Touches of Tuscany

The best part of our glorious Italian vacation early last summer was a 10-day stay in a rented farmhouse high atop a secluded Tuscan hilltop. So when an acquaintance recommended another “Tuscan farmhouse”--this one a small hotel in the Napa Valley--for a weekend escape, we were immediately intrigued.

There was only one problem: Except for this one casual acquaintance, no one I know had ever heard of the Villa St. Helena. Nor was it listed in any of my Napa Valley guidebooks or brochures.

The place sounded tempting, though: a 10-bedroom private estate, designed by an internationally known architect and built into a 20-acre hillside site, and later converted to a six-room hotel with commanding views of the valley below.

Lucy and I flew from Burbank to Oakland, jumped in our rental car and sped north. We raced past the towns of Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford, surrounded by the vineyards of many of the best wineries in the valley. Then, eight miles north of Napa, we turned left and drove 1 1/2 miles along a small tree-lined street, where vineyards alternated with vine-covered suburban homes. We turned left at the end of the road (“Private Road--No Thru Traffic”), drove between two brick pillars and--200 yards later--came to a white gate blocking the road. We slid back the large aluminum deadbolt, then (as instructed in detailed directions sent by villa management) relocked the gate.

This was getting exciting.

We wound our way three-quarters of a mile up a narrow, serpentine road that reminded us of the approach to our house in Tuscany. And there it was, sort of. We could see the red tile roof and brick construction, but the villa was largely screened from view by big oak, bay and madrono trees. We parked in one of the three arched car stalls and walked inside and up the Mexican tile staircase--and found that we really were in a villa, all 12,000 square feet of it.

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We were shown first to the wood-paneled library and the beamed-ceiling living room filled with period furniture, a large, blue Delft tile fireplace, throw rugs on the terra cotta tile floor and tapestries on the walls. A few scenes for the TV show “Falcon Crest” were filmed in the living room, we were told, but what captured our attention was outside, visible through the large rectangular window: a grassy courtyard, a stone fireplace, beautiful bougainvillea and large swimming pool.

We checked in, unpacked and went for a swim.

Our appetites suitably aroused, we headed for dinner at Pinot Blanc, just a few blocks up California 29 from where we turned off. Pinot Blanc is part of the growing empire created by chef Joachim Splichal and his wife/partner Christine, who run Patina restaurant in Hollywood and the variously named Pinot bistros there and in Pasadena, Studio City and downtown Los Angeles. Lucy and I have liked most of the hearty, imaginative dishes we’d had at the Splichal outposts, and Pinot Blanc was no exception.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, where the staff had set up three tables--two in the breakfast room, looking out on the swimming pool and courtyard, and one in a corner of the living room. We were all alone (though there were three other couples in the hotel that weekend), and while the serve-yourself meal was not elaborate, it was eminently satisfactory: big platters of fresh fruit, pitchers of a fresh strawberry/banana drink, several kinds of breakfast rolls and pastries and, of course, coffee and tea.

After breakfast, we wandered around the property, taking special note of what the staff called “the point”: a spit of land that juts into midair, a ledge of sorts, at the edge of the property, affording spectacular views of the valley and hills beyond.

The villa was originally a private home, built in 1941 from a design by Robert Carrere, who also designed several churches in Italy, hence the horizontal, Tuscan farmhouse feel, even though the villa is actually three stories high. It was purchased 14 years ago by Ralph Cotton, a San Francisco CPA, and his wife, Carolyn, a consultant in the health care industry.

The Cottons generally rent out only three of the 10 bedrooms ($185 to $245 nightly) at a time. Four others are used to house the staff, and the remaining three are usually kept for friends, family and business clients. (In January and February, rates drop about $40.) Like the public rooms, all the bedrooms have what Lucy called “a few too many tchotchkes.”

One morning, we decided to venture away from the pool and go to a winery after breakfast. Lucy and I had visited a number of wineries on a previous trip, but wanted to see at least one and chose Iron Horse, in Sebastopol, which is open to the public by appointment only. It was a good choice. The owner, Barry Sterling, takes a folksy approach to the often esoteric-sounding process of making wine, even going so far as to pour raw grape juice into our glasses of his sparkling wine to make what he laughingly called “instant Kir Royale” (a French aperitif usually made with Champagne and creme de cassis).

We also visited the small Petrified Forest, just outside Calistoga, and the Old Faithful Geyser on the other side of Calistoga. All the “petrified” trees were in pieces, lying on the ground, but the geyser was worth the short drive from our hotel.

Our final dinner in Napa came at Mustard’s Grill, one of the valley’s old standbys. In between dinners, we had a casual lunch at Tomatina--a design-your-own-pizza place next to Tra Vigne, the valley’s best-known Italian restaurant, and on our way to the airport on our last day, we stopped at the celebrated Oakville Grocery to buy sandwiches, drinks and pastries for a last-minute picnic.

But as much as we enjoyed all our meals, it was the Villa St. Helena itself that was the focal point, and primary pleasure, of the trip. We swam in the pool each day and sat in the poolside chairs, reading and playing with several of the more than 40 cats--five of them just a few weeks old--that strolled about the property. Cotton told us he’d had what he called “a bird problem--too much poop in the pool”--until he brought a few cats in.

It was a true romantic hideaway, and we could see why many Hollywood stars of the 1940s and ‘50s (including, Cotton says, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard) found it such an attractive destination.

Maybe we’ll go back next year and see how our favorite kitten--a black-and-white called “Tux”--has turned out.

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Budget for Two

Plane tickets: $228.00

Villa St. Helena (2 nights, breakfasts included): 430.95

Dinner, Pinot Blanc: 98.26

Lunch, Tomatina: 27.46

Dinner, Mustard’s Grill: 92.59

Picnic lunch, Oakville Grocery: 23.54

Rental car, gas, tolls: 117.64

Admission, Old Faithful Geyser: 12.00

FINAL TAB: $1,030.44

Villa St. Helena, 2727 Sulphur Springs Ave., St. Helena, CA 94574; tel. (707) 963-2514.