This trip was taken with another couple who are also into food and wine and had only been to Napa once, and I was once again designated the honorary travel agent. It ended up looking a lot like our first trip, and I was worried it would feel repetitive for us. But it wound up being very interesting to see how things have changed (or not) in a few years.
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Hotels:
Petis Logis, Yountville: We decided to stay here the night of our French Laundry reservation so we wouldn’t have to worry about driving. One of the reasons we chose it out of the many B&Bs and hotels in Yountville is that you can choose not to get breakfast (and pay slightly less) since it’s right next to Bouchon Bakery.
If you’re not into the whole B&B experience, this is the B&B for you. The rooms are very simply decorated, or in my husband’s words, they don’t look like grandma’s living room. And since there’s no breakfast, there’s no making small talk with the other guests in the morning. We actually never even saw the owners — they just left notes on the office door for us and our rooms were open with keys inside, and that’s how we left them the next day. This was fine for us, but if you’re looking for that experience and maybe advice about where to taste and eat on your trip, it could be a drawback. The rooms are quite spacious with nice high ceilings, and the bathrooms have jetted tubs. There’s not a ton of privacy since it’s right between two of the main streets in Yountville, but the location is so ideal I think it’s worth it.
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Inn at Sonoma, Sonoma: Why mess around with something else when a known entity is available? This place was still awesome. Low-key friendly staff, cookies all day, delicious breakfast, comfy room with a balcony and fireplace, and an excellent location close to the square. I had been concerned this place would have gone downhill since our experience at the Healdsburg Inn, which is also a Four Sisters property, wasn’t fantastic. But nope, still great!
Prescott Hotel, San Francisco: I spent the first night of the trip here catching up with my husband who had been in SF for work. He had a nice big room and the hotel is in a great location. There are also lots of rental car locations close by for heading up to wine country!
Restaurants:
French Laundry: There’s really not much to say that 1,000 other people haven’t already said. As far as reservations, we used Open Table this time. There’s old information out there that the Open Table reservations open at midnight or between 8 and 10 a.m. I called (in the afternoon) a couple days ahead of time and asked when the Open Table reservations open, and they said 10 a.m., same as the phone reservations. Sure enough I had our reservation a couple minutes after 10.
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We had debated about bringing our own wine, but with a $75 corkage fee you’d have to bring a pretty pricey bottle to make it worth your while. We ended up loving the red the sommelier chose for us so much we ordered a half case of it when we got home. And I was excited to see that our sommelier was our waiter the last time we went (although I think I freaked him out by remembering him).
Girl + the Fig, Sonoma: Even better than I remembered. The table split a cheese and charcuterie plate that was excellent. My husband and I each got a fig and arugula salad, which were huge and delicious, and then we split the flounder, which was insanely good. The entree was enormous so we definitely made the right choice with big salads and splitting it.
Mary’s Pizza Shack, Sonoma: A nice reprieve after two elaborate and pricey dinners. Nothing fancy or particularly special about it, just good pizza and beer right on the square.
Wineries
These are going to be from best to worst, not chronological or geographic order. So make note of the locations!
Joseph Swan Vineyards, Russian River Valley: In doing research I found a place called Scherrer that sounded amazing, but when I called to make an appointment they said they were going to be out of town that weekend (that’s how small of an operation it is). I asked them to recommend a place nearby that had a nice zin, and they pointed me to Joseph Swan. During this trip when they asked us where else we were going at other tastings, when I mentioned this place everyone’s reaction was basically, “Of course! That place is a classic.” I was expecting a pretty grand place with prices to match, but it was the complete opposite and quintessential Sonoma County. The tasting room is also the barrel room, which is also where they store a bunch of their wine making equipment. The guys behind the counter both looked like flannel/Carhartt-wearing farmers. It was just super laid back and casual, the wine was fantastic, and the prices are incredible for the quality you’re getting. We came home with 2006 Mancini Ranch zinfandel, the 2009 Trenton Station pinot gris, and the 2006 Trenton Station – Lion Ridge zinfandel.
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Bell Wine Cellars, Yountville: This was recommended to me by Mike at Vin Underground (more about him later), and we hit it up before French Laundry. In a word, wow. I could have taken home a bottle of everything we tasted. Joanne, the woman pouring for us, was super nice and knowledgeable, and was happy to take us even though we didn’t have an appointment (something I would not try on the weekend or during a busier time of the year). Just a really tasty, pleasant tasting. You can also do fancier seated tastings with cheese pairings. We bought a bottle of the 2007 Massa Ranch syrah, because while I could have bought a bottle of anything we tasted, the prices were a little too high for that (the cabs were a-m-a-z-i-n-g).
Gary Farrell, Russian River Valley: We came here on our first trip, but it was at the end of the day and my palette was completely shot. I’m soooo glad we came back! Even though the tasting room was crowded the guy who poured for us was really nice and super knowledgeable (he teaches classes about wine tasting at the community college in Santa Rosa). And the wines were delicious. They’re on the pricey side, but we still came home with bottles of the 2008 Russian River Valley pinot noir (and I’m not a pinot person) and the 2009 Dry Creek Valley zin because there was no way I could walk away without them. And the views from this place are spectacular.
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Relic and Behrens Family Winery, Spring Mountain: This was a rec from a co-worker of one of the people we went with on this trip, and I was happy to go because I’ve been wanting to go up Spring Mountain for a while but could never work it into our schedule. If you want to go to a tasting on Spring Mountain a) go on a clear day (we were completely socked in with clouds and couldn’t see farther than 50 yards) and b) take a GPS/iPhone/something because we almost missed the road.
I’m grouping these two together because they’re on the same property*. I think on nicer days they’ll do tastings outside, but since it was drippy and foggy when we went we were in Airstream trailers (each has their own trailer). Behrens was supposed to be an hour-and-a-half tasting, but we showed up late so she cut it a little short, and Relic was an hour. Both required appointments and we were the only ones in each tasting, so it could be a little intimidating if you’re new to tasting/wine. It also seemed like if you do one you pretty much always do the other. Both were good, but the tasting fees were pricey ($25/person) and the wines aren’t cheap, although the former counts toward the purchase of the latter. We came home with bottles of the Relic 2010 Ritual and 2009 Old Vines petite syrah and the Behrens 2008 Heavyweight and 2009 Kick Ranch petite syrah.
*The woman who poured for us at Relic (who, by the way, is a dead ringer for Mandy Moore in “A Walk to Remember”) said they’re working on opening a tasting room in St. Helena, so if you’re reading this in the future look for it there.
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Porter Creek Vineyards, Russian River Valley: I picked this place because it gets rave reviews on Yelp, which has previously steered me to awesome places like Tin Barn, but the wines didn’t impress me too much. The location is stunning — just a beautiful rural setting with chickens and a cute dog running around, and really friendly staff. But the tasting room is tiny and there were a ton of people there. We kept getting our wine and walking outdoors to actually enjoy it. And the wine really wasn’t that great, especially since we went to Gary Farrell and Joseph Swan right after this. We did come home with a bottle of the 2010 Carignane, which is a nice spicy red to have with Italian or spicy food, and at a good pricepoint.
Cakebread, Rutherford: I’m almost angry we came here. I don’t know if our initial good experience was because of the nice young man who poured for us or the fact that it was outside in beautiful weather, but this time around was very different. The woman guiding our tasting spent a good 10 minutes on pushing the wine club, and none of the wines tasted that great to me for the price. After the tasting I asked about buying a bottle of the Rubiyat, which I remembered as being good, and the woman basically scoffed at me for asking for their crappy red blend (which they didn’t have because it gets released in May and sells out quickly). Ugh, don’t bother.
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The whole impetus of this trip was my husband going to San Francisco for business and wanting to spend some time with friends who were also there for business. So I flew down to SF after work, and we went up to Napa the next day. While I was waiting for my husband to pick me up from the hotel after getting the rental car, I got to talking to one of the bellmen at the hotel. Turns out he’s a sommelier who does wine tours! He gave me lots of great recs, one of which was Bell, and even gave me some places to try back home in Washington state. So if you’re in need of a wine tour from San Francisco, Mike with Vin Underground might be a good place to start.
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