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Guide

California Wine Country 101

Napa

NAPA
A Traditional High-Society Enclave with Cutting-Edge Flair

Thanks to its renowned wines and chichi events like the yearly wine auction, Napa has a higher glamour quotient than its neighbors. It’s long been a summer retreat for San Francisco’s old-money set, and a whole new wine aristocracy has moved in, including the Mondavis, Martinis, Trefethens, and Grgiches. Geographically, the county is a northsouth valley 25 miles long, making it easy to navigate. The main towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga are connected by two roads—Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail— that run up either side of the valley.

The city of Napa is experiencing a rebirth, kick-started by the opening in 2001 of the nonprofit Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts (copia.org). In an airy, modern building you’ll find everything from exhibits on the history of the wine region to a tasting bar. (The morning wine-tasting class for beginners is a great way to start a day’s vineyard hopping.) We love the Friday night farmer’s market known as the Chef’s Market, but the biggest
foodie news is the brand new Oxbow Public Market, a grand expanse (modeled after San Francisco’s Ferry Building Market) of restaurants, wine shops, and gourmet merchants (oxbowpublicmarket.com). Stay at the Napa River Inn (from $199; napariverinn.com), a reasonably priced option that’s walking distance to downtown and next to several good restaurants, including Celadon (707/254-9690) and Angèle (707/252-8115). The Inn on Randolph, a B&B in an 1860 Victorian, is another great buy (from $169; innonrandolph.com). The 12-room Milliken Creek Inn & Spa sits on three acres beside the river and offers elegant campaign-style rooms with fireplaces (from $425; millikencreekinn.com).

If it weren’t surrounded by vineyards and full of Michelin-starred restaurants, Yountville could be mistaken for a small town in the Midwest. Here you’ll find the legendary French Laundry (frenchlaundry.com), for which you still have to make reservations months in advance, unless your concierge or innkeeper engages in the local dirty secret of passing on an unused reservation to you. Chef Thomas Keller also owns the stylish Bouchon (bouchonbistro.com), and his “temporary” casual American café Ad Hoc is still open, probably because locals would’ve rebelled if it had closed (adhocrestaurant.com). At Bistro Jeanty, traditional dishes like daube de boeuf are served in a room that could have been plucked from the French countryside (bistrojeanty.com). The cuisine at starkly modern Redd is equal parts Asian, Mediterranean, and Californian (reddnapavalley.com).

Some of the don’t-miss wineries in the Yountville area are Stag’s Leap Cellars (www.cask23.com.), Beringer (beringer.com), Robert Mondavi (robertmondavi.com), and Opus One (opusonewinery.com). In nearby Rutherford, stop at Rubicon Estate (rubiconestate.com), for which director Francis Ford Coppola is winning accolades. If you want a picnic worthy of the wines you’re tasting, visit the Oakville Grocery on Highway 29 north of Yountville (800/736-6602).

St. Helena is one of the oldest towns in the valley, where Highway 29 slows to a quiet main street lined with Victorians. Try Terra, with its Asian-touched Mediterranean food (terrarestaurant.com), and Martini House, which serves California cuisine (martinihouse.com). On the outskirts of town, the Culinary Institute of America’s western branch is home to the imposing Greystone mansion. Along with its organic gardens, restaurant, demonstration classes, and kitchen store, there are new classes for serious amateur cooks under the direction of respected local chef John Ash (707/967-2320).

Calistoga used to be a quiet, Old West–looking town with most of the action centered around the spas, but with the opening of the 89-room Solage Calistoga, that’s changed. Locals have taken to the resort’s Solbar bistro, the expansive spa offers “mud cocktails,” and rooms (all cottages) come equipped with bicycles (from $450; solagecalistoga.com). A less pricey option in Calistoga is the Cottage Grove Inn, where each of the 16 Craftsman-style cottages has a fireplace and a whirlpool tub (from $275; cottagegroveinn.com).