Recommend October 2012 - (Page 23)

Opposite page: Bird’s-eye view of Meadowood Napa Valley in St. Helena. Left: The Napa Valley Wine Train. Buzz terms like “sustainable,” “farm-to-table,” and “communityinspired” fall frequently on the ear. Locals will also tell you that winter—early to late—is prime time for a visit, for a gamut of good reasons: Pleasantly crisp weather. Absence of endlessly snaking trafﬁc. Uncrowded restaurants and tasting rooms. Irresistible deals in lodgings and packages. What’s more, winter trumpets the colorful return of the mustard ﬂower, when blankets of yellow blooms are back-dropped by emerald hillsides—a post-harvest period proclaimed by the lateNovember-through-April event called Cabernet Season, a nonstop palette of wine, food, arts, and spa experiences staged throughout the grape-growing region. For see-and-do suggestions to clients, here are some highlights of the wine country’s supremely walkable towns, each with its own personality. (a 5-minute walk from the inn), where they will measure, blend, and taste—crafting their own wine to be bottled on site. Included: a 1-night stay, breakfast in bed and other amenities. yountville Set sights northward to Yountville, where George C. Yount planted the valley’s ﬁrst grapevines in 1838. This is the area’s Michelin star-showered culinary capital, home to the justly famed restaurant, The French Laundry. While client reservations would be required months in advance for this one, they’ll ﬁnd plentiful options when it comes to feasting in this 1-sq.-mile territory on the epicurean edge. A knockout meal is served up, for example, at Michael Chiarello’s Bottega (think house-made pasta, house-cured prosciutto). One of the newer lodging entries, the artisan-designed, stone-and-cypress Bardessono Hotel, shows off 62 guestrooms (starting at $450) and its own onsite garden. Romantics will relish a package dubbed Kiss the Day Away— an overnight suite stay with sparkling wine and chocolates, and a couple’s massage—priced from $809 to $1,610 per couple. And tell clients not to miss tastings at Yountville’s V Wine Cellar and Domaine Chandon, wrapped in a parklike landscape of shining ponds and sculptures. Or Cakebread Cellars, up the road at Rutherford. napa About an hour’s drive north of San Francisco, Napa has evolved from bucolic to bustling—in a good way. Eye-catching recent newcomers include a wide, inviting walkway along the meandering Napa River, and the Oxbow Public Market, where you can shop for spices and teas, sample food stall specialties, and linger at the cupcake counter. For a singular spa environment lavish with steam grottoes and walls of water, check out The Meritage Resort and its Spa Terra, cocooned in the heart of a hillside wine cave. The resort completed an expansion in May that nearly doubled the number of guestrooms and suites; rates start at about $159. A spa package with a 2-night minimum stay starts at about $368 per night and includes a bottle of sparkling wine and two 50-minute spa treatments. History buffs will relish the Napa River Inn in the heart of downtown. A masterful makeover of vintage buildings featuring an 1884 mill, the complex encompasses 66 guestrooms housed in three buildings (rates start at $249), eateries, a fragrant bakery, and a jazz club. The District 4 Build-a-Blend package, starting at $299, leads guests to the District 4 Tasting Lounge & Wine Bar st. helena Keep driving north to St. Helena, a charmer with its small-town human scale coupled with sophisticated shops and galleries along a time-trip Main Street. Not one single chain sign here. Suggest clients treat themselves to a killer breakfast complete with buttermilk biscuits, or maybe cranberry-orange-pecan scones, at homey Gillwoods Cafe. Steps off Main Street, Health Spa Napa Valley lures with a de-stress massage. Among newer stops is Long Meadow Ranch Winery & Farmstead, opened in 2010 with both wine and olive oil tastings and “farmhouse cooking.” Nearby on Howell Mountain amid manzanita trees, the architecturally innovative CADE Winery, october 2012 23

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend October 2012

Editor's Notes
Hotel Desk: Sofitel Luxury Hotels
Tour Talk: Travcoa
A Villa Vacation in Europe
Napa Valley Revisited
Gateway Canyons Resort, Colorado
Vintage Palm Beach
The Surrey, New York City
The Best of India at ITC Hotels
St. Regis Offers City Sophistication & Barefoot Luxury in Mexico
Mexico Boutique Hotels' Stellar Collection
Four World-Class Private Island Resorts
Update: More on Luxury Private Island Resorts
In Santa Catarina, Brazil, the Surf's Up for Luxury Travel
Indigo Bay Island Resort & Spa, Mozambique
New Offerings on Luxe Cruise Lines

Recommend October 2012