I found http://www.napatouristguide.com/ helpful when planning this leg of the trip. And OF COURSE, the trusty Trip Advisor reviews and forum.
We used skymiles to fly to SFO. We left home very early and made to to San Fran by noon local time. Upon arrival we decided to split up, I would go wait for the one bag we had checked and Andrew would go get the rental car. Good decision! Getting to the rental car area involved taking an airport train quite a ways, then the long was really long. The whole process took forever. We FINALLY got in our car and on the road. We decided to take a little longer route (still < a 2 hr drive) so that we could drive across the Golden Gate Bridge.
We stopped for a quick lunch at In & Out Burger. Burger was good, fries didn't taste like they were made of potatoes and rather just "starch." Onward to Napa...
By the time we arrived in Napa it was after 4pm. We stopped at the Napa Welcome Center hoping to gain some helpful information and maybe a discount or two. They told us that all of the wineries were close to closing for the day so we asked about tasting rooms downtown. They convinced us to buy two $30 downtown tasting cards. We were to show our card at 12 locations and receive a "free" tasting. Our first stop was the Napa General Store. When we presented our cards, we felt we were immediately looked down upon. We were each poured a small sip of a red and a white and I convinced the snooty bartender to walk us through the tasting process. Not a good start. We left a small tip (looking back we shouldn't have) and moved to our next tasting feeling let down. (Side note: the General Store had some really cute stuff and I would have like to have spent more time there shopping, but alas not the purpose for this trip). Our next stop was a few doors down at the Vintage Sweet Shoppe. Our expectations were lower and it was definitely a sweet shoppe. But still, they looked at our cards, poured us a little bigger (3 sips) tasting and walked off annoyed. At least these sips came with a small piece of chocolate, haha.
We were really down after this and knew we had made the wrong decision buying the card. It would have been better to spend our $60 on a couple of bottles somewhere. However, the tasting did get better! We made our way through the downtown construction to NakedWines. We stopped here because I thought I had heard of it (I was thinking of The Naked Grape wines). I am SO GLAD we ended up here. We walked in the door and were approached by Bella. She explained the concept of Naked Wines, essentially they are a winery co-op. Very cool! She told us our cards gave us access to tasting anything we wanted. We were to let her know if we wanted whites and the reds were on a counter for us to pour ourselves. She had a few suggestions, sat down with us to talk, and was all around FABULOUS! In fact, after we bought some wine I ended up hugging her and thanking her. She also looked at our tasting card choices and told us where to go. Her recommendations were Mark Herold (try the Collide she says... it was great!) and the two tasting rooms at Oxbow Market. Mark Herold was laid back, funky, and fun. We made "friends" with a crazy couple from Illinois. By the time we finished there we decided to go find our hotel. First, a stop at Trader Joes to stock up on waters and snacks for the next few days.
Hoping to save money on the trip, I found our motel through Groupon. We stayed at the Sunburst Calistoga. Our expectations were low, but definitely exceeded. Calistoga is a small town known for its natural hot springs, mineral waters, and mud baths. It was approximately 30 minutes north of Napa, but just fine for us. It was newly renovated and very clean. My only criticism would be the that the walls are very thin.This was only an issue our first night there when our neighbors came in late and loud. Other than that it was great. It even included a small continental breakfast which you picked up at the office building and brought back to the room to eat. We really enjoyed the on-site natural mineral pools and jacuzzi. I would definitely stay here again.
Our first night we decided against going to dinner and ate poolside (some bread and cheese we had bought earlier that day.)
The next morning we got up and drove to Yountville to the Bouchon Bakery. It is part of Thomas Keller's empire. It was busy but the line moved quickly. We had coffee, pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) and macaron, both favorites from Paris. They were very good. We then walked around Yountville (a lovely area) and ended up sitting to drink our coffee in a charming public flower garden.
We continued wandering and came across a huge garden. It turned out to be the garden for French Laundry. SOMEDAY I will eat there. Not anytime in the near future though. How cool and truly farm to table!
We left for our 10am reservations at Robert Mondavi Winery. I made our tasting/tour reservations through Cellar Pass a few weeks before we went. Yes, it is a very touristy winery. However, it was what we needed to kickstart our time in Napa. They limit tour groups to 12-15 people. The tour guide does an introduction about the history of the winery, tours part of the property with you, talks to you about the wine making process, and then does a sit down guided tasting of three wines. We ended up buying a 2007 Merlot.
Oakville Grocery for lunch. It is an old general store from 1881, that has been updated to very trendy-rustic. We had a roast beef and chicken guyere sandwiches. You order at the counter and eat outside. Very yummy!
Several people had recommended we check out the "castle winery." So, we headed to Castello di Amorosa. It was VERY touristy, crowded, expensive to tour, and it really lost its charm when we found out it was built in 2007!! I wouldn't go back.
After the castle disappointment, we went to Sterling Vinyards. Now, you know I love a good organized production and Sterling wins the award. You pull in, buy your tickets, (I had a $5 coupon from somewhere) and then immediately get on a tram to go up the mountain.
When you get off the tram, you stop at your first "station." The person hands you your glass (which you get to keep, thank you!) and pours your first tasting and tells you about it. There is a gorgeous view for you to enjoy as well. Then, you walk to the second stop. It is a patio with another lovely view where a man explains and pours two more wines. Then, you go inside, through the optional gift shop and to a little outside area overlooking barrels where there is a water cooler (thank you) and a video explaining how the wines are made. Then, another room with another optional video, and another porch with your final tasting and incredible views. Sterling definitely wins my prize for the best self-guided tour!
Then, the tram back down the mountain, past a cute little interactive chalkboard art exhibit and back to the car. Very nice!
From here, we went back to the hotel to lay by the pool and read for a while. Here we met a local with a lot of suggestions. We ended up walking to dinner at the All Seasons Bistro in downtown Calistoga. Service was great, food was OK. We called the FREE Calistoga shuttle to take us back to our hotel. Great idea!
The next morning, we woke up slowly and went to the highly anticipated Chateau Montelena. In preparation for our visit, we watched the 2007 movie, Bottle Shock. I always recommend doing things like that, as it gives you a more personal connection to the winery. We shared a tasting. I wish we would have taken a tour. Maybe next time.. We ended up going home with two bottles of their famous Chardonnay.
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| A crawfish?? So random! |
Next, was a long drive up to Geyserville through the Alexander Valley (famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon). We wanted to check out two of our favorite wineries that happen to be right next to each other.
First, Clos du Bois. If you speak french like my mommy that's Clawz-doo-boze. We didn't do a tour here either, but it may have been neat. They are very big on susatainablilty. I had a winery app that gave us a 2 for 1 tasting. The man behind the counter was NOT happy to hear that. He irritably told me they would honor it because it was there, but that they thought they had gotten rid of all of those. He wasn't happy to serve us from then on. However, I finally caught the attention of a nice woman also working behind the bar. I asked her a few questions and she took over our tasting and was very kind. Side note: In the middle of the tasting, our lodging for the next day called us to tell us their sewer line collapsed. Yikes! So that ruined it it a bit. It ended up working out for the best though. At the end of the tasting, the not so friendly man came back to charge us for our tasting and the bottle of wine we had selected. For some reason, Andrew decided to pay with our Visa (instead of the AmEx we use 90% of the time.) Well, Bam! That changed everything! Suddenly, it was "Oooh. Why didn't you say you had a Visa Signature Card?"
"A what?" (it's just a rewards visa, nothing special)
"Your card is a Signature Visa card. It gets you two complimentary tastings at most of the Sonoma County wineries as well as a discount on wine."
WOW! I REALLY WISH WE WOULD HAVE KNOW THAT EARLIER! I thought I had done my research well, but that one escaped me. http://www.sonomawine.com/visa-signature-perks/vs-winery-guide
For future information.
Our last winery was Francis Ford Coppola. I didn't see any info about a tour here. We did walk around the gift shop areas and look at some memorabilia, including Coppola's oscars.
It was very busy. There were a lot of people at the pool. You can rent a "cabine" there or play free bocce ball. We were told that our "signature visa" got us free tastings at the down stairs general tasting room. Those were the wines you could buy in store. Buttt, this is where we had planned to buy my parents a special wine as a gift, so we wanted to taste the reserves. We went upstairs and split a reserve tasting, they were laid back and generous as we compared what we wanted. After we bought the bottle we wanted, we went downstairs to do our free tasting.
Then, we sat outside on the veranda and had lunch. We split a caesar salad and a prosciutto and arugula flat bread and had some wine (of course). It was quite delicious and the view was spectacular.
That night we had dinner at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville. It was an upscale bistro. We started with soups. Andrew had french onion and I had the highly recommended tomato soup, topped it puff pastry. A pretty impressive presentation.
Andrew had steak frites and was not impressed. I had the lamb special which was very good. I marked on our Open Table reservation that we were there to celebrate our 5th anniversary. They brought us out a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice cream with a little waffle cone wafer. It was nice. I would go back... even if just for the tomato soup and a salad!
On our last morning we slept in, packed up and checked out. We went to the Roman Spa in Calistoga. Knowing the town was famous for its mud baths, I wanted to experience one. However, they are expensive. Luckily, I found the Roman Spa which does a 2 for 1 Tuesday. Our last day in town just happened to be on a Tuesday! If you like traditional, fancy, sterile looking spas, I would definitely NOT recommend the place. We're always in for an adventure though! We pulled up to the spa and it was not impressive. I wish I would have taken a picture. We checked in and signed our waivers and were introduced to Patty, our personal guide through the experience. She also had a shadower who was training. Patty was kind, professional, and informative. First they took us into a room where we stripped and put on our robes a slippers. Then they came in and led us into the room with the mud baths. I'm not going to lie, it smelled a little. The baths are made from natural peat, volcanic ash, and geothermal mineral water. Patty told us how to best get in and that she'd be back to check on us. Giggling the whole way, we got into our mud baths. It was hot! Once settled in, it was surprisingly relaxing. Patty and her shadower came in every 5 minutes or so to put a cold washcloth on our heads and to give us a sip of our water from a straw.
I'm being a creeper and copying this image from the website:
We only stayed in 15-20 minutes. I don't think you could stand it much longer. While still in the mud, Patty explained to us, how to slowly get out, and use the two shower stalls in the room to rinse off. Then, we were to get into the two whirlpool tubs they had prepared. After a while, they came back in to check on us and talk us through getting out and back into our robes. Once we came out they lead us back into the room with our clothes where we laid on massage tables to cool down. They sprayed rose water on us and put cucumbers over our eyes. Soft music played while we cooled down. Then, we put on our clothes to go.
Am I glad we did it? Yes. Would I go again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to the average person? No. Would I recommend it to someone who likes new experiences and adventures like we do? Of course... but maybe only on 2 for 1 Tuesday, haha.
After the mud bath experience, we decided to drive up to Healdsburg for lunch. We ate at the Center Street Cafe and Deli. It was very simple. I had California Eggs Benedict which was delicious. Andrew had a sandwich and said it was OK. We walked around the cute little downtown area in and out of shops for as long as Andrew would stand it, haha.
Then we went to the La Crema tasting room. I don't think you can actually visit their winery, only the tasting room. Our awesome friends, the Bakers, love their wine and we figured we would stop in. We hoped our Visa card would get us a free tasting there, but it did not. We shared a tasting and bought a bottle for our friends.
We decided we had enough wine and that it was time to move on to our next stop.
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