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volante:
usa
Meadowood brings old-school Napa food and wine culture
together with a touch of the Hamptons, write Elyse Glickman
and Sandi Margolis
photographed by the authors
From
issue 20 of Lucire 
WHEN YOU THINK of Napa, what comes
to mind? Winery tours and great food, naturally, and, perhaps, golf
(take it from a former golf widow!). However, if you want your visit
to one of America’s most famous “victory gardens” to be more diverse
in activities and culture, Meadowood is a wonderful spot to call
home for a few days.
While other resorts have the northern California
“craftsman-style” thing, Meadowood and its neighbouring community,
St Hélèna, instantly strike you as a younger, more
free-spirited west coast cousin to the Hamptons, thanks to the property’s
homespun wooden cottages and club houses, St Hélèna’s
Main Street (which is a Main Street USA
in every sense) and locals and residents opting for Lacoste and
Banana Republic-hewn style. There is a touch of a European sensibility,
but since this is a Relais & Château property, that should
come as no surprise.
That being said, Meadowood and St Hélèna are
anything but stuffy, thanks to the resort’s young, energetic and highly attentive staff and an on-premises spa and health club that
is as relaxed and friendly as your neighbourhood yoga place back
home (with a boutique choc-a-block with cute yoga clothes and cosmetics
to boot!). Also, even with some visual trappings that scream ‘old east coast money’, there are plenty of things to do and see that
deliver a food and wine lover a quintessentially Napa kind of experience worth crossing the country or the world for.
On Main Street, clothing boutiques are dispersed
among specialty stores for artisan breads, olive oils, wine and
Woodhouse Chocolate.
When it comes to winery visits, the possibilities
are endless, and resident sommelier Michael Scherzberg can even
help you pick the ones just right for you. However, Signorello Vineyards
(1 707 255-5990, www.signorellovineyards.com)
offers something a bit more special, thanks to winery chef Laura Douglas-Lee.
In her capable hands, you can organize a customized
cooking class for a moderate price that not only teaches you and
your travel-mates cooking basics and user friendly recipes (we learned
about how to throw together a great summer corn and shrimp salad,
ratatouille with seared ahi tuna and herb gnocchi from scratch with
seasonal mushroom sauce and seared duck—exquisite!), but also how
adapt the foods you are preparing to suit Signorello’s excellent
wines during the cooking and seasoning process. Better still, Lee’s
recipes are so easy to follow that substitutions for any allergy
or dietary restriction is as much a no-brainer as picking the right
wine, because it’s been thought out ahead of time.
Thanks to Scherzberg and his staff, meanwhile,
on-premises restaurants (including the Grill and the newly opened
and exceedingly romantic Restaurant at Meadowood) boast one of the
largest wine lists in the country—47 pp. covering nearly 1,000 selections.
The menus, fashioned by executive chef Vincent Nattress and restaurant
chef-de-cuisine Joseph Humphrey, are close to perfect, and go as
far to offer the one-of-a-kind experience of separate red, white
and either food menus to take some of the guesswork out of food
pairing.
Moreover, the 42-year-old resort is retreat gone
luxe (but without pretension), thanks in part to the meandering
green hills (including a croquet lawn, tennis courts, and a nine-hole
golf course), the enormous rooms, insanely soft Italian bedclothes,
splurge-worthy spa treatments (like the gentle-but-effective Cabernet
Crush and signature Cascading Stone Massage), Molton Brown amenities,
colourful English china in your mini-bar, impeccably appointed pool
areas and tennis courts, wine-tasting happy hours with Scherzberg
often pouring the wines and telling you stories behind them, croquet
lessons from Jerry Stark (America’s current top-ranked player) and
golf-carts to squire you here and there. •
Meadowood Napa
Valley, 900 Meadowood Lane, St Hélèna, CA 94574,
USA. Telephone 1 800 458-8080.
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Vintage St Hélèna shopping
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