{"id":18486,"date":"2026-02-02T05:42:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T05:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/?p=18486"},"modified":"2026-02-03T00:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T00:40:30","slug":"detour-to-the-napa-valley-wine-art-and-seriously-good-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/detour-to-the-napa-valley-wine-art-and-seriously-good-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Detour to the Napa Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row row_type=”row” type=”full_width” in_content_menu=”” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”18488,18489,18490,18491,18492,18493,18494″ img_size=”full” type=”flexslider_slide”][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]Wine, Art and Seriously Good Food<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flying home from San Francisco presented BT with the perfect excuse for a few days in Napa. An Uber straight from the airport takes only about an hour and a half, and with 600 wineries and some of the best food in the US on offer, how could we resist? What\u2019s more, the drive takes you across the Golden Gate Bridge, with stunning views of San Fran and Alcatraz, through farmland and into a long, wide valley nestled between rounded mountains. John Steinbeck was right: \u201cit lifted the heart just to look at it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Napa Valley is a place of bounty as much as beauty. Of course, it helped that when we were there the sun was out and the Californian wild poppies were just starting to show their golden faces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We seized the opportunity to experience some Western hospitality at Stanly Ranch, and from the get-go, it was a hoot. The cowboys at check-in dipped their four-gallon hats and greeted us with a cheery \u2018howdy\u2019 before whisking us away to our own little farmhouse, wrangling electric golf carts like seasoned cattle drivers. Yee-hah! Yes, it\u2019s a bit quirky, but it\u2019s impossible not to enjoy yourself at this exceptional Auberge property. It\u2019s an expansive place where you can see for miles down the valley. There\u2019s a big barn up on the hill with the ubiquitous Californian Republic flag flying proudly. Everything here makes you feel happy, healthy and spoiled. The ranch restaurant sources as much of its produce as it can from its own culinary garden, chicken coop and beehives. And their attention to detail doesn\u2019t stop at the food. Even our transfer back to the airport was something special. Drivers are asked to ditch the suits for denim ranch gear and use their own Spotify playlist to set the mood. A small touch? Maybe. But that\u2019s the kind of thoughtful, playful hospitality that made us fall in love with this place. We\u2019ll be back and next time we\u2019re bringing our cowboy boots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We sampled a couple of wineries at either end of the valley \u2013 one up in Mount Veeder and the other down in Sonoma \u2013 both chosen for their wine, food and art offerings. Hess Persson Estate delivered breathtaking mountainside views among the giant redwoods, and the Hess Collection Art Museum was beyond belief. Any self-respecting gallery would be green with envy at the collection, and the estate\u2019s food and wine pairings were simply divine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While up that end of the valley, we took in the charms of Yountville and couldn\u2019t resist a treat from Thomas Keller\u2019s Bouchon Bakery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The second stop was an unforgettable visit to The Donum Estate in Sonoma, where our tour began with a chilled glass of chardonnay before a guided walk through its jaw-dropping open-air sculpture collection. Again, there was close attention paid to the art\u2013food\u2013wine trifecta, with farm-to-table canap\u00e9s accompanied by exquisite wines, served on custom-made plates crafted from the estate\u2019s own clay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We found it easy to get around by Uber, although we were warned ride-share services can be patchy during busy times, especially up-valley, and the mobile coverage isn\u2019t perfect. That said, we didn\u2019t have any issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We may have sampled this region only briefly, but like a fine wine, the flavour lingered pleasantly long after. Oh, please let our next flight home from the US leave from San Francisco. We can\u2019t wait to see you again, Napa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Some of BT\u2019s highlights:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Wineries:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Hess Persson Estates\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Donum Estate\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Food:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Bear\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Angele Restaurant and Bar\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bouchon Bakery\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hotel:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Stanly Ranch\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Elise Wackett, Travel Writer<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row row_type=”row” type=”full_width” in_content_menu=”” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”18488,18489,18490,18491,18492,18493,18494″ img_size=”full” type=”flexslider_slide”][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]Wine, Art and Seriously Good Food Flying home from San Francisco presented BT with the perfect excuse for a few days in Napa. An Uber straight from the airport takes only about an hour and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18486"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18502,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18486\/revisions\/18502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benallatravel.com.au\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}