theCompass mobile application is a winery, brewery, and distillery locator for North America.

Cool air off the San Pablo Bay gives the hillside vineyards of Carneros a long, moderate growing season, allowing the grapes to develop slowly and making for rich, focused wines. Casa Carneros has treated their Merlot gently and given it some extra oak-aging to round out the wine and smooth the tannins. The 2001 shows lots of fruit - black cherry, plum, blackberry - filled out by touches of earth, smoke, and vanilla.

Long before Sideways, the Carneros region, which overlaps Sonoma and Napa just north of the San Francisco Bay, had built up a reputation for great Pinot Noir. The fog that San Fran is known for helps cool the grapes, giving them the long, moderate growing season that Pinot Noir likes. The Silver Spur Pinot Noir puts all that to good use: its aromas of cherry and strawberry darken on the palate into raspberry and plum, all balanced by touches of clove and vanilla.