re: Napa Trip Last Week - updated report on Wineries

You have lots of things on there that I did - including Auberge lunch after Chappellet and Jarvis morning Palmaz afternoon

You could hit up Oxbow market or somewhere Downtown Napa between Jarvis and Palmaz. Jarvis had almonds cheese and crackers nothing crazy.

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including Auberge lunch after Chappellet

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Can you speak to attire for men at Auberge for lunch?

It looks pretty nice and I did not book the bar/lounge that stated it was more casual. I did the main restaurant with the 3-course lunch option. We have no issue dressing however -- we just also want to be comfortable at the wineries before/after. Just so happens this lunch follows a 4x4 tour

We do have a car, so we can change shoes or whatever as needed.

Thanks. He's not the type to be in shorts anyway for this, but men don't seem to have the range of acceptability we women do so I wasn't sure if jeans or lightweight nice pants and a button down would be okay or if they'd shoo us out.

Looking at Yelp pics, I think we will be more than fine.

Looks like a great week in Napa. Congrats on TFL. One of my all time favorite meals, but you pay for it. As far as wine at TFL, their corkage fee is $200/bottle, but if you have a special bottle, it might be worth it. We brought 2 bottles of 2005 Chateau Palmer (my namesake) and, at the time, it was listed on their wine list at $2,600/bottle. So, they charged me $400 (for my wine), but I saved almost $4,800 on wine (of course, I had already paid for my own wine). 2 of our adult children were with us, so this made the meal very special.

Chappellet is a great family winery and has a beautiful tasting room.

You will be near Auberge, so that is a great lunch spot. You can sit on the veranda and the views are great. Also near Quintessa, so good choice.

Quintessa is probably the first premier winery that we visited over 15 years ago and is still one of our favorite. The views on their property are amazing.

Opus One is elegant and has a Ritz Carleton feel. Their wine is amazing. Make sure to try their Overture. It is made from several different years and tastes great. Also, cost is about 1/3 of their main Opus One wine.

Oakville Grocery would be a great lunch spot before or after Opus, and it is nearby and close to Far Niente. It is very casual outdoor seating. Great wood fired pizza and sandwiches. Similar to a New Orleans style sandwich shop. Brix is is a little heavier food and is similar to a nice Bennigans (if you remember that chain). We do like Mustards, but normally for a casual dinner and not lunch. It is probably a little filling for a lunch spot (that's just me).

I haven't eaten at Ciccio, so I can't comment on that restaurant.

You will love Jarvis.

If you want to go lighter and more casual, you aren't far from the town of Napa after Jarvis and you could go to Oxbow Market for a light lunch. Also, burgers at Gott's (near Oxbow Market or on Napa Valley Highway near St. Helena) is always a good quick lunch spot.

And lastly, on Sunday, you will really enjoy Palmaz. We just had a private tasting at a friend's house in Dallas last weekend and our host was Jordan Gianelli. Hopefully, he will host your tasting. He is great and tell him that the "guy from Waco" said to tell him hi.

Bouchon is a great way to end your fabulous trip. Please make sure to post comments after you come back and let us know how fabulous it was. Hope you get to meet Thomas Keller. One of my friends was there last week and took a picture in the kitchen with him.

Cheers!

Thank you so much for all the information. Never been so excited for a California trip! I’ll definitely report back.

Since you are going to spend so much at TFL on the meal, I would encourage you to bring a bottle from Chappellet Pritchard Hill and pay $300 at the winery and a $200 corkerage fee and save almost $500 because TFL will charge you $990 for that same bottle. If you like wine and want to save money, this is how you do it. You could also buy a bottle of Opus One while you are the vineyard (probably $350 - $400) and save more money. Even a bottle of Quintessa (which is not on the TFL wine list) would be a good choice. I may sound cheap, but just trying to save you some money on an already expensive meal. I do love wine. Cheers!

Understood. Have fun and cheers. You can also ask for a food and wine pairing which some of my friends have done. It might add $300 - $500 per person, but the wine will be paired with the food and will be spot on. Sorry for so much advice. I just want to make sure that you know all of your options. As my wife would say, you are probably tired of my advice. Have fun. I am excited for you.

Well. We did it right. Lots of pics. Will update when back at the computer.

We purchased/wine clubbed from all 6 wineries, so my wallet hates me. But so worth it.

Great trip. Napa Valley Lodge was the ideal location to ensure we could drink at dinners and not fuss with Uber/Lyft.



I did drive each day to wineries, which I was nervous about, but it ended up being totally fine with the way the schedule fell. On only one day did I actually need to drive to both wineries + lunch. The second day, we had so much time left after lunch that we rested at the hotel and Ubered to the next winery. On the other two days, we only did 1 winery each day.

Wineries:

Chappellet - What a drive! Holy crap. I was holding my breath there for a good bit of the drive up. Thankfully a worker noticed us coming and had the massive cement truck coming down the hill pull over before we got there. Phew. Really cool property. We did the 4x4 tour, and it was awesome getting that view. I also liked how much they left you alone once you got to the tasting part.





Quintessa - Beautiful. Wines were incredible, and the room we did the tasting in was quite nice. This is the one and only day I was tipsy at a winery, so my memory here is the least of them all. But it was a great time.





Far Niente - The guide here is someone we vibed with VERY well. They couldn't have matched us with a better personality, which can really make your experience 10x better. I love Far Niente wines, and the property is definitely the most beautiful. The head gardener has been there 41 years, and I don't blame him! He has his work cut out for him at this point.

Oh, and the car collection was fun to see just because we like cars. This was one of the two wineries we visited who can't ship to Louisiana, but we got it taken care of.













Opus One - The only other winery we visited who can't ship to Louisiana. Since we only purchased 3 bottles here, we just took it with us in our suitcases. The property isn't as picturesque being off the main drag like that, but the building is extremely cool. I was shocked to learn it is from 1991. Their storage methods are super cool looking. I have had a few Opus One wines before, but this was such a great time. We ended up bringing home a vertical of several vintages.

Enjoyed that their food was chef prepared and unique as well.







Jarvis - Admittedly, I was a bit not into it in the first half. This is the only winery we went to where, even at the $200 or whatever it is per person price point, you're in a group tour. Two in our group spoke no English, one spoke very little, and they were all there with a translator who is also a member of the winery's club. They talked THE ENTIRE TIME amongst themselves which carried throughout the whole cave. I have no idea what most of was said by the guide, which is fine, but was frustrating.

I also just kinda found the property a bit corny and Medieval Times-esq. However, I will say it turned around quite a bit when we finally sat down for the tasting. The guide was another one who was born and raised in Napa (super young!) and he was filled with knowledge, which was awesome.

(Side note: It was at this winery that it became clear a lot of these places are just the result of people with more money than they know what to do with, and a passion for wine. Love it.)





Palmaz - Finally, the last stop. This was originally slated for Saturday afternoon, with Sunday being a full relaxation day, but once we got into The French Laundry for Saturday evening, we moved it to Sunday afternoon. We were really not feeling driving another 25 minutes out to a tour, but this was well worth it. The views from the top are incredible, and our guide was super awesome geeked out on wine.

I like that the tour was long enough, but not dragged out, and the tasting was incredible. AND THE TECHNOLOGY. Very awesome how high tech they are in there. I also appreciated another place where the food part of the tasting was chef prepared foods versus cheese and dried fruit.





We also had some wine at the Hestan tasting room in town, mostly because we had time to kill and I like their cookware.

Great trip, commentary and photos. Glad you had fun. No information on TFL though. Thoughts on it?