Our JOURNEYS

California


Napa & Sonoma

There are few places in the world like Napa and Sonoma. A unique microcosm of soils, climates, and geographies paired with their singular pursuit, the love of wine and good food, make it so compelling.

Just half a century ago, Napa emerged from a once-sleepy farming community to become a global leader in fine wine. The slim valley itself is only 30 miles long, and 5 miles across at its widest point and has some of the most diverse soils in the world. To the west, hugging the Pacific Coast, the larger, cooler sister county of Sonoma has remarkably diverse terrain that produces some of the most stellar Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in North America. Influenced Ruled by the fog and microclimates, it is a breath of fresh air to Napa’s robust, structured wines.

Yet Napa is more than wine. Locals adore the open-air farmers markets exploding with seasonal produce. Quaint mom-and-pop boutiques, food artisans, and charming local bistros are a way of life. With the sheer amount of wineries and options, though, tapping into Napa’s authenticity does require quite a lot of wine knowledge and a local point of view to astutely navigate.

Enter the Napa Capsule Journey ,. This is a distillation of three perfect days in Napa that dial into its terroir. A flexible itinerary where you choose to manage your lodging options and we take care of your excursions, it’s neither the beginning nor the end on Napa. It’s simply a beautiful overture. You can do it over a weekend or mid-week when you have the valley to yourself. We curate Napa’s essence down to a mixture of wine and food, high and low, rustic and chic, mom-and-pop and blue chip, sophisticated and undiscovered, old school and new school. It’s paced to be just right and most importantly, gives you the time to appreciate and savor and get to know each place’s soul, people, and yes, usually wine, too.

Ingredients

The Mediterranean Life
Napa & Sonoma, California

California is the Mediterranean in North America. It’s an intoxicating mixture of sunshine, hot days and cool nights, splendidly dry climate, the sea always nearby, vineyards, a bounty of seasonal produce from figs to pomegranates, and the laidback lifestyle, which channels the culture. From the yellow tinged mustard fields in the spring after a rainy winter to the lavender in the early days of the dry summer, it’s a blissful climate full of scents and beauty.

A Singular Pursuit: Wine
Napa & Sonoma, California
In Napa, Cabernet is king with such depth and diversity that can only be compared to its Old World cousin, Bordeaux. Wines vary in style from the warm valley floor AVA such as Oakville or Rutherford to more structured versions come from mountain appellations like Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain, Diamond Mountain and Howell Mountain, or the coveted “mid-slope”, like Pritchard Hill, where slope, exposure and elevation differences result in a very dramatically different wine profile. It’s not all Cabernet, though. There’s Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and even outstanding whites like Chardonnay and sparklers further south in foggy Carneros.
Farm Fresh Flavors
Napa & Sonoma, California
Oh, the glorious food! Grapes, garden, and the table are the way of life in Napa and Sonoma and truly are part of the slow-food way of life we all yearn for. Here it’s possible to dine at a renowned chef’s table, go on a market romp, walk in a magical (edible) garden, geek out with an artisan cheese maker and her goats in Sonoma, stop to taste local produced olive oil or just-plucked-from-the-Pacific oysters, and even get a cooking class (or two) under your belt to take the California way of cooking (fresh, fresh, fresh) home with you.

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Things We Love

A Sunrise Meditation: Sunrise is a magical time in Napa and is best appreciated from above with a hot air balloon ride. As the engines fire up before the dawn, those brave aviators that rise above the whispers of the cloud are treated to a golden light embracing the Mayacamas and Vaca mountain ranges with a sea of vines below. Floating silently only with the air currents, it’s a graceful, peaceful way to take in the beauty and majesty of this area.

Sonoma Seduction: Much of Sonoma is still a rural place. Here, curvy back roads are dotted with farms selling their own cheeses and pick-it-from-the-ground fresh produce. General stores and provision stops are a way of life. Charming villages seem frozen in time where you can stop to ‘antique’ and find local treasures. Like in Burgundy, it’s a landscape full of rolling verdant hills made by mostly small producers growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines that are shrouded nearly every morning by the cool fog that rushes in from the Pacific. The result? Complete, utter seduction.

The Great Pacific: Part of California’s allure and wild nature is the Pacific, a quiet giant marking the western limits of the North American continent. In Napa & Sonoma, there’s no place more stunning than to drive from the crab capital of fishing village Bodega Bay up Highway 1 hugging the coast to Jenner, where the Russian River opens into the sea and sea lions frolic in the waves. At Goat Rock, it’s the perfect picnic spot. Continue north up the craggy coastline towards Timber Cove and Sea Ranch where you can spot whales off the coast and some of the best cold climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the country where pioneering vintners blazed a trail. Inspiring? It feels like the edge of the world—it kind of is!

 

How It Works

Each itinerary is fully customized to your dates, group, and interest. Please contact us to further discuss options. You can also click the ‘Make it Happen’ button to the right of this page to get in touch.

Searching for flavors; the honest
and the meaningful

Hotels

From our Journal

A Local’s Guide to Visiting Napa

  Nestled in Northern California an hour north of San Francisco, the Napa Valley is renowned worldwide for its exceptional wines and picturesque landscapes. Spanning approximately 30 miles long and 5 miles wide, this verdant region boasts over 400 wineries. The Mediterranean climate and diverse soils create ideal conditions for growing premium wine grapes, particularly […]

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In Search of Flavor, Episode 23: Trailblazing a Path in Biodynamic Viticulture from Chile to California

  In today’s episode, meet Rodrigo Soto, a Chilean winemaker who backed into wine, and organic and biodynamic viticulture, almost by mistake. However his slightly rebellious nature and love for the outdoors carved a path that took him from Chile to California and back multiple times. Rodrigo has spearheaded the winemaking initiative at pioneering wineries […]

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Bubbles & Bites

  I love bubbly. Any kind. Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Sparkling wines from California, Argentina, Chile, etc. etc. If you asked me what would be my preferred wine to pair with food for the rest of my life it would be (good) bubbly. What never bores me with bubbly, when it’s well done, is its mouthwatering, […]

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