The Napa Valley's Hot Culinary Scene

The Napa Valley has long been acclaimed for its fine dining and diversified culinary options. With this year's release of the esteemed Michelin San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country Guide, the culinary scene within the legendary wine region is deservedly receiving heightened recognition – 14 Michelin stars for 2011, more than any other wine region in the world, per capita.

That's just the start of the Valley's range of culinary delights. Beyond the world-class dining, the Napa Valley offers a bounty of innovative artisanal and agricultural adventures, winemaking experiences and hands-on culinary tours and programs that will have guests returning home inspired and feeling like top chefs and wine connoisseurs. Experiences include the art of making wine from start to finish and creating your very own personalized blend; developing your palate and learning to taste like a chef at the esteemed Culinary Institute of America at Greystone; enjoying true farm-to-table dining that begins with a garden tour; and learning the craft of curing meats or whole hog butchery.

The Napa Valley also hosts a variety of stellar food and wine events that offer guests the opportunity to access the best from local farmers and sustainable food purveyors. Get a true taste of the region with events like the Napa Truffle Festival, the prestigious Auction Napa Valley, and the upcoming new Flavor! Napa Valley, Wine, Food & Fun festival - launching November 2011. Flavor! Napa Valley will allow guests to get up close and personal with Napa Valley's celebrated chefs and sommeliers as they host special wine tastings, cooking demonstrations and one-of-a-kind dining experiences.

Following are a few examples of the region's gastronomic draws for foodies and wine enthusiasts to enjoy:

SATISFYINGLY STELLAR EATS

Indulge in one of the venerable 2011 Michelin awarded restaurants which include Thomas Keller's prestigious 3-Star French Laundry; Christopher Kostow's elegant 3-Star The Restaurant at Meadowood; and Michelin-Star rated Etoile, at Domaine Chandon, Ken Frank's La Toque, Solbar in the Solage Calistoga Resort (Brandon Sharp), Ubuntu (Aaron London), The Restaurant at Auberge du Soleil (Robert Curry); Thomas Keller's Bouchon; Richard Reddington's Redd; and Lissa & Hiro Sone's Terra.

Try one of the Valley's newest eateries to enter the scene including Morimoto Napa, opened Summer 2010 by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto; Tyler Florence's Rotisserie & Wine, opened Fall 2010; and Fish Story a sustainable-focused seafood eatery from Bay Area's celebrated Lark Creek Restaurant Group, also opened Fall 2010.

Head to the Napa Valley's popular Oxbow Public Market, ranked one of “America's Best Public Markets” by Frommer's. The 40,000 square-foot marketplace is a popular gathering place for locals and offers artisan foods, wine, fresh produce, bread and baked goods, and more.

ENGAGING WINE AND FOOD EXPERIENCES

The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone offers visitors more opportunities to engage in culinary learning experiences from 30-minute tastings to weeklong boot camps. “Students” can get a taste of the CIA experience while enjoying the company of fellow food and wine fans. The CIA Flavor Bar provides short interactive tasting experiences including chocolate tastings; super premium olive oil tastings with the new “Oleoteca”; or "Taste Like a Chef: Calibrate Your Palate" – to explore the sweet, sour, bitter and salty areas of the palate and learn how chefs balance ingredients and make food flavors "pop" in a dish. Additional classes include topics like: artisan breads at home, food and wine pairing, and seasons in the wine country.
The Fatted Calf, located at The Oxbow Public Market in Downtown Napa, offers a “Whole Hog Butchery” class where one can learn how to break down a whole hog into its various useful parts, prepare roasts, and make fresh sausage and crepinettes. Other classes such as making Salumi are also available.

Cakebread Cellars offers a range of hands-on cooking classes at the winery where guests can learn alongside chefs and other food and wine lovers. Classes take place in the winery kitchen or outdoors at a barbecue area with a wood-burning oven. Classes include a tour of the winery, a tasting of Cakebread Cellars wines, cooking class and a three-course lunch paired with wine. Participants also receive a Cakebread Cellars logo apron and a booklet of the recipes and wine notes from the day.
The Logan-Ives House at Long Meadow Ranch Winery & Farmstead features an array of new and engaging experiences for lovers of local food and wines including olive oil tastings, distinctive full-circle farming tours, and mountain ranch excursions.
Conn Creek Winery's AVA Room Barrel Blending Experience provides guests a rare opportunity to learn about, taste, and blend wines from the many distinctive winemaking regions, or “appellations” that make up the legendary Napa Valley. Guests get to play winemaker for a day and take home the fruit of their labors in a bottling they custom blend themselves from barrels containing wine from 14 of The Napa Valley's appellations.

Beyond vineyards, The Napa Valley is renowned for its many olive groves that produce some of the best olive oil in the world. Round Pond offers an educational 90-minute tour and tasting that shows where the olives are cultivated and milled, followed by a guided tasting of the oils and red wine vinegars, accompanied by bread, cheeses and other seasonal organic produce.

Judd's Hill Winery offers a “Bottle Blending Day Camp” experience that allows visitors to work with a winemaker to create their very own Bordeaux style cuvee. Guests are guided through a personal tasting, education and blending session to help choose their perfect Bordeaux-style blend from four barrel samples. After the cuvee has been determined, guests are led through the process of hand-bottling, labeling and dipping the bottle tops in wax ,and can take home the personally crafted wine that same day.

SIGNATURE FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

The charity event of the season, Auction Napa Valley - The American Wine Classic (June 2-5, 2011) brings wine lovers and winemakers together to celebrate the best Napa Valley has to offer, with four glorious days of incredible wine and food. Guests enjoy insider's access to the cool cellars and warm hospitality of renowned Napa Valley vintners; various parties, ranging from blue-jeans casual to wear-your-finest formal, hosted by the people behind some of the world's most recognized wines; and more than 250 auction lots to bid on – ranging from a single case of wine to one-of-a-kind trips and wine themed experiences.

Flavor! Napa Valley - A Celebration of Wine, Food, Fun will launch Nov. 17-20, 2011. The event will showcase the legendary food and wine talents of the Napa Valley and offer a four-day series of epicurean and oenophile events, hosted at the Silverado Resort & Spa and Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. Long-time Napa Valley chefs and residents Michael Chiarello, Ken Frank, Jeffrey Jake, Thomas Keller, Christopher Kostow, and Cindy Pawlcyn, along with Food Network's Tyler Florence and Masaharu Morimoto - both recent additions to the Valley's dynamic restaurant scene – are just a few of the celebrated food and wine talents to be featured throughout the weekend. Net proceeds from the event will support programs and scholarships at the CIA's Greystone Campus.

Meadowood Resort's signature holiday culinary extravaganza, The Twelve Days of Christmas at Meadowood (Dec. 2-7, 2011), brings together 12 of the country's most renowned chefs to collaborate with 12 of The Napa Valley's preeminent vintners to present holiday feasts on 12 festive December evenings in the heart of America's premiere wine growing region, along with Christopher Kostow, Chef at The Restaurant at Meadowood - which earned the Michelin Three-Star rating for 2011.

Sip, sup and savor some of The Napa Valley's finest foods and wines during Napa Valley Restaurant Month, held each January. Throughout the month the destination, where country-lane freshness meets the creativity of some of the world's finest chefs, offers unique dining opportunities and special menus at some of the region's most notable restaurants. These special dining opportunities make it even easier for culinary adventures to access Napa Valley's acclaimed dining scene.
A celebration of food, wine – and most importantly – truffles, the second annual Napa Truffle Festival (Jan. 13-15, 2012) is presented once again by the American Truffle Company and will feature a unique gathering of leading truffle cultivation experts and scientists, along with internationally renowned Michelin-star chefs and special guests from the food and wine world. Events include Michelin Star dining experiences, cultivation and culinary seminars, cooking classes, a truffle orchard tour excursion, an epicurean marketplace and more.
For more information about the varied culinary experiences in The Napa Valley, updates regarding The Valley's culinary scene, upcoming food and wine events, festivals, or special programs and package offers, please visit www.legendarynapavalley.com.