About

The Napa Wine Project is entirely researched and maintained by David Thompson. The focus of this project is to educate and promote Napa Valley, its vineyards, wines and stories, both domestically and internationally.

Dave first made wine in high school from second crop Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Slusser Road in neighboring Sonoma County; in 2006 he created the Napa Wine Project. He has visited each physical winery, tasted the wines, and written extensive reviews of more than 1,200 unique commercial Napa Valley-based wine producers to date, plus hundreds of revisits and 850+ visits to places or spaces outside of Napa Valley strongly connected through ownership or heritage to Napa Valley based wineries. He is responsible for all research, winery visits & revisits, winery reviews, tasting notes, photography and updates.

Dave is an extensive world traveler and founder and editor of the popular international travel site, Dave’s Travel Corner. For many years he ran a website promoting Olympic Gold Medalist and career undefeated WBA World Super Middleweight champion Boxer Andre Ward.

And he is involved in several other wine activities including Dave’s Wines, a Napa Valley only wine club, an exciting Marselan project in Calistoga, assisting one of Napa’s original and most storied wine brands, Migliavacca and a multi winemaker project in Carneros.

His first book titled, “The Freeways of Los Angeles” was published in 2010. He has freelanced for Robb Report, Four Seasons Magazine and Napa Valley Life. He also offers concierge services for small and larger groups.

We strive to keep our reviews updated but the wine industry is fluid like its wine and things do change unbelievably quickly. If you spot a review that needs updating or notice anything incorrectly posted on the site, please use the contact form on this page or email us asap. Please do not call in updates via the phone.

A huge thank you goes out to all the Napa vintners and winery representatives we have met with to date.

Are you a wine buyer, collector? Retail outlet? Exporter, importer? Need to restock or build your Napa wine cellar? Distributor? Let me know. If you are serious about buying wines, send me an email. I can help make connections to find the wines you like. Through the scope of this project I have gained access to numerous resources in Napa Valley.

Are you interested in making wine in Napa Valley? We provide consulting services and access to the right people to help you on your wine journey.

— FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

— BECOME A PATRON

napa wines are about power and elegance, combining these two seemingly disparate words together ~ Dave

we welcome you here and you will be richer for the experience if you pick up just a sliver of the passion we have for what we do ~ Dave

I’m so impressed by the task you are undertaking to do in sharing a comprehensive access to all the many wineries we are lucky to have here in the Valley. I’m amazed how many there are!! It’s an incredible testament to this amazing way of life. Thank you for the style and openness in which you’re approaching it – yours is a significant contribution in communicating the bounty of this valley. ~ Carissa Mondavi

Good to hear that you’re continuing to increase your wine industry activities. You are an asset to our mutual industry. ~ Richard Peterson

….I was reminded again of what good work you quietly do. In this day and age many of us find it attractive to flit from one thing to another. Recurring novelty, under the guise of career advancement, is a seductive substitute when compared to the harder won reward of long term perseverance in one task, and all its nuances. ~ Colin MacPhail

Meant what I said the other day – the amount of (quality) content you are pumping out is impressive and for a sustained period of time. I say “quality” because in the age of the vinfluencer where people take cute pictures in the vineyard and get a million clicks, we appreciate actual content, interviews, information etc. ~ Collin Crane, Grape Culture

Without question, this is the single best resource on wineries in the Napa Valley. ~ Martin Cody

We consider you to be one of the Napa Valley’s great ambassadors and appreciate all that you do. ~ Julian Christian