chris

I am traveling to Napa Valley mid-March and am looking for recommendations for places to stay. People have recommended Harvest Inn, Vineyard Country Inn, Wine Country Inn, Yountville Inn and the Vintage/Villagio Inns. Has anyone stayed at any of these places recently?
Also, I am looking for winery recommendations . Looking for great wineries and also ones that will give a private tour.
Thanks!

Jim

Chris.....

My girlfriend and I stayed in Napa and Sonoma for a night each last year. We stayed at a place called the Railway Inn in Yountsville while in Napa. The individual rooms are separate railway cars. It was a very unique experience especially if you are looking to do something different. The rates were very reasonable. I think we paid $70.00 for a railway car (which was HUGE!!!)... You will be up there in the off season so you will probably be able to get the railway car at the same price as a caboose room (which was smaller). Very large, very clean, not ultra-luxorious by any strech. Right on the main road in Yountville and within walking distance of some very nice restaurants.

As for wineries, we enjoyed Plumpjack Winery (good startoff place), Francis Ford Coppola's place was definitely worth seeing. Stop in at V. Sattui's. This place is incredible--- the only winery that also seels food. They have nice picnic grounds, you can buy a nice bottle of wine, some bread and cheese and have a little party!!!

Good luck!!!

kal

Yo Jim!
Got our reservation at the funky Railway Inn for this Sat night! Looking forward to dinner at the Napa Grill or we may try and get lucky at the Fr. Laundry or Bistro Jeanty on a cancellation.

Chris, Yountville Inn and Villagio are very nice.

Dittos on Coppolla's winery(the old Gustav Niebaum-Ingelnook Winery).
I can smell the fermentation now!

Try the Napa, Yountville, Rutherford Chamber of Commerce webs.

Kal

Dick

Stayed at the Yountville Inn this past fall and was quite pleased.

Kal, I'll be curious to hear what you think of the Railway Inn. It looked pretty rustic to me.

kal

Dick,
We have stayed there before and it is "rustic".
"Funky" is more like it. Our "car" was about 10' wide and 20' long.
"Down home management"...very casual!

The unit was clean, nice bed, sitting area and nice bathroom...decent price plus it's a great location.

It is no Villagio or Yountville Inn but for the diff in price, we can get another bottle of wine...maybe 2?!

I'll let you know if it's any different this trip.
Kal

wino

Here's some advice on wineries.

Unless you have a good deal of experience w/ wine tasting, I'd start at St. Suppery. They give a top-notch self-guided tour w/ tips on proper tasting.

I'd move on to places like Coppola. Skip the biggies like BV or Mondavi--overloaded w/ idiots and children.

Plumpjack and Silver Oak are not to be missed.

Sal

We stayed at the Vintage Inn this past November and liked it very much. I second the St. Supery tour. They take very small groups, by reservation. OUr guide was very knowledgable and we learned a lot. I would also recommend the Schramsburg tour. It's one of the oldest producers of champagne. Again, they take very small groups by reservation only. The tour includes a walk though the caves that were hand-dug by Chinese laborers. Sattui has the most wonderful gourmet deli. However, they do not offer tours. One word of advise, make dinner reservations now.

Monica Richards

You've gotten excellent advice about St. Supery, V. Sattui and Schramsburg. I go to Napa often and these are the places I take visitors. I don't actually like Coppola's winery--it's like a shrine to himself, it was a bit much for me and their tasting fee is something like $7.00. But there are plenty of other little wineries like Milat and Folie a Deux (not sure that's spelled right) that are fun.

Cathie

My daughter works for Veritas in Florida and they are going to the Napa Valley for business meetings and are staying at the Villagio - looks beautiful on the website...imagine it is extremely nice if they are booking it...hope that helps.

TRY LODI WINE!

TRY LODI WINE!

Toni

My husband and I stayed at Maison Fleurie in Yountville two years ago. It's sort of an pretty upscale B&B. It's somewhat pricey perhaps, but included a great breakfast and afternoon food as well. It's part of a group called the Seven Sisters (if I remember correctly). Location was good for travelling around. Best advice is to try not and overdo it-you think you can visit a lot of wineries but it's really kind of difficult-best to concentrate on just a few. There's so many beautiful ones out there. Have fun!

kal

Aloha,
Back from Yountville.

Dick: Again, The Railway Inn was a nice place to stay. We were a bit disappointed that we got the "room" vs. getting one of the rail cars. Packed house.

Chris: Right in Yountville you can't go wrong with either the Yountville/Villagio or Vintage Inns. All are pretty upscale. The Villagio is probably the newest. The Napa Valley Lodge looked pretty nice, too. As did the quaint Burgundy Inn and as another poster mentioned, Maison Fleurie.

Due to the rainy weather, we were a bit confined to our dining choices since we wanted to walk. We did this since we knew we were going to have a few cocktails/wine with dinner and the weather forcast was for heavy showers thru the night.

Started out with a few "Waboritas" at Compadres (Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Tequilla w/ a shot of blue Curacao).

Hoofed it across the street in a driving rain and ate at Livefire.
Great meal! I had heard mixed reviews over the past few years so we tried it ourselves. Great food and service to match.

Hoofed it down to Paitti's for a few glasses of port to get the chill out. Great bartender. Wish I could remember his name. He musta been good.

The next day we had our usual outstanding breakfast at Pacific Blues Cafe and then took a nice long walk in the mist, watching the wispy tails of the rain clouds slink into and then out of the valley.

For an eclectic little winery, I suggest the Van der Heyden Winery.
We stopped at the suggestion from a client of Mrs. Kal. (http://www.napanet.net/~vvwines/index.html)
Small shack of a tasting room but great people and they are the growers, owners, chief cooks and bottle washers.

Decorated in flea market chic. It was a hoot.

Have a great time.
Kal

toby

Stayed at the Wine Country Inn last May and we loved it..we look for places with charm and it had lots. Also cheery breakfast room and a great location!
We took a trip on the Wine Train...really liked it! Good food and something different. Didn;t enjoy the Culinary Institute rest. too noisy, too big although the food was good.

Bob

In November, my wife and I stayed at the Maison Fluerie and found it wonderful. Great rooms (try for the detached cottage), great outdoor hot tub and pool, and great food. Not cheap but worth the price for something special. For a great dinner try the Bouchon nearby. I also recommend the tour at the Chandon Champagne winery just across the highway.

Joe

Try and can get a tour and taste of Frog's Leap. Our B&B host arranged it. There is (was?) no public tours and tastings. Great people, great wine, great story.

2Dee

somebody asking again?