napa valley for new years

There's one or two good restraurants in that area

I'll give you the must do's from my trip this summer.

- breweries: if you like beer make he drive to Russian River brewing in Santa Rosa or Bear Republic in Healdburg. Both awesome breweries in cool towns. You could make a day out of it between the drive, the town, and the brewery

- vineyards: we did a few, none were earth shattering relative to others. Just pick a few that have wines you like and good reviews. We did mondavi, domaine carneros, and a few others.

- epicurean excursions: this was a food tour w a local guy who has worked in the area for over 30 years. Very cool guy and this was one of or FAVORITE things of the week. I am 31 and don't like boring stuff and I loved it. Highlights are Model bakery, local olive oil tasting (way cooler than it sounds), Oakville grocery visit w/ beer and cheese pairing, lunch at Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch (even if you decide not to do the tour, this is a can't miss meal), local chocolatier visit, visit to local distiller, and finally a private tour of the Hill family garden w/ a wine tasting, which is used by Thomas Keller's the French Laundry and Ad Hoc. Very cool
Epicurean Excursions

- Hot air balloons w/ Napa Valley Aloft. Very enjoyable if you have never done it

Yountville: spend a day in Yountville! It's a great town north of Napa and you can easily fill a day there. Insane restaurants, shops, bike rides around vineyards, spas, etc. also you can go to Hill Family wine store and do a tasting (the guy who gave us the garden tour was working at the store when we went, if you do the epicurean excursions tour you get a free tasting at Hill family Cellars). We did one of the spas (my first spa day) and I thought it was awesome.

Then we drove down to San Fran and did the redwoods and a day in San Fran. I will skip that next time, I have never been a huge fan of that city. Dirty, crowded, etc.

Can't miss restaurants IMO

Model Bakery: Napa (English muffins taste like glazed donuts)
Willi's Seafood Raw Bar: Healdsburg
Mustard's Grill: Napa
Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch: Saint Helena
Redd: Yountville
R+D: Yountville
French Laundry, Ad Hoc: Thomas Keller places in Yountville
Bouchon: Yountville
Celadon: Napa
And tons more obviously. These were our favorites. This was our first trip there and we fully intend on going back. Awesome trip.

thanks for the great info!

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steakbombLSU

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5:16 am

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Did you stay up all night typing that out?


Some good info, btw. I have a few new places to try next month.