Copia

Copia had an interesting concept. In the Napa Valley, make a museum all about food and wine. It was jumpstarted by the late Robert Mondavi himself, who helped turn the Valley into California’s #1 vacation destination.
Copia had Julia’s Kitchen (Tyler Florence did a cooking demo there right before it closed), a gift shop that had TONS of cookbooks, and some exhibits upstairs. The rotating exhibits were often very good, better than the regular «Forks in the Road» one. Upstairs, one could do supermarket quizzes, reminisce in a photo booth, watch scenes from foodie movies such as «Like Water for Chocolate», and watch people talk about their food memories. The most interesting food memory was from a gay couple-​one man of Italian descent, the other Japanese. They reminisced about sushi and pasta.
Overall, Copia was a disappointment. It was very expensive for what it offered. Now, it is an empty sarcophagus. Luckily, the Oxbow Market next door is doing quite well.

This review will be in stark contrast to my first review.
I’m writing this to detail my experience as a culinary extern (intern). At the time, I was required to complete a 3 month externship to fulfill my graduation requirements at CCA. Additionally, I was injured at the time (hurt my knee), so it was hard to be on my feet all day.
I was under the impression that I would be receiving a nominal salary here, but I was told after I was hired that it was an unpaid position, but that I’d be reimbursed for all my travel expenses to come to work. I commuted 55 miles one way to Napa from SF 3 days a week. I was only given a measly $ 50 a week to cover gas and tolls.
Unfortunately, I still needed to keep my retail job at Macy’s in Union Square to pay the bills. So I was working a part time job and a full time job, all requiring standing for 8+ hours at a time, when I’m injured. I often worked 6 days in a row, sometimes 7, alternating between both jobs.
To boot, at the end of the externship, I was told that there was no position for me available at COPIA (almost no externs were ever hired here after completing an externship).
I felt that COPIA was intentionally taking advantage of CCA externs for free labor with no intention of hiring afterwards, and not reimbursing them adequately for their out of pocket expenses to fulfill their graduation requirements.

I’m sad but not surprised that Copia finally went under. I enjoyed a couple of visits here but there was something missing. The wine vending machines were fun way to do some wine tasting and the gardens made for a beautiful afternoon walk, but after going once or twice, there wasn’t really anything new to enjoy. The classes were too expensive but I did enjoy the free daily food class. I hope someone reopens this beautiful center and makes it work!

This review is for my wedding held here on 9÷27÷08.
From the time we decided on holding our event at Copia in Spring 2007 to the wedding date, we worked with no less than FIVE different on-​site coordinators here. To say things were frustrating is an understatement.
The site itself is magnificent. An herb garden, stage, and water features adorn the outdoors. Parking is plentiful. It is a state-​of-​the-​art facility.
One of the main selling points of Copia is that you can BYO alcohol and there is NO corkage. Great when you are trying to maintain a budget, right? Well, less than a month before our big day we are asked for our liquor license. Now, a license is only needed if there are sales of alcohol. We were free flowing the wine and beer (no charging or cash bar of any sort). They wouldn’t take no for an answer, and ultimately forced us to pay another $ 1500 to have an ADDITIONAL vendor (besides our caterers) come in to serve our beverages. What a waste.
I paid $ 500 for one hour of security so that our guests could explore the upstairs exhibits. My favorite one is Forks in the Road. Very interactive and fun for all the senses. Well, when I inquired why the lights were only on in a different area, I was informed that only one room could be guarded. I apparently had a choice of exhibits, but I was NEVER informed of this choice, so it was made for me.
If that isn’t enough, we were not warned that major construction would begin during the months leading up to our big day. One of the major roads leading to Copia (Silverado Trail @ First Street) was completely closed off, forcing us to change all directional information to the guests.
Oh yeah, and there were two dinosaur-​sized cranes in the backdrop of our wedding. I will give the coordinator credit for making construction crews stop during our ceremony.
On a tangent, Al Gore was at my wedding. Ok, he was holding an Obama fundraiser at Copia during the same time as my wedding, but I can honestly say the Secret Service were on the property. How sweet is that?!

My sister had her wedding and reception here last week. She was kind enough to not give me a job to do (though I took a lot pictures), so I got to observe the whole set-​up. My wife was a bridesmaid and she looked beautiful! I have to say, my sis and my new brother-​in-​law picked one awesome place. The outdoor area where the wedding was performed was beautiful. Great «after ceremony» appetizers (so bummed I missed the crab cakes). The dinner inside was absolutely fabulous. Rack of lamb (fantastic), Ratatouille and Sea Bass (mouth watering) were excellent. She even has a mashed potato bar (mashed potatoes served in a martini glass with your choice of grilled onions, mushrooms and/​or shrimp to top it off). As far as I was concerned, the wedding coordinator was great! She made sure my sis and her husband had a great time and that everything was great for all of the guests!
What was by far the best thing about the wedding was that my sister got married and I gained another «brother». So happy for you sis!
Again, before you call me again, I really did have a great time sis! You outdid yourself again!

COPIA is one of those places that I had been meaning to visit since it opened seven years ago, but somehow I never could make it a priority. I never heard a friend say — «Damn Eddie, you gotta check out COPIA… it’s fo’ shizzle». Well, first of all, I don’t have any friends that say «fo’ shizzle», and second, they wouldn’t be in my inner circle if they had the gumption to call me «Eddie». But the bottom line is I never hear anything about it. Sadly, I don’t seem to be the only one since the CEO of COPIA just announced yesterday that one-​third of the staff is being laid off and that it will now be open only three days a week.
That’s a shame since it’s not a bad place. Founded by Robert Mondavi and his wife, it’s quite a nice building — looking from the outside like a modern art museum — with a beautiful terrace area overlooking the Napa River. You figure with all that going for it that the place would be a must-​stop for wine country visitors. What doesn’t help much is that it is located in downtown Napa, a picturesque and recently revitalized area but somewhat of a chore to drive to from Hwy 29. The other pertinent fact is that COPIA suffers from an identity crisis.
Once I entered, I immediately got confused as to what COPIA exactly is really about. Billed as an «institution to educate, promote and celebrate American excellence and achievements in the culinary, winemaking and visual arts arenas», the place simply covers too broad a canvas. I was hoping for a museum dedicated more to the wineries, but apparently that wasn’t good enough for the founders. They have cooking demonstrations as well as wine tasting classes. They have a restaurant named after Julia Child and a café.
They have theaters and a whole lot of gallery space. There is a second-​floor exhibit called «Forks in the Road» that’s like a really dull version of the Exploratorium. And of course, there is an expansive gift shop with all sorts of pricey items you realize you couldn’t live without. I hope the new CEO figures out what to do to get more traction for the space. It seems that it has the bones for something great, but it just feels like it’s stuck in a quagmire of half-​baked ideas.

Tourist trap with benefits.
Our first visit was several years ago for a concert. Nothing in the building was open — concert was great — lovely venue — highly recommend going.
Second visit was a couple of weeks ago to check out what was inside the building. We didn’t taste or take a class but enjoyed the exhibit. The gift shop was nirvana for tourists — crammed full of both tasteful and tacky remembrances of Napa Valley to take home. I was amazed at the number of items that one could silkscreen a bunch of bright purple grapes on to. Yikes! The gardens were postively incredible.
I would go back for a class or another concert or just to walk around the gardens.

You’re missing out if you don’t go!
What a great learning experience, especially eating at the restaurant.
Walk around and absorb what Julia Childs and Robert Mondavi has put together.
Eye candy for the food and wine enthusiast.

My better half, a Julia Child fan from way back, had wanted to go here ever since it opened. We finally got there on a Thursday, around 11 am, in mid July.
Things started badly. We put $ 20 on a card to use the wine-​tasting machines, but this was quickly exhausted as 5 out of 10 machines debited the card but gave error messages, without pouring any wine at all. We complained, and about 45 minutes later someone came out and started servicing them. A kindly volunteer offered us another $ 5 on the card, about half what had been stolen from us. We let it go at that, as we wanted little more to do with the broken high-​tech.
We enjoyed testing our wine knowledge on a PC-​based game and some flip-​over placard displays.
We caught a docent-​led tour of the front garden, which was excellent. She told us about the plants and the biodynamic gardening techniques used to grow them, and generally shared lots of great information. And yes, she broke off bits and pieces of things for us all to taste! If you’re into organic gardening, Copia is well worth a visit just for this tour.
After that, I went out to their «front 40» to see what else they had. There were beautiful fruit trees, hop towers, and all the workhorse summer fruits and veggies you can imagine. It was an eye-​opener, with lots of innovative support structures and drip-​watering stuff.
Way out in the front, right next to the river, there’s a gorgeous «kid’s garden» with a tepee of passion flower vines, activity tables, and other fun things.
We didn’t have time to try the classes, and we didn’t eat there (having other plans). Having seen the best part, we’re not likely to return. Even so, if gardening is your avocation, I recommend at least one visit to Copia, ideally during the harvest months.

In theory, as a wine newbie starting my day in Napa, taking the Winetasting 101 class seemed like a good idea. I unfortunately was disappointed by the class, which pretty much just went over how to look at the wine, swirl it, and swallow it. They give you one white and one red. A lot of time was wasted on the instructor’s personal anecdotes, which half the time were irrelevant to the class. The one perk of the $ 15 class (admission to Copia is free) was getting a Winetasting Passport with coupons to various wineries, mostly buy one flight get one free.
My friend and I had other stuff planned, so we didn’t stay to taste wines in machines or stop by many of the informational booths.

Visited Copia at 11:00 am on a saturday, only an hour after they opened, which may have had an effect on my experience there. The place certainly felt like they had just opened for the day and there weren’t many people there.
I really like the concept of Copia, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. One of my favorite things about wine tasting is the personal interaction. You get to talk to someone about the wine you are drinking and ask them questions. Even if its some cute girl hired for her looks who had nothing to do with making the wine, they usually know a few tidbits of interesting information about the winery.
Copia decided to forgo all of that stuff and just have fancy pouring machines that are somewhere between a soda fountain and a vending machine.
I didn’t get to make my way into the food museum section as we were a bit short on time and i just wanted to check this place out. That might change my opinion, but im not so optimistic about that.
Classes here range from 30 to 50 bucks, which would bump up the price for a day in Napa significantly. For those prices i hope you get to at least eat the food.
Time in Napa is precious. Most places are only open from 10am to 5pm. That’s a pretty small window considering the amount of driving one must do. I might come back sometime for a more thorough investigation, but im not so optimistic that i’ll like this place any better.

We came to Copia for my hubby’s cousin’s wedding excursion selection. We got to choose from Copia, a Choco & Jelly Belly Tour or A Walking Tour of SF. So being into wine & food we naturally chose Copia.
It was so educational! We took a wine and food pairing course and learned which wines go with which foods and what brings out the tanins in the reds. (grody btw). I am personally a riesling and gewurtstraminer gal. What comes down to it — it really doesn’t matter what wine goes with what. Drink what you like. I will happily eat a steak with white wine thank you very much! I will still however, give a run for a sommelier’s money! =P Those sommeliers’ amaze me sometimes. I digress, back to Copia…
After the class we were onto a wine blending class. This was super cool. It was like chemistry! We were given 5 different reds and a beaker. We then began to mix different combinations and wrote down the percentage of each wine until we came to that we liked. You get to name your winery and your wine for the label. Once given your bottle, you got to cork it, put the label on and seal it with the sealer. We are waiting for ours to age a bit before opening… if we ever open it. It was really an experience i’ll never forget and hope to do again.
Because we had 2 classes, we didn’t have time to walk thru the exhibits. Copia does have an amazing garden, very picturesque. We’ll be back and will have to try the infamous Julia’s Kitchen when we return.

The museum was very well done. No boring looking at old stuff on the walls. The museum was fully interactive with exhibits about food and culture, evolution of food in America and wine in America, of course. Did you know Ohio used to be wine country?
My favorite parts were the different doo dads you can walk about and check out. Like guessing the kitchen utensil. The most disappointing was the guess the scent. Everything smelt like burnt cotton candy. Back to the lab with that one. Lots of touch screens, videos and interactive displays. Very hands on. It was free the day I went, so I don’t know the usual price.
The garden across the street was a nice addition. I liked the chickens and experimental plots. Reminded me of UC Davis where they also do experimental agricultural stuff.
The theatre looked nice too. The chairs were actually kind of comfy. The gift shop is worth a browse through. The high tech wine tasting racks looked interesting. Even though I don’t care about wine, the interactive wine questions exhibit was fun. (Did you know that you can ask to see the wine list regardless of your hair color?) I was off to Pica Pica in the Oxbow building, so Ididn’t check out the Julia’s Kitchen restaurant. It looked very swanky though.

Copia was simply delightful, even for us, who don’t drink alcohol.
I can’t say anything about the tastings, but I would highly encourage you to attend the cooking demonstration! The website says they’re at 2:15, but we got there and found out it was at 3:15. You may want to call in advance? The large, stadium-​seating room seats about 60 and they broadcast what the chef is doing on tvs so even those in the back get a good view. The chef hands out printed recipes, answers your questions and gives you a sample of what was made at the end of the 45 minute class. She was approachable, efficient and professional. The class usually costs $ 15 to attend, but if you go in January or February there’s no entrance fee and no fee for the class.
We were dying to try Julia’s Kitchen, the in-​house restaurant dedicated to Julia Child, but we had reservations at The French Laundry and didn’t dare spoil our appetites.

Awesome team-​building opportunities abound here :)
Copia is basically a large on-​site culinary/​wine education community center for tourists looking for more than the stereotypical samplings and walking around befuddled by too much sulfate intake.
Large, expansive, and modern… the attraction lies in the educators/​volunteers who know their wines as well as wine processes. In addition to wine classes, they offer other classes that encompass food pairings as well as other culinary events.
My experience specifically was with the wine blending event. Our group of 10 – 11 were each given 5 varieties of red wine in addition to a handout explaining the steps of the wine making process. Also included, were large freestanding test tubes with glass pipettes to accurately measure out the proportion of reds to create the best blend (according to our discerning palates and whetted appetites — had yet to sample dinner from Julia’s kitchen). Not only did this force us as a table to come together and work accordingly in small groups of 4 to come up with a specific blend, but the collaboration effort was fantastic in that we were able to create — test — and market the final product.
Our vintage was an awesome blend and each participant walked away with their specific blend bottled and corked on site.
I’d recommend this as part of a professional/​social event as I found it very educational as well as fun and working with my «team».

I live near Copia, so it’s a good place to take the kids when you just don’t know what to do with them, but you want to get out for a bit. Admission for kids is free, adults $ 5. When I first went to Copia there were more tasting bars around the space… when I went in December I felt like I was intruding into someone’s work space. Of course, I didn’t see any of these wine tasting vending machines, but honestly, if I’d seen them I would have thought they were tacky.
Last I went was a Sunday afternoon. I wanted to poke around in the shop for some good Christmas presents, but it seemed they’d changed the inventory since October, and I came away empty handed, but fat-​walleted. In we went to the Café – you can see my review at
. Suffice it to say, I didn’t like spending $ 20 on lunch that was served on paper plates for myself and an 11-​year old. The staff was annoyed they had to stand up to take my money. Did I mention that was $ 20 and I did NOT have a glass of wine? And the egg salad didn’t have any scallions. BLAND!!! In a museum of food & wine?
I would love it if the edible gardens had docents, that actually gave tastes of the edible plants and fruits.
My advice: get happier, friendlier staff, who are that way, all the time, every day. Don’t be surprised when people show up. Have more in the museum ABOUT food & wine, with tastings, history, and information. You serve a sparkling, cold Shiraz? The pourer should know everything there is to know about it – and sparkling reds! You pair it with hummus? How about maps, history, information about why the two pair so well?
If you have a special $ 50 tea time, maybe you should close that area off to the public? Put it outside?
And most of the people who come to Copia aren’t from Napa. So it there’s an aura of snobbery, look to the tourists???

My friend Lori who is my culinary idol and who I can best describe as a «food ethnologist» told me about this place after her husband worked in a winery in Napa one summer. If you love food, wine and museums you will love this space because it celebrates all three in a distinctively modern and relaxed setting. There’s a beautiful garden with a fountain in the front, and the museum has a gallery upstairs which showcases local talent. They also have a lot of interactive exhibits focusing on food and culture. The most powerful exhibit featured photos of over 30 families from all over the world and the portraits included an itemized account of all food consumed during a one week period. This was very eye opening as you compare Western U.S. consumption with that of the rest of the world. Very eye opening and sobering.
If you go on a Friday you can reserve a spot in the «Taste of Copia» lunch where you get to watch a live cooking demo, learn about the fresh produce grown in the gardens, and enjoy a freshly prepared meal with a pairing of 3 wines. The wine specialist was very knowledgeable and the chef prepared the most amazing meal. First course was an arugula salad with roasted beets, second course was a seared ahi served over pasta and grilled vegetables, and the third course was a lemon custard ice cream sandwich served with a pistachio crust. The wines complimented the meal beautifully, and the lunch culminated with a tasting of a Trefethen Riesling that was amazing. Very sweet wine, but it complimented the dessert very well.
After lunch or wine tasting, I recommend walking through the gardens, and checking out the gift shop which has a good selection of cookbooks. People think this is a great first stop if you are new to Napa, and I agree. This place is great to go to if you are new to wine tasting in Napa, and it will set the stage beautifully for a nice visit to the wine country.

I’ve been a member of Copia for almost a year now. Copia has some nice and interesting exhibitions like their current Hungry Planet: What the Planet Eats where you can look at enlarged photos of what families eat and what it costs to eat around the world. I also like the gallery filled with game-​like tests for food. Copia on a regular day usually has free wine/​nut tasting. The free lectures are okay and the rooms for the lectures are particularly comfortable. What I like particularly about Copia are their beautiful organic gardens where you can see things like fig trees and organic squashes. The garden has two lots of land. You have to cross the street to see the other garden where they have tomato vines, strawberry plants, etc. A walk through these gardens are very nice on a sunny day.
I’ve tried their paid food sampling which can be expensive like 20 dollars for a chocolate/​wine pairing. I’ve never ate in their Juliet Child restaurant but it does look like a nice place to have lunch. They also have a spread of edibles ready to go like sandwiches and drinks.
The only problem with Copia is that their exhibtions don’t change often and I wish they had more fun food samplings like ice cream or exotic fruits. The exhibitions themselves can be more fun like one on about ethnic fast food for example would be more interesting than one recent one about waitresses. Sorry, but I’m as interested about the work of waitresses as I am abount accountants.
Copia’s name means something like an abundance of food but food doesn’t always seem like their focus. They seem more interested in alcohol shown by the surplus wine tastings they often have.
Copia has many friendly volunteers and as a member, you can get great discounts like today’s Garden Festival which was free for members but 16.50 for non-​members. It was filled with great food (grilled corn flatbreads with cheese, chicken and creamy avocado salad, etc.), petting ponies, and live music. They also had a Hawaiian luau recently. Members get discounts on their special events including their weekly Friday movie nights. However, their events are usually not cheap. A meal event even for members can easily cost about 35 dollars for lunch and 45 for non-​members.
If you have the time and money for their special events, Copia can be quite fun. Otherwise, Copia is just like any other museum, you go once in a while because it’s one of the places you can have healthy fun in the Bay Area.

I had to keep telling myself… «Jen, you will not get trashed at your boss’s’ wedding. You just better not»
But please, people… we are in Napa. Love is in the air. This is a happy, happy, joy, joy occasion. All the more reason to celebrate.
What a wonderful venue! My boss and her husband are both die hard foodies so I didn’t expect anything less than a class act coming from them. The ceremony and reception were both held outside… sun was out, and the view was stunning.
The food served during both the cocktail hour and dinner was great. (Four Course Wine Paired) I would love to come back here for a cooking class they offer.
Just for the record, didn’t get trashed…

I wanted to like Copia, but I was very disappointed. I thought the displays were just ok. Go only if it’s a free day or someone else is paying.
Nice edible garden outside though, maybe just go there for lunch and hang out in the garden.