661224 Wed Oct 21 12:17:23 -0700 2009 4 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 5120371 Hello Hounds... Must confess...this is my first post on the boards after lurking for a few days and I feel like the complete novice I am, so please, be gentle. My husband and I are headed out to SF for three days in November. We spent a week in your amazing city in July and felt the almost-immediate need to go back. As my husband is the East Coast's biggest 49ers fan, we're off for a football-filled long weekend very soon. We managed to get out to Napa and Sonoma during our earlier visit and I fell in love so much, we've decided to try and spend a few hours (at least) out there on our next trip. Mostly, I'd just like to hit up a couple of the wineries we missed out on this summer. Then I do a little more research and discover there are fall colors to be seen? For a native Miami girl, this is huge! So I'm now trying to find a place that can combine amazing food and beautiful scenery in Napa. Is it possible? We'll have a car, so that's not an issue. And the wineries I'd really like to visit are Peju are Domaine Carneros (Although I have yet to map out an itinerary for which to visit first. If you'd like to make a suggestion on that too, by all means...I'd be more than happy for some advice). Thank you much! Wed Oct 21 12:17:23 -0700 2009 1118090 umwife11 1 5120452 http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/437992 http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/41954 http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/493897 http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/424279 Wed Oct 21 12:45:27 -0700 2009 5120371 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 5121225 Healthy young vines turn yellow, which can be monotonous. As a general rule, most everything you'd see from Auberge du Soleil, your best bet for view+food, has been replanted in the last 20 years due to phylloxera, though maybe not everything. Up toward Calistoga, there are a number of older vineyards on older rootstock, that have lived long enough to be infected with various bugs that are loosely tied to the dramatic reds and oranges. If you took a picnic to a winery like Barnett on Spring Mountain, you'd have a view of the patchwork of different colors on the valley floor, where a block of deep maroon 100 year old vines are still farmed next to a block of pale yellow 10 year old vines. Wed Oct 21 17:44:52 -0700 2009 5120371 17221 SteveG 2 5121300 For a picnic at a winery, Paradise Ridge has an amazing view. Wed Oct 21 18:20:33 -0700 2009 5121225 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 5121401 Check the links provided elsewhere for more detail, but... Food with a view in the Napa Valley means Auberge (lunch outside on a lovely fall day is splendid) or Domaine Chandon, ditto. Other spots are Brix (with Annie Gingrass now in charge of the kitchen) with its lovely views to the west, and Solbar at the Calistoga resort, fresh with a new Michelin star. Unsure if they allow picnics (they used to) but Rutherford Hill is just upslope from Auberge. As far as wineries, a combination of Domaine Carneros and Domaine Chandon would provide an interesting contrast (and they're no more than 15 minutes apart). Sorry about your husband's football alliances. Wed Oct 21 19:02:55 -0700 2009 5120371 28256 MRMoggie