlton Hotel (approved project) [3] | |||
| ||||
| Oak Knoll Ave. | Silverado Country Club, Clos Du Val Winery, Andretti Winery, Black Stallion Winery | |||
| Yountville | Yountville Cross Rd. | Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Stags' Leap Winery, Silverado Vineyards Winery | ||
| Oakville | Oakville Cross Rd. | |||
| St. Helena | | |||
| Zinfandel Lane | ||||
| Pope St. / Howell Mountain Rd. | ||||
| Deer Park Rd. | Duckhorn Vineyards | |||
| Calistoga | | |||
Napa County is a county north of San Pablo Bay in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 136,484. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county's territory were given to Lake County in 1861.
Napa is the largest city and the county seat of Napa County. It is the principal city of the Napa County Metropolitan Statistical Area, with a population of 80,011 as of the 2010 census. It is the second-largest city in California's Wine Country, after Santa Rosa. Napa was incorporated as a city in 1872.
Wine Country is the region of California, in the northern Bay Area, known worldwide as a premium wine-growing region. The region is famed for its wineries, its cuisine, Michelin star restaurants, boutique hotels, luxury resorts, historic architecture, and culture. Viticulture and wine-making have been practiced in the region since the Spanish missionaries from Mission San Francisco Solano established the first vineyards in 1812.
The Livermore Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Alameda County, California, surrounding the city of Livermore in the Tri-Valley region. Both the AVA and the city are named after Robert Livermore, a landowner whose holdings encompassed the valley. The groundwater basin underlying the valley is the Livermore Basin, the largest sub-unit of which is the Mocho Subbasin. The Livermore Basin is one of five aquifers in the San Francisco Bay Area that supply most of the metropolitan Bay Area population. The entire Livermore Basin aquifer faces a concern over elevated total dissolved solids by the year 2020 due to an expanding human population leading to higher rates of return water flows to the aquifer containing certain salts.
The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone is a branch campus of the private culinary college the Culinary Institute of America. The Greystone campus, located on State Route 29/128 in St. Helena, California, offers associate degrees and two certificate programs in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. The CIA at Greystone and the Culinary Institute of America at Copia make up the school's California branch.
State Route 12 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that travels in an east–west direction from State Route 116 in Sebastopol in Sonoma County to State Route 49 just north of San Andreas in Calaveras County. The route connects the Sonoma and Napa valleys with the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and the Sierra Foothills. It is constructed to freeway standards from the Fulton Road/South Wright Road stoplight in Santa Rosa, to its partial interchange with Farmers Lane.
State Route 29 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that travels from Interstate 80 in Vallejo north to State Route 20 in Upper Lake. It serves as the primary road through the Napa Valley, providing access to the Lake County region to the north and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area to the south.
The California Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated in 1865 at San Francisco, California as the California Pacific Rail Road Company. It was renamed the California Pacific Railroad Extension Company in the spring of 1869, then renamed the California Pacific Railroad later that same year. The railroad was constructed just months prior to the completion of the Central Pacific/Union Pacific Transcontinental Railway.
The Silverado Squatters (1883) is Robert Louis Stevenson's travel memoir of his two-month honeymoon trip with Fanny Vandegrift to Napa Valley, California, in 1880.
Opus One Winery is a winery in Oakville, California, United States. The wine was called napamedoc until 1982 when it was named Opus One. The winery was founded as a joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild and Robert Mondavi to create a single Bordeaux style blend based upon Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It is located across State Route 29 from the Robert Mondavi Winery. The creation of this winery venture in 1980 was big news in the wine industry; de Rothschild's involvement added an air of respectability to the burgeoning Napa wine region. The first vintage, 1979 was released in 1984 at the same time as the 1980 vintage. For a while it was the most expensive Californian wine costing $50 and to date still ranks among the most expensive red wines produced in the Napa Valley, with the current vintage, 2014, retailing for $325 per bottle. In 1989 a new winery was built just down the road, the first vintage from the new winery was from 1991 and was released in 1994.
Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier wine regions in the world. Records of commercial wine production in the region date back to the nineteenth century, but premium wine production dates back only to the 1960s.
Duckhorn Vineyards is a winery outside St. Helena, California, specializing in Merlot wines.
Silverado may refer to:
Sonoma County wine is wine made in Sonoma County, California, in the United States.
The Oakville AVA is an American Viticultural Area located within Napa Valley AVA and centered on the town of Oakville, California. The appellation extends over a flat expanse of well-drained gravel soil between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. Oakville AVA is known for its success with Bordeaux varietals, which have produced wines of rich texture, firm tannins, and notes of mint and herbs.
The Stags Leap District AVA is an American Viticultural Area located within the Napa Valley AVA 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the city of Napa, California. The Stags Leap District was the first appellation to be designated an AVA based on the unique terroir characteristics of its soil. The soil of this region include loam and clay sediments from the Napa River and volcanic soil deposits left over from erosion of the Vaca Mountains. Like many Napa Valley AVAs, Stags Leap District is particularly known for its Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1976 at the Judgment of Paris wine tasting, the 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet from the area that would become this AVA won first place in the red wine category, beating out classified Bordeaux estates. Today, the Stags Leap District is home to twenty different wineries.
California wine is wine made in the U.S. state of California, it supplies a vast majority of the American wine production, along with New Mexico wine these American wine regions are longtime examples of viticulture within New World wine. Almost three quarters the size of France, California accounts for nearly 90 percent of production, the production of wine in California is one third larger than that of Australia. If California were a separate country, it would be the world's fourth largest wine producer.
Hagafen Cellars is a winery located in the Napa Valley. Founded in 1979, it was the first kosher winery in California, and is "the first of the upscale kosher brands." The winery is owned and operated by winemaker Ernie Weir and his wife, Irit Weir.
David Duncan is an American vintner and entrepreneur. The President and Chief Executive Officer of Duncan Oil, he is also the President and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Oak Cellars and Managing Partner of Twomey Cellars, successful wineries in northern California, operating in the Napa, Alexander and Russian River Valleys. He is the son of late Raymond Twomey Duncan, an oil and wine entrepreneur who co-founded Silver Oak in 1972 with Justin Meyer. Silver Oak is a family-run and owned business, and his brother Tim Duncan is Executive Vice President of the company. ColoradoBiz says that David Duncan is "as much a hands-on winery president as he can be", as president of a winery that has "reached cult status" for its Cabernet Sauvignon production.
The Atlas Fire was a 2017 wildfire burning in Napa County, California north of the city of Napa, near Napa Soda Springs. It was one of fourteen large fires simultaneously burning in eight Northern California counties, in what was called the "Northern California firestorm". Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.