@mathmom: If you want to try to go to the French Laundry, you can call and ask to have your name put on the wait list. The more dates you provide and if you are willing to go to lunch as well as dinner, the more likely it is that you will get in. This worked for us twice in the last two years–my D and her boyfriend got in this spring that way as well. None of us had made reservations in advance. I very much enjoyed the whole dining experience at French Laundry. The wine was perfect as was the food. We also liked the food at Marimoto.
The vineyards I liked: Deldotto (cool wine caves) and DuMol (Pinot Noir here wins awards). I liked Grgich too.
Morimoto in downtown Napa has great food, but the staff can get overwhelmed during busy times, so service might be lacking speed and attentiveness. The trick is to go there during off times, then your dining experience will be awesome.
If you are looking for beautiful grounds and an impressive art collection, along with wine tasting… http://www.clospegase.com/ (They have yoga in the vineyards on Friday mornings in May ;
Another fun place we’ve discovered recently Cairdean Winery http://www.cairdeanestate.com/
good, not great wines, but fun, beautiful spot. They have restaurant much like a British Pub; and a great
bakery/deli, with grounds to enjoy food at.
Duckhorn also has lovely grounds and civilized tastings: you sit at a table and the servers come to you…
I LOVE Healdsburg, HGFM. And Selby wines are served at the White House. And the owner/vintner is female, which I love. And the wine is great! So is Davis Brothers wine. Drive on over to their house and taste the wines. Stay/eat at Madrona Manor. Fabulous!!
And for more beautiful gardens in Napa got to Ch Montelena and Newton. And drink some Newton unfiltered. Yumm! I think Sterling winery is the one with the gondola to the top. Also pretty.
@Bromfield2 we’re on the waitlist - so maybe we’ll get lucky this time! While dh has known for a while he had to be in SF for a study section, I dithered as to whether I really could take time off too. This is always a busy time of year. I’m loving all the suggestions, keep them coming. I remember two years ago we went hiking somewhere and it was a nice respite from too much good food and drink.
Yes, Sterling winery is the one with the gondola and I went to it. Also, across the street from it is a winery that is a castle brought over and rebuilt from Europe.
Actually we will be staying in Berkley our last night - at bil’s house but they’ll be in Guatamala so we could treat ourselves to Chez Panisse or some other restaurant. (Usually we have home cooked food, dh gets BBQ or we get take out, so this would be a step up!)
We only have two full days, so I’ve got plenty of ideas for this trip and then some! I’m voting for Clos Pegase because of the architecture and for a short hike at the Jack London preserve because I am totally amused by the “House of Happy Walls”, but where we actually go may be dictated by how far apart things are. We’ll be there during the week, so sadly a lot of the weekend only things aren’t available. I’ve barely looked at the wine suggestions - hope to get some input from dh on that score.
mathmom, if you go to the Jack London’s farm, there is plenty of wine to taste en route there. I suspect that is pretty much the case anywhere in the wine country! When I was a kid, I read a lot of his books and thought that he was a great writer, but I did not know much about Jack London’s entrepreneurial side. The farm he built on the property and his dream house (that went up in flames and was never restored) are amazing.
So to report what we ended up doing - a mix of suggestions and what happened to be convenient.
Afternoon 1
Petrified forest - a little overpriced for the size, but a nice break from the drive from SF
Clos Pegase - on my list because of the Michael Graves building. (Cute from the outside, but not as impressive inside.) Art collection is on its way to UC Davis. Liked the wines, but didn’t love anything we tasted.
Sterling - since it’s right across the way and I hadn’t been before (dh had, I think) Gorgeous view. I liked the wines less than the Clos Pegase ones to my surprise. Very modest art collection - liked the Ansel Adams photos of vineyard workers.
We had dinner at the Rutherford Grill - we were in the mood for something less gourmet having had a wonderful omokase menu at a Japanese place the night before in SF and knowing we were going to be eating a pricey meal the next day too. We had a terrific meal, though I think I could have found it mediocre with other choices. (We had steak, cornbread, grilled artichokes, kale salad and wine - no corking fee - yay! - from Clos Pegase) Day 2
Morning was the Jack London Forest which was really lovely. We took the 3.5 mile hike to the 1000 year old redwood and loved the varied landscape - wood, farm and vineyard. The museum building “The house of Happy Walls” is both fun architecturally and has some very funny letters from London to his creditors. He was obviously quite a character. Thanks to whoever suggested it. Nice to burn a few calories.
Lunch and tour at Benziger. My favorite winery visit of the trip. Enjoyed hearing about the voodoo for biodynamic wines. (I hadn’t realized they were influence by Rudolf Steiner - whose ideas I met first on an industrial architecture project in Germany of all things and then because I have a cousin who is a Waldorf K teacher.) I thought they had the best tasting wines of the ones we tasted this trip. Had a picnic lunch on their grounds then went on a tour of the vineyards with a very amusing guide. Interestingly the Benziger family comes from White Plains and one of my contractors knew the family when they were kids - so he as well as CC suggested it.
They gave us free passes to Imagery which is also owned by a family member who wanted to grow weirder grapes (mostly things from Italy and Spain). It turns out if you get their close to closing time you get generous pours and whatever is leftover, so we tasted a lot more than we expected to there.
Dinner was at Bouchon - I had a chilled aspargus soup with a hint of truffles while dh went for bone marrow. Then dh went for the truffles (risotto) and I had a fish stew. Finished off with a shared creme brulee (I’ve had better, but still tasty.) Morning 3
Hess Winery tour of the art collection and tasting - well worth it. Loved the art - all sorts of interesting contemporary things, a handful I didn’t like, but even those pieces were mostly interesting. Wine tasting is currently happening in the last room of the gallery though dh wasn’t sure if he liked being watched by gigantic photorealist portraits.
Lunch was at V. Sattui picnic grounds with a Hess wine and food from the Oakville store. We felt a bit guilty about that so we did a wine tasting there too. I wasn’t crazy about their wines, but really liked the Madeira, so we got a bottle of it for a house gift for dh’s brother whose house we stayed in for the last night in CA.
