C3 CPL-TOGETHER 653

unstructured aernoon. Browse bookstores, galleries and home shops. Sit on the inn’s porch. Take the highly advanced wellness treatment known as a nap.

Dinner can be casual. Revisit a favorite restaurant or choose a simple meal near Main Street. Napa’s grand tasting menus attract deserved attention, but a relaxed dinner aer a day outdoors can be equally satisfying. Good bread, a composed salad and roast chicken do not require an orchestral introduction. Day Six: Into the Caves

Hot air balloons over Napa

Aer breakfast, check out of Inn St. Helena and drive north to Calistoga. Drop the luggage at e Francis House before meeting the private driver for the nal major tasting day. e Francis House occupies a restored stone estate with French Second Empire architecture and only eight guest rooms. Contemporary French interiors, a heated pool, tennis court, re pit, infrared sauna and salt room create the intimacy of a private residence with the service of a small luxury hotel. Each morning includes a chef-prepared breakfast using local, seasonal ingredients. e day’s rst appointment is Schramsberg Vineyards, reached by a road that climbs away from the valley oor. Schramsberg oers appointment-only tours through its historic caves, followed by tastings of sparkling and still wines. Choose the Cave Tour with Reserve Wine and Cheese Pairing. e tour enters cool, shadowed passages lined with bottles, while the guide explains traditional sparkling-wine production and the patient process of aging, riddling and disgorging. e tasting includes six wines with artisan cheeses, meat, fruit and nuts. Schramsberg asks guests to avoid perfume, cologne and heavily scented products on tasting days. is is practical advice throughout Napa. A wine’s aroma has enough work to do without competing against a cloud of department-store sandalwood. e aernoon belongs to Chateau Montelena, where a stone château rises above redwoods and Jade Lake. e winery’s 1973 Chardonnay won the white- wine portion of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, while Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars took the top red-wine score. Visiting both estates turns a famous chapter of American wine history into a physical route through the valley.

Reserve the Montelena Estate Collection, which begins with Napa Valley Chardonnay and continues with a comparative tasting continued

Coastal Pearl Living - TOGETHER 17

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