After successfully re-testing the travel waters with our very first post-COVID staycation trip to Fort Worth, we felt confident heading slightly further afield, and so decided to book a four-day, three-night visit to Napa, California. As wine lovers, we knew we’d find plenty to do there, and better yet, in the new post-COVID atmosphere, we felt we could still feel safe thanks to the plethora of outdoor dining and entertainment options in the area. (And of course, we’re both fully vaccinated.)
The Points-And-Miles Strategy:
To get there, we flew into Oakland, California via Southwest Airlines, using just 9,954 Southwest points and our handy Southwest Companion Pass. Longtime blog readers will know that we consider the Southwest Companion Pass the best deal you can get in domestic travel. This year, Southwest made our 2019 pass efforts even more valuable by extending our pass expiration date out a whole year, to December 2021. As such, we managed to get two round trip tickets from Dallas to Oakland (a route that usually averages around $259 per person) for a 5.2 cents per point redemption value — an insanely good use of points that got us to California basically for free!
From there, we rented a car with Budget to get ourselves from Oakland up to Napa. A full-size sedan with Budget Car Rental ran us $225, an average of $75/day. I booked this through the Southwest Car Rental portal, which earned me 1,200 bonus points, as well as one point per dollar on the cost of the booking — which, if we managed to redeem these points at the same rate of return as we got on our flights, that would mean a total of $74 worth of points back in my Southwest account to fund future travel.
As far as hotel, we stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Napa for free using 104,000 Hilton Honors points for 3 nights. An average April price for this hotel is around $358/night, meaning that we got just about 1 cent per point value; an “ok” redemption value for Hilton points. The hotel was clean and comfortable, the free Hampton breakfast (while “modified” for Covid) was adequate, and the staff was friendly. We also appreciated the free parking.
So, if you’re keeping track, that’s flights for 2 people, 3 nights in a hotel, and a 3-day full size rental car, all for just $225 out of pocket. Not bad AT ALL for Napa, which is known as a high priced destination.
Napa, Day One:
As it was already nearing dinner time when we arrived, we headed straight over to Downtown Napa. Located just a few blocks from our hotel, we found most of the local shops were already closed for the day (limited operating hours due to COVID), but the many restaurants along Main Street were just getting going. Thanks to the area’s COVID support for small businesses, the restaurants along this strip in particular were allowed to convert to sidewalk cafes by closing the street to cars. This was perfect for us, as we were able to snag an outdoor table looking out over the Napa River at Zuzu.
Zuzu Napa is a tapas restaurant with an impeccable wine list, and we started with a charcuterie plate and a celebratory bottle of sparkling blanc de blancs from nearby Schrambsberg Vineyards. We also tried several other dishes on their menu including the boquerones (yum!), gambas al ajillo (also good), and Akushi flat iron steak with chimichurri (amazing!), and in fact this ended up being our best meal of the entire trip. Keep in mind if you try to visit Zuzu that they don’t take reservations, so plan to either eat early or put your name down, leave, and return once a table opens up.
Later than evening, we headed over to the nearby Archer Hotel to check out their rooftop bar, Sky and Vine. While the live music was just ending at 8pm when we arrived (isn’t live music usually supposed to start at 8?), we were still able to take in a beautiful sunset over the area’s surrounding mountains while enjoying a night cap. However, as the servers at this particular establishment were slammed, each drink was taking about 25 minutes from order to delivery, so we decided to turn in after just the one.
Napa, Day Two
And all in all, it was a good thing we turned in early, because that allowed us to be up early to take on a fantastic morning hike. We set off from Napa’s Skyline Wilderness Park, which is California state land that has been leased back to the “Skyline Park Citizens Association”, a group of local citizens dedicated to the preservation of the park and its trails. While there are numerous trails suitable for hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riding throughout the park, we took what I believe might be the most popular trails: the Upper Skyline Trail to the Lake Marie Dam, and the Marie Creek Trail to Lake Marie Road on our way back.
This came out to about a 7.5 mile hike that I would describe as moderately difficult; the first couple miles of the Upper Skyline Trail include numerous switchback and a pretty quick amount of elevation gain that eased up once we reached the ridge and started our slow “descent” back down for the rest of the hike. But that elevation gain is worth it because the views! They were stunning. We also encountered a fair share of wildlife along the trails, including deer, turkeys, and lots and lots of lizards.
Having gotten our steps in early, the next item on our agenda was food, and Napa did not disappoint. We grabbed lunch at the Oxbow Public Market, a food hall filled with about a dozen local artisans and food vendors. We split two sandwiches, a cirtus marinated pork sandwich from the Fatted Calf, and the “Model Chicken” (chicken-bacon-gouda with a balsamic glaze) from the Model Bakery. Unfortunately, we were so hungry from the hike, we forgot to actually get any photos of the food, but I promise you it was delicious!
The afternoon would bring our first few wine tastings. One note here is that coming out of COVID-times, and likely for the foreseeable future, reservations are a MUST for visiting the area’s vineyards, wineries, and tasting rooms. As they’re still operating at a reduced capacity, it’s very unlikely that most venues will be able to accommodate you if you simply show up on a whim. We saw folks getting turned away for not having a reservation nearly everywhere we visited, so make sure to plan ahead. And keep in mind that you’ll need a plan for how to (safely) get from one winery to the next — we relied on Uber and Lyft but it wasn’t exactly “easy” as there’s a real driver shortage in Napa Valley. Multiple times, we had to upgrade to an Uber Black or Uber XL in order to actually get to our next reservation on time. Especially if you’re in a larger group, you’re probably better off just hiring a driver for the day.
We started the wine portion of our itinerary at Domaine Carneros, one of the more popular wineries in Napa, where we shared both their Sparkling Wine Sampler and Sparkling Grande tasting. This allowed us to try all eight of the sparkling wines produced under that label. And while the wines were wonderful, a visit to Domaine Carneros is really more about the scenery — very few things can top sitting in your own castle, overlooking well manicured gardens and rolling hills.
But, somehow, our next stop did indeed manage to top it, and in fact, became the highlight of our whole trip. Located on a working quarterhorse ranch, Shadybrook Estate produces small-lot wines exclusively for their on-site tastings and wine club members. Our tasting there, on their terrace, overlooked Shadybrook’s own vines and also the Napa Valley Country Club golf course, which gave the entire place a private, “away-from-it-all” feel. The fact that there were only about 8 tasting tables on the terrace helped too.
Moreover, Shadybrook just felt personal. The owner, Alice, came up and greeted us when we first arrived. Our server, Eric, gave us a great overview of the wines on the “Savor Shadybrook” tasting, and then (as we were the last reservation at our table that day) actually sat down and had a bonus glass with us where we discussed everything from retail wine buying to Covid vaccines to college football. And the wines were phenomenal. It’s no wonder, then, that we ended up as members of their wine club! We look forward to our future shipments, and going back to visit often.
That evening for dinner, we returned to downtown Napa and had our only real let-down of the trip. Oenotri, an Italian restaurant listed among Eater’s “Essential Napa Valley Restaurants” fell flat — the food was underseasoned and overpriced. This one felt especially off-putting as we had been hoping to score a French Laundry reservation for this night, but had unfortunately failed to win the reservation lottery. Looking to save a bad turn, we sought out an after-dinner drink nearby at Cadet Wine Bar. There, we perched on their small courtyard near a patio heater and enjoyed a bottle of Napa Cabernet to end the night.
St. Helena & Rutherford, Day Three
We kicked things off the next day at Mumm Napa, which is one of my general go-tos for sparkling rosé. Here we did the Oak Terrace Tasting Experience, and it was a perfect, relaxing way to kick off the morning. The tasting included 5 sparkling wines and also came with a little charcuterie board to munch on, and our table overlooked the on-site vines. Unfortunately, the art gallery and on-site museum weren’t open due to Covid regulations, but we still thoroughly enjoyed this experience and somehow wound up becoming new wine club members here as well. (Pro-tip: one nice thing about joining the wine club onsite was that we received $30 back off the price of our tasting.)
After Mumm, we headed to St. Helena, another of the major cities in the Napa Valley, where we had a reservation for lunch at the Charter Oak Restaurant. The Charter Oak was one of the restaurants selected by American Express and Resy to receive private heated outdoor yurts — yes, yurts — to allow them to continue to serve diners safely during Covid. We managed to sneak in a reservation in the last week the yurts were in use. This meant we received a special menu, including caviar and potato chips, and a small flask of brandy milk punch to take home with us. It was a fun, unique way to dine, and I’m glad we got to experience it.
That afternoon we enjoyed two more tastings — one at Honig Vineyard, where we could go right up to the vines and examine them, and another at Frog’s Leap Winery, one of the hubby’s favorites, where a couple friends from the Bay Area drove up to join us. These particular friends were among the last “out-of-towners” we hosted pre-Covid, so getting to see them again now that we were all vaccinated felt like things had really come full circle.
For our final dinner that evening, we took a bottle that we had purchased at Frog’s Leap with us to Long Meadow Ranch, a farmstead-themed restaurant where they grow much of the restaurant’s produce on-site. Despite having a reservation, Long Meadow was running about an hour behind schedule, so we had plenty of time to take in the gardens, antique tractors, and other points of interest on their grounds. Once seated, the food was high-end American fare, like deviled eggs and a grass-fed cheeseburger; while tasty, it was the lovely grounds that made the location feel special. I’d definitely recommend eating outside, even in non-pandemic times.
The next morning, we grabbed our on-site hotel breakfast before heading back to the airport to return our rental car and fly home. It was a short, lovely trip that reinforced what making it through the Covid period had already taught us: life is too short for bad wine.
