Yountville: Hotel Yountville; hotel review + restaurant review

Wine Country

Hotel Yountville  

6462 Washington St./California Dr., (707) 967-7900.  80 rooms.  All gas fireplaces.  Pool; hot tub; fitness club pass; full-service spa.  Restaurant; room service.  No pets. 

Set on 6 acres of heritage oaks and vintage olive groves at the south end of town, the contemporary-style Hotel Yountville has a large lobby lounge furnished in sleek grey, silver, and black and featuring a rustic whitewashed beam ceiling.  The guest-room buildings have exterior walls covered in Napa river rocks and hug Hopper Creek.  Foot bridges and paved walking paths invite strolling.  Guest room decor is similar throughout.  Some rooms have vaulted wood-beam ceilings, and all but two have either a patio or balcony or some outdoor space.  Some rooms have a rectangular Jacuzzi tub, and some have a Roman-style tub in the living room.  Beds are made beautifully with fine Italian Bellora linens.  A pull-out-the-stops Presidential Suite is also available.  Though basically a couples retreat, families are welcome.  The spa is guest exclusive, and complimentary access to a nearby full-service health club is provided.  Yountville’s Veterans Memorial Park is just across the street, with sand volley ball and bocce ball courts; balls can be borrowed free from the hotel.  A complimentary house car is available to take guests around town and into Napa, including in the evening, and bike rentals are available. 

Hopper Creek Kitchen, the property’s restaurant, is not open to the public.  Known for its gourmet farm-fresh breakfasts, the restaurant also serves lunch and a pool-side menu is available.  It is closed for dinner.  The unenclosed Y Bar operates in a corner of the lobby daily from 4 p.m. to midnight; it opens to a large outdoor patio with fireplace and large fountain, where private wine pourings are sometimes held.  Fire pits and a full bar are adjacent to the posh pool area.


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image ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

Yountville: Yountville Art Walk; things to do

Wine Country

Yountville Art Walk 

Follow the Yountville Art Walk map to various art installations while taking detours to wine-tasting rooms, lunch spots, and shops.  My favorite among the art works is Rich Botto’s “Rock Mushrooms.”  Feeling competitive?  Perhaps the most difficult to find is Phillip Glashoff’s “Great Blue Heron.”
Map.

Rich Botto’s “Rock Mushrooms” seen on Yountville Art Walk
in Yountville, California

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image ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Yountville: Lavender; hotel review

Wine Country

Lavender  

2020 Webber Ave., (800) 522-4140, (707) 944-1388.  8 rooms.  All gas fireplaces.  Afternoon snack, full breakfast buffet; room service.  Pets ok.  

Set a block back from this tiny town’s main street, in a quiet leafy residential area, the French country-style Lavender inn operates within the updated bones of a late 1800s farmhouse.  Its wraparound porch is furnished with wicker chairs and a romantic green-painted swinging wood couch.  Guests drive into the off-street parking area through a reformatted barn that now also holds the inn’s various maintenance rooms, then walk down a brick garden lane to the reception desk just inside the converted house’s side door.  Housemade cookies are always available along with the makings for a hot drink, and a communal seating area with comfy stuffed couches and chairs and an oriental carpet is provided in a tiny parlor with gas fireplace.  The music of Edith Piaf sometimes sets the tone.  An included full buffet breakfast with eggs is served off the lobby and, weather permitting, in the garden, and a complimentary late afternoon tea time with breads, cheeses, and pastries is also scheduled (sometimes local wineries also come to pour).  Complimentary newspapers are available in the lobby, and evening turndown service includes a delectable Le Belge chocolate.  A boules court (French bocce ball) is located on the front lawn, and old-fashioned bicycles can be borrowed to explore the surrounding countryside.  Three rooms have a jetted tub on their patio, and in summer guests can use the pool at Maison Fleurie--a sister inn located just two blocks away.  Books and games are available to borrow from the front desk.  Six rooms are in three duplex one-level units, and two rooms are within the vintage house.  All rooms have similar rustic decor, with buttery walls and colorful striped bed covers, and the duplex units each have a private patio.  

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image ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers   

Yountville: Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley; things to do

Wine Country

Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley  

6711 Washington St./Pedroni St., N end of town, (707) 944-0889.  Sun-W 10-7, Thur-Sat 10-10.  

Built in 1890 as a brandy distillery, this structure has local fieldstone and river rock features and brick walls that are 22 inches thick.  Its storied past includes stints as a speakeasy, school, bordello, LSD factory, antique shop, and B&B.  Currently it is an art and design gallery and wine-tasting facility as well as a National Historic Site.  Visitors to Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley are greeted with a complimentary tasting of one vintage (we heard, “Let me get you a welcome splash.”) and are invited to browse the two-story gallery and lovely outdoor space dotted with century-old olive trees and contemporary sculpture.  Should you want to do more extensive wine tasting, a collection of more than 50 wines from the small wineries represented here is available to choose from—perhaps a bright Blackbird Vineyards Arriveste Rose or an earthy red Casa Piena Our Gang Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards that are “just over there.”  The staff is knowledgeable and hospitable, and you can purchase wines you like on site.

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image ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

Yountville: Cosentino Winery; things to do

Wine Country 

Cosentino Winery  

7415 St. Helena Hwy. (Hwy. 29), (707) 944-1220.  Tasting daily 10-5:30; no tour. 

Built in 1990, Cosentino Winery produced the country's first designated Meritage wine.  Referred to as The Poet, it is a marvelous blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.  In a barrel room tasting here (held daily at 10am, 12, 2pm, and 4), I learned about toasting French oak barrels and sampled a pricey 2009 Chardonnay from Bacigalupi Vineyard and a 2005 Cabernet from the Secret Clone Vineyard (it is said the vines for the latter were smuggled in from Parma, Italy).  Bread sticks, cheese, and salami enhanced.



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image ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Yountville: Mustards Grill; restaurant review

Wine Country

Mustards Grill 

The best place to be seated at this popular, well-established bar and grill (it’s been here now for a quarter century) is in the front area with its multi-paned windows.  Tables at Mustards Grill are set with crisp white napery, and the atmosphere is casual and chic and the menu imaginative.  Selections include soups, salads, and sandwiches--the grilled ahi tuna with basil aioli and the burger are particularly tasty--as well as entrees such as barbecued baby back ribs, Mongolian pork chop with sweet & sour red cabbage, and grilled hanger steak.  Fresh fish specials are also available.  Onion rings are thin, light, and superb, and served with housemade ketchup.  Varietal wines are available by the glass, and rich desserts and specialty coffees invite lingering.







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image ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

Yountville: Goosecross winery; things to do

Wine Country

Goosecross

1119 State Lane, (800) 276-9210, (707) 944-1986.  Tasting daily 10-4:30.  Tours by appt.; M-F at 11 & 2. 

Located off a valley cross street, back among the vineyards, the friendly Goosecross tasting room is situated in a cozy barrel cellar.  The winery is very small, has no distribution, and only sells its wines here.  A tasting might include a crisp and fruity Pinot Gris, a smooth Merlot with a toasty oak finish, and perhaps a heavier Syrah with cherry, pepper, and black licorice flavors.  The video below demonstrates an orbital wine decanter. 

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video ©2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers  

Yountville: Villagio Inn & Spa; hotel review

Wine Country

Villagio Inn & Spa  

6481 Washington, (800) 351-1133, (707) 944-8877.  112 rooms.  All wood-burning fireplaces.  Afternoon tea; champagne breakfast; room service.  Pool, hot tub; full-service spa. 

A sister to nearby Vintage Inn, the serene Tuscan-style Villagio Inn & Spa is composed of 2-story building clusters.  It is well-located for walking to this town’s prime restaurants, and pathways lined with water features lead through lush gardens.  All guest rooms have private patios or balconies, oversize deep soaking tubs, and a complimentary welcome bottle of wine.  The lavish breakfast buffet includes champagne, delicious flaky pastries, and an omelette station.  Spa Villagio has separate male and female relaxation lounges, each with indoor and outdoor fireplaces, Swiss-style multi-spray showers, a steam room, a sauna, and an outdoor hydrotherapy soaking bath.  Five spa day suites provide privacy and a steam shower, wet bar, and flat-screen TV with Bose sound systems.



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image ©2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Yountville: Hurley’s Restaurant & Bar; restaurant review

Wine Country

Hurley’s Restaurant & Bar

6518 Washington St., (707) 944-2345.  L-D daily; $$-$$$.  Reservations advised. 

With a pleasant dining room dominated by a stone fireplace, Hurley’s Restaurant & Bar serves a seasonal menu and is known for its wild game dishes.  I recently enjoyed a tasty roasted-baby beet salad that was loaded with multi-colored beets and accented with arugula and spiced pecans.  My dinner entrée was a long-simmered braised wild boar (from Texas) with polenta and tiny, thin onion rings; other enticing options included crispy-skinned rosemary-and-maple roasted chicken with applewood-smoked bacon-potato puree, tamarind and chipotle-glazed buffalo short ribs, and roasted breast of pheasant and brussel sprout leaves.  For dessert, the ice cream sandwich is hard to beat, though the strawberry shortcake in summer and the warm gingerbread cake in winter just might do it.  At lunch, choose from a bargain $20 two-course prix fixe lunch, a burger, and more.  A gluten-free menu is available.  All this, and no corkage fee, too!  Wild Game Week is in November and the Dungeness Crab Festival occurs in December.



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image ©2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

Yountville: Bouchon Bakery; restaurant review

Wine Country

Bouchon Bakery 

6528 Washington St., (707) 944-2253. Daily 7-7.

This yummy spot bakes baguettes twice daily. Pastries at Bouchon Bakery include croissants, sticky buns, and a signature broiche twist drizzled with chocolate. Cookies are exceptional, especially the oatmeal-pecan. In fact, you can pick up the makings for a supreme picnic—heavenly sandwiches, a gooey-centered Valrhona chocolate cake, and cold drinks from the cooler.

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