Life is Sweet in Napa Valley - Intimate Micro-Experiences in the World of Wine, Food, and the Art of Relaxation

Life is Sweet in Napa Valley - Intimate Micro-Experiences in the World of Wine, Food, and the Art of Relaxation (PART ONE)

By Kat Thomas, Edible Skinny

“God is in the details.”
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

NAPA!  One single word and so many images come to mind.  A kaleidoscope of intimate micro experiences in the world of wine, food, and the art of relaxation.  “The most delectable wine I ever tried was in a tasting room in Napa at...:”  “The best meal of my life was this one night at French Laundry…”  “I went there for a weekend of wine tasting and never left the Valley...”  These are stories you hear from each individual person you encounter along the Silverado Trail...

About of a month ago my ES partner in crime Kelly Grace Thomas and I drove up to the Valley to celebrate her impending nuptials, hunting for those micro experiences.  The immersive wine and food stories that inspired the Thomas Gals to become a food writers in the first place! 

And with 400 wineries with tasting rooms in the Napa Valley (600+ if you include Sonoma) you can definitely get lost in the details....  Kelly and I chose (guided by the AMAZING Beau Wine Tours) locally petite experiences (no parking lots with tour buses for us).  These experiences were as cherished as you get, every winery adventure we encountered produced 10,000 cases or less. 

Intimate experiences are the heart and soul of the Valley (these people are essentially simple farmers... in some of the most expensive real estate in the world).  And to focus on their stories properly, this tale is split into multiple posts.  It’s just that big of a tale for the Thomas Gals!

So here’s to life being delicious, all your stories being postcard worthy, and “the most delectable wine I ever tried was in a tasting room in Napa at...:”

BEAU WINE TOURS

Our morning began by meeting our driver, Titus, from Beau Wine Tours & Limousine Service in front of the Mount View Hotel in Calistoga (but more on that in the next article...).  Our tasting adventures were also curated by Beau, who provides private Napa and Sonoma wine tasting tour experiences that are unique to each client’s taste and wine preferences for the past two decades. 

Beau Wine Tours & Limousine Service long-lasting relationships with vintners and winemakers in this region are the key to unlocking exclusive access to the road less traveled.  Whether a wine novice, or an experienced collector, Beau Wine Tours custom tailors the right tour for their guest (and they did a FAB job as you’ll see throughout this article).  It’s ABSOLUTELY these personal experiences and one-on-one connection that sets them apart!

As their guest, Beau Wine Tours pampered us with their signature chauffeur services.  Because a driver is a necessary part of experiencing Napa when imbibing glass upon glass of Chardonnay to Cabernet! ;-)

Gliding up and down the Silverado Trail from the boutique wineries of Yountville to the silky smooth Cabernets of Stags Leap District to the jammy fruit flavors of Calistoga we got to know the Valley inside and out!

Kat Thomas is the Editor in Chief of Edible Skinny, a site dedicated to making your life postcard worthy. She is also the CEO of the creative media company This Way Adventures. You can find more about both brands at http://www.thiswayadventures.com