President’s Letter

Dear Members,

It is not often that a person is given the chance to participate wholeheartedly in an organization whose mission and methods parallel so completely his or her own: wine and books; education and the wine experience; history and the beauty of Napa Valley, my “home town.”

With Internet access to all sorts of information, the roles of libraries are changing. The Napa Valley Wine Library was founded to provide a comprehensive collection of all the fine materials published on wine and the industry. The founders’ intention was to provide an exhaustive collection for anyone desiring to research wine, particularly wine of Napa Valley. Not only is this a very expensive undertaking, it is no longer used in a way that would justify the expense—everyone just Googles.

But Google can’t bring you a Saturday morning with likeminded people testing their tasters with wonderful wines in black glasses. Or a morning with winemakers expressing their own personal desires and sharing their treasures. Or an afternoon with 100 wineries, many with their principals pouring, showing off their best, their classics, under classic California oaks.

Napa Valley Wine Library is a window to more than a winery tour. It’s a window to the history, the characters and the beauty of the Valley. We hope to bring you glimpses of all of this, not just wineries, but wineries that are their creators’ art, not just wine, but winemakers’ expressions of their art, their love. And not just the Valley, but the Valley on a misty spring morning, wildflowers dotting the hills and vines wearing their brand new tidy green suits, or later in fall, when the grapes are heavy and lanky canes are turning colors, or in winter, when the vineyards are asleep and the rest of us are celebrating another successful vintage.

Join us then!

Carolyn Martini, President