Ask Wine Girl: Whites in Napa?

Dear Wine Girl:
I am going to Calistoga in Napa Valley with a friend at the end of the month. We are going to taste white wines because neither of us knows anything about them. We are staying at Solage on the Silverado Trail, and I was wondering if you had any good ideas for whites for us to taste. I want to go to Château Montalena and Folie a Deux. Clos Pegas and Sterling are within biking distance.
Signed,
From Vegas to the Vineyards

Dear Vegas in the Vineyards:

Napa is not the first place one goes to drink white wine, since cabernet sauvignon is king there. But you are right to checkmark the chardonnay at Chateau Montalena, since it helped Napa dominate the famous 1976 taste-off between France and Napa. You can continue your historic-whites-of-Napa tour by visiting Grgich Hills in Rutherford, which was founded by Mike Grgich, the Yugoslavian refugee who was winemaker at Montalena when they won the Judgement of Paris. Grgich Hills’ chards are widely regarded to have epitomized the big, buttery style that dominated California chardonnay for so long.

For the best whites in Napa, click here for more:

Finally, although you’ll be in the northernmost — and hottest — end of Napa Valley, I’d recommend too that you take a drive south to the cooler Carneros district, which is more suited to white wine varieties, and where two of my favorites are Truchard (you’ll need an appointment, and be sure to taste their roussane and get the story behind how they mistakenly, though fortuitously, planted this white Rhône variety) and Acacia. But for the best white wine in Napa, head to Auberge de Soleil for lunch and order some good premier cru white Burgundies off the wine list.

Heather