Unique & memorable Napa experiences (wine, dine, hike, golf) suggestions for October?

It’s been seven long years since our last Napa trip, but that drought is only a few weeks away from ending (!). I am a notorious over-planner, though for this trip I made two changes:

1. kept a few unscheduled times for opportunistic experiences, and
2. limited winery visits to two per day.

The first change is largely to appease my wife (“it’s OK to have down-time on vacation”). The second change is simply that three (or more) tastings in a day is a lot to absorb, especially over a week.

All this background to set up an ask for suggestions to fill those “opportunistic” schedule openings (the good news is that my wife doesn’t read these boards). Perhaps an off-the-radar winery visit? A surprisingly excellent dining experience? A memorable half-day excursion beyond Napa & Sonoma?

As for our trip we have visits scheduled with Bella Oaks, Bevan, Black Sears, Del Dotto, Dunn, Heitz, Kinsman, Mending Wall, Theorem, Vice Versa, and William & Mary. We also have two “let’s connect when you arrive” potential visits with vintners that will be amazing, but I don’t want to name them yet.

Our dinners are Charter Oak, Farmhouse, Hazel Hill, Long Meadow Ranch, and Singethread. I am also squeezing in a golf round with a buddy at Napa Valley CC, and looking for 1-2 other rounds, ideally at Mayacama or Santa Rosa, but also open to other suggestions (and happy to meet up if you’re looking for a round on 10/7 or 10/8).

Anyway, as my kids would say TMI, but I genuinely welcome ideas to add to this eclectic list. And I will endeavor to report out on the wine tastings.

You’ve already got 11+ winery visits and a golf round planned, over a week? To be honest, what else are you looking for? That’s a very full week. Not sure how you’re gonna fit in anything else.

One suggestion is Hudson, if you want to taste the source of some of the best Chardonnay grapes around.

We are also going to be in Napa then and are also going to Charter Oak (10/5 i think)! As far as unique wine related experiences, the wine list at Press is pretty amazing (and priced accordingly), nonetheless we plan to go to experience a bottle of really old Napa Cab. Pretty much impossible to find some those bottles elsewhere.

We have also really enjoyed our visits at Goosecross Cellars, not exactly off the radar, but a really chill winery, and they have affordable overperforming white wines, nice during a cab-heavy week.

You have a full schedule but I will throw out a bunch of stuff that I enjoy out here and you can pick and choose. Most are for Sonoma and beyond but some for Napa.

For hiking, Skyline in Napa is good, been there a couple times and it’s a good workout. Bothe in St Helena is also supposed to be good but haven’t been. Mount St Helena is also a possibility but know that much of it is a fire road and pretty boring though the view at the top is great. My favorite hike is Shiloh Regional Park on the Santa Rosa - Windsor border. Great work out beautiful views and trails. Foothill Regional Park in Windsor is also very good hiking.

For golf, Mayacamas is private so you need a connection. Windsor Golf Club won’t make you forget Augusta but it is a solid course in good condition and has been a PGA qualifier.

Your dining list is solid, can vouch for Farmstead and Charter Oak, essentially next to each other. For a quick bite don’t forget Taylors in St Helena.

For wineries, in Napa Valley I would add Frogs Leap. Beautiful wines at sensible prices. Also a lovely property and a great place to taste.
For Sonoma County, I will suggest something totally different. As you will be in Healdsburg area (Single Thread, Farmhouse) instead of the usual Pinot and Chardonnay, go Italian. Visit Idlewild, Ryme and Unti. Virtually all Italian varieties grown in California, beautiful wines and you will get an education on Italian wine varieties. Full disclosure, my son is the Manager at Idlewild but I have enjoyed the wines long before he started there.
Dry Creek Valley, just outside Healdsburg is home to Zinfandel. A producer that flies under the radar but is excellent is Talty. All the wineries I mention above you need reservations, not many walk ins anymore.

For day trips, my first suggestion would be the Sonoma Coast. If you haven’t been it is spectacular. My route would be take River road straight out passing through a few towns all the way to Rt 1 and Goat Rock, explore Goat Rock Park and then drive down the coast stopping at some of the many overlooks, Schoolhouse is our favorite, to Bodega Bay where you can enjoy fried fish, chowder etc at Spuds Point or Fishatarien. Finish at Bodega Head which is pretty spectacular.

My other day trip would be explore Anderson Valley. Pinot is king there but also other varieties. Depending on the day see what is open. If you start at Boonville and use Navarro as your finish there are a lot of winery possibilities, including Navarro. Anderson Valley Brewing is a good diversion from wine and Handy Woods State Park is awesome for Redwoods. Again Reservations at Wineries required.

I could go on forever but most of all enjoy wherever you go and report back.

One last thing, not sure where you are coming from but bring MASKS. Unlike other areas, you won’t get in the door anywhere without one. Also bring your vaccination card. More and more places are requiring them. Like it or not I can honestly say people are careful out here.

Tom

+1 on Frog’s Leap! Deeply classic wines at deeply classic prices.

Ancien, right outside of Napa has wonderful wines at sensible prices. Right outside, as in about five minutes, but in the country. Recommend very highly.

I haven’t been to Mayacamas Vineyard since the sale, but it’s worth the trip if only for the route and the setting.

Dan Kravitz

Dinner and/or a sunset glass on the patio at Auberge du Soleil.

If you can get into Mayacama to play golf, I would eagerly jump at that opportunity.

It was a long time ago, and I can’t remember with who, but we had a hot air balloon ride. It meant getting up incredibly early, but it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Cool golf experience you can share with your wife. Hit 9 hole Northwood course in Monte Rio late afternoon twilight round. Beautiful Alister Mackenzie course in the redwoods. Bring a bottle of rose and a couple govino glasses. It only takes a couple hours, is super chill and you can share some Vino with her while you make your way through the redwoods. If she wants to try her hand at it that’s cool also. It’s a low cost high quality experience

I’m not sure how traffic will be for you during your visit, but given your packed schedule (which exhausts me just looking at it) budget enough time to deal with traffic on local roads. I can’t understand but it just seems to get worse and worse as time goes by.

+1 on the hot air balloon.

Very different experience than I had expected. Much more peaceful. And simply beautiful.

Thanks to all for many great suggestions! We have 8 days on the ground. As to the number of tastings, two sets of them are at the same time & place (Kinsman / Bella Oaks and William & Mary / Mending Wall). So sticking with my max two per day……unless one of the “call me when you get here” visits works out….fingers crossed.

Very glad to hear that everyone is taking COVID seriously - we’ll be masked up.

Great suggestions on hikes and some of the local golf courses. I look forward to reporting back - two weeks & counting!

I’ll second Skyline Park in Napa for hiking, or if you want a quick visit, you can just tour the native habitat garden near the parking lot. Of course if you have a mountain bike, Skyline is that much better!

I’ll second golf at Northwoods, and at Windsor (that long uphill par 3 is a beast).

If you like Rhone style wines, I highly recommend Progeny on Mt. Veeder. I also think seeing the caves at Schramsberg is a must. It will transport you to Champagne.

so what were the “call when you get there” visits?

And how did the trip turn out? What hikes did you get to do?

I went on the Meadowood web site. It seems they are up and running. Anybody been there recently?