1. Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 252-3408
Address: 151 Camino Dorado
Description: You’ve seen how the wine is blended, now take a good look at how the barrels get toasted. The only U.S. outpost of the famed French wine-barrel makers, Tonnellerie Seguin Moreau Cooperage, is located in Napa. Watch the crew of skilled coopers bend, shave, and roast the oak staves over open flames in the floor, then hammer them together using steel hoops. It’s a craft that has changed little in hundreds of years of winemaking. Self-guided tours are offered Monday through Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. If your group numbers 10 or more, there’s a small fee.
2. Napa Firefighters Museum
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 259-0609
Address: 1201 Main Street
Description: This museum will give you a deeper appreciation of the folks who fight the flames. Inside you’ll see a hand pumper and a steamer, hose carts, engines, ladder trucks, old fire equipment and uniforms, and photos from many eras of puttin’ out fires. The museum is open 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 2030 Airport Road, Napa County Airport
4. Napa River Adventures
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 224-9080
Address: 2399 Streblow Drive
Description: Ready to watch some wildlife along the Napa River? Adventures await during regularly scheduled two-hour cruises for up to 11 people aboard an electric boat. Bring along a bottle of wine, if you’d like, and explore nature in comfort, spotting herons, river otters, and egrets as you float gently on tidal waters (no rapids on this river). This is a great adventure for the kids too, who ride for half price if they are 12 or younger. Several package deals are available, including a golf-and-cruise combo and a wine-tasting/cruise package. Reservations for all cruises are a must.
5. Dreamweavers Theatre
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 255-5483
Address: 1637 Imola Avenue
Description: This is Napa’s only nonprofit live theater, supported by memberships, donations, and ticket sales—and completely staffed by volunteers. The troupe incorporated in 1987, and in 2000 it renovated a former nightclub in the River Park Shopping Center. There is a main theater for big productions and a “black box” area for smaller shows. Dreamweavers has traditionally staged five shows a year for four weekends each, with smaller projects filling the gaps. Recent shows have included Agnes of God, Rhinoceros, and The Gin Game. Tickets typically run $18 to $20. Dreamweavers also sponsors a young actors’ theater, with performances by the kids.
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 1030 Main Street
7. Napa Valley College Theater
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 259-8077
Address: 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway
Description: The drama students of Napa Valley College stage several events at their campus theater during the academic year, August through May. Some examples of recent undertakings are Our Town and La Cage Aux Folles. Prices range from $15 to $18; ask about student and senior discounts. See the Music and Dance section for more NVC productions.
8. Jarvis Conservatory
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 255-5445
Address: 1711 Main Street
Description: The Jarvis Conservatory was founded in 1973 as a nonprofit generator of scholarships for students of the performing arts. The corporation took a great leap in 1994 when it acquired its own educational facilities. And what facilities they are, centered around the Lisbon Winery, a registered historic landmark built in 1882. Performances are in a 221-seat theater in the acoustically superb, expensively equipped, stone winery building. The conservatory’s offerings feature a mix of students and visiting professionals. The first Saturday of each month is opera night, and the specialty of the house is zarzuela, a splendidly costumed, melodramatic form of Spanish opera. Admission for shows can range from $10 and $30.
9. Napa Valley Symphony
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 226-8742
Address: 1100 Lincoln Avenue
Description: Conducted by Asher Raboy, the symphony plays with an assurance and aptitude you might not expect to find in a city of 75,900. Its primary venue is the refurbished Lincoln Theater at the Veterans Home of California. The Napa Valley Symphony has tackled Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler; baroque chamber music; and jazzy compositions by Artie Shaw. It has welcomed guests such as trumpeter Chris Botti, Pink Martini, pianist Ursula Oppens, clarinetist Todd Palmer, and violinist Amy Oshiro. Tickets are generally from $25 to $110.
10. Napa Valley College Theater
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 259-8077
Address: 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway
Description: The college’s esteemed music program puts on a variety of performances, such as orchestra and vocal recitals, even cabaret nights, during the August-through-May academic year. The theater also has lured independent groups, such as the North Bay Philharmonic Orchestra and the North Bay Wind Ensemble. Occasionally events are staged off campus, usually at wineries. Prices average about $15. Ask about senior and student discounts.
11. Chamber Music In Napa Valley
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 963-1391
Address: 1030 Main Street
Description: This group brings the soothing sounds of chamber music to Wine Country. Artists performing in 2008 included the Takacs String Quartet, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, pianist Garrick Ohlsson, and soprano Camilla Tilling. Tickets are sold by subscription only (five concerts cost $100), but some tickets are available for $10 on a first-come, first-served basis the night of the performance.
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 5200 Highway 121/12
13. Jessel Miller Gallery
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 257-2350, (888) 702-6323
Address: 1019 Atlas Peak Road
Description: On the road to Silverado Country Club, in a stately, vine-covered, white-brick building, is the studio of esteemed watercolorist Jessel Miller. The gallery shows the work of both emerging and established artists, in media from oil to collage to jewelry. It also offers public tours, lectures, and demonstrations. The gallery is open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.
14. Napa Valley Art Association
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 255-9616
Address: 1520 Behrens Street
Description: The Napa Valley Art Association was formed as a nonprofit corporation in 1953 to provide local artists with satisfactory facilities. At the association’s once-a-month meetings, guest artists demonstrate their skills and ideas. Those demonstrations are often videotaped for future observation. You can pay a $35 annual fee for membership or surrender a nominal charge to attend a single meeting. The association hosts occasional shows of its members’ work—everything from still lifes to portraits and landscapes to abstracts, in all sorts of media. Member galleries are located in downtown Napa at 710 First Street and at the Town Center shopping center at First Street and Randolph Street. Call the association for more information.
15. Arts Council Of Napa Valley
City: Napa, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 257-2117
Address: 1041 Jefferson Street
Description: This nonprofit organization strives to provide information to art lovers, as well as support artists themselves—visual, literary, music, dance, and so forth. Artists are encouraged to register with the council and participate in the annual Open Studios Tour (see the Festivals and Annual Events chapter).