One such resort—the resort where my husband and I stayed for three extraordinary nights—is called The Carneros Inn, located on Sonoma Highway in Napa, California. To say it was beyond either of our expectations is an understatement. While the word “inn” may conjure up images of one building with several rooms, The Carneros Inn strays quite far from that traditional and somewhat limited definition. Replete with a gorgeous, state-of-the-art reception building, Farm Restaurant, Hilltop Restaurant, Boon Fly Café, spa, two pools with hot tubs, workout facility, country store, and views and gardens that encourage you to take leisurely strolls while simultaneously asking you to stop and smell the roses, we had never experienced a place quite like it. Our “room,” if you dare to call it that, was a small cottage with contemporary designs and hardwood floors, a dreamy bed, large bathroom, and a private patio with loungers and a table with an umbrella. The front porch, of course, boasted two white rocking chairs and a perfect vantage point for admiring the sweeping gardens that were full of vibrant colors and exotic plants, not to mention unique fountains, bountiful trellises, and bamboo canopies.
As someone who has grown up almost her entire life living near the water—and someone who has regularly stated that living near the water is a must—I have to admit that visiting Napa Valley may have changed my perspective on this notion of mine. The landscape took my breath away—the lush canopy of olive trees, grape vines, green trees on the mountains (including a few Redwoods), and the carpet of lawns in the valley offered a sense of serenity that I did not expect to find. At times, the landscape reminded me of the topography of the Cotswolds in England or the exquisiteness of Tuscany. If you had been blindfolded and dropped there and were asked to “guess” where you were, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have said it was one of the two aforementioned landscapes (although, yes, the architecture in both may have given it away quickly; but if you guessed solely based on the landscape, who knows?).
One of my favorite parts of the trip was taking the bikes the Inn provided and touring through the back roads. While our five mile ride was a bit hilly (only in one part in particular), touring on a bike offers a much different perspective than driving in a car and seeing the sights. My husband and I stopped to take photographs along the way as we attempted to capture the beauty of that morning’s sun, the way it graced the mountains and the vineyards, and the way the greenery glistened as the dew evaporated. I adore riding a bike—this one had a basket for our things—and I often wonder what it would be like to live in a place where you could ride your bike or walk more than you need to drive your car. We passed so many charming things—a house covered in vines with lush gardens, a picturesque barn, and a pond in the valley with views of the mountain—and our bicycle jaunt was by far my favorite part of our stay at the Inn.
In the afternoon after the sun chased the clouds away, we toured Hall Winery (pictured below), which was a fantastic 90-minute tour of the grounds and facility. Our guide provided the history of the winery, the process of the making wine, and at the end of the journey, we enjoyed sampling both red and white wines produced by Hall Wines. Owned by husband and wife Kathryn and Craig Hall, the duo has invested much into the property. In this modern facility, we learned about the incredible journey the grape takes from vine to bottle, as well as the sad turn a bad grape may take into the compost pile. The equipment and engineering of the grapes, from the way they are harvested to the way they are processed, is fascinating, and no detail goes unnoticed. And I’m not kidding about the rejected grape—grape profiling ensues to ensure that only the best grapes possible make it into the bottle.
—END PART ONE—
Look for Part Two in a few days…