Napa

Best New World wines. Snob haven. Gorgeous weather.

All the Napa Valley stereotypes are true. So is it worth the hour drive from San Francisco to wine country? Absolutely.

Being the microclimate with some of California's best weather, you can be foggy and 50 in SF while the sun's baking the vines in Napa Valley, only 40 miles northeast of the City.

A few friends from work gave us the insider's tour Saturday. They shared their favorite, and some new, stops along the back road that snakes through Napa. We went a bit off the beaten path, which I loved, and Vincent Arroyo, most notably the best winery during our full-day excursion, was terrific. Cabernet and petite syrah were out of this world. We bought a bottle of "Nameless."

We will be back. And if you come and visit, we too will give you the insider's tour.