NAPA TRAVEL GUIDE
Traveling to the world famous Napa Valley? Let us give you some insider tips for your trip planning.
Find our sample 4-Day Sample Itineraries at the bottom.
Make sure to reach out for a winemaker led tasting Mon/Tue/Thurs/Fri at Feast it Forward. Email info@oliviabrion.com for weekend dates. Alternatively you can enjoy a glass or a bottle on one of the many patios during all opening hours Mon-Sun (closed Wed.)
PLEASE NOTE RESERVATIONS ARE RECOMMENDED AT ALL WINERIES AND RESTAURANTS AT THIS TIME. I know in many years past it was typical to stop into a tasting room. I would simply avoid this now given any changes to covid restrictions.
Where to stay:
I’m a big fan of AirBnb. I need a good yard and multiple bedrooms for my family of 4 or friends. But if I was just traveling with my husband, I would stay at a hotel or Inn.
*Full disclosure - I have only stayed at Indian Springs in Calistoga. But when I’ve been to visit the other Inns and Hotels while living here, I’ve found them lovely and this is where I would send friends and family.
Downtown Napa
Bed & Breakfast: Inn on Randolph
Hotel: Either the Westin Versa or the Napa River Inn
Yountville: Yountville Hotel
Calistoga: Indian Springs
Sonoma/Carneros
Bed & Breakfast/Inn - Carneros Inn
Hotel - Fairmont Mission Inn
Where to Eat?
I like to mix it up with fancy dinner and local favorites when I travel. This is where I would head if I had a few days in Napa Valley and where I go often with friends.
*The stars are restuarants that have or have had Olivia Brion wines.
Downtown Napa:
Zuzu / La Taberna *- Spanish - Zuzu is best for lunch and La Taberna is my favorite for dinner. Neither take many reservations, so show up early to walk-in. Enjoy the squid ink paella at Zuzu and the whole menu at La Taberna. La Taberna has small bites I like to try everything because it’s always rotating and delicious.
Morimoto’s *- Japanese - this is staple Japanese restaurant and the Omasake menu does wow. But the menu doesn’t change, so don’t expect seasonal updates.
Hal Yamashita - Japanese - this is a smaller more intimate Japanese restaurant with a rotating menu and some of the best nigiri I’ve ever had.
Oenotri* - Italian - come for their seasonal pastas and pizzas, stay for their wonderful Italian wine selection and fresh green and cheese salad. I can’t tell why it’s so addicting.
Compline - Californian - Duck fat fries and champagne, can’t get a better food pairing. Their foreign wine selection is top notch and I love their duck breast.
Cole’s Chop House - traditional steak excellence.
Oxbow Market / Gott’s Roadside - this is a great stop for a quick lunch with lots of take-out options for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And I do recommend the Gott’s here rather than the one in St. Helena as you can order ahead and almost always get a table in the shade outside.
Las Palmas - Mexican - This was started by a former chef of Bistro Jeanty and the place where David and I gravitate often. Their mole sauce is lovely as is their side menus featuring global cuisine. I get a frozen mango margherita and sit on their patio.
Yountville:
Bistro Don Giovanni* - Italian - This is a Napa Valley institution and a must go. The fried olives are off menu and make a phenomenal appertif. All their food is delicious and has good portion sizes.
Bistro Jeanty* - French - Just the perfect French restaurant top to bottom. Their tables and their patio and their beef borgogne are all splendid.
Ad Hoc* - Californian Price fix set menu - if you want to just sit down and eat like I do, this is the place for you. You don’t get many choices, just some add ons each night. But their three course dinner is always divine.
La Calenda - Mexican - Thomas Keller started this restaurant based on what his staff cooked. They nailed high end Mexican cuisine. The cebiche and queso and mole enchilladas are all fantastic.
Bouchon* - French - another Thomas Keller standby - fantastic for lunch. I love sitting on their patio and enjoying their specials. I had a fantastic lobster sausage there that I never could have dreamed up.
Mustards Grill* - Californian - another Napa Institution. Expect traditionally dressed wait staff and a polish on the details.
St. Helena:
Cook - Italian - not open weekends currently, but lovely tiny place with yummy salads and pasta.
Calistoga:
Lovina - I think this is the best homemade but upscale feeling Italian restuarant in the valley, but shhh, please don’t tell our places in South Napa.
Sam’s Social Club - Go for the grand restaurant feel and stay on the grounds at Indian Springs.
Buster’s Original Southern BBQ - great grab and go BBQ but get ready for a nap after that steak sandwich.
Sonoma/Carneros:
Other Wineries to Visit - RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED EVERYWHERE
Should Olivia Brion top your list? Absolutely. We are still one of the only wineries I know that always has it’s winemakers lead the tasting. David and I love talking about Napa Valley, wine pairings and wine history. We want you to enjoy wine more, not just our wine. This is simply because, well, we love wine. So we’re sharing that love here with some of the other experiences we’ve enjoyed. They may be less personal in that it won’t be the winemaker that leads your tasting; but that can be nice too.
Downtown Napa
Feast it Forward - This is our home tasting room but also home to several impressive vitners in the Napa Valley. Enjoy up 60 wines by the glass or bottle on the porch! - ideally not all at once.
Benevolent Neglect - Friends of ours making some nice Rhones and Cab.
Brown Estate - Delicious range of wines from Napa’s first Black owned winery, great Zin.
Mayacamas Vineyard - Wines with deep roots in Napa, beautiful Chard.
Stag’s Leap
Robert Sinskey - Pinot Noirs - I love all their wines and I would be lying I didn’t give credit to their Abraxas white blend inspiring Taquine. Their lunch pairing is a luxurious and leisurely experience.
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars - Cabernet - I do appreciate the Judgement of Paris history here. And the gorgeous renovated tasting room is worth a visit.
Chimney Rock - Cabernet - beautiful elegant Cab made by the lovely Elizabeth Vianna.
Rutherford
Quintessa - Cabernet - I adore this biodynamically farmed winery so much. I worked here in 2013 and it will always have a special place in my heart. A vineyard tour and tasting would be a dream experience.
Turnbull - Cabernet - The photography exhibits here are wonderful, their wine is delicious and they always have a golden retriever around to great you. Pre-pandemic this was David and my favorite place to walk around with a glass in hand.
St. Helena
Palladian Estate - Come visit to enjoy Olivia Brion and the Cabernet David makes at Palladian Winery.
Failla - Pinot Noir - Ehren Jordan is a visionary for Pinot and makes wonderful wines with a home-like tasting room. I recommend the barrel room tasting experience.
Newton - Cabernet & Chardonnay - This spring mountain estate is literally a slice of heaven. They used to buy the Chardonnay grapes form our Wild Horse ranch years ago to make their Unfilted Chardonnay.
Calistoga
Tedeschi Winery - Italian Varietals and Cab - This is a small family estate that has been around since the early 1900s. Emil Tedeschi made the wine like an old Italian gentleman - lots and lots of barrel age. His sons have mostly taken up the operations at this point but you can still catch Emil from time to time and his pet peacock, Eddie.
Picayune Tasting Room - Woman Owned/Woman Winemaker - I haven’t had her wines recenlty but I’ve heard great things and that her gallery experience is very engaging.
Charles Krug - I love the new tasting room with views of the barrels - so grand and elegant. And their winemaker, Stacey, is just a wonderful person and exteremely talented. I buy their 5th generation blend to enjoy at home.
SAMPLE 4-DAY ITINERARY (NAPA BASECAMP - wine & food focused)
Stay at an AirBnb or VRBO in Downtown Napa
Day 1: Silverado Trail
Morning - Coffee & Pastry at Monday Bakery
Tasting: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Lunch: Robert Sinskey Tasting & Lunch
Tasting: Quintessa
Dinner: Bistro Don Giovanni
Day 2: Hwy 29
Morning - Coffee & Bagel at Winston’s
Tasting - Turnbull
Lunch - Cook St. Helena
Tasting - Newton
Dinner - Mustard’s Grill
Day 3: Atlas Peak
Morning - Larger brunch at The General Store
Tasting - Krupp Brothers
Tasting - Antinori
Dinner - Private Chef Tasting Experience with winemaker Kira Ballotta, Chef Chez Brook (private chef to celebrities and Napa VIPs) and wines from Olivia Brion and Cantadora (arrange with Kira info@oliviabrion.com)
Day 4: Downtown Napa
Morning - Oxbow
Tasting - Winemaker Led Tasting with Kira at Feast it Forward!
Snack - The Dutch Door
Tasting - Brown Estate
Dinner - Morimoto’s Omasake Tasting
Sample 4-Day Itinerary (calistoaga base camp - more spa focused)
Stay - Indian Springs Resort - this is my escape destination. They have beautiful hot springs and a spa and elegant rooms. You can get good rates in the off season.
Day 1: Calistoga
Morning - Small brunch at Sam’s Social Club
Tasting - Tedeschi Winery
Lunch - share a sandwich at Buster’s BBQ
Tasting - Charles Krug
Dinner - Lovina
Day 2: St. Helena / Rutherford
Morning - breakfast in Calistoga at Cafe Sarafornia
Tasting - Vineyard experience at Quintessa
Lunch - Rutherford Grill
Tasting - Turnbull - share a tasting and enjoy the art
Dinner - Charter Oak
Day 3: South Napa / Stag’s Leap
Morning - coffee by the pool
Tasting - Failla
Tasting - Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Lunch - Bistro Don Giovanni
Tasting - Winemaker Led Tasting with Kira at Feast it Forward!
Dinner - La Taberna
Day 4: Spa Day
I’d take it easy and enjoy the pool, a spa treatment and perhaps walk into town for a tasting at Picayune then dinner at Sam’s Social Club or perhaps Auberge or the Restaurant at Meadowood if you’re the very fancy kind.