Wine trips in Napa and Sonoma are popular for a reason. The wine is incredible, the setting is beautiful, and the accommodations are exemplary Unfortunately, such trips take a great deal of planning. Most wineries in Napa and Sonoma require reservations and tastings are a luxury, with base tasting fees in Napa averaging $81 per person. Fortunately, there are options for visitors seeking a casual, accessible way to experience California wine. Anderson Valley, located 2.5 hours from San Francisco in Mendocino County, is home to some of California’s most laid-back wineries. Anderson Valley tasting fees cost about 75 percent less than they would in Napa, appointments are generally unnecessary, and the wines are outstanding. Am I speaking your language? These are the best wineries in Anderson Valley for your next wine trip.

Navarro Vineyards and Winery

Tastings of current offerings are free at Navarro Vineyards and Winery (although enhanced experiences like behind-the-scene tours or culinary add-ons cost more). This is one of the oldest wineries in the area: owners Deborah Cahn and Ted Bennet have been growing grapes in the . The tasting room vibe is relaxed and friendly with indoor and outdoor seating available (weather permitting). With a diverse lineup including Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Muscat, and non-alcoholic artisan grape juice, it’s easy to find something to appreciate here.

Bee Hunter Wine

Bee Hunter Wine is crafted from local fruit grown with biodynamic, organic, and sustainable processes. Owners Ali and Andy DuVigneaud run a small operation, producing 200-500 cases of wine in a given year. If you like something, purchase a bottle before they sell out. The boutique tasting room offers both indoor and patio seating. Varieties offered include Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah, and Grenache.

Goldeneye

Goldeneye is brought to you by who have successfully executed their vision of creating Pinot Noir in Anderson Valley as distinctive of the Merlot that made them famous in Napa. If weather permits, take your tasting on the back garden view patio. In addition to their celebrated Pinot Noir, the winery produces sparkling, Gewurztraminer, and selections from the Duckhorn portfolio.

Foursight Wines

Owners Bill and Nancy Charles in honor of the four generations of their family who have lived and made wine in Anderson Valley. Weather permitting, tastings are served with a view under tall oak trees or inside a lovely gazebo. Varieties include Pinot Noir, sparkling, Semillon, and Sauvignon Blanc. If you need lodging in the area, the family also manages two guesthouses, .

Toulouse Vineyards

The welcoming atmosphere at is the perfect complement to the winery’s stunning 160-acre property. Tastings here are surrounded by tall redwoods and sweeping views of the Valley. Owners Vern and Maxine Boltz offer standard varieties like Pinot Noir, Sparkling, and Pinot Gris alongside surprises you aren’t likely to find elsewhere like Vermouth and Amaro Rita elixir.

Baxter Winery

Owner Phillip Baxter grew up vacationing in Anderson Valley. After earning a degree in viticulture and enology at U.C. Davis and completing an internship in Burgandy, he returned to his childhood vacation place to begin focusing on his elegant Pinot Noirs. Today still focuses on Pinots but they also produce stellar examples of varieties like Chardonnay and Nebbiola.

Tamara Gane is based in Reno/Lake Tahoe. She takes dozens of trips a year and shares the best destinations, accommodations, experiences, and travel gear with her readers.

CHICO, Calif. — Fire crews battling California’s largest wildfire this year have corralled a third of the blaze aided in part by cooler weather, but a return of triple-digit temperatures could allow it to grow, fire officials said Sunday.

Cooler temperatures and increased humidity gave firefighters “a great opportunity to make some good advances” on the fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, said Chris Vestal, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Park Fire has scorched 627 square miles (1,623 square kilometers) since igniting July 24 when authorities said a man pushed a burning car into a gully in Chico and then fled. The blaze was 30% contained as of Sunday.

The massive fire has scorched an area bigger than the city of Los Angeles, which covers about 503 square miles (1,302 square kilometers). It continues to burn through rugged, inaccessible, and steep terrain with dense vegetation.

The fire’s push northward has brought it toward the rugged lava rock landscape surrounding Lassen Volcanic National Park, which has been closed because of the threat. The inhospitable terrain remains one of the biggest challenges for firefighters.

“The challenge with that is we can’t use our heavy machinery like bulldozers to go through and cut a line right through it,” Vestal said.

“On top of that, we have to put human beings, our hand crews, in to remove those fuels and some of that terrain is not really the greatest for people that are hiking so it takes a long time and extremely hard work,” he added.

The fire has destroyed at least 572 structures and damaged 52 others. At least 2,700 people in Butte and Tehama Counties remain under evacuation orders, Veal said.

After days of smoky skies, clear skies Sunday allowed firefighters to deploy helicopters and other aircraft to aid in the fight against the blaze as temperatures reached above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 degrees Celsius).

“The fire is in a good place from the weather conditions we had the last couple of days but we still have to worry about the weather that we have and the conditions that are going to be present now for about the next five or six days,” Veal said.

The fire in Northern California is one of 85 large blazes burning across the West.

In Colorado, firefighters were making progress Sunday against three major fires burning near heavily populated areas north and south of Denver. Many residents evacuated by the fires have been allowed to go back home.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a blaze threatening hundreds of homes near the Colorado city of Littleton as arson.

About 50 structures were damaged or destroyed, about half of them homes, by a fire near Loveland. And one person was found dead in a home burned by a fire west of the town of Lyons.

Scientists say extreme wildfires are becoming more common and destructive in the U.S. West and other parts of the world as climate change warms the planet and droughts become more severe.

In Canada, a 24-year-old firefighter battling a blaze in Jasper National Park was killed Saturday by a falling tree, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

The firefighter from Calgary, whose name was not released, was battling a fire north of Jasper, a town in Alberta Province that was half destroyed last month by a fast-moving fire.

I have long wondered what marketing genius came up with all these national wine celebration days—as if we really need an excuse to imbibe. Anyway, today, we’re celebrating, observing—and certainly, drinking white wines—the day so designated to do so. Here’s a sun-kissed selection from California that ranges from the light and easy to those with more gravitas, demonstrating that west coast whites are more diverse than ever—even within their historic categories of grape varieties.

Amulet Estate “AE” White Blend 2021, Napa Valley. This is a hand-harvested field blend harvested from the Proof Vineyard, one of the Napa Valley’s oldest, consisting of 55% Sauvignon Vert, 35% Semillon and 10% other white grapes. It is rich, round and full bodied with honeyed tones, beeswax and stone-orchard fruits ripened by late-summer sun. It will transition out of the portfolio this year in favor of a Sauvignon Blanc, so if you can find it, grab it.

Arkenstone Estate 2020, Howell Mountain, Napa. This blend of 94% Sauvignon Blanc and the rest Sémillon is a nod to the wines of Pessac-Léognan, the area in Graves (Bordeaux) that is the spiritual home of this delicious blend. This one, sourced from six blocks on the rocky Howell Mountain AVA (Graves derives its name from the very gravelly soil there, so this is a good “look-alike”), is tropical-fruit-inflected with notes of honeydew melon and sweet Clementines. Pretty white flowers give this a lilt. Aging on the lees in concrete egg gives the wine its roundness.

Cormorant Vermentino “Fenaughty Vineyards” 2023 El Dorado County. A fresh white from a line of small-production and intentional wines from Charlie Gilmore. Unfiltered and made in a low-invention Old-World style, this wine is balanced and faithful to its Italian flavor profile—fresh, spright citrus and mouth-cleansing acidity that keeps the enamel on your teeth.

Ferrari-Carano Pinot Grigio 2023, California. This is a fun, crisp counterpart to some of the watered-down versions that got out there when the PG category took off. This one is easy going and citrus-fruit forward. Don’t think too much about this: take it to the beach or have it as an aperitif on your patio. The similarly styled Fume Blanc from the North Coast is Sauvy-B oriented, with a tropical twist, but carries a similar thread of easy, fresh fruit and fun to drink.

Groth Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2022, Oakville, Napa. This estate wine is another that is Pessac-Léognan inspired, driven by 89% Sauvignon Blanc, with Sémillon making up the remainder. It’s the producer’s first white wine to carry the Oakville appellation. Textured, expressing a bit of salinity, it takes you through the whole taste spectrum of ripe tropical fruits—from skin (particularly yellow nectarine) to juicy pulp. Serve it to those who usually shy away from the green-gooseberry profile.

Quintessa “Illumination” Sauvignon Blanc 2016. Grapes for this wine are sourced from a combination of vineyards—64% Napa and 36% Sonoma counties. Find expressions of white orchard fruits and some of the tropics thrown in there, too. The very seductive nose draws you in and the juicy textured fruits—ripe yellow apple and quince and lemon compote—keep you there. While fine to drink now (especially the 2016), if you can hold off drinking this until fall, you will be rewarded. The attractive bottle makes this a nice “plus one” for a dinner party.

LangeTwins Fume Blanc 2022, Jahant AVA, Lodi, California. This is made from Musqué, a musky, floral and very aromatic clone of Sauvignon Blanc, which, in the wrong hands, can get overblown and kind of garish. But, aging for six months in French and American neutral oak toned down the drama. This version has those green notes, but also friendly tropical fruit and peach flesh. Not really a “twin,” but a close sibling, is the light and easy Chenin Blanc from the Clarksburg AVA (Merrill Vineyard), featuring a bright citrus ping, layered with notes of melon and ripe orchard-fruit skin.

Ram’s Gate Pinot Blanc 2022, Carneros, (Sonoma). Stylistically, this is a terrific hybrid of Old World styles from two under-the-radar high-quality regions: Alsace in the northeast section of France and Alto Adige in Italy’s northeast. I am thinking of yellow apples and plums ripening on a sun-speckled country kitchen counter, preferably made of weathered soapstone. OK, I digress! But you get the idea: nuanced, elegantly simple (or simply elegant!), with a pretty honeyed note and the rich pulp of ripe apricots. This also is a good transitional wine for cooler temperatures.

Unshackled Sauvignon Blanc 2021, California. Separate but part of the Prisoner Wine Co., this is a very servicable SauvB for people who don’t gravitate toward the pungent green styles of Marlborough or even Chile. This one is round and expressing more on the tropical side of the fruit spectrum. The Domaine Curry Sauvignon Blanc 2023 (Napa) is a foray into estate wine after Constellation Brands, PWC’s parent, acquired it in 2023 and rebranded it. I don’t know if the winemaking also underwent a transformation, but this current vintage blends grapes from Wappo Hill in the Stag’s Leap District and River Oaks in Alexander Valley, giving a tropical-fruit-inflected and forceful interpretation of Sauvy-B.