Screw Napa and Sonoma, drink red county wines from San Luis Obispo ! Or try Temecula wines if you can find them.
The main reason for the decline is French wines is the emergence of extremely drinkable "lifestyle wines" like Yellow Tail from friendly places like Australia.
SLO wines are excellent too! Had...get this... LAKE COUNTY wines this year. And they were excellent as well.
San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara are much better value than Napa. Oregon reds are also great. Most french whites are too acidic for my taste.