Napa Valley earned its place among the world’s great wine regions by challenging an old hierarchy. In 1976, wines from two wineries in this Californian valley north of San Francisco beat celebrated French bottles at a blind tasting in Paris. Soon afterwards, Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild joined forces here to create the Opus One winery. For me, the pleasure of travelling to a wine region includes what comes to the table.
In Yountville, a small town among the vineyards, dinner became a reason for the journey in its own right. In 1994, Thomas Keller, an American chef trained in France, bought The French Laundry, a restaurant in a former steam laundry. Its country setting and intimate scale suited the restaurant he wanted to create. It went on to top The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2003 and 2004 and holds three Michelin stars. Napa’s wines had found a table to match.
I wanted to stay within that combination, close enough to enjoy it on foot. For my husband’s birthday in July 2019, we had a reservation at The French Laundry and chose Vintage House, a garden hotel just a few minutes’ walk away. The appeal was very simple: give ourselves over to dinner and its wine pairing, then walk back to a room we would be pleased to return to. In our case, that room also came with a fire.
A garden address
Vintage House makes room for a garden in the middle of town. Its 80 rooms and suites occupy low buildings connected by paths and narrow waterways, at the northern end of the 22-acre Estate Yountville. Hotel Villagio, its sister property, sits at the other end. Together they have the facilities of a substantial resort, but the walk to a Vintage House room belongs to a smaller, more domestic world.
That sense of a country house was carefully composed during the 2017–2018 renovation, with interiors by Hirsch Bedner Associates and exteriors by SB Architects. The Italian glass chandelier lends the main house a touch of theatre, while the artwork was arranged to flirt: a man with binoculars in one picture looks towards a woman in another across the room.
The rooms continue the idea of settling in. Estate guestrooms are about 44 square metres, with space to sit and a patio or balcony; bungalows have their own entrance and a larger terrace. Cabinetry concealing the minibar and safe was modelled on an old travelling trunk. Bathrooms vary, with tubs in some rooms and twin walk-in showers in others.
Our Premium King faced into the grounds, although the reservation did not specify a view. It is an outlook worth requesting from reception.
The fireplace was another reason I had chosen Vintage House for Konstantin. He loves a fire, and here every room had one. Ours burned manufactured wood briquettes rather than logs, a small qualification to a pleasure we were quite happy to indulge in July. A room with somewhere to sit beside the flame gives you a reason to linger before going out again.
There is plenty of scope for lingering outside, too. Vintage House has its own pool and hot tub, both open around the clock; the wider Estate adds vineyard walks, bocce and a gym. Breakfast is included in the nightly resort fee.
In 2019, the Estate’s spa paired ESPA treatments with private suites for two, soaking baths and the opportunity to linger over champagne. It fitted rather well into a stay devoted to enjoying oneself.
Spa renovation: 2026 update
The spa is closed for refurbishment, with reopening expected in late 2026.
Vintage House and Hotel Villagio share an Estate listing on some booking sites. For the garden setting at the northern end, choose a room explicitly labelled Vintage.
Yountville at the door
Beyond the gardens, the town becomes part of the stay. V Marketplace, where we went for lunch, occupies an old winery complex within the Estate, with shops, wine tasting and restaurants including the Italian Bottega. Along Washington Street, Bistro Jeanty serves French country cooking. We also enjoyed lunch at R+D Kitchen, another good address for a less formal meal. You can plan a trip around a coveted table and still leave other meals to your appetite.
Sally and Don Schmitt helped develop the complex now known as V Marketplace before opening The French Laundry in 1978. The restaurant’s later fame grew out of a town where hospitality and wine were already closely connected.
Our evening at The French Laundry justified the journey. The food, the wine pairing and the care given to the whole experience left us completely delighted. A thousand-dollar dinner carries considerable expectations, and ours were amply met. Having Vintage House within walking distance meant there was no drive to organise around it, no reason to interrupt the pleasure with the practicalities of getting home.
Keller’s Bouchon bistro and Bouchon Bakery bring French cooking to a less ceremonial part of the day. For me, the bakery had a particular attraction: raspberry desserts. We were living in the Dominican Republic then, where raspberries were an exotic treat. In a town famous for one of the most elaborate dinners in America, I had found another delight at a pastry counter.
This was the pleasure of having Yountville so close. The bakery supplied bread to Keller’s restaurants, but its counter was open to anyone with an appetite. A stay planned around a much-anticipated dinner also had room for pastry eaten barefoot by the fireplace.
There is a strong European accent to dining here, particularly French and Italian. That suited me, arriving from the Caribbean, but visitors from Europe may want a more distinctly American meal. For that, I would add Mustards Grill, north of Yountville on St. Helena Highway: a wood-burning grill, hanger steak, baby back ribs, slow-smoked barbecue pork and proper half-pound burgers.
Above the vineyards
The next morning, we exchanged the town for a view of the valley from a hot-air balloon. The flight was my gift to Konstantin, part of a family tradition that later took us over the Masai Mara during our stay at Entim. A flight puts the vineyards back into their wider landscape, an appealing addition to a trip devoted to food and wine.
Vintage House can arrange a morning flight with Napa Valley Aloft, based at V Marketplace on the Estate. The concierge can also organise winery visits, while electric bicycles and a local house-car service make it easy to venture beyond the town. You can build a full wine-country itinerary from here, or allow yourself the luxury of doing rather less.
A day tasting Napa
The Estate has its own vineyard, but I would also set aside a day for Napa’s celebrated producers. We began ours at Mumm Napa: a beautiful vineyard setting and excellent sparkling wines, with no advance reservation needed on that visit. Walk-ins are still possible when space allows, though reservations are now recommended.
Next came Domaine Carneros, where we chose white wine for the summer heat. Its château and terraces overlooking the Carneros hills make the setting part of the attraction; the winery offers both sparkling and still wines. Tastings require a reservation through Tock.
We finished at Opus One, bringing the day back to the Mondavi–Rothschild partnership that helped establish Napa’s international stature. Its Bordeaux-style red is a very different proposition from the morning’s bubbles. This is the visit to secure in advance: tastings are by appointment, with reservations released on the first of each month for dates up to two months ahead.
For a day like this, I would arrange a car and driver, then leave the evening free to enjoy Yountville on foot again.
For me, the distinction is having somewhere worth coming back to between the famous appointments. Yountville gives you exceptional reasons to go out; Vintage House gives you a garden, a room and a fire that make staying in equally tempting.
Featured photograph: Courtesy of Vintage House / Estate Yountville.