Up valley above Rutherford is the venerable Auberge du Soleil,
which opened its 7,000-square-foot spa earlier this year. Available
to hotel guests only, the facilities feature an herbal steam and
tea ritual, a four-handed
massage, a rose-petal custard body
masque, champagne and rose manicures and pedicures, and,
appropriately enough, an antioxidant grape-seed facial, among other
blissfulnesses too numerous to mention.
As for me? Give me a glass of Smith-Madrone Riesling or a
Saddleback Zinfandel, sipped from a spot overlooking the verdant
patchwork of
Napa Valley, and I'll have died and gone to wine
country heaven.
negotiating napa valley
when to visit
from january through april, the vines are dormant, but the hotels
and restaurants are sparsely filled (some restaurants even close
the first two weeks of the year), so it's a good, quiet time.
february through march is napa valley mustard festival time, when
the vineyards are carpeted with beautiful yellow mustard plants.
may to june, things begin to warm up, with the napa valley wine
auction, the biggest and glitziest wine auction in the country.
in july and august, the vines begin to bloom and, of course, the
valley begins to swell with tourists.
september through october is the hottest time of year, but it's
also the "crush," or harvest season, which can be the most
interesting time of the growing season.
in november and december, things begin to settle down, the vintners
take vacations, and the foliage much resembles the northeast.
where to stay
rustridge ranch (707-965-9353; $165), high up in the hills,
is a western-style ranch with thoroughbred horses and little-known
but equally thoroughbred wines.