Off-Season Napa

Tourists flock to Napa Valley, especially at harvest time, which is why my husband, Paul, and I couldn’t get room reservations there until well after the grapes were picked. As a result, when we went to Napa in early November, my goal was to get the most out of wine country in the off-season--and to do it on a budget. Instead of booking at one of the valley’s posh inns or B&Bs;, I made reservations at White Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa, a no-frills lodge that’s been around since 1852 and bills itself as the oldest resort in California.

I reserved $115 accommodations in the resort’s 14-room inn. We found the room tiny, spartan and rather grim. Scott, a muscular masseur at the spa who doubles as a night manager, didn’t disagree, and mentioned that the inn will undergo renovation in 1999.

We decided to ante up an extra $20 a night (the money I’d planned to use on a facial) to nab the only cottage still available. One in a row of little bamboo-hedged clapboard cottages facing Sulphur Creek, ours was about the width of a railroad car. But it was freshly painted and had new carpeting, a powerful (and much-needed) heater, a queen-size bed with two reading lamps, a new love seat and rocking chair and a modern bathroom with a skylight.

For dinner, to avoid the expensive French Laundrys, Pinot Blancs and Tra Vignes of Napa Valley, we drove 10 miles north on California 29 to Calistoga, a funky town of mineral-spring resorts, mud-bath houses and a handful of reasonable restaurants. I’d made reservations at the Wappo Bar Bistro, a quiet, dark-wood-paneled eatery. The service was friendly and the menu was intriguing, with international dishes from Ugandan peanut chicken to Italian osso buco.

Back in the cottage, we fell asleep in the utter silence of White Sulphur Canyon--until the middle of the night, when rain hammering on the bathroom skylight gave a good imitation of sleeping inside a popcorn popper.

We encountered a tourist mob scene when we stopped for lunch the next day at Dean & Deluca, an outpost of New York’s chic gourmet grocery store on the highway in Rutherford. We bought a luscious pork tenderloin-and-apple-butter sandwich and a couple of Calistoga waters, but there were no tables, so we joined others who were picnicking outside.

Before coming up I’d arranged to visit one of the valley’s small family-owned vineyards, where tours are by appointment only. I’d come across Oliver Caldwell Cellars in a recent Wine Spectator article about “up-and-coming” Napa wineries. When I phoned from L.A. to ask if it was possible to visit, the owners, Oliver and Karen Caldwell--San Francisco art dealers turned winemakers--were happy to have us drop by.

The sun had melted away the storm clouds by the time we approached the Caldwells’ 20-acre vineyard, just north of St. Helena. The fields of grapevines surrounding their oak-shaded house glistened in the light. The Caldwells, a young couple with a 16-month-old son, said it was just this kind of glorious day five years ago when they first saw the property and decided to buy it. As they walked us through the vineyards, Oliver explained that, before they lived here, the grapes had been sold each year to local winemakers. Once in residence, they found themselves growing “attached” to their grapes and decided to try making wine themselves.

We sampled some sweet Zinfandel grapes that had escaped the harvest and dried on the vine. By tour’s end, I could easily understand the Caldwells’ passion for their new venture (they have yet to learn if it will be profitable). Only a few hundred cases each of their 1996 Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Syrah were bottled.

That night we drove to St. Helena in search of a reasonably priced restaurant. Off Highway 29 we discovered Cafe Magnolia, a cozy place with a fireplace and bright mosaic-tiled columns. As at the Wappo Bar, the service was friendly and the food was quite good. Our waiter, an oenophile, answered questions that had been piqued by our winery tour. Back at the spa, as we walked to our little house in the big woods, my flashlight beam picked up the glowing red eyes of three deer, the only other creatures we encountered in our forest retreat.

Boorstin is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.

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Budget for Two

Air fare: $176.00

Car rental & gas: 87.32

Resort, 2 nights: 342.55

Dinner, Wappo Bar: 58.96

Wine tasting: 15.00

Lunch, Dean & Deluca: 7.78

Dinner, Cafe Magnolia: 49.61

FINAL TAB: 737.22

White Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa, 3100 White Sulphur Springs Road, St. Helena, CA 94574; tel. (800) 593-8873. Oliver Caldwell Cellars, St. Helena, tel. (707) 963-2037.

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