Napa Valley Trip: Any Advice? :)

[kaki321]

Hey guys, I did an advanced search and breezed through the Wine threads...where there is plenty of mention of Napa Valley wines and brief mentions of past trips there, I am looking for more detail and advice.

So I started this here thread

Miles and I are going away for our annual 4-day "mommy and daddy" only trip at the end of June. I am pretty sure we are going to hit Wine Country. I must admit though, I know nothing about the area. I have been poking around on NapaValley.com, but wanted to ask my friends here for advice.

Specifically looking for any insight on:

-Area to stay in (Napa, Sonoma, etc...). Want some kind of small hotel or B&B where we can walk out the door and be near tons of restaurants and bars. I hear there is a downtown Napa, but know nothing of it. I really don't want to rent a car, unless you say it's a good idea. Would rather take shuttles or tours to the wineries, and be able to walk to restaurants from the hotel...don't want to drink and drive

-Where to stay: This B&B called the Beazley House keeps popping up in my searches, ever hear of it? Have another place you love?

-"Don't Miss" Wineries. We will probably do one-two tours a day, or catch one of these bus tours that go all day to several. Any reco's?

-Any Great Restaurants or Wine Bars you love?

Thanks in advance my good peeps!

[eccentrictinker]

Don't miss Hess Winery. It's off the beaten path, but it has an incredible art gallery, that shows off the Hess's great collection. The wine is great, too.

Also, go to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) at St. Helena (Hil-layna). This is the California branch of the CIA. They host a free tour of the kitchens and classrooms. It's housed in an old winery. They have cooking classes-very reasonable. Have lunch at their Greystone restaurant. It has a kitchen-in-the-round.

My wife is food-writer and consultant so we like to watch the "kitchen-dance". There are usually 4 or 5 chefs and you can get a seat at the counter to watch the show. Incredible food!

Our daughter lives in San Francisco, so we usually get out West 2 or 3 times a year. We usually stay at one of the inexpensive hotels on the main drag of Napa. I'd rather spend money on food and wine!

Our last trip, last November, we drove only 51 miles in 3 days. The valleys are very close together.

On our way back, we drove west to the coast, to visit Hog Island Oyster Farm. We brought a fine Chardonnay and had a couple dozen fresh oysters while sitting outdoors on rough wooden benches. The wine and the oysters never tasted better.

[jamesblonde]

We stayed in St Helena. We rented a car so we were able to hit the wineries off the beaten path. I found that my favorites were the smaller wineries. So much more character and more homey. I'll have to see if Kevin remembers the name of the place we stayed at. It was very reasonable and extremely well kept. It was within walking distance to a few places, but mostly we needed a car. I also agree with Eccentrictinker the Culinary Institute is a must. It reminded me of an old castle, and the food was terrific.

[NorthMinnesota]

ohhhh...this is my fantasy get-away trip! I wanted to do this for our 25th anniversary...catch was hubby had to plan it. Didn't want jewelry or anything...just a weekend in a romantic place and visiting the wineries. We will be celebrating our 28th anniversary in June. The trip is still in the research mode.

[kaki321]

Originally Posted by eccentrictinker

Don't miss Hess Winery. It's off the beaten path, but it has an incredible art gallery, that shows off the Hess's great collection. The wine is great, too.

Also, go to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) at St. Helena (Hil-layna). This is the California branch of the CIA. They host a free tour of the kitchens and classrooms. It's housed in an old winery. They have cooking classes-very reasonable. Have lunch at their Greystone restaurant. It has a kitchen-in-the-round.

My wife is food-writer and consultant so we like to watch the "kitchen-dance". There are usually 4 or 5 chefs and you can get a seat at the counter to watch the show. Incredible food!

Our daughter lives in San Francisco, so we usually get out West 2 or 3 times a year. We usually stay at one of the inexpensive hotels on the main drag of Napa. I'd rather spend money on food and wine!

Our last trip, last November, we drove only 51 miles in 3 days. The valleys are very close together.

On our way back, we drove west to the coast, to visit Hog Island Oyster Farm. We brought a fine Chardonnay and had a couple dozen fresh oysters while sitting outdoors on rough wooden benches. The wine and the oysters never tasted better.

Oh Hess Select Chardonnay is one of my favorites. Love their Cab too. How far off the beaten path is it? Sounds like renting a car might be the best option, or are there good transportation options to and from the wineries (even the off the beaten path ones?)

Do you recall any of the names of the hotels on the Napa drag? What exactly is the Napa "drag"? While the Beazley B&B looks nice, I agree about spending money on the wine and food as opposed to the hotel itself. Great idea!

St Helena sounds very interesting too...

[kaki321]

Originally Posted by jamesblonde

We stayed in St Helena. We rented a car so we were able to hit the wineries off the beaten path. I found that my favorites were the smaller wineries. So much more character and more homey. I'll have to see if Kevin remembers the name of the place we stayed at. It was very reasonable and extremely well kept. It was within walking distance to a few places, but mostly we needed a car. I also agree with Eccentrictinker the Culinary Institute is a must. It reminded me of an old castle, and the food was terrific.

Sounds perfect! Let me know if you find out. I would rather drive or travel a little ways to go somewhere with more character/less crowds.

[eccentrictinker]

Originally Posted by kaki321

Oh Hess Select Chardonnay is one of my favorites. Love their Cab too. How far off the beaten path is it? Sounds like renting a car might be the best option, or are there good transportation options to and from the wineries (even the off the beaten path ones?)

Do you recall any of the names of the hotels on the Napa drag? What exactly is the Napa "drag"? While the Beazley B&B looks nice, I agree about spending money on the wine and food as opposed to the hotel itself. Great idea!

St Helena sounds very interesting too...

Hess is just outside of town, up a mountain road. Here's the Hess link:
http://www.hesscollection.com/contact.html

We usually just cruise Highway 121/29 for a hotel. I use www.sidestep.com to find hotels.

I hope you go to St. Helena. It's our favorite. Sort of like dessert.

Just found our notes. We've stayed three times at the Napa Valley Redwood Inn.
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-342699-napa_valley_budget_inn-i;_ylc=X1MDOTYwODA5MzMEX3IDMgRwb3MDMwRzZWMDcmVjbwR zbGsDaG90ZWxz

It's an older hotel, but neat as pin. The owners are constantly upgrading the place.

Forgot to mention Sonoma. There used to be a lot of fancy chickens wandering on the town square, tho' we didn't see many on the last trip. Check out the cheese shop/factory on the square. You can sample dozens of cheeses. Just up the street is a good little Mexican restaurant, across from the Sonoma Barracks, that has a killer happy hour Margarita.

The Sabastiani winery tour is a great look at how large modern wineries work.

The Frances Coppola Winery in Geyserville has a winery tour for $10. We also went to the Niebaum-Coppola Winery at Rutherford. We drove up a long, long drive to a red-carpeted sidewalk where two uniformed valets opened our car doors. A fellow in an expensive suit told us that there is a $35 per person "experience passport". I thanked him and left. Had to chase the valet out of my car!

[cmsitaly]

My parents usually stay in Sonoma, less expensive and crowded. The visit to the Culinary School for lunch suggestion is a great one. Have a great time!

[eccentrictinker]

Kaki321, you're PM bin is full!

[kaki321]

Originally Posted by eccentrictinker

Kaki321, you're PM bin is full!

LOL, it shouldn't be I am a super-duper site patron. Let me clean some of Stewart G's dirty PM's out / Gimme a second

[ami]

I used to live in the Napa Valley, and still go back 2-3x a year. It's so beautiful in the spring and summer!

I would avoid staying in Napa if possible...it's a city and it's busy, and doesn't have the charm that St. Helena or Calistoga have. I don't know what your budget is but here are some St. Helena favorites of mine:

http://www.innatsouthbridge.com/
http://www.harvestinn.com/index.htm
http://www.elbonita.com/
I can't find the website for Hotel St. Helena, but that's another cool little hotel right in the middle of St. Helena, I think rates start around $120 and you can't beat the location!

Calistoga is a cool little town that became popular years ago because of it's volcanic ash/mud baths and spa treatments...it's got a bit more of a hippie feel than St. Helena. Cottages are really popular to rent there, here are some of my favorites:

http://www.cottagegrove.com/
http://www.indianspringscalistoga.com/

Getting spa treatments is very popular there as many of the spas there have "couples" options where you get everything done side by side.

My favorite winery is V. Sattui in St. Helena. It's probably one of the last few places that has free wine tasting, and then you can buy a bottle and grab some cheese, dessert or snacks at their deli, and go outside and sit at a picnic table and enjoy the scenery. http://vsattui.com/ Another favorite is Pine Ridge, which is really close to Stag's Leap Winery on the Silverado Trail by Yountville. Absolutely beautiful grounds and cool cellars at this little winery. http://www.pineridgewinery.com/

A cool winery near Calistoga is Sterling, where you park and take a gondola up above vineyards to where the tasting room is.

http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/en-row/Home/


My favorite restaurant in St. Helena is TraVigne, and it has amazing Italian food. You need to make reservations well in advance though during high season; it is such a cool spot whether you're eating inside or outside....I've probably been a hundred times! It is always a must-do when I go back "home" Check it out here
http://www.travignerestaurant.com/tv.htm

Other people have already mentioned another favorite, CIA which has amazing food and if you sit outside you have killer views of vineyards and mountains.

My favorite breakfast and lunch place is at Meadowood...amazing food and beautiful views of the grounds. http://www.meadowood.com/
Two other favorites are Anna's Cantina for Mexican and Giugni's for the most amazing sandwiches ever, all made to order in front of you.

Some good restauarants in Calistoga are Boskos, All Seasons, Cafe Pacifico (Italian, Continental, and Mexican respectively)

Alot of people like to do the hot air balloon thing early in the morning; think it leaves out of Yountville by the Domaine Chandon winery.

Both little towns are great and you can pretty much walk everywhere; they're about 10 minutes apart. Both have hotels and restaurant options to fit every budget. Let me know if I can give you any more info./ideas.

Have fun...I'll be there in June too!

[Luv2Dance]

Calistoga is a neat little town too!

[badgerfan]

We were in Napa & Sonoma last October for 5 days & 4 nights. We stayed at 2 different places neither was really a B&B, but did have breakfast and neither were near any real nightlife so I'm not going to be much help with lodging.

We had 2 really great meals one at Market in St Helena and the other at Julia's Kitchen at Copia. Copia is in "downtown napa". Might want to check Copia because they have some interesting programs. I got good use out of their wine passport.

We did 3 different wine tasting expeditions 2 on our own and one with Magnum tours. Magnum was awesome! It was a private tour in a Lincoln Towne Car. A little pricey, but a ton of fun. We went to three wineries... Allora, Reverie and Tres Sabores. We met the owners of each winery and tasted wine with them, got cellar tours, barrel tasting... We also had a picnic lunch from Sunshine Market in St Helena at Reverie. We had a day of champagne tasting, I thought Gloria Ferrer & Domaine Carneros were both really good. Gloria Ferrer has a great outdoor patio and they serve sushi. Domaine Carneros had a great cheese sampler that was perfect wth their champagne. On our way to Sonoma we stopped at Louis Martini, Merryvale, Cosentino and a few others. Didn't like Merryvale at all. Martini and Cosentino were great. At both places we got to try 6 or 8 wines even though we only paid to try 4. The wine passport really came in handy, it gives you 2for1 or free tastings at many wineries.

Hung out at Ana's Cantina in St Helena at night and had some great top shelf margaritas. I was kinda of wined out after all the tasting and the fancy dinners with wine pairings.

Have fun

[Mrsfuzzmo]

We were there two years ago for the first time and while I like my wine, I'm no expert. We LOVED the deli at V. SATTUI. LOVED it! Have recomended it to everyone that we know who travels that way. We also loved the Sterling Vinyards gondola ride up through the vinyard. My sweetie and I were the only two in our 4 person gondola and it was purely romantic. Gorgeous views from this hilltop winery. We were there at around dusk and it was fabulous.

[Banzoomba]

Go to your favorite wine store.......have them check with their Distributors...... many Distributors will be glad to set up VIP tours and packages at the wineries just for asking