The Wine Lover's Guide to the Wine Country: The Best of Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino [Paperback]

Lori Lyn Narlock (Author), Nancy Garfinkel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2005

More than five million visitors make their way to Northern California's wine country each year. And this is the ultimate guide to the best wine-related spots to be found there. Throughout Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties the intrepid authors drove, trekked, visited, sipped, tasted, revisited, took notes, and visited again. The result: an essential and selective resource for those passionate about wine. Here's the "where to" of the finest places to taste, tour, shop, and learn about nature's nectar of the vine, whether it's who offers a quick tutorial on wine growing (try the Benziger Winery) or where to find the wineries with rustic charm in the Anderson Valley (try Handley Cellars). This book is a trusted guide for any visitor to the wine country. Cheers!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lori Lyn Narlock is a wine lover and food writer based in Napa. She is the author of The Food Lover's Companion to the Napa Valley .

Nancy Garfinkel is a writer and editor based in New York. She co-wrote a season of the Food Network's Melting Pot and travels frequently to the Napa Valley.

Michael Carabetta is an award-winning designer and is creative director at Chronicle Books. He lives in Marin County.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (May 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811842428
• ISBN-13: 978-0811842426
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,586,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting perspective, January 24, 2007

By 

Oleg Mustiazza (Hayward, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wine Lover's Guide to the Wine Country: The Best of Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino (Paperback)

In this book Lori Lyn Narlock presents a selection of central California wineries and establishments that would make a great destination for a day/weekend trip.

Although wine is certainly the central theme of the book, other aspects such as winery owners, picnic accomodations, historical factors, vegetable gardens, tours, etc are criterias considered for recommendation.

The book describes several apellations in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino. Wine is certainly a subjective matter but the author tried to divide them into favorites and "best of the rest" and I think she manages to pull it off. How fine is the line? You'll have to follow the the book through the vinyards and decide for yourself.

What I liked about the book is that it contains website listings, phone numbers, intersting photos along with notable facts and trivia about the wineries, their people and the place.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If ever a book needed maps its this one!, August 2, 2009

By 

Jen D (Colorado) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wine Lover's Guide to the Wine Country: The Best of Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino (Paperback)

Overall this is an informative and interesting book. It breaks the wine country of CA down by region and appellation. I can appreciate that because it helps you determine which wineries to visit, why you might prefer the flavor of certain wines over others, etc. But why on earth are there no maps???? The entire design of the book BEGS for MAPS! The entire book is black and white and there are several b&w photos...not too effective, grainy b&w photos never are. But some nicely rendered maps of the regions and appellations as you go through the book would have been enormously helpful.

Actually if I could change my rating I would give it three stars. As I read through this book every couple pages I start flipping through looking for a map, and yet, still no maps. How irritating! If you like Fodors and Frommers guides (you know, that have itineraries, maps, what to do, etc) then this book will be of no use. It gives weekend itineraries, having you drive to wineries, towns for lunch, a different town for dinner, etc. You have to have a Fodors Northern CA so you can plot your course (on a map!) anyway so why bother with this book? I won't be bringing it to Napa on my upcoming trip.