For food lovers
Wine Country's defining tables, built around the chefs, farms, and cellars rather than checklists.
Design This TripFor the serious eater, anchor the trip on the three-star tables: The French Laundry in Yountville and SingleThread in Healdsburg, ideally on consecutive evenings.
Fill the days with the producers behind the plates, a seated flight at Ridge Lytton Springs, allocation-only Pinot at Williams Selyem if list access allows, and a casual lunch at Bouchon between tastings.
A wood-fired dinner at PRESS and a tasting-menu evening at Cyrus round out a route built entirely around chefs, farms, and cellars. We reserve every marquee table before you fly, because the best rooms fill months out.
What’s inside
A sample rhythm
The first three-star
An opening night at The French Laundry in Yountville.
The producers
A seated flight at Ridge, allocation Pinot at Williams Selyem, lunch at Bouchon.
The second three-star
The eleven-course harvest menu at SingleThread.
Fire and glass
A wood-fired dinner at PRESS, then a tasting menu at Cyrus.
The Napa & Sonomawe’d build in
Where to eat
Few places in America concentrate this much great cooking: two of the country's defining three-star tasting menus, a wine cathedral, and terraces that look out over the vines that fill the glass.
Yountville, Napa
Thomas Keller's flagship and one of America's most celebrated restaurants, serving a daily-changing multi-course French tasting menu sourced largely from its own gardens across the street.
Visit official siteHealdsburg, Sonoma
An eleven-course Japanese-influenced kaiseki-style tasting menu built entirely around the seasonal harvest from the restaurant's own five-acre farm.
Visit official siteGeyserville, Sonoma
Chef Douglas Keane's reborn fine-dining destination set in a modern glass-and-concrete pavilion among the vines, moving guests from Champagne and canapes to the dining room and a chocolate room.
Visit official siteSt. Helena, Napa
A wood-fired Napa Valley grill and steakhouse holding one of the world's largest collections of Napa wine, roughly 10,000 bottles, alongside a Wine Spectator Grand Award list.
Visit official siteYountville, Napa
Thomas Keller's lively Parisian-style bistro serving steak frites, roast chicken, oysters, and raw-bar plates in a buzzy room beside the renowned Bouchon Bakery.
Visit official siteRutherford, Napa
A Michelin-starred dining room and terrace with sweeping views across the Napa Valley floor, pairing seasonal Wine Country cuisine with one of the region's deepest cellars.
Visit official siteIn the cellar
The estates that built the region's reputation open by appointment alone, from a Bordeaux-style First Growth in Oakville to hand-dug sparkling caves in Calistoga. Book well ahead, especially at harvest.
Oakville, Napa
A meticulously restored 1885 estate and gravity-flow caves offering seated tastings of benchmark Napa Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, reservation only.
Visit official siteOakville, Napa
The landmark Bordeaux-style partnership winery producing a single flagship red, with reservation-only tastings released on the first of each month and limited to small parties.
Visit official siteCalistoga, Napa
A historic methode traditionnelle sparkling-wine producer offering by-appointment cave tours and tastings through hand-dug 19th-century tunnels, reservation only.
Visit official siteCarneros, Napa
A grand Taittinger-founded chateau overlooking the Carneros vineyards, serving sparkling wines and estate Pinot Noir by flight or bottle on its terrace, reservations required.
Visit official siteHealdsburg, Sonoma
A solar-powered straw-bale winery surrounded by century-old vines, offering appointment-based seated flights of single-vineyard Zinfandel and estate reds.
Visit official siteHealdsburg, Sonoma
The reference Russian River Valley Pinot Noir producer, with winery visits reserved for allocation list members by appointment only and a long waiting list to join.
Visit official siteWhere to stay
Wine Country keeps its great retreats tucked into the hills and the vines, from a Mediterranean hillside above Rutherford to oak-grove bungalows in Healdsburg, each a quiet world of its own.
Rutherford, Napa
A Mediterranean-style hillside retreat above the valley floor with a Michelin-starred restaurant, private maisons, and olive-grove terraces, long regarded as Napa's original luxury resort.
Visit official siteCalistoga, Napa
A Forbes Five-Star resort along the Silverado Trail with its own producing vineyard, 85 rooms and suites plus private villas, Spa Talisa, and the Elusa Winery on site.
Visit official siteHealdsburg, Sonoma
A 258-acre hideaway of 130 bungalow-style rooms set in rolling vineyards and oak groves, with Spa Montage, two pools, and the farm-to-table Hazel Hill restaurant.
Visit official siteSt. Helena, Napa
A serene members-and-guests estate tucked into a private wooded valley, offering croquet, tennis, a golf course, hiking trails, and refined accommodations away from the crowds.
Visit official siteHealdsburg, Sonoma
An intimate five-suite inn above the three-Michelin-star SingleThread restaurant, where stays are paired with farm-driven dining from chef Kyle Connaughton and farmer Katina Connaughton.
Visit official siteCalistoga, Napa
A laid-back, design-forward Calistoga resort built around the geothermal-fed Spa Solage Bathhouse, mud-bath traditions, studios, and the Solbar restaurant.
Visit official site
Food & Chef Experience
Share what you can already picture. A concierge fills in everything still open and sends back a plan, not a quote.
