NAPA: The Lap of Luxury for Grape Lovers

Innkeepers of the Napa Valley are putting the squeeze on grape lovers.

Sorry, love, no longer is this the land of the $50-a-night B&B.;

Once upon a time the entire valley welcomed the vacationer on a budget. This was when one could snuggle in an atmosphere of Chippendale and Chablis for less than the cost of a reasonable Burgundy.

Now the couple with stars in their eyes and a crush on the grape are lucky to get in a few winks for under $100.

Take, for instance, Oakville Ranch, a resort perched high on a hillside overlooking the valley. I’m not saying you get ripped off, but with rates starting at $250 a night it does seem a trifle steep, even for a hideaway with a secured gate, an immense fireplace, loads of books, gallons of the grape, a swimming pool, a couple of tennis courts and an open bar.

Although Oakville has room aplenty--indeed it could accommodate a dozen couples--the neighbors insisted on preserving the pastoral atmosphere (and who can blame them?).

As a result, Oakville, designated a B&B;, is permitted to offer only three rooms, which is possibly one reason for the steep rates.

The master bedroom with a $300 price tag features a four-poster and a Jacuzzi. In addition to the open bar the proprietor provides a continental breakfast, although at $300 a night one might expect eggs Benedict with perhaps a dollop of caviar, a stack of blueberry pancakes and a side of bacon. At the very least. Instead, guests make do with such fare as muffins, croissants and (ho-hum) a Danish.

But never mind, the setting is inviting, what with lush gardens and meadows that resemble a windblown Van Gogh. Ivy smothers flagstone walls and a 1.3-mile private road leads to Oakville’s locked gate.

Similar privacy is offered at Villa St. Helena, a Mediterranean-style manor tucked away in the Mayacamas Mountains that face Napa Valley. During the ‘40s and ‘50s Villa St. Helena was a hangout for Hollywood celebrities. Only recently, scenes from “Falcon Crest” were filmed on the 20-acre estate. A nearly milelong private drive leads to its door. And while the villa is spread across more than 13,000 square feet, it, too, is targeted as a B&B.; With only three rooms set aside for guests, the rates range from $115 to $195 a night. (Didn’t I say Napa’s innkeepers are putting the squeeze on grape lovers?)

Other vacationers traveling the Grape Route are gushing over Meadowood, an upscale country club-style resort featuring lodges and individual cottages scattered across 256 acres in the hills near St. Helena. With its frame clubhouse, Meadowood appears like a transplant from coastal Maine. Rather than vineyards, this spiffy retreat with its gabled buildings is surrounded by pine, redwoods, oak and madrona trees on a hillside complete with golf, tennis, riding, bicycling, fishing and the West’s slickest croquet court. Indeed, Croquet Lodge focuses on a neatly manicured expanse of lawn where players in crisp whites pit their skills with mallet and ball.

When the chill of fall and winter sets in, guests snuggle under down comforters and sip wine before private fireplaces. Fruit baskets are part of the package, along with coffee makers, terry-cloth robes, a daily newspaper and refrigerators stocked with snacks.

The rates start at $110.

Similar luxury is provided at Napa Valley’s celebrated Auberge du Soleil, another hillside refuge that appears to have been plucked from some peaceful plot in Provence. Opened in 1981, Auberge du Soleil is the pride of Claude Rouas, formerly of Maxim’s in Paris and the proprietor of San Francisco’s renowned restaurant, L’Etoile.

As an indication of Rouas’ success as an innkeeper, accommodations at Auberge du Soleil are reserved up to four months in advance for weekends. Like Meadowood, cottages feature wood-burning fireplaces, complimentary wine and refrigerators stocked with fruit, pate, chocolates and cheese.

Guests awaken to the silence of the valley below while breakfast is served on terraces that take in Napa’s tranquil scene. Trellises trail wisteria, and balloonists appear on the horizon.

Lunch and dinner are served in the elegant Auberge restaurant and on the terrace with a garden view. The menu lists such specialties as veal stuffed with mushroom mousse, a buffalo tenderloin, rack of lamb with cognac, breast of duck with papaya lime chutney, quail stuffed with wild mushrooms, plus an almond puff pastry smothered with fruit and quenelle of dark chocolate mousse with blueberry sauce. This and more.

Auberge du Soleil beckons the vacationer with a penchant for pause in a setting that soothes the soul. Self-indulgence places a hardship on the pocketbook, what with rates spanning the scale from $210 to $480 a day for room and breakfast. Add to that lunch and dinner, and one wonders if Cannes couldn’t be cheaper.

Napa offers other pleasures at prices more affordable to the traveler counting nickels and dimes. Like snoozing in a water tower that sits smack in the middle of a vineyard on the 127-acre Trubody Ranch. The water tower was a sagging relic when Trubody’s youthful caretakers, Jeff and Mary Page, began shoring it up. They painted and plumbed and installed a spiral staircase, along with marble-top sinks, a claw-foot tub and a scattering of tastefully selected antiques.

The result is a peachy perch where actress Goldie Hawn took refuge recently. Sweet solitude at Trubody Ranch, with its vineyards that unfold to the horizon, prices out to $85/$95 a night. A gigantic eucalyptus cast its shadow on a Victorian farmhouse, vintage 1872. And next door to the water tower stands a stone milk house and a wonderful old barn with a rusty tin roof.

In case the water tower is booked, one can bed down for $67 nightly in an old railroad car in Yountville. Three of nine suites are in cabooses on the original track of the Napa Valley railroad. This is next door to the Whistle Stop Bar, vintage 1870, and Yountville’s clutch of shops, galleries and wineries. And if you don’t give a toot about railroads, there’s an old winery with creaking floors and brass beds whose six rooms feature only two baths.

A Sea of Grapes

At Burgundy House, flowers appear in planter boxes facing a sea of Cabernet, Riesling and Chardonnay grapes. Other blooms fill an ancient bread cart beside the door.

Charm yes, but Burgundy is no bargain, what with the cheapest accommodation figuring out to $77 a night without private bath. The better deal is Bruce and Bonnie Locken’s charming little Magnolia Hotel, where every room offers a private bath and rates begin at $85, including a full breakfast served family style with French toast swimming in a port wine syrup.

While legions of wine sippers hit the road on their own, Joanne DePuy leads private tours along Napa/Sonoma’s Grape Route. DePuy’s customized outings take in little-known family operations as well as the celebrated wineries of Beringer, Charles Krug, Sterling, Robert Mondavi and others. At one winery DePuy’s flock picnics in a grove of redwoods and takes to rowboats on a private lake.

DePuy shows off the wine country in rare style, loading couples into a Mercedes limousine on one- to three-day tours with overnight pit stops at the Silverado resort, Meadowood, Napa Valley lodge and Sonoma Mission Inn.

DePuy’s Wine Adventures aren’t cheap. The lady is candid. In her own words: “We do not offer the least expensive way to see the valley.” For the aficionado, though, DePuy makes it an experience to recall, with members of the Napa Valley Docent Council lecturing on the goodness of the grape. A one-day trip for two out of San Francisco figures out to $150 per person with a gourmet picnic at a private winery. Couples save $50 by meeting DePuy in Napa.

Airlifted by Balloon

On her three-day premiere tours ($650), the wine fancier is airlifted by balloon over Napa’s vineyards, feted at a champagne brunch, served a picnic lunch in the country and fed dinner at one of Napa’s celebrated restaurants. Some clients are interested only in Chardonnays. Others are into Cabernets. DePuy takes on all comers. What with 160 wineries, her love affair with the grape ripens.

Meanwhile, pilot/pastor Chuck Foster still does weddings over the hills and dales of Napa’s verdant wine country. It works out to $145 per person for the airborne ceremony, followed by a champagne brunch while the bride and bridegroom settle back down to earth. Other balloonists carry pastors, priests and rabbis aboard the aerial altars to perform the rites. Napa Valley balloons charges a flat $155 per person, which includes the flight, color photos of the launch and landing, and a champagne breakfast following the wedding.

All of which goes to prove there’s more than one way of getting high in the land of the grape.

References:

--Oakville Ranch, 7781 Silverado Trail, Napa 94558. Telephone (707) 944-8612.

--Meadowood Resort Hotel, 900 Meadowood Lane, St. Helena 94574. Telephone (707) 963-3646.

--Auberge du Soleil, 180 Rutherford Road, Rutherford 94573. Telephone (707) 963-1211.

--Trubody Ranch, 5444 St. Helena Highway, Napa 94558. Telephone (707) 255-5907.

--Napa Valley Railway Inn, 6503 Washington St., Yountville 94599. Telephone (707) 944-2000.

--Burgundy House, P.O. Box 3156, Yountville, Calif. 94599. Telephone (707) 944-0889.

--Magnolia Hotel, P.O. Box M, Yountville 94599. Telephone (707) 944-2056.

--Joanne DePuy’s Wine Adventures Inc., P.O. Box 3273, Yountville 94599. Telephone (707) 944-8468.

--Chuck Foster’s Balloon Aviation, 2299 3rd St., Napa 94558. Telephone (707) 252-7067.

--Napa Valley Balloons, P.O. Box 2860, Yountville 94599. Telephone (707) 253-2224.