epaulino

A couple from Northern Spain will be traveling with us to San Francisco and part of the excitement will be to visit the Napa Valley. We have been there a couple of times, took the Coppola tour, had lunch but this time we would like to make the best of it.

Could you please recommend us an itinerary/route, must see, tour(s) to maximize our time in Napa and make it an enjoyable day for our friends?

Thanks in advance

lisettemac

We have had the pleasure of taking out-of-towners to Napa for a day a couple of times over the last year. I find that it helps to plan in advance, but be flexible.

Do you want to do a tour? If so, you should book it in advance and then plan your day around it.

Otherwise, we book lunch (usually Mustard's grill) and then go from there. We often start at Domaine Carneros for the 11 am tour. Have lunch at Mustard's and then hit a couple of other wineries along the Silverado Trail before heading home.

I suggest you get a good guidebook (Moon has one dedicated entirely to wine country) and then decide what you want to see.

kimamom

Mustard's is closed for remodeling right now, I would try to have a meal at Bottega in Yountville, very good! Domaine Carneros is an excellent place to wine taste, I would also check out Nicholson Ranch and Artesa in this area. In St. Helena, Freemark Abbey has some very nice whites, a couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a great lunch at The Grill @ Meadowood in St. Helena, Joseph Phelps is nearby.

If you venture up to Calistoga, stop at Castello de Amerosa and Chateau Montelena, enjoy your trip! ***kim***

Otis_B_Driftwood

I wonder if your guests from Spain would be interested in seeing some Spanish owned wineries. If so, on your way from SF (if you go over the Golden Gate Bridge) you can visit Gloria Ferrer and Artesa in the Carneros District just before Napa.

http://www.gloriaferrer.com/

http://www.artesawinery.com/

There's also the beautiful Marimar Torres Winery over in Sonoma County. Their website seems to be down but it would be out of your way if you want to see the Napa Valley.

Mustards plans to re-open on April 25th and Bottega is only open for lunch Thursday through Sunday. But there are dozens of other very worthy options.

Ronda

In the event that it might help you, here is a link to Stu Dudley's San Francisco and Sonoma itinerary suggestions:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm