womantraveler

Pleasanton, California: Perfectly Named

As a woman business traveler and proactive fan of leisure day trips, I've learned time and again that some of the best adventures are close to home. Pleasanton, California, originating in the Gold Rush and existing comfortably today next to the Livermore Valley wine country east of San Francisco, is one of my recent "finds." History, luxury and quality wines and food within a few blocks -- my fundamentals!

Since I often stay overnight in nearby outlying communities when I have an evening event -- to avoid rush-hour traffic, windy country roads at dusk or late-night driving alone -- I calculate at the front end a pleasant evening in new surroundings to finish off my business or leisure commitment. And, Pleasanton, California, has definitely earned its name in my travel journals.

  But the secret -- absolutely -- is the right hotel or inn. A male friend recommended Pleasanton's Rose Hotel, and it turned out to be the right combo of stylish but casual luxury and welcoming service. To wit -- a spacious and well-appointed room with windows that actually open to fresh air, a jacuzzi tub (superb after an afternoon on the links at a Women on Course event at Poppy Ridge Golf Course in the Livermore Valley,) and Peet's Coffee brewed in my room's own French press. That was the first part of the wake-up experience before I went down to the Victorian lobby/loungefor an ample continental breakfast (which comes with the room). Men and women business travelers, a leisure travel couple from Pennsylvania, and more personalities crossed paths in this quietly confident and charming space.

For dinner, I hiked up and down Main Street to check out the multiple options (40 nearby restaurants), from lively outdoor gardens to indoor white table cloth candlelight -- but chose the originality of The Oasis Grille across the street from the hotel and its Afghan/Middle Eastern specialties and featured wine list. Grilled shish kebab and a Riva Ridge Chardonnay from one of the California originals, Wente Vineyards in Livermore, were perfectly matched!

Napa Valley's CIA Cooking (the Other One)

Wine inspires, but food sustains in the San Francisco Bay Area, so the Culinary Institute of America (the other CIA) in Napa Valley is a must-do for cooking classes. And they're quick and easy -- 1 to 2 hours. This ongoing series of classes the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena makes it easy to actually develop a small skill in the midst of experiencing the marvelous vineyards.

We girlfriends were jaunting through the Valley one spring day and discovered the Spring Table series at Greystone, the former home of the Christian Brothers Winery. Classes are Friday-Monday and a demo is held the first Tuesday of the month. The 1-hour public cooking demonstrations ($15) include the recipe and tasting while the 2-hour hands-on cooking classes (75)consist of a 30-minute lecture, 90-minute cooking and tasting with a glass of wine. Classes in May, for example, include "Terrine of Salmon with Spring Vegetables," "Lamb Carpaccio with Greek Feta Cheese, Black Olives, Lemon Vinaigrette and Mint Oil" and "Sweet Pea Ravioli with Sauteed Pea Tendrils." I'm getting so hungry I don't think I can finish this post!

There are also Wine Enthusiast classes and elegant dinners at The Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, which you can check out on their website.

Sonoma's Cottage Inn and Spa: Spoil Me

Downtown Sonoma's Cottage Inn and Spa is my home away from home. And even though I can drive up in 30 minutes from San Francisco's North Bay area, guests last week from Hawaii and Boston clearly had caught onto the same idea. (One couple was hanging out in the dreamy upstairs Vineyard View Suite after just getting married following 27 years of dating. Another arrived with a group for a surprise anniversary event.)

Romance and relaxation are the overwhelming themes in this architecturally inspired hideaway only a 5-minute walk off the Sonoma Square. But a solo woman traveler like me can comfortably slip into one of the individualized rooms -- most with jacuzzi tubs and fireplaces --  for a timeout from the rat race of the typical day to day. And, yes, there's free Wi-Fi in my suite and public spaces whenever I want to fire up my laptop and check back into the real world.

The Cottage Inn is different from the quaint or "wine country elegant" inns that dot Sonoma. The carefully chosen painting, photographs and sculpture in the rooms and the spirit forms and Buddhas in courtyards and walkways create a soothing, healing presence. Cloistered Santa Fe-style with adobe walls around two converted houses, the inn declares "cozy retreat" whatever your intention. 

Now that it's Mustard Festival in next-door Napa Valley through March, vineyards across both valleys are brimming with yellow gold flowers. So the Cottage Inn is a perfect anchor for taking in the wine country sights -- and then pulling back to more serenity in the evenings. I arrange for a Zen Garden Spa treatment, then unwind even more beside the open pit gas fire that burns up through a floor of crushed glass in the Romantico Paradiso Room.   

Each room has a unique decor, designed by the late founder, who was an architect. All have similar amenities, including coffee and juice and refrigerators stocked for breakfast. Each morning fresh breads arrive in a basket at the door.The largest North Suite is one of two with full kitchens, and most rooms have open or covered outdoor patios. 

I like the convenience, too. Hiking trails and bike routes start nearby and go in all directions, including over to General Vallejo's 19th century estate and historical museum to the west and a vineyard walk to Sebastiani and Ravenswood to the east. Sonoma Square offers some of the Valley's best dining -- including The Girl and the Fig, Cafe La Haye and El Dorado Kitchen, while the former General's Daughter restaurant in an 1864 Victorian on the Vallejo estate is generating a lot of buzz as Estate, the new venture of Girl and the Fig's Sondra Bernstein. 

Downtown Napa's Revival

Downtown Napa continues its energetic boomlet, creating a classy alternative   to its tony north-county wine country neighbors in Napa Valley. Not that wine-touring and epicurean dining aren't worthy tourist-focused delights anywhere in "the Valley." But those of us who live and work close by like to get away for an evening in downtown Napa for a friendly, yet stylish, "hometown" scene delivered with neighborly personality and first-rate quality.

The 2003 restoration of the 19th century Napa Valley Opera House helped kick off a wave of activity that has transformed this once rundown and neglected river town into a charming riverfront destination just an hour north of San Francisco. When I heard that "The Blue Note 7" jazz tour celebrating 70 years of Blue Note Records would bring some of the world's finest jazz to      the 500-seat opera house theater, I snapped up a seat on a weeknight. Renowned jazz artists like Bill Charlap, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton and their colleagues gave a stunning performance of their new CD "Mosaic," then hung out with the locals in the lobby afterwards for easy conversation. Keeping the music alive, pianist Charlap and bassist Peter Washington joined 15 late-night jazz enthusiasts at Silo's, the local club that manager Keith Stansberry kept open afterhours for the occasion. (Check out Silo's schedule at 707-251-5833. Exquisitely chosen Napa wines currently complement "Great American Songbook" artists Wesla Whitfield and Mike Greensill Wednesdays-Saturdays. Not to mention the Opera House's ongoing calendar.) 

  A few paces from Silos in the restored 1884 Napa Mill complex, I checked into the Napa River Inn, one of the preserved Historic Hotels of America for spacious luxury in a Victorian style room with a gas fireplace, canopy bed and claw-footed bath tub. Morning brought fresh baked goods in a basket from Sweetie Pies next door, a bakery that choosy clientele know well. Sweetie Pies' pumpkin pie was recently voted #1 on the Rachel Ray Show, and it's easily shipped. As one patron confessed, "you can't walk by without going in."

  We foodies are in pig heaven in places like Napa, where high standards by patrons and friendly competition among skilled chefs keep restaurant quality very high. There's something for everyone, too --from Ubuntu, the vegetarian restaurant and yoga studio that was cited in 2008 by the New York Times as one of the best two new restos in the U.S., to Vietnamese Annalien, the country French riverfront Angele, globally focused Celadon and the playful Kelley's "No Bad Days" Cafe. Mix that with stroller-friendly "The Little Gourmet: A Kid's Restaurant that is Grown-up Friendly" and many more dining spots, and it's easy to contemplate the next trip to downtown Napa.  

If you're going, note these two stellar upcoming events -- the 16th annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival, January 31-March 28, 2009 and the Napa Valley Opera House League's 9th Annual "Dinner Is Served" fundraiser, where you can eat in the best restaurants, on Wednesday February 25, 2009.

Napa Valley Wine Country's Carneros Inn

Splurging for the best room (one of the east vineyard-facing Vineyard View Cottages) at Napa Valley's Carneros Inn was worth the stretch price, especially the outdoor shower and vineyard views.    Now in off-season there are deals worth considering across the property for a peaceful winter get-away. There's lots of good buzz about the place, most of it worthy. Besides the privacy, we especially liked the patio with overhead heaters, the fireplace, French doors and flat screen TV/DVD/CD combo. I'm told by Womantraveler friends that a girlfriends spa visit at the Carneros Inn tops the list in the highly competitive Napa Valley spa scene, including a room for the day for relaxing and changing. On another visit to the Valley, simply stopping for a glass of wine at the outdoor lounge was a delightful treat. Just inside was the highly rated Farm restaurant -- we can't vouch for it directly but the word of mouth is tantalizing. 

Nick's Cove Bay Area Getaway

The Northern California insiders' new retro getaway is Nick's Cove along a curvy stretch of the Marin County coast. It's hot because its impressario is restaurateur Pat Kuleto (Fog City Diner, Boulevard, Postrio and a host of other signature San Francisco dining destinations), supports the credentials of organic farming and sustainable fishing and is sufficiently out of the way for a cache of remoteness. Plenty of people have gotten the word in the past six months, though -- it's already difficult if not impossible to get a reservation on short notice, although they do have a bar and seat walk-ins.

The 45-minute jaunt west of San Rafael, Novato or Petaluma or about an hour north of San Francisco snakes along hairpin turns through vast protected West Marin hills and dairy farms before reaching the town of Marshall on the Tomales Bay. This coastal Highway 1 stretch from Point Reyes Station on the south to Bodega Bay on the north is across from the Point Reyes National Seashore, a coastal wilderness abundant with wildlife. Landside, it's dotted with late-1800s onetime railroad towns and farms of cultivated oyster beds. It's an area full of history, as the story of Nick's illustrates. And far enough from modern civilization, in fact, that even cell phones can't find you here.

Turning a 100-year-old restaurant that was a local favorite and adding 12 pricey bungalows was a bumpy eight-year journey for Kuleto and his longtime partner, Executive Chef Mark Franz. They've preserved the ambiance -- the restaurant is casual roadhouse-style, and the bungalows were built or remodeled from wood-rotting shacks. They are perched along the water's edge, where you can hear the lap of the tide hitting the bungalow pilings and across the road in the groove of a hill. Each cottage is unique. All are decorated in comfortable antiques with luxury appointments -- high-thread count linens, heated bathroom floors, flat screen TVs and Wi-Fi. Winter rates range from $165 to $595 a night, which suggests what the summer season will fetch.

We sampled the inventiveness of Nick's kitchen staff during a wine tasting dinner hosted by Ross Halleck. You can't go to Nick's and not have oysters, which are farmed in the area by Hog Island Oyster Company, Tomales Bay Oyster Co. and others. Halleck Vineyard in the Russian River Valley produces just under 2000 cases of Pinot Noir. That's not far from Nick's, which has become Halleck's local hangout. His Hallberg Vineyards Pinot Noir 2005 was paired with a butternut squash flan, delightfully rich and nutty with white truffle oil. His Three Sons Cuvee Pinot Noir 2006 accompanied the wood grilled Vermont quail stuffed with local chanterelles, pancetta, cannellini bean puree and a balsamic reduction.

This, of course, wasn't the regular Nick's menu, which is harvested daily from the bay out the back door. We'll head back to do that soon. Kuleto, meanwhile, is hard to keep up with -- he opened two new restaurants in San Francisco's Embarcadero waterfront to more fanfare in late January -- Epic Roasthouse and Waterbar.

Clos Pegase Wine and Art

Clos Pegase, a temple to both wine and art, is the Napa Valley winery I recommend friends visiting when they're searching through the hundreds of options. Designed in the post-modern style by architect Michael Graves, the winery also houses the internationally renown art collection of owner Jan Schrem. In addition to the winery, a visitor can take a tour (including self-guided with narrative) of the 24 sculptures in the gardens and porticos as well as the art in interior galleries. One of the most famous in the collection is Henry Moore's "Mother Earth," who faces west and is usually bathed in sunlight.

The winery's name is a tribute to Pegasus, the mythological Greek winged horse who touched the earth with his hooves and unleashed the sacred spring of the muses, the wine that flows from grapes. Bacchanalian pleasure is also suggested here in a humorous way. Touring Clos Pegase mixes the fineries of an art museum, a wine cellar and the expansive and welcoming beauty of a Napa Valley estate.

You notice I've yet to talk about the wines, but they are stunning and carefully produced. Small berries, thicker skins, well-drained soil planted in old vines that are the progenitors of really fine wines. Wines are harvested by hand, not by machine, and crops are not densely planted. Our favorites are the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Merlot offerings. We were fortunate to visit on a slow day and have our own private tour guide, who took us down into the cellars, where art is displayed purposefully as well. From earliest times, people's enjoyment of wine led to them to embrace art and music, and there's a lovely taste of the experience right here.

Napa Valley Wine Train -- All Aboard!

  Of all the great ways to go wine-tasting in Napa Valley, the Napa Valley Wine Train is not only the easiest, but probably the safest. Though casual valley-style, it also turned out to be surprising elegant and a lot of fun. The three-hour trip for lunch or dinner starts in the town of Napa, slowly cruises north along the 1847 railway line to St. Helena and turns around.

Even in the off-season, when the grapes are resting and the air is crisp, it's a beautiful time in Napa Valley -- and the Wine Train special events keep it even more interesting. We opted for a weekday, when the crowds aren't so crazy, and the elegant Gourmet Express experience ($89 each) in the 1915-1917 vintage Pullman and Lounge cars, that over the pricier Vista Dome glass-topped 1947 Pullman. It's an elegant old train, with vaulted ceilings, white table cloths, silver flatware, drapes and ceiling fans. I appreciated the orchid on the table and the upholstered chairs. Totally charming, wonderful eating and generous service. What a lovely way to spend part of a day! After our appetizer and main course, we "repaired" to a club-style parlor car for dessert and sight-seeing. There are two seatings, as on a cruise ship, and well-mannered children will enjoy it, too.

There are several ways to do the wine train. Some people preferred to hang out in the less expensive Wine Tasting Lounge Car (which is open to everyone) or eat more casually a la carte. But from whatever your appetite, there are stunning wine country panoramas, and you don't have to thread along the highways with the tourists hopping from winery to winery.

The hokiest part was the obligatory lecture at the depot before taking off -- a little too Vegas-y. But in the 15-minute talk we we learned that there are 140 different types of soil in Napa Valley (making for a multitude of grape-to-wine options) -- and the perfect way to swirl to get the "wine nose" -- and thus the authentic aromas -- to the top of the glass. Even for afficionados, a good tip to launch the excursion.

2 Michelin Stars in Sonoma

The stars are aligned for Sonoma Valley wine country's hottest restaurant, Cyrus, which is offering a midwinter dining and hotel special with the Healdsburg Inn on the Plaza. That's the good news for epicureans -- the bad news is that a newspaper article led to 700 inquiries and a waiting list at the 12-room inn, which is quickly coming up with some more options. While Cyrus' reputation clearly is in the starry zone, its reputation alone didn't count for the popularity of the special package. While a typical evening at the 2-Star Michelin restaurant could approach $300 for two, the special is just $325 (for two), including a 4-course meal and luxury inn room with wine, truffles and breakfast in bed. Check into both places to get the latest availability. While in charming Healdsburg, about an hour north of San Francisco on US 101, go up to the Jimtown Store, an artist's hip remake of a vintage country store.

Less-Traveled Roads of Sonoma

During the fall wine crush, there's nothing like a taking a car along the less-traveled roads in Sonoma County in Northern California's wine country. Sonoma is my favorite Northern California wine region -- just 45 minutes north of San Francisco. It's rich in wonderful wines and vistas yet retains a more rural character than its more-developed Napa Valley neighbor. With pristine features like the Mayacama Mountains to the west and fertile Sonoma Creek, a 5-mile trip can take 30 minutes or more winding slowly through the vineyards and up and down hillsides with sharp hairpin turns. These lovely drives take us past wineries, in and out of quaint villages, California history, quiet B&Bs and -- surprise -- suddenly a dark and dramatic hilltop redwood forest. Sonoma Valley is said to be the birthplace of California's wine industry, dating back to 1825 and the arrival of the Franciscan Missionaries, who established their wines on the Sonoma Mission grounds, now the location of a fabulous inn and spa resort.

Local writer, the famed Jack London, called enchanting Sonoma The Valley of the Moon, the title of his 1913 novel that named Sonoma Valley as the "perfect spot" for his wandering lovers. London lore is in fine style in Glen Ellen at the Jack London State Historical Park, which has the cottage where he wrote, redwood forests, dam, lake and other recreational areas. Fine dining in tiny, shady Glen Ellen includes Saffron and the Glen Ellen Inn.

For one spectacular drive, take the five-mile Trinity Road off Route 12 across the mountain into Oakville on Route 29, the main drag in Napa Valley. Be prepared for a lone cyclist at any point, 10 mph hairpin turns, a one-lane bridge and a final 3-mile low-gear downhill grade. Here a vineyard on a sunny slope, then you're in a dense redwood stand a short distance away -- it's quite a visual mix. Probably best to save your wine picnic for another outing, or later in the day -- you have to be very alert as the locals zoom along these roller-coaster roads and there's no place to pull over or park anyway.

Then, at the Oakville Grocery, you can stop for a fine latte or indulge in a wine country gourmet carryout or picnic.