Value Season in Napa

Photo by Phase4Photography

Everything's better in America's food and wine paradise in the offseason.

January 2009

By Adam Platt

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I am not a fan of big Napa Valley cabernets. Nor can I abide the region’s buttery, oaky chardonnay. I don’t particularly like touring wineries, listening to discussions of malolactic fermentation and residual sugar, queuing up for free samples, and falling asleep in the car from overimbibing. So what was I doing wandering through The Hess Collection Winery, maker of wines I would sooner disinfect a wound with than drink? I was engaged in a quixotic mission of sorts—to find out if I could fall in love with America’s gourmet paradise even though I can’t stand its vino.

Turns out, I had given Napa Valley a bum rap. I managed to spend five days here, submitted to only one tasting, ate some of the best meals I had in all of 2008, stayed in some of the best resorts, enjoyed some of the best weather, and even found a couple of local wines I could stomach.

Lots of Americans and Europeans have the same idea, and from June to early October, Napa is glorious, but crowded, expensive, and a bit dusty. Offseason in Napa does not guarantee sunny and ninety-degree weather —sunny and sixty is more common, and it rains a couple of times each week (you’ll have to hole up by the fireplace). But you can walk into even the most popular restaurants with nary a rez, stay in five-star hotels for three-star prices, and the rain greens up the valley making it much prettier. When the mustard plants bloom in March, Napa is literally carpeted with color.

I’m not suggesting you go to Napa Valley and ignore the wineries just because of my fickle tastes. You’ll have an advantage at them in the relaxed offseason, but caveat emptor. The days of blanket free tastings are over, and when the tasting comes with a $10, $20, or $25 fee, expectations rise. Many of the best winery experiences are at small vineyards where you make an appointment and actually get to meet and talk to the winemaker. Ask around, talk to the wine geek or chef at a restaurant you like—odds are they buy from local wineries and can steer you in a neat direction—peruse the many free publications (Preiser Key seems authoritative), and do a little advance planning. Your tasting experience will be far superior.

Wineries notwithstanding, here’s a guide to my current favorites in the Napa, high-season or low.

Things To Do »
Eat and Drink »
Strategies »
Places to Stay »

THINGS TO DO

Photo courtesy of Castello Di Amorosa
• Castello di Amorosa
Dario Sattui, whose V. Sattui winery off Highway 29 has long been the undiscriminating tourist’s first stop on the wine trail, did well for himself selling commodity wine and picnic fixin’s. So well that he plowed those earnings into the fifteen-year construction of a 107-room facsimile of a medieval Italian castle, hiring Italian artisans to execute period details and crisscrossing Italy, Hearst–style, to acquire (or commission reproductions of) ancient furnishings and design elements. At first, it looks like total kitsch, but by the end of the tour, right before the wine tasting starts, you can’t help but be awed by the audacity and attention to detail. Tours by appointment only (fee).
4045 St. Helena Hwy. N., Calistoga, 707-942-8200
• Darioush Winery
This relatively new winery is most interesting as a sociological touchstone. It’s built to resemble a Persian palace and you’ll learn everything you need to know about new money and the allure of amateur winemaking in Napa: the overpriced tastings, the lavish out-of-character surroundings, the self-referential vanity, and the large selection of expensive Persian and Mexican crafts for sale (some quite nice, I must admit).
4240 Silverado Trail, Napa, 707-257-2345
• Hess Collection
I don’t like his chardonnay, but Donald Hess has given the region a marvelous cultural gift—he filled an old stone house on his winery with a collection of modern art (changing exhibitions) that is as interesting as it is jarring, out here among the lavender.
4411 Redwood Rd., Napa, 707-255-1144
• Napa Soap Co
This off-the-highway artisanal soap maker hand-crafts small batches of amazing soaps and aromatherapy products from ingredients native to the area.
651 Main St., St. Helena, 707-963-5010
• Oxbow Public Market
This marvelously attractive miniversion of San Francisco’s legendary Ferry Building Farmers’ Market is the place for locally sourced raw foods, wines, and outposts of some of the area’s legendary prepared-foods providers, such as Model Bakery, Fatted Calf charcuterie, and Taylor’s Refresher’s storied grilled burgers.
• Napa State Parks
In the green season, Bothe–Napa Valley and Robert Louis Stevenson state parks, on opposite sides of Calistoga, boast great trails and vistas of rolling countryside all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The latter’s five-mile hike up Mt. St. Helena affords views for 200 miles on clear days.

EAT AND DRINK
• Ad Hoc
Thomas Keller’s rustically elegant Yountville bistro has quickly become a can’t-miss. Each day, a prix fixe four-course meal (check website for the day’s menu) is offered—starter, main, local cheese, dessert. It is simple American cooking, but with the same careful local sourcing and impeccable attention to detail evident at Keller’s The French Laundry and his other ventures. Highly recommended.
6476 Washington St., Yountville, 707-944-2487

Photo courtesy of Auberge du Soleil
• Auberge du Soleil
A cocktail on the patio while watching the sun set over the vineyards is the quintessential end to a tourist’s day in Napa.
180 Rutherford Hill Rd., Rutherford, 707-963-1211
• BarBersQ
This winning modern barbecue in a Napa strip mall offers an addictive menu of classic smoked BBQ and winningly upscale bar fare. A great place for lunch on the way in or out of the valley.
3900D Bell Aire Plaza, Napa, 707-224-6600
• Bistro Jeanty
Philippe Jeanty’s country French dowager is the place to encounter locals tucking into pork belly with lentils, traditional cassoulet, and killer sole meunière. An enduring note of tradition in a change-driven food scene.
6510 Washington St., Yountville, 707-944-0103
• Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen
Twin Cities–born Cindy Pawlcyn is, with Thomas Keller, the chef that defined Napa Valley cuisine. Her informal and rustic Midwestern sensibility combines with international influences at Backstreet Kitchen, expressed in dishes ranging from mushroom tamales with creamy grits and chard to meat loaf with horseradish barbecue sauce and garlic mashers.
1327 Railroad Ave., St. Helena, 707-963-1200
• Go Fish
Pawlcyn’s attempt to bring serious seafood and sushi to the valley has elicited mixed reviews, but there is no denying the drop-dead gorgeous blue and white room and an irresistible, buzzy vibe.
641 S. Main St., St. Helena, 707-963-0700
• Mustard’s Grill
Pawlcyn’s first restaurant still defines the eclecticism of Napa Valley dining—the inspired roadhouse is packed all day long with tourists and locals in search of the rustic Asian– and Latin–influenced American fare.
7399 St. Helena Hwy., Yountville, 707-944-2424
• Press
Stop in for a flight of wine and some appetizers at this inconsistent but interesting steak house in an inspiring space off Highway 29.
587 St. Helena Hwy. S., St. Helena, 707-967-0550
• Ubuntu
Much of chef Jeremy Fox’s inventive California vegetarian fare is grown in the restaurant’s kitchen gardens and most of the rest is sourced locally. The edgy and highly stylized dishes are an interesting and much-lauded disconnect in a region rooted in simplicity.
1140 Main St., Napa, 707-251-5656
Strategies
• Lay of the Land
Napa Valley runs from the county seat of Napa in the south, just an hour from San Francisco, to the town of Calistoga in the north. In between are the towns of Oakville, Rutherford, Yountville, and St. Helena. Napa is the last stop for a Target, et al., and has its share of attractions as well. Yountville, where Thomas Keller commands his empire, is the food capital of the valley, with little else to offer, while St. Helena is a charming town with a walkable main street and a fair bit of boutique shopping. The best places to stay seem grouped up the valley near Calistoga, which, oddly enough, is the only town without a handful of notable places to eat.
• When to Go
Mustard season in March is the scenic highlight of the year. The landscape gradually goes from green to brown by fall and then reverts back in winter and spring. Summer and early fall weekends are madness, as is fall “crush” season when the grapes are being processed. Summer can be hot, but not humid, and winter can be brisk with occasional rain and highs in the fifties and sixties.
• Getting There
Cognoscenti say flying to Sacramento and driving to Napa is the easiest. Fares to San Francisco are typically lower, but the drive to the valley in rush hour can take up to three hours.
• Getting Around
You will need a car. California Highway 29, the main artery of the valley, is congested for most of its length on weekends and afternoons. Locals use the more scenic and zippier Silverado Trail, which parallels 29 about a mile to the east.
• Learning More
I like Zagat’s annual San Francisco guidebook, which covers Napa Valley, or its pocket-sized California Wine Country edition, and Fodor’s California Wine Country. Pick up the latest copy of Preiser Key for a current and detailed listing of valley wineries and their visiting policies.

PLACES TO STAY
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Photo courtesy of Calisotoga Ranch
• Calistoga Ranch
In recent years, Auberge Resorts has opened some of North America’s finest small resorts, and Calistoga Ranch is the template. Rustically elegant, beautifully private and spacious, this collection of modest, weathered, wood-sided, two-room cottages straddles a box canyon in the forest. It’s hard to imagine a more secluded, romantic setting, yet it’s so close to all the bounty of the valley. Every cottage comes with a furnished patio overlooking the woods. Highly recommended. Winter package rates start at $440 and include dinner and spa amenities.
580 Lommel Rd., Calistoga, 707-254-2800

Photo courtesy of Solage
• Solage Calistoga
With Napa Valley out-pricing much of its customer base, Auberge Resorts debuted this midpriced brand last year just a mile from sister Calistoga Ranch. The sun-kissed landscape is a bright, unshaded collection of ochre cottages done up in luxurious modern furnishings surrounding a big St. Tropez–style pool and stylishly casual restaurant (Solbar) offering delicious upscale takes on American comfort food. Winter package rates start at $295.
755 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, 866-942-7442


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