Napa Valley and its neighbor Sonoma Valley are known for their vineyards and wineries. We spent a Sunday afternoon touring by auto. Because we wanted to make sure that we got to do the actual tour at Sterling Vineyards (see separate review), we headed out…Read More

Napa Valley and its neighbor Sonoma Valley are known for their vineyards and wineries. We spent a Sunday afternoon touring by auto. Because we wanted to make sure that we got to do the actual tour at Sterling Vineyards (see separate review), we headed out CA29 through the Napa Valley through Napa and past St. Helena. The traffic midday was not too bad. We stopped along the way to take some photos of the fruit heavy vines at several of the accessible vineyards. With harvest a few short weeks away, there were a lot of wonderful opportunities for photos.

As we drove the CA29, we passed many well known brand names . . . Beringer, Mondavi and Sutter Home. Some of the buildings were spectacular! There were also many smaller, cottage industry type wineries that produce lesser known Napa Valley wines.

The winery tour industry is a business on its own merits. We were surprised to see the number of tours offered by limo tour operators. As we drove through Napa Valley, we must have seen at least 50 stretch limos and luxury cars. Just about all of the wineries that we looked into touring charged a fee, often between $10 and $25 per person (adults).

I was surprised at the narrowness of the valley itself. From the terrace atop the Sterling Vineyards property, you could see straight down through the valley. Many of the vineyards are on the valley floor but there are several that are up on the hillside.

What little we did venture down into the Sonoma Valley, we did notice that many of their grape vines were on and over the rolling hills as there was seemingly very little flat land in that direction. Perhaps we didn't go deep enough into Sonoma Valley? I don't know.

We did stop at one coop vineyard where grapes are grown for many member wineries. While tours were not provided, there was rather free access to the grape vines so we parked the car and got out to take some photos. The first thing we noticed was that the dark grapes appeared to grow larger than the white. All of the vines, regardless of variety of grape, were bursting with fruit ready to be picked. We were told harvest would take place starting in September . . . so just a week or two away.

If you make the trip on a summer weekend, be prepared for heavy traffic especially coming out of Napa Valley. For the most part, traffic moved rather well and didn't really cause us a significant delay. I think it took us about 15 minutes longer to return "out" of Napa Valley. The mistake we almost made was venturing too deep into Sonoma Valley. As we started to head in that direction, it was becoming increasingly clear that the traffic in the opposite direction was bumper to bumper for several miles so we aborted our trip after about ten miles for fear that we'd be late for our 6:30pm dinner reservation.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day tour of Napa Valley and would suggest that if you have a trip to San Francisco or Sacramento, you allow a day or two to take in the wine country of Northern California.

One of the things we were looking forward to doing was buying some wine to bring home. Unfortunately in a post 9-11 era, you can no longer take wine as a carry-on. While they did have some places that specialized in shipping and just about every winery shop could assist in your shipping needs, we didn't want to take the risk of having them damaged by airline baggage handlers . . . and didn't want to incur the added expense to ship via UPS so we passed on making a purchase on this trip. Maybe next time! In the meantime, we have a couple of wines on our shopping list here at home.Close

Mumm has, for nearly 200 years, been one of the premiere vintners of Champagne in France; their wines celebrate victories, launch ships, and add elegance to any special occasion. Just as you could not call a Californian wine a "Burgundy", it is improper to call…Read More

Mumm has, for nearly 200 years, been one of the premiere vintners of Champagne in France; their wines celebrate victories, launch ships, and add elegance to any special occasion.

Just as you could not call a Californian wine a "Burgundy", it is improper to call sparkling wines that come from anywhere but the Champagne region of France by the name "Champagne", per standards of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée. This is a legally protected right as part of the Treaty of Madrid (1891), the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and more recently, through European Union laws. You will find sparkling wines from other regions of the world called names such as Cava, spumante, Cap Classique, DOCG Asti, Sekt, and Crémant, among others; generally finding "méthode traditionnelle" on a label designates a sparkling wine.

In the U.S., such wines are simply called "sparkling wines". Mumm opened their vineyards here in 1986 - designated Mumm Cuvée Napa to distinguish their products from the original Mumm in France. Over the past 20 years, Mumm has done the same in California that they did in Europe: produce an outstanding product that leads its competitors for quality.

The first Mumm vineyards in the U.S., located in the Los Carneros district, have something very much in common with their French counterparts: the lime in the soil helps create depth and richness in the grapes' flavor. Mumm now sources their grapes from four Napa regions: Carneros, Yountville, Rutherford, and Oakville; and traditionally uses three varietals - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier.

Complimentary public tours are available daily, on the hour, from 10am to 3pm, or you can make an appointment for a private tour and tasting for groups of 10 or more, for a fee. The tour encompasses the vineyards as well as the winery, and takes 45 minutes.

Mumm has not simply created a tasting room where you belly up to the bar like most other wineries. A Mumm tasting - like the special occasions when you would open a bottle - are an experience.

From the parking lot, you walk down a short path into the wine shop on your right. If you’re here for a tasting, ignore all the wine and glasses on display and instead walk through the shop and to your left, where you can take a seat at any open table you like, either outdoors in the sun, or in the air-conditioned interior. Enjoy the magnificent views westwards towards the Mayacamas range; I love coming here late in the afternoon when the crowds are generally quiet to enjoy some sparkling wine as the day slips towards sunset.

You have the choice of either single glasses of Mumm, or you can have a comparative tasting; prices range from $5-$20. I selected a "Magnum" tasting; the menu claimed that magnums are "creamier, softer, and more complex than regular sized bottles". (Champagne/sparkling wines come in eight sizes - quarter, half, full ['regular'], magnum, Jeroboam, Methuselah, Salmanazar, and Balthazar; magnums reputedly have the best flavor.)

I was served two full glasses of sparkling wine; one was their signature Brut Prestige, the other their blush-colored Blanc de Noirs. They sparkled in the California sunshine: bright, bubbly, with condensation slowly swirling around the outside of the glass in the warmth of the afternoon. The wines are served with a card next to them which shows the label, so that if you like the wine, you know what label to look for. They were both delicious, but I must admit to preferring my sparkling wines "blonde", so I liked the Brut Prestige better. The Brut Prestige was so smooth and tasty, I could have easily whiled away a sizeable part of my afternoon enjoying the scenery, the wine, the weather.

The only flaw that I think there is in the magnum tasting is that the regular-sized bottle is not offered to taste side by side with the magnum; after all, it is in the comparison that one best notices the differences.

Mumm's environment invites you to linger over your glasses and savor the wine. And savor you shall, for their wines are outstanding. You can even feel free to take your wine and take a walk around the garden area or to explore their photography galleries. When I was last there, they were hosting an Ansel Adams review. If you are there in the spring, you will see the photography from the Napa Valley Mustard Festival "Mumm Napa Photo Finish" contest.

* * * * *

Notes: Their wine shop has a variety of interesting glassware and wine-related items, but mainly focuses on their wines, in all sizes, and in particular showcases their smaller production wines, such as their award-winning DVX, their sparkling Pinot Meunier, and their Cuvée M, which are only available via the tasting room or online order.

Open daily 10am-5pm. 8445 Silverado Trail, Rutherford, CA 94573
Phone: (800) MUM-NAPA or (707) 967-7700

For the budget-mined, note that their website has coupons available for discounts on tastings: www.mummnapa.com  



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All vineyards in Napa are, of course, working farms; but you don't usually see that. You usually see an artfully crafted tasting room, and on those properties that allow tours, you'll follow a short path that stays pretty close to the tasting room.Long Meadow Ranch…Read More

All vineyards in Napa are, of course, working farms; but you don't usually see that. You usually see an artfully crafted tasting room, and on those properties that allow tours, you'll follow a short path that stays pretty close to the tasting room.

Long Meadow Ranch is different than the rest, and not just because first and foremost, LMR gets you to focus on what is important about this vineyard: the land, the people, and the work that goes into producing its wine, its olive oils, and oh yes - its beef and produce.

Wait - beef and produce? From a Napa vineyard? Oh, yes.

Long Meadow Ranch has its roots with a land grant from President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. Over the next fifty years, the land was used to grow olives, grapes, apples, and to raise livestock, including cows and goats. When prohibition interrupted Napa Valley's way of life in the 1920s, the commercial operations on the property eventually closed down.

Fast-forward to 1989. Ted Hall, formerly a partner with an international management consulting firm, had long been an amateur winemaker; now, with the purchase of Long Meadow Ranch, he took the leap from amateur to professional winemaker.

From its (new) beginnings, Hall was determined to run his ranch with sustainable, organic farming methods. He and his family have certainly achieved their goal; all of their crops are organically produced, and certified as such by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), helping to lead the way to prove to the winemaking industry that it is possible to be ecologically responsible and commercially successful at the same time.

LMR also has an unusual approach to visitors to their property. Unlike most wineries, which offer a public tasting room, Long Meadow Ranch instead offers a variety of educational tours that are available by reservation only. The least expensive tour they offer is the "Wine & Olive Oil Tour" ($35), a basic overview of the facilities including the wine caves. You can also take a guided hike of the property ($50), or take their popular Pinzgauer Adventure ($50) - or if you have a bit more time to spare, combine the Hike or the Pinzgauer tour with a lunch consisting of LMR meats, produce and wines ($150).

I opted to take the Pinzgauer Adventure: up to ten guests pile into a Pinzgauer - a Swiss Army cross-country all-terrain vehicle with open sides and canvas roofing. On the day I visited, it was just a couple from New York and me, so it was practically a private tour! We met our driver at LMR Rutherford Gardens, Long Meadow Ranch's organic produce farm located across route 29 from the Grgich Hills tasting room. The produce farm is open to the public March - November, offering a variety of heirloom tomatoes, fruits, vegetables, eggs and other LMR produce; Rutherford Gardens also supplies many of the top restaurants in Napa Valley. We piled into the truck, and off we went, starting with a three mile ride up to the winery via the winding back roads of the western valley.

The award-winning winery building sits several hundred feet above the valley floor, affording gorgeous vistas across Napa from its front landing. Designed by William Turnbull, the building was constructed using the materials that were excavated to create the vineyard's wine caves. It is solar-energy powered, and thermally efficient, maintaining a consistent year-round temperature. Here we met our tour guide, Lydia Damian, who is the Director of Hospitality for the ranch.

Our first tasting was not wine, but olive oil, offered to us in small, round glasses. I had never drank olive oil straight up before, and we were offered a few tips to tasting, including allowing the warmth of our hands to heat the glass and release some of the fragrance. The oil – rich and smooth – went down easily, rich sunshine captured with earthy undertones and a bit of a spicy aftertaste – one of the most delicious olive oils I’ve ever tried. Long Meadow Ranch produces two varietals, their Napa Valley Select, and their Prato Lungo, created from Napa Valley's oldest olive orchards, located right on the LMR property.

There is no doubt that organic farming methods can make a difference in the end flavor of a product, whether it is fruit fresh off the vine, or the wines or oils that come from those fruits. We walked down the hallway and took a look at LMR’s traditional frantoio (olive press), consisting of a couple large, extremely heavy circular stones constructed into an unusual-looking machine. Lydia explained to us the process used to make olive oil, from the initial crushing to how undesirable materials – stems, leaves, etc – were separated from the golden oil. An olive tree, once matured, produces approximately 45-50 pounds of fruit per tree, and it takes one ton of olives to make just 30 gallons of olive oil.

From there, it was back into the Pinzgauer, and we headed up the mountain to Long Meadow Ranch’s primary vineyards atop the Mayacamas Mountains. Long rows of healthy vines curved over the hillsides, drinking in the warm September sunshine, some rows already being harvested for the fall crush.

Here Lydia talked to us about the various methods that LMR uses to ensure healthy soils and strong plants. The vineyards are grown using a "dry" method, where the vines are started out with minimal water, encouraging them to root deeply, which in turns means that the grapes rely less on artificial watering during the growing season. It also leaves the plants less susceptible to rot or infection from over-watering. She also spoke about how Long Meadow Ranch uses ground cover plants to enrich the soil and prevent soil runoff, a vital issue in the Napa region.

We continued down the hill to the Prato Lungo olive orchard. Many of these trees date back over 135 years to the original settlers of this property, and they are still producing fruit. (Olive trees can live to over 1,000 years old and can remain fruitful so long as they are properly cared for.) Ted Hall had discovered the olive orchards by chance while doing a physical survey of his property; once the undergrowth was cleared and the trees properly pruned, they were found to still be producing olives. And always, the organic details – in the spring and early summer, the calves are allowed into the orchard, where their hooves help aerate the soil, and their manure helps enrich it.

That is the most important part to understand from the tour, how each and every plant and animal that makes its home on the ranch helps contribute to the big picture. From choice of ground cover plants, to which plants are grown in the organic gardens; from the care that goes into their wines and olive oils, to the various uses that poultry and livestock serve in the yearly cycle, Long Meadow Ranch is a perfect place to come to see organic farming at its finest.

Oh yes – they also make quality wines, too. It was time for us to return to the main winery building and have a tasting!

Long Meadow Ranch is best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon, a beautifully smooth and elegant full-bodied red wine, which is served at top restaurants throughout Napa, San Francisco and California, as well as across the country. Harder to find due to its limited production is their Sangiovese (the 2004 vintage will be released March, 2007), a more delicate, softer red. They also produce a lovely Ranch House Red, and they recently released their first Sauvignon Blanc - a crisp, tasty white.

Along with their wines, we also tasted their beef, which was outstanding. LMR breeds Highlands – big, shaggy, striking cattle that readily adapt to a variety of terrain. They produce very flavorful meat, and Long Meadow Ranch sells a variety of beef cuts, as well as burgers, hot dogs, beef stick, and beef jerky. (If you’re a fan of jerky, like I am, you’ll love the Cabernet beef jerky – delicious!).

After the tour was over, they brought us back to Rutherford Gardens, where I spent some time wandering through the organic gardens, amazed at the variety of vegetables growing there. The garden property includes 100-year-old fig trees, which still bear fruit.

If you’re looking for a wine country experience that’s off the beaten track, I would highly recommend heading over to Long Meadow Ranch for a tour, and to wander around the organic gardens for a bit. LMR has set the standard for which other Napa wineries should follow to evolve into responsible farming for the 21st century.

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Long Meadow Ranch is located at 1796 So. St. Helena Highway (SR 29) in Rutherford, CA. For more infomation, contact: Lydia Damian (707) 963-4555, ex.161.Close

We had a few rolls of film after our week in wine country, so we attached a couple of extra shots for your viewing pleasure.…Read More

We had a few rolls of film after our week in wine country, so we attached a couple of extra shots for your viewing pleasure.Close

The majority of accomodations in Napa are B&B's and Inns. They are locally owned and individual phone numbers can be hard to find. There is a wondeful B&B association that you can call for help. The phone links to a local B&B…Read More

The majority of accomodations in Napa are B&B's and Inns. They are locally owned and individual phone numbers can be hard to find. There is a wondeful B&B association that you can call for help. The phone links to a local B&B owner who knows which places have availability. They'll give you phone numbers and even descriptions of the places. Bed & Breakfast Inns of the Napa Valley 707-944-4444 Other helpful numbers: Napa Valley Reservations Unlimited 800-251-4585 Napa Valley Tourist Bureau 707-257-7757 Wine Country Vacation Rentals 707-942-2186 Close

We itinerant consultants never know where our next client will be located - so I was delighted to hear that I was leaving the Northeast winter cold and spending my next assignment in California's Silicon Valley. Suddenly all my friends I never see back East…Read More

We itinerant consultants never know where our next client will be located - so I was delighted to hear that I was leaving the Northeast winter cold and spending my next assignment in California's Silicon Valley. Suddenly all my friends I never see back East were scheming to plan a "Girls' Weekend in the Napa Valley".

We assembled almost the entire crew: Wendy, Deirdre, Nicole, and Jeanne, an expatriate who flew all the way from London for the weekend. Nothing quite makes me feel special like the sight of three busy career women and one much busier mom taking time out of their lives to coordinate a weekend to visit little old me! ( I'm sure the location had NOTHING to do with it!)

It was a beautiful warm day, with bright sun and cotton ball clouds. After an overnight in San Francisco, we arrived at the tony Auberge du Soleil just in time for our noon lunch reservation. Imagine a country inn on the Mediterranean - decorated by the French.

The Auberge is the kind of hotel where you need to reserve a room months in advance, so we were grateful to be able to dine at a roomy table out on its terrace overlooking a sloping hillside draped with grape trellises - simply beautiful! We enjoyed incomparable French-Californian cuisine, an unconfirmed celebrity sighting (Mary Stuart Masterson), and a fantastic Rombauer Chardonnay. Smooth and intense with hints of hazelnut, pear, and vanilla, you just don't get that kind of taste from an under $25 wine (although the Auberge marked it up quite a bit more!). We resolved to hunt it down and buy it before the weekend was out.

After lunch we visited several vineyards, trying to stay off the beaten path and focus on vineyards that don't sell their wines outside of California. Our first stop was the much touted and very crowded Silver Oak vineyards. They have a (deserved) reputation for producing exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons and little else. An eye-popping charge of 10 (TEN!) dollars allowed us a taste of the one and only Cab they were selling that month, a '97 Alexander Valley which was already selling for $57 and was likely to double in price over the next few years.

We sat outside, drenched in California sun, and sipped our wine while admiring the luxury cars that speckled their driveway. That outrageous $10 charge also covered a souvenir oversized red wine glass with the Silver Oak logo tastefully printed in silver. What am I supposed to do with one wine glass? I gave mine to Nicole, who has a collection from previous visits.

No one bought the snooty Cabernet.

As I said earlier, start at the end of Napa Valley and work your way backwards. If you plan on visiting a lot of vineyards during the day, you'll thank me for this. On your way to "the end" stop at Dean & Deluca for…Read More

As I said earlier, start at the end of Napa Valley and work your way backwards. If you plan on visiting a lot of vineyards during the day, you'll thank me for this. On your way to "the end" stop at Dean & Deluca for some munchies (I suggest some of their bread). If you want to see a natural sight, head down to Yellow Stone geyser were you can get a AAA discount (at least when I went).

Now, when you start your trip, start at Sterling Vineyard. Its roughly $15 for the tour and tastings. This includes a gondola ride up the mountain with breath taking views. Its a self guided tour with some video clips. You can purchase the wine at the top or bottom of the mountain. Very friendly staff!

Next, head over to Larkmeade Lane to visit the Frank Family Vineyard. It is sort of off the beaten path but it is so well worth the trip. (This is where the bread will come in handy). The tastings are free. You start of in the main room where you can buy the wine/champagne and taste three different champagnes. Next you move onto the next room where you taste several of the wines. The Zinfandel is my favorite, they call it the L.P.R. I'll leave that mystery to you!

Head over to Beringer for their tour. If you are claustrophobic, skip the tour. The tour consists of caves where the barrels are kept and the barrels may even be there so it is even more close together. At the end of the tour you get to taste a few of the wines. Although this tour is cheap, it is ok but you can skip it. If you like Beringer, just go purchase the wines and skip the tour. The grounds are pretty and a great place to have a picnic lunch.

My next recommendation is Robert Mondavi. If you go in the winter, the tour is shorter. However, if you go in the summer, you get to see the actual vineyards and how they label the different rows of grapes. You get up-close and personal with the large wine barrels where the grapes ferment. Then you go through several rooms where there are just barrels and barrels of wine that you can touch. The tour ends with a wine tasting, where one of the glasses is paired with food. The recipes are available for you to take with them.

Although I did not go to Sutter Home, I have heard that it is just a shop and no tour. Like all the wineries, the bottles are considerably cheaper at the vineyard than at your local liquor store. Some places will offer you free shipping or other perks if you purchase a case. If you don't want to purchase a case, have the vineyard package it for you the best (and cheapest) they can to take back with you. Some airlines now are putting restrictions on weight, so pack a duffel bag in your luggage just for your wine.

On your way home, after you of course have "eaten your bread," check out the outlets on your way. Although it is a little on the smaller side, they do have good shops with some good bargains.

You can do Napa Valley in a day, but make sure you take turns and monitor your drinking, because there are so many vineyards and so much wine to try. Some other vineyards that are there but I haven't tried are St. Supery, Whitehall Lane, and Beaulieau Vineyards. Good luck, and happy drinking!

Best Treatment of Designated Driver: Niebaum-Coppola was the only winery (of 12) which had anything other than water for the designated drivers to drink. They offered me a free soda. I was very grateful, as I was sick of drinking water all…Read More

Best Treatment of Designated Driver: Niebaum-Coppola was the only winery (of 12) which had anything other than water for the designated drivers to drink. They offered me a free soda. I was very grateful, as I was sick of drinking water all day.

Most Entertaining Wine Pourer: Gary at Sterling Winery. He was very friendly and was quite entertaining with stories of guests that he has had through the years working at the winery. Look for him and ask him to tell you the story about "the guy from New York," which I can’t repeat here.

Best Views: While several of the wineries had beautiful vineyards, Sterling had the best view overall, with a look down into the valley (you ride a tram to the top of a hill to get that view). Mumm came in a close second.

Best Winery Gift Shop: V. Sattui had a grocery/gift shop attached that could have kept me occupied for an hour at least.

Best Winery Building: Oh, of course this is perfectly subjective, but I fell in love with the building at Mario Andretti. I wanted to move in. With Spanish architecture and no crowds, it was almost a spiritual moment where we just stood back and said, "This is Napa Valley."

Best Spot for a Kodak Moment: Clos Pegase is worth seeing just for the statues alone. We were disappointed that there was a forklift parked in front of the building, but the rest of the grounds were prime spots for pictures. If you stand in front of the entrance and face away from the building, there is a great shot of hills and trees and vineyards. Additionally, there are sculptures all over the place. Don’t miss the big thumb sculpture.

Second Best Spot for a Kodak Moment: Just south of St. Helena on Highway 29 is the "Welcome to Napa Valley" sign, which is a cheesy photo spot, but fun nevertheless. There is a turnoff in front of the sign so that you can park.

Best Value for Tastings: Well, you can’t beat free tastings at V. Sattui; however, my friends said they didn’t like the wine there. Second best value was Cosentino, where a $5 generous tasting will also get you a free glass.

Most Knowledgeable Wine Pourer: This honor would have to go the Robert Mondavi tour guide, Ralph. Extremely smart, but also funny, he would have to be my favorite.

Secret Find: Open for only a few months, TwoMey was a pleasant surprise. Though they only poured Merlot while we were there, my friends liked the wine so much that they each bought a bottle. TwoMey is on Dunaweal Lane in St. Helena off of Highway 29, the same street as Sterling and Clos Pegase.

Worst Treatment of the Designated Driver: This would have to go to Sterling, because the tram ride up the mountain was $10, which included wine tasting, and they did not give any discount to non-drinkers (though the underage rate was $5.)

Most Crowded Winery: It was very difficult to find a parking space at Sterling, though once we got to the top of the hill, it didn’t seem to be as busy. The tasting room at Peju was very crowded at the end of the day because they were open later than other wineries (6pm), and so it seemed as if everyone got there at the same time.

Harbin Hot Springs, Harbin Springs Rd., Middletown, CA, (707) 987-2477 or (800) 622-2477; best time to call is between 9:30am and 4:30pm PT. This is north of Calistoga and south of Clear Lake. It was a great first-time experience, especially if you've been under great stress,…Read More

Harbin Hot Springs, Harbin Springs Rd., Middletown, CA, (707) 987-2477 or (800) 622-2477; best time to call is between 9:30am and 4:30pm PT.

This is north of Calistoga and south of Clear Lake. It was a great first-time experience, especially if you've been under great stress, as I was when I was first introduced to this by a close friend. You need to be open-minded coming to a place like this, where the culture and attitude is more laid-back, like it was in the 1970s.

Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are available in the Stonefront Restaurant. Snacks, ingredients, and organic produce are available from the Harbin Market. There are also cafés.

You may go into the cold, warm, or hot pools or soak in the sun during the warm season. There's massage, bodywork, spa treatments, workshops, yoga classes, dances, satsang, camping, dormitories, private rooms, or luxurious cottages.

There are massage classes available from the School of Shiatsu & Massage at Harbin, a Love, Intimacy & Sexuality Workshop from Human Awareness Institute, and Tantric Workshops from Institute of Ecstatic Living. There is Cob & Straw Bale Construction from Harbin. Classes must be booked directly in advance from the providers.

At least one person in your party must have a Harbin membership to use the facility. One-month trial memberships start at $10. Six-hour visits are issued from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Thursday, adult $20; Friday through Sunday and holidays $25; children under 18 $10/$15; add $5 more to rates for a 24-hour pass. The weekly rate for adults is $170, a child is $115. Check their website or call for room and cottage rates, which start at $35 for one person in a dormitory Sunday through Thursday and $50 Friday, Saturday, and holidays. Children are not allowed in the rooms. Rates are subject to change. There's a residency program if you're interested. Rooms must be reserved in advance and paid for with a credit card. Cancellations must be done 1 to 2 days prior to avoid a charge. Day visits do not require reservations.

Look at the suggested list of things to pack for your visit.

Bus service to Santa Rosa is available from the Oakland or San Francisco airports via Sonoma County Airport Express, 800/327-2024 or 707/837-8700; Golden Gate Transit offers service to Santa Rosa from four San Francisco downtown locations. A personal ride service from Santa Rosa may be arranged for a fee with a 48-hour advance notice.

Rides may also be arranged through Yahoo Harbin Rides.

Email: hs@harbin.org

After our massages we showered in the spa's luxurious locker room and went back to our cottage to change for dinner. We had a lovely dinner at Terra Restaurant on St. Helena's Railroad Avenue. Located 'across the tracks' from the railroad that gives the street…Read More

After our massages we showered in the spa's luxurious locker room and went back to our cottage to change for dinner. We had a lovely dinner at Terra Restaurant on St. Helena's Railroad Avenue.

Located 'across the tracks' from the railroad that gives the street its name, Terra welcomes immediately with its warm, beautifully lit stone façade. The interior is no less disappointing, with simple earth-toned banquettes and chairs around intimate tables that seem to curl up cozily against the massive stone walls of the interior.

The menu spices up the region's typical French-Californian style with the addition of an Asian influence, no doubt that of the Japanese chef, who is also the owner's husband. We chose Terra for it's carefully selected wine list, which highlights the best of the Valley's smaller vineyards.

We splurged on a truly great wine: a Stag's Leap Cabernet, which was hands down the oenophilic highlight of the trip. (Yes, I just made that word up.)

Before I wax rhapsodic about the wine, though, I have to clear up a point of confusion. There are two Stag's Leap vineyards in Napa. One is the Stag's Leap Winery, in existence since the 1800s and now owned by Beringer. Their label is suspiciously similar to that of the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Both feature a stag, as you might imagine, and their shapes and coloring are nearly identical. Though only in existence since 1972, the latter vineyard has the superior Cabernets. The former is known for its Petite Syrahs, which we didn't sample. How can you tell them apart? The Stag's Leap Winery label is a basic rectangle, and the Stag is actually leaping. On the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars label, the Stag is standing in front of what appears to be a small tree, and the corners of the rectangle are cut off.

A quick survey of the New York Times "Wine Today" archives shows that every Stag's Leap Wine Cellar's Cabernet they have reviewed has received at least three stars, averaging more like 4.5 for the better vintages. I can't argue with the experts – the hunt for a "Big Cab" was over. It wasn't cheap – but we hardly cared as the first whiff of allspice and cedar wafted to our noses. Powerful without being overwhelming, it was as full and satisfying a wine-drinking experience as I have ever encountered. The salad and entree seemed superfluous.

I suppose it was inevitable that we'd spend the next morning lolling around the cottage and reading the Sunday Times instead of going out for a run or visiting the exercise room as we had originally planned. But at 10am we were showered, dressed, packed, and eating brunch at the Meadowood dining room. What a brunch! In addition to a groaning buffet table covered with fruits, salads, bagels, pastries, desserts, and cheeses, we also had our choice of five or six entrees and as many side dishes as we could fit on our plates. Several of us sampled the Bloody Marys, with their exquisite seasoning, along with fresh-squeezed juices and coffee. The only sour note was a large, ravenous bee who was determined to profit from the dining room's "all you can eat" policy at our table. But the waiters gallantly chased it away into a corner and swatted it. What else could you ask for?

An hour later we finally summoned the energy to leave our table overlooking the grounds, and packed into my rental car. We were off to Rombauer vineyard to pick up the sublime Chardonnay we had the day before at the Auberge. We learned that the Rombauer vineyard, a three-level affair built right into a hillside, is run by a relative of Irma Rombauer, of 'Joy of Cooking' fame. We were nearly out of time, but before leaving for San Francisco, we stopped at Stag's Leap, picked up the incomparable Cabernet, and were on our way, the trunk crammed with luggage and bottles of wine filling every crevice.

Monday morning, as I pulled into the parking lot at work and took a look around, I discovered the only bad thing about the Napa Valley. You see, I was driving a white car. New car white. Rental car white. And Napa Valley was not kind to it. It had become more of a beige/white combination, with Napa Valley Grape-friendly dirt streaks behind each wheel well. Somehow my rented Buick Century, which had remained spotless for four weeks, had become an eyesore! The BMWs and Jaguars in the parking lot slunk away when I parked next to them! The Porsche convertibles rolled up their tops at the sight of me! It was a disaster. Fortunately Silicon Valley has as many car washes as the Napa Valley has vineyards. I can't wait to go back!