A Taste of Napa

Napa's "high season" is June through October, though there are things to do and see year 'round. February and March are the slow months for tourism, so the marketing gurus came up with the Mustard Festival to draw more visitors. Although the vines are bare and dormant, the vineyards are abloom with bright yellow mustard flowers. There are art festivals and special events throughout the 2-month festival, mostly on weekends. The weather during that time can be rainy, curtailing outdoor activities, but there are plenty of things to do (including tasting wine and eating fine food) indoors. The St. Helena Premium Outlet Mall has a small selection of upscale shops, including Brooks Brothers, DKNY, Coach and Tumi Luggage. The Napa Premium Outlet Mall has a larger selection of popular shops as well, including such favorites as Liz Claiborne and Mikasa. We usually limit wine tasting to 2 or 4 wineries a day to avoid taste-bud overload.

Quick Tips:

Almost any hotel or motel will have free magazines about activities, especially wine tasting. I think the most helpful is one called "Spotlight's Wine Country Guide." It has maps and addresses for major wineries, in addition to descriptions of different local regions. If you are a AAA member, get their "Guide to Northern California Wineries" before you go -- it has a wealth of information. There are so many wineries to choose from, and they are spread out all over the valley, so it helps to list the must-see favorites ahead of time, and plan a route to avoid needless doubling-back. Then there is always time to stop somewhere else that looks interesting, too.

Best Way To Get Around:

Unless you plan to veg out and stay in one little area, you will definitely need a car to get around. It is a great area for biking -- lots of flat area for non-strenuous touring, or you can head into the hills around the Las Posadas State Forest for a real workout. (Ask at any bike store for their ideas on routes.)

Cozier than a motel, more private than a bed & breakfast, the Elm House combines the best of both worlds. From the outside, it looks like a large, square Victorian mansion-house. Inside, the rooms open onto a corridor that surrounds the 2-story high great room, which has comfy sofas and a large stone fireplace. There is a hot tub in a patio outside (though I''ve never seen anyone using it).

Breakfast, included in the price, is served on one side of the great room and includes pastries, bagels and English muffins, cold cereals, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt and a selection of juices and hot beverages. Cookies are set out to serve yourself in the afternoon. The rooms are standard motel-size, but have better furnishings that the usual chain motel, I especially like the shaggy, home-style bathmats. Each room has a mini-fridge, wine glasses and corkscrew. The beds (king or queen) are comfortable. Parking is available in two small lots on each side of the building. This is a completely non-smoking motel. The reception staff is friendly and helpful, eager to recommend places to see and eat.

Reserve early, as this place is popular and books up, especially on weekends. It is our first choice of where to stay in Napa.

The Napa Valley Marriott is undergoing a masive recontruction job, slated to be completed in the fall 2001. They have refurbished one side of the building and are building an entire new wing of "executive" rooms with a spa. Because of the construction, rates are lower than usual. (Our room was $99.) Fortunately, the construction noises were not a problem, even during the week. There is a small but well-equipped gym available. Our room had been freshly decorated, with a very nice stuffed chair and ottoman and a desk and office-type desk chair. The comforter on the bed was actually functional, not just decorative, and the blanket was not one of those plastic-like plush things so common in motels. There is an internet connection (at $9.95/day), hair dryer, coffeemaker with coffee AND tea and iron and ironing board. A complimentary copy of USA Today appeared just outside the door each morning. That''s the good news. The bad news was that the bed was uncomfortably soft (but not saggy) and even though it was a non-smoking room, the mattress and pillows absolutely reeked of smoke. I just don''t understand hotels that think simply putting a no-smoking sign in a room turns a smoking room into a no-smoking room! For this reason, I must call it only "somewhat recommended."

Located just off Highway 29 at the end of Napa closest to Yountville, this comfortable motel is very convenient for touring up and down the valley. We were pleasantly surprised to find a kitchenette in our $119 room. It had a microwave, mini-fridge, 1-burner electric hotplate (with 2 frying pans) and the ever-present wineglasses and corkscrew. The room was also equipped with a hairdryer, iron, ironing board and magnifying mirror. No bathrobes, but what do you expect for less than $125? The beds were very comfortable and the facility seems modern. In the lobby is a large scrapbook of menus for a lot of local restaurants, from high-end to casual, and there is a rack full of free brochures and tourist magazines. The motel is completely non-smoking. Parking is plentiful.

The husband-wife owners met while working for Wolfgang Puck; he was a chef and she was a pastry chef. About 10 years ago, they started Terra restaurant. Although it is reputed to have an Asian-fusion cuisine, we found it to be "California-French-Italian." Now, this is not to imply any disappointment; my husband and I were happy with our dinners. The restaurant is two store-fronts combined to make up two sparely decorated dining rooms. The setting is one of elegance but not formality. Our desserts came in beautiful Japanese-style ceramic bowls -- the only hint of an Asian influence that we could detect. I started with a delightful mussel saffron soup with a cream base. The flavor was delicate, and the cream rounded out the taste, rather than tasting like mussels in cream sauce. My husband started with wild mushroom soup garnished with two quail-and-gorgonzola fried wontons. Like my soup, his had a cream base that complimented the flavor, rather than overwhelming the mushrooms. I can't tell you what the wontons tasted like because he liked them so much he wouldn't share even a little taste! We both had squab as the main course. It was cooked to the perfect medium rare that squab should be served and was very simply prepared. It was served atop an eggy savory bread pudding, which was good, but which I thought was too rich in combination with the rich squab. For dessert, I had a very light tiramisu, not too sweet. My husband had Terra's famous dessert of sauteed strawberries in Cabernet-black pepper sauce with vanilla ice cream. The strawberries were fresh and sweet, but the black pepper spark that should have been in the sauce wasn't apparent and the small scooplet of ice cream melted very quickly into a creamy garnish. Wine is served by the glass or the bottle. Our dinner, with a glass of champagne and two glasses of wine, was less than $100, which we considered a good deal (considering this is the Napa Valley) for the quality of the food and service.

We made Mumm an activity because they had a special exhibit of the World Press Photo award winners from 1950-2000 on display in the art gallery. It was a very dramatic selection of photos. The gallery exhibits change every few months; call the winery at 707-942-3434 or 800-686-6272 to find out what is on. In addition to the changing shows, there is a permanent exhibit of historic Ansel Adams photos of the Mumm winery and vineyards. I was not that impressed with the winery photos--they were good examples of industrial photography, but the photos of the vineyards were striking. Definitely worth a trip to see the work of this master of black and white photography.

The tasting room is delightful. In most wineries, you "belly up to the bar" and are poured your tastes. Here, you sit in a small cafe and order your tastes from a menu. Three half-flutes of champagne are offered at $8 and there are more expensive selections as well.

My husband and I are pinot noir fans, and had read that Mumm was making a pinot noir, so we chose that to taste ($2.50). The man doing the pouring asked if we liked pinot, and then brought over small, half-sized flutes into which he poured a sparkling pinot noir (methode Champaignoise) for us to taste. It is not shipped and is sold only in the winery. Although it looked like black cherry soda, it was delightful -- fruity but not sweet. We even bought some to take home; we never would have known about it if he had not poured us a sample.

There is a winery tour offered, but we did not take it.

We first discovered Dutch Henry about 5 years ago, looking for small wineries that make pinot noir. It is a family-run winery, making only about 3000 cases a year of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Rose, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel. The pinot noir is so popular that the 300 cases they make sell out very quickly. The "tasting room" is a folding card table set up in a corner of their barrel-aging barn. Where most wineries have a sales staff running the tasting room, here your wine will be poured by the owners, Kendall Phelps (the older guy) or Scott Chaffen, who is the winemaker. Both are justifiably proud of their wines, which were even written up in the Wall Street Journal as being some of the top wines from small California wineries. They will ship and mail order, and they have a wine club that entitles you to discounts. When we first started buying their wines, the pinot was about $15/bottle. It, and the others, have crept up to the $25-35 range. If you really like their wine, you can join their Wine Club for discounts and automatic shipments of new releases. This is a fun place to taste just because it is so down-to-earth. You will probably be greeted by any or all of their three dogs. I particularly like the mellow Airedale. We arrived one rainy day when the sign said they were closed. Nevertheless, Scott Chaffen seemed eager to open a bottle for us, and poured himself a glass as well. Then he pulled out a "wine thief" (like a turkey baster) and pulled some out of the barrel for us to see how the next year's wine was developing! Try asking for that at one of the big wineries...

From the outside, the Oakville Market looks like a tiny general store from a by-gone era. Inside, you simply can't believe such a tiny store can hold so many delights. The shelves are packed with gourmet mustards, olive oils, vinegars, spices, spreads, jams and jellies. You could almost make a meal of the samples spread on the counters. Dip a chunk of French bread into a specialty olive oil, taste a bit of biscotti. And what a selection of cheeses (both imported and local) and sliced meats!

How many kinds of salami actually are there? There are breads and cookies and other sweet baked goods. And of course, there is an excellent selection of wine. This is a wonderful place to stop to put together a picnic lunch to eat while out wine-tasting or cycling. It is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

My one great indulgence is Coach leather, but even if I'm going to use a purse everyday for 5 years, I still can't see spending $250 for it...especially when the Coach outlet store has it for at least half price. Whenever I am in the Napa Valley, I just have to stop here to see what is new and on sale. They have purses, belts for men and women (about $20 for a belt that retails for about $50), small leather goods, briefcases and even leather jackets.

There is also a Jones New York outlet. (But in some cases, I understand why the clothes are in the outlet and not the dept. store -- bad color or fabric or design.) Other fine quality clothing stores include Escada and Donna Karan for women and Brooks Brothers for men and women. There is also a Movado watch store -- you knw, the watch that's in the Museum of Modern Art in NY, or so they say.

This is a small mall, but it makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity.

Yes, Coppola is Francis Ford Coppola of movie fame. You can't escape that here at the winery -- it includes a museum of movie props, including of course those from the Godfather movies.

The tasting room (more like an estate) has a touch of theme park about it. Wine World, perhaps. They charge $6-10 to taste, depending on what wines you are sampling, but the pours are generous, considering the purpose is supposed to be to decide what you'd like to buy, and you and a companion can always share one glass. And you get to keep the glass. My favorite was the Black Diamond Claret, which had a lot of fruit without being heavily oaked. It's about $15 at the winery (cheaper at Trader Joe's and Costco).

There is a huge gift shop with all kinds of wine-related paraphernalia and books. The grounds are stunning in a very Hollywood way -- I believe his daughter, actress Sofia Coppola, got married on the grounds. There is a picnic area with a good view of the valley.