far niente

Calistoga Ranch's Exclusive Napa Valley Getaway Package

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas, Wine

Calistoga Ranch offers the Ultimate Napa Valley Weekend

Looking for the ultimate getaway in Napa Valley? Auberge Resorts' Calistoga Ranch, the winner of the Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Award for Best Green Spa has created the "Ultimate Napa Valley Weekend," a two-night, "ultimate" fantasy weekend that includes the best and most iconic experiences that Napa Valley has to offer.

The package includes a highly coveted reservation for two and special menu paired with some of Napa's best wines at Chef Thomas Keller's world-famous French Laundry. Guests will also receive treatments at Calistoga Ranch's Bathhouse Spa, recently named as one of the country's top spas by Conde Nast Traveler. Guests will be treated to a private tour and tasting by chauffeured town car which will take them to three exclusive Napa Valley cult wineries including Far Niente (a Luxist Awards' nominee for best wine), Vineyard 29 and Chappellet.

Accommodations are in a luxurious one-bedroom Spa Lodge, featuring 1,200 square feet of indoor/outdoor living space, including a master suite with an outdoor shower and private garden, indoor and outdoor living rooms with fireplaces and a private hot tub.

Gallery: More from the Calistoga Ranch

Guests who book the "Ultimate Napa Valley Weekend" will also receive a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the world-famous To Kalon winery and a special French Laundry Welcome Amenity.

The "Ultimate Napa Valley Weekend" package is priced at $4,495 per couple (subject to change and availability, excluding taxes, gratuities and alcohol). The package is only available August 27-29, 2010.

For more information or to make a reservation, call (707) 254-2800 or visit www.calistogaranch.com.

Tags: awards-main, calistoga ranch, Chappellet, Far Niente, French Laundry, luxist-awards, napa valley, resorts, spa, thomas keller, To Kalon, Vineyard 29

Far Niente: A Jewel Box that Produces Luxury Estate-Bottled WInes

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Far Niente is nominated for a Luxist Award for Best White Wine

Legendary for its jewel box beauty, stunning gardens and critically acclaimed estate wines, Far Niente is a nominee for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Domestic White Wine.

Far Niente was founded in 1885, by John Benson, an original forty-niner of the California gold rush and uncle of the artist, Winslow Homer. It was one of the Napa Valley's first gravity flow wineries, which gently moves the grapes through each stage of production.

Benson named the winery "Far Niente" after the Italian phrase "Dolce Far Niente" meaning, "sweet to do nothing". The winery prospered until its abandonment at the onset of Prohibition in 1919. The winery was abandoned for sixty years, until Oklahoman Gil Nickel purchased the property and adjoining vineyard in 1979 and began a meticulous, three-year restoration. Nickel, a physicist by education with a background in agriculture through his family's nursery business, had relocated to California with a quest to create a world-class Napa Valley wine estate. While the winery was being restored, Nickel took courses in the enology and viticulture program at the University of California at Davis. Nickel's efforts were rewarded with the placement of Far Niente on the National Registrar of Historic Places.

Gallery: Far Niente

Tags: Far Niente, luxist-awards, luxist-main, Napa Valley, Oakville, wine

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Far Niente Releases 2004 Estate Cabernet

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

The famed Far Niente winery in Napa Valley recently released their 2004 Estate Cabernet. The wine which is a Cabernet Sauvignon blend (86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Merlot) is one of the most well-regarded Napa Valley Cabs and the 2004 looks to be a well-received vintage.. The wine is for storing rather than for drinking right away (or decant if you have issues with delayed gratification). The wine has the blackberry, cherry, plum and cocoa flavors usually associated with the big Napa Cabernets. This wine usually sells out fast and Porthos is offering a 10% discount so that the $110 bottle at the vineyard will cost you $99 if you go through Porthos. They are also throwing in free shipping for those buying six or more bottles.

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Tags: cabernet sauvignon, far niente, FarNiente, napa valley, wine

Auction Napa Valley

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Auctions

It's time once again for Napa's annual big wine auction, Auction Napa Valley. Last year's auction brought in over $10 million with items like a walk-on part in Desperate Housewives and a chance to purchase the final collaboration of the Mondavi brothers. This year's main event is scheduled for June 3 but for the first time, you don't have to be there to take part in the fun. There are a variety of lots online. Want five liters of the 2003 Amuse Bouche? How about a package from Larry Bird and Mitch Cosentino that includes autographed bottles of their Legends Meritage Red, a signed Larry Bird basketball and tickets to an Indiana Pacers game? There are all sorts of lots for wine lovers whether you are looking to increase your cellar or experience life as a winemaker for the day.

Of course if you bid online you miss out on one fabulous party hosted by the one-and-only Ryan Seacrest as well as the more blockbuster lots which tie together wine with events like a private concert from Alan Parsons, being read to by Isabel Allende or a walk-on part in the Geena Davis show "Commander In Chief." The full weekend package which starts Thursday with a hospitality event and includes the Friday auction and festival, the Saturday Good Morning Napa event, all of Saturday night's events and the Sunday open houses at wineries throughout the area as well as a catalog and bidding paddle. The package costs $7,500.

[via Napa Valley Register]

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Tags: amuse bouche, duckhorn, far niente, geena davis, napa valley, NapaValley, ryan seacrest, wine, wine auction