Yountville

The Swanson Late Bloomers: A Late Harvest Wine Trend in Napa Valley

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wine

Swanson Winery Entrance

Napa Valley is an environment committed to preservation, populated with those who perfect the essence of multi-layered taste -- be it food, wine or both.

French Laundry and Bouchon are in Yountville, also known as nirvana for Thomas Keller pilgrims. Exceptional wineries are tucked away, often from highway view, in Rutherford, Saint Helena, Oakville, and Calistoga. Resorts are also hidden: The Inn at Carneros (up a side road, behind a garden wall), Calistoga Ranch (in a private canyon), Meadowood (at the end of Meadowood Lane and near the base of Howell Mountain) all removed from plain sight, all worthy of joyous discovery.

Those who retreat to Napa that often engage in wine tastings also discover trends. On a recent journey, I uncovered the emergence of late harvest wines that are becoming increasingly well-known and more appreciated than ever before. Swanson Vineyards makes three exceptional late harvest wines, and has evolved into one of the leaders in this field.

Tags: California, Calistoga Ranch, Dessert Wine, Inn At Carneros, Late Harvest Wine, Meadowood Napa Valley, Mission Grapes, Napa Valley, Napa Valley Wine Trends, Swanson Angelica Wine, Swanson Crepescule Late Harvest Wine, Swanson Late Harvest Wines, Swanson Tardif Late Harvest Wine, Swanson Winery, Wine Trends, Yountville

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The French Laundry Wins the Luxist Award for Best Domestic Restaurant

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Few fine restaurants boast a past as sordid as The French Laundry. Even so, the Yountville, Calif. eatery is consistently rated among the world's best, and is the Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice winner in the best fine domestic dining category.

In the late 1880s, the building that currently contains the three Michelin star French Laundry was a humble saloon. When a town ordinance mandated that no alcohol be served within two miles of Yountville, the building was converted first into a brothel, then to a French steam laundry by the 1920s. In 1974, the town's mayor bought the laundry and converted it into a restaurant; twenty years later it was purchased by current owner and chef Thomas Keller.

Gallery: The French Laundry

Tags: awards-main, best domestic restaurant, best restaurant, luxist-awards, michelin, michelin guide, michelin stars, Napa Valley, The French Laundry, thomas keller, winners-fine-dining, Yountville

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Ma(i)sonry in Napa Valley: Wine Tasting with an Artistic Twist

by Zack O'Malley Greenburg (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wine

Ma(i)sonry in Napa Valley for Wine Tasting

Walk through the door at Ma(i)sonry and you won't find the usual faux-Italian or French décor that typifies tasting rooms in Yountville, Calif. Instead, you'll discover a space haunted by gold-plated skulls, abstract sculpture and giant chrome contraptions that look like the ancestors of the modern spotlight.

A steam-punk aesthetic pervades the century-old stone house, converted in 2007 to a tasting room that doubles as an exhibition space. Various mammalian vertebrae and reclaimed metal sculptures hang from exposed beams and dot the wooden shelves, an ambiance that could be the brainchild of Georgia O'Keefe and Damien Hirst, had they lived together on a 19^th Century farm.

Gallery: Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley

All of this makes for a fascinating place to taste wines from the 14 small local producers whom Ma(i)sonry represents. Check in at the front desk and head upstairs to one of the quirky rooms in the back. Pass a stack of disembodied men's shirt collars under a specimen glass and ease yourself into a worn leather armchair. Before ordering your first glass of wine, drink up the trinkets: a wooden humidor with a Cuban flag carved in to the cover, a paper bird sculpture made from shavings of Dostoevsky's House of the Dead.

Ma(i)sonry's menu includes an array of both pre-selected and customizable flights from nearby wineries. On a rainy Wednesday, the Collector's Flight ($40) is a sampling of four wines highlighted by the 2004 Husic Vineyards Cabernet, chocolatey with hints of nutmeg and raspberry jam, and the 2006 Rivera Cabernet, tannic and tinted with a taste of blackberries and green tea. All are part of a run of 1,000 cases or less.

Have as many glasses as you like – Ma(i)sonry is a mere five-minute walk from a firmament of Michelin-spangled restaurants (Bistro Jeanty, Bouchon, Redd, and the French Laundry) as well as the posh eco-lodge Bardessono (which was nominated for a Luxist Award for Best Green Spa in March).

Tags: awards-main, bardessono, California, luxist-awards, Maisonry, Napa Valley, wine, wine tasting, wines, yountville

James Beard Award Winners 2010: Marea, Daniel, Craft and French Laundry

by Carrie N. Culpepper (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Events

It's no surprise that New York and Napa Valley restaurants dominated the top spots at Monday night's James Beard Awards held at Lincoln Center. Foodies of every stripe -- from Food Network stars to French Laundry chefs -- were in attendance at the black-tie event. A red carpet was even set up in the new courtyard outside Avery Fisher Hall so the truly food-obsessed could catch a glimpse of chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Lidia Bastianich and Alton Brown, the evenings co-hosts. (Pictured above is Brown, JBF president Susan Ungaro, Bastianich and Ted Allen arriving on the red carpet.)

The big awards of the evening went to New York's Marea for Best New Restaurant; Tom Colicchio of the Craft restaurants (and a regular "Top Chef" judge) won the Outstanding Chef Award; Daniel Boulud won the Outstanding Restaurant Award for Daniel, another New York restaurant; the Outstanding Pastry Chef award went to Nichole Plue of Redd in Napa Valley; and Timothy Hollingsworth of Napa's famous The French Laundry, won the Rising Star Chef of the Year Award.

Backstage, talk turned to to food trends -- something fine-dining chefs don't look kindly on -- and the seemingly omnipresent locavore movement. And we even found out where these top chefs are excited to eat.

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A Visit to The Bardessono in California's Wine Country

by Zack O'Malley Greenburg (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas

As with most resorts, the first thing you'll notice at Bardessono in Yountville, Calif., is the lobby. But this one's a bit different from the usual. Swaths of plants grow on strings running from the floor to the ceiling, nourished by nothing but the air. A sepia sculpture made from recycled newspaper hangs on a parallel wall. Those might be unusual touches at a normal hotel, but in the Napa Valley's premier eco-lodge, it's par for the course.

Founded in February of 2009, Bardessono, which was a Luxist Awards' nominee for best green spa in March, boasts the largest renewable power system of any hotel in North America. Over 900 photovoltaic panels convert the sun's energy into 260,000 kilowatt hours annually; unused output is sold back to the grid. The resort is heated and cooled by a network of 82 geothermal wells that stretch 300 feet below the grape vines out front. Motion sensors control lights and shades in each of the 62 rooms, ensuring that nearly nothing goes to waste. Along those lines, you won't find plastic bags in the hotel's wastepaper baskets, and filtered water is served in reusable glass jugs instead of bottles. Even the bathroom toiletries come in big, refillable bottles instead of the disposable (and easily pilfered) airline-safe containers.

Gallery: More from the Bardessono

Bardessono's dining room keeps with the resort's "deep green" mission statement. The delicious, heavily organic menu draws from local farms and fisheries; most of the wines hail from nearby vineyards as well. Like the guest rooms, which are free of the rugs, bedspreads and curtains deemed unnecessary by the green police, the dining room is somewhat spare. The only flourishes are a wispy, LED-lit chandelier and a magnificent long wood table made from a reclaimed tree trunk. A few paintings – or eco-friendly art installments – would be a welcome addition.

The resort's strongest point is its integrated spa services. Though there's a dedicated spa near the communal pool and hot tub, each guest room is designed to accommodate two massage tables and two masseurs. Call ahead to book a couple's massage and watch as your room is transformed into a miniature spa, complete with tea lights and soothing music piped in from Sirius Satellite Radio's unlikely spa channel. Bardessono's massage therapists will customize your treatment no matter how specific (they proved adept at soothing this writer's keyboard-addled wrists). When they're done, they'll leave you to luxuriate on the massage table as long as you like.

Bardessono guests don't have to worry about staying sober enough to drive – the resort is less than ten minutes by foot from fine restaurants including the French Laundry, the only establishment in the area to earn Michelin's coveted three star rating. Don't forget to check out one of the nearby tasting rooms, especially the new and funky Ma(i)sonry. Bardessono also offers a bike shop where guests can rent cycles for free.

As a Napa Valley connoisseur might say, Bardessono is a little young. Barely a year old, there are still trees that need to grow taller and walls that perhaps need more adornment. But the amenities and design elements are there – like a fine wine, Bardessono will only get better with age. In the meantime, guests can enjoy a fine spa and resort on a clean environmental conscience.

Tags: Bardessono, eco-friendly, hotels, luxist-awards, luxury hotels, napa valley, spa, spas, yountville

Top Ten Hotel Openings of 2009

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Hotels shutting their glass and filigree doors or going into some form of financial distress could have made more of this year's new than new openings; still, the quantity and quality of newly available suites to call your own felt just as stellar as in better years past. Sure, we didn't get the J line of hotels (yet), but we did get the Bardessono -- and 82 geothermal wells and hand-loomed Coyuchi linens are probably as good as anything Jay Z had to offer. Whittled to just ten, with the help of our friends over at TabletHotels.com, in no particular order here are Luxist's top openings of 2009...

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Celebrating Gascony At Bouchon

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Bouchon in Yountville, California has announced the latest installment of their innovative France tasting menu. The menu available now celebrates the classic dishes of the Gascony region. The three-course prix-fixe option is also available with special wine pairings. Situated in France's rural Southwest region, Gascony is home to such prized delicacies as Foie Gras and Armagnac. The menu includes seared foie gras and duck confit rillettes with caramelized pears, Swiss chard and chestnut puree; braised pork shank with red wine braised cabbage, pruneaux d'Agen, watercress leaves and young turnips with Armagnac-pork jus; and roasted apples with crispy phyllo and whipped crème fraiche.

Bouchon Yountville's Chef de Cuisine Philip Tessier created the concept and vision of the regional menus. Each pays homage to the most treasured dishes of the featured locality, showcasing traditional techniques and flavors. Bouchon Yountville is open daily for lunch and dinner from 11:30am until 12:30am. The Gascony regional menu will be available as a 3-course prix-fixe option for $60 per person and accompanying wine selections will be available for $35 per person. This menu is only available until October 25. For more information or to make a reservation, please call 707-944-8037.

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Tags: bouchon, food, french food, FrenchFood, gascony, thomas keller, ThomasKeller, yountville

New Green Luxury Hotel Opens Today

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Green

A four-acre family home and vineyard is being billed as "America's greenest hotel." The Bardessono, a 62-room hotel, 92-seat restaurant and spa opens in Yountville, California today. The plans for the Napa Valley hotel have been in progress for 11 years, when the Bardessono family began their journey to turn family vineyard into a hotel. The family worked with Seattle developer Phil Sherburne to create a hotel that they hope will be awarded the platinum rating from the LEED Green Building Rating System. The 62-room hotel also includes a restaurant featuring locally sourced food and beverages and green spa that uses organic products.A rooftop pool includes private cabanas.

Salvaged wood was used for the project and two geothermal wells provide heat and cooling as well as hot water. Solar panels produce power and exterior Venetian blinds are automatically controlled to adjust to the sun. Other green features include low-flow fixtures, dual-flush toilets, drought-resistant landscaping and organically-sourced linens and cleaning supplies. Rates start around $500 a night.

[via The Weekly Calistogan]

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Tags: bardessono, green, hotel, luxury, yountville

Forbes' Most Expensive Restaurants 2006

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Using data compiled by the Zagat survey, Forbes has produced two lists naming the year's most expensive restaurants. One list deals with only US restaurants, while the other compares the prices (in US dollars) of places all over the world. For the global list, the final cost was considered to be the price of one main course, one (alcoholic) beverage and tip, while the US list was not limited to a single main course and included options such as prix fixe tasting menus. Both only priced dinner for one person, but due to the difference in standards, there are many prix-fixe only restaurants that didn't make the global list but might be a good deal more expensive, but here are the top three from each list as they stand:

Global

Aragawa (Tokyo): $368
Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée (Paris): $231
Gordon Ramsay (London): $183

Masa (New York City): $446
The French Laundry (Yountville, CA): $254
Alinea (Chicago): $168

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Tags: alain ducasse, alinea, aragawa, expensive, french laundry, gordon ransay, masa, most expensive restaurants, restaurant, restaurants, yountville

Digital Images of the Inn at the French Laundry

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels

Thomas Keller, the chef and owner of the world-famous French Laundry in Yountville, California, has long wanted to add an inn near the restaurant. Keller has no intention of leaving the restaurant business, but instead wants to follow in the footsteps of many great French chefs who have also served as innkeepers at highly acclaimed restaurants. The 20-room Inn is not expected to begin construction until later this year, at the earliest, but Predock_Frane Architects has some digital renderings of what the Inn might look like online. It is described as having "20 idiosyncratic rooms - each with a mirror outdoor room, combine with dining/lounging spaces, spa, and gardens to create a continuous fabric of walls" and it "will maximize the potential for experiential courses beyond dining."