Since the shop’s inception, now 14 years ago, I imagined that it was more a center for conversation about wine than simply a place to buy it, and I appreciate all of you indulging me in my musings about wine, food, and the people I have met along the way in this crazy and fun business. To keep the conversation interesting for you and me, I have taken time to travel to a wide variety of wine regions to learn and seek inspiration. As I sit on the plane now on my return flight from SFO, I am finally jotting down some suggestions for your next journey to Napa Valley. I apologize for it taking me this long!

The following is not meant to be a complete list of must do, sip, and taste when in Napa; rather it is only meant as some suggestions to get you started and not in any particular order. If anything, I hope that it just encourages you to explore and find your own favorites. Thankfully, there is much more to see and do, but I am often asked for suggestions, so here they are. I have included websites, when I was able and suggest making reservations well in advance.

When in Napa:

• As a lover of fine foods and the aesthetics of beautiful culinary accoutrements, I stop at OXBOW Market every time I am in the area. Start with some oysters at Hog Island. They have a great wines by the glass list! Then walk around get provisions for the trip or to take home. The list of options seems endless from interesting pantry items to sweet delights, fresh produces to linens and great market bags. I suggest a a coffee from Ritual—intense and delicious!

• Take a sip at OUTLAND Wines Tasting Room. This is a collaborative project of three rockstar wine makers in California: Sam Sheehan of Poe Wines, Matthew Rorick of Forlorn Hope, and Tom Farella of Farella Wines. The design is great; it is a sun filled, modern space with so many great wines to taste that you may go back for a second flight! I suggest reserving in advance.

• TORC is worth seeking out for dinner. If you are looking for a serious dining experience, I suggest that you check it out. Farm to Table food and wine that is simply delicious and satisfying. A bit spendier, but certainly worth it. Hands down the best meal I have had in Napa.

A little further North:

• If taco truck is up your ally, then make it to the northern end of Yountville for @tacosgarcia.official. The green chili is fantastic. I am not exactly sure the hours, but you will find them in the Panchos parking lot.

• BOTTEGA for pasta is always on my list. Beautiful space, great food and wonderful wine list.

• BOUCHON BAKERY—just trust me, don’t skip this one. It is not exactly a suggestion. It is mandatory for your spiritual well being. The pastries are worth every calorie and the line. It is next door to Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro, which is also wonderful, but everyone already knows that! And, no, I have never eaten at The French Laundry. I am sure it is worth it, but I have to sell a lot more wine before I can do that!!

• The Oakville Market is a great place to stop before making a turn on the Oakville Grade and heading up to taste wine at Mayacamas or Hendry. The market was sold a number of years ago, and they expanded under new management. The food selections are vast with great quality “grab and go.” It can get busy, no doubt, but it is filled with savory and sweet treats, wines, coffee, and artisan crafts for your table. It is always a stop for my “R&D” work;)

• Need some coffee yet? I suggest that you try Station in St Helena, Joel Gott’s new café. The coffee is the best I had on this past trip. I love Ritual, but is very robust and sometimes I want a more mild cup, and Station delivers. Also, their pastries are divine and the design is beautiful.

• For a quick snack in St Helena, you have two extremes with Gott’s is always reliable for burger and fries and, of course, a good glass of wine. For those who seek a plant based option that is compelling and tasty, try Crisp. They have delicious GF pastries and bread, fresh salads and sandwiches, and a yummy can of wine, too!

Other Tasting Suggestions

• On The Trail! Hands Down the Best Tasting Room Experience that I have had is at Robert Sinskey Vineyards. The winery is stunning, the wines are even better, and the staff will make you feel comfortable and welcome. They aim to teach you a little about wine, but without pretense. Keeping it simple is their style. There are several tasting options, but they all involve food, as is their philosophy that wine and food are meant to be enjoyed together. Plan to spend a little time here, it is a peaceful respite and the wine and food are exceptional. They are known for their reds, and I love them, but don’t skip the whites. Jeff makes aromatic whites that are remarkable.

• Spring Mountain—Keenan, Pride, Paloma, Smith Madrone

• Valley Floor—Corison & Spottswoode

• A great place to eat a yummy lunch and have a splash is at Cliff Family Tasting Room &

• Howell Mountain—Dunn, just go if they have time to see you, it is Napa Cab at its very best.

Who’s Still Thirsty?

You are undoubtably out there to drink wine, but tasting rooms can sometimes be a bit of a commitment, (and once in a while you might just want some European wine), so I have a handful of places that I just love for eating and enjoying the work of some really talented wine professionals. (I like St Helena for a base camp, so many of these places are admittedly close by.)

The Charter Oak is exceptional. The food is made simply with farm fresh ingredients, much of which they grow themselves. Their wine list is a thoughtfully curated one, the cocktails are made with fresh juices and house made bitters, and the setting is beautiful. Did I mention the hand cut fries?

I rarely go to Napa and not eat a burger at Farmstead, Long Meadow Ranch’s restaurant. It is a sustainable project that sources nearly all (if not all) their ingredients from their own organic farm and ranch. the food is fun, hearty, and satisfying. I would call it comforting even, though I don’t mean to suggest a down grade the quality. They feature their own wines by the glass, which are solid, but I generally go to the bottle list here, as it is a good one with a wide variety of options.

Brasswood, Brix, Don Giovanni, Sam’s Social Club, and Cook all make the short list because of the ambience, quality of food and service.

If a cocktail is more your cup of tea? Solage is a special, fancy, and kind of dreamy. It is where the elite meet to eat & grab a cocktail! That said, Anna’s Cantina in St Helena has a nice list of Tequila and a decent pool table; it is a funky and friendly dive bar. It depends on my mood, not going to lie, I like them both with equal vigor.

I am sure to add to this, so reread it. And, please share your experiences, too!

Cheers, Maria

morning coffee on Spring Mountain

Not a bad view, and the fresh figs make me swoon, but still I ❤️ NY! This East Coast Girl loves being out in Napa, but my heart is in the east;)

A couple of Resources…

For reliable restaurant reviews, follow @christin-julian on Twitter.

If you need a ride while tasting, call Catalina at 707.696.6395, she is reliable, reasonable and nice to chat with!

Most often I learn from reading. Books have taken me beyond for as long as I can remember. Sometimes that place is physical, but more often it is metaphorical and intellectual or philosophical.  That said, more often than not, that book is prompted by people introducing me to something or someplace new, the book then takes me there. This past week, I went to India.  

A friend gave Steven and I a bag full of spices and treats from her recent trip home to India for her wedding.  She graciously shared armloads of spice packets, mysterious crackers, sweets sesame rounds, and other treats.  I laid all this material on the table and loved the sight of new colors, the smells of curious spices, and the crinkle of cellophane bags filled with mystery. I was excited, but honestly, I did not have a clue what to do with any of it. “What is this?” I asked my partner, holding a foil wrapped ball the size of a golf ball, and he looked at me with the very same wonderment and shrugged, laughing.  “I thought you might know,” he said with that wonderful sparkle in his eye that suggests that I am much better in his mind than I am in real life (I am grateful for that). 

I appreciate the faith that he has in me, but this cook and wine lady has some limitations. I love Indian food and indulge as often as the opportunity allows, but I have never cooked it. In fact, I have not even considered cooking it, until Hetali gave us this gift. Now, I had to, and I love a challenge. 

Naturally, I went to the bookstore. Kitchen Arts & Letters is my resource for cookbooks, essays on food and wine, and friendly advice on the intersections of the literary and the culinary.  If you have not visited the store (in person or online), I suggest you stop reading and do it right now! They never let me down. As luck would have it, the only other people in the store were also shopping for Indian cookbooks, and they shared some advice about which books they enjoyed. They were experienced Indian cooks, so when they left, I was a little overwhelmed with several books in front of me, all with beautiful photographs of India, stunning dishes that made my mouth water, but also long, complicated recipes with lengthy ingredient lists, much I had never used before. I sighed. 

Michael, who knows every book in the store, walked over and handed me Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, by Nik Sharma.  His advice was sound. The book is filled with stunning recipes that are spiced with Indian flavors applied to more Western foods, and the recipes were roughly 6-8 ingredients. This is my sweet spot. I like to cook, not build an erector set. I commend those more ambitious than I, but I gotta eat! 

The book gives you just the right amount of guidance to cook naturally. The recipes are simple enough to modify as you go. This style of cooking appeals to my culinary approach, even my lifestyle, in a more general sense. I don’t like directions or controls, measurements, deadlines, unless I set them. Yes, I am Capricorn, born on the cusp of Sagittarius, which explains why the journey is more important than the destination.  

I had so much fun experimenting with the spice packets and snacking on the mysterious treats.  I love the first bite of something that you have no idea what to expect. I began with the golf ball sized snack. I don’t even know what to call it—treat, sweet, salty, cookie, cracker...what is it??? I unwrap it, it looks like a pastry, but it is firm to the touch. I turn it around, but that reveals nothing.  I smell it, and it smells of spice, cinnamon, honey, maybe dried fruit.  I am unsure, so I cut it in half, rather than biting.  I need to see more before I taste it.  To my delight the center is a beautiful rich crumble of spice, fruit and nuts.  I would liken it to a Sicilian stuffed cookie. I bite in, eyes wide, looking at my friend Stephanie with a childlike excitement.  I am not sure what I thought might happen.  First response, “wow, this is weird.” Quickly, we were both chewing away, smiling, and admitting that we really liked it.  There is a very subtle sweetness to it, maybe a drop of honey or something similar.  The cinnamon and cardamon are the most obvious spices, but there are other flavors.  The pastry on the outside is like a cookie dough that holds it all together. The others were equally fun, and ultimately, I think they are a nice addition to dinner, or would make for great cocktail snacks, which is what we did since it took a while for me to cook everything. 

I prepared four things—vegetable Biryani, Roasted Chicken with Spicey Green Chutney, Cucumber Cumin Salad, and Naan. Nothing was particularly difficult, and I was very pleased with the result.  What was most fun was the new sensory experiences—new aromas in my kitchen that were inviting and exciting, new and compelling dishes that looked amazing, and then the new flavors that really excited me.  I surprised myself—it was so good! 

The other fun we had was experimenting with wines to pair with the flavors of Indian spices. Not surprising, wine and Indian foods are easy to pair.  Spice, a little heat, fresh herbs are the flavors we are dealing with, and those all like fruity wines.  The meal is relatively low in fat but has some acidity—lots of lime juice (well, full disclosure, a little clarified butter). I decided to try a sparking rosé, a white, and a red, but more specifically, I was seeking fruity. 

To begin, let’s get at a shared notion of what that means.  Fruity does not mean sweet, but it does mean that most prominent characteristic is fruit.  When I think about wine, I break it down to its parts—flavor, acidity, tannins, alcohol. These must be in balance with one another. When I refer to fruitiness, it means two things: first, that the acidity and tannins are lighter than the flavor component, though still in balance; and second, that the most prominent flavors are fruit, as opposed to earth, spice, herbs, etc. What people often hear when I say fruity is sweet. Fruity is not a sweet wine, though it may be a little less complex. I could also use juicy, as a description, and I have even had people use “grapey” synonymously.  

With foods that have a lot of heat and spice, I find that fruity serves to compliment the flavors and also contrast them. I don’t want to add more spice, or herbs, or additional flavors that will over complicate the combination. With Indian there is a lot going on. There are lots of options, but as it was just three of us, we stuck to three different wines.  First the NC Moncontour Crémant de Loire, a sparkling wine of Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc. It has abundant red fruits like strawberry and red currant, a soft bubble that makes it very refreshing, and it works well with the Indian spices and flavors. It added a nice soft fruitiness and cleansed the palate. Then we tried the 2020 Domaine Salvard Cheverny, and it too offered a great balance with the foods. The blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc fermented in stainless was lean, fresh, and bright. It has a burst of fruit at the onset, more green fruit and citrus, and it was really the star of the night. The final was a red, and truth be told I did not think this was going to work as well as it did. My dear friend, Stephanie, bought this one from me at event at which we met for the first time now twelve years ago, and she was saving it for and thought to bring it along to dinner. The 2006 Rengo Amarone de la Valpolicella is big wine with a lot of character and complexity. It has loads of dark red and black fruit, earthy flavors and even some spice of its own. The tannins had softened and the abundant fruit gave balance to its acidity. It was lovely, albeit a very big wine, and it worked wonderfully with the food, particularly the chicken with spice green chutney.  

As far as a big take away, drink what you like because there are no easy rules and gather with people you love, and everything will taste better! I enjoyed this journey, so many thanks to Hetali for the spices and treats. I am excited to try more recipes and be taken beyond myself to new worlds. 

I hope this inspires you to eat, drink, and think. 

Cheers, 

Maria