Winter is quiet time in wine country. Which makes it a very good time for a visit.

With harvest over and future bottles of wine resting peacefully in barrels and tanks, your chances of chatting with a winemaker when you visit a winery is higher. And as temperatures drop, so do crowds and prices, making a getaway less stressful on your psyche and wallet.

Cooler weather — temperatures can be in the 40s and 50s in January, warming up to the 60s in February and March — transforms the valley from exuberant summer splendor to a moodier hue. Winter rains turn hillsides deep green; in the vineyards dormant vines lift spindly arms to misty skies.

It all makes for some good eating weather. Now's the time to feast on the hearty braises and roasts that go best with Napa's... Read more...