Sitting next door to Copia, Napa’s museum to wine, the new Oxbow Public Market offers an array of environmentally friendly artisan food products and the smallest bonded winery in the U.S., Michael Mondavi’s Folio.
Celebrating its grand opening February 23 and 24, the Market’s 18 businesses offered artisan-produced olive oil, coffee, tea, and organic ice cream. Among other vendors are Five Dot Ranch, a California ranch producing natural beef and Kanaloa Seafood Market, which sells seafood obtained in environmentally friendly ways.
Ten permanent outdoor spaces for farm stands will serve a 7-day-a-week market program that offers organic or sustainably-grown produce from within a 150-mile radius of Napa.
“The market reflects the texture and sensibilities of the community around it, and so much of the produce and other foodstuffs will be organic or sustainably-farmed,” said owner and CEO Steve Carlin.
Although some organic or biodynamic wines are offered, such as Paul Dolan Wines made from organically grown grapes, Carlin added, “The wine industry doesn’t see the value added to organic wine grapes in the same way that the food industry does. I have not yet seen that people will pay a premium price for organic grapes in wine.”
Folio Enoteca & Winery is the smallest bonded winery in the U.S., according to Carlin. Located inside the market, a 15,000-square-foot modern barn, it contains all aspects of wine production except crushing and bottling facilities. When the 2007 vintage is available, customers will be able to taste and buy the wines made there.
The sleek, spacious Oxbow Wine Merchant and Wine Bar has a wine bar, full cheese shop, and views of the Napa River. Nearby is an outpost of Taylor’s Automatic Refresher, a hamburger stand once lauded by wine critic Robert Parker.
The Oxbow Public Market is part of a revitalization of the downtown area of the city of Napa, usually bypassed by most of the 5 million annual visitors to the Napa Valley, where its famous wineries are located.
For more information, visit http://www.oxbowpublicmarket.com.
Published: February 24, 2008
