State Scenic Highway 29 29

State Scenic Highway 29 runs the length of Napa Valley, the best-known wine road in America, from Vallejo north toward Calistoga. The highway is eligible for California's State Scenic Highway System along its Vallejo-to-Napa and Napa-to-Upper Lake stretches, though neither has yet completed the formal designation process. That bureaucratic detail hardly matters to the millions who drive it every year for the view: rolling vineyards in green and gold beneath the Mayacamas Mountains, framed by wineries ranging from ivy-covered 19th-century stone buildings to glass-walled modern estates. Beringer Vineyards, founded in 1868 and the valley's oldest continuously operating winery, survived Prohibition by producing sacramental wine for churches. Chateau Montelena, established in 1882, became world-famous after its Chardonnay beat top Burgundy wines at the blind-tasted 1976 Judgment of Paris. North of St. Helena, the valley narrows and the road climbs toward Calistoga's hot springs and geysers, a quieter finish to one of the most heavily visited drives in California.

• Vallejo to Calistoga
• Napa Valley wine road
• Beringer Vineyards (1868)
• Chateau Montelena (1976 Judgment of Paris)
• Mayacamas Mountains
• eligible for CA Scenic Highway System