sonoma/napa trip review

[cubicles]

Just got back from our trip, so time to let you all know how it went. first off, thanks so much for all the comments, recs, and advice. it really made the trip amazing.

Day 1:
hit a bunch of Sonoma wineries; highlights were Wellington (very nice and overall a great atmosphere, with very good wines) and Frick (Robert was super nice and the wines (all Rhone varietals) were extremely interesting and excellent); happened to be barrel-tasting weekend so in general some of the wineries were more crowded than usual, but not too bad
dinner at Cyrus:
absolutely amazing, it met all our expectations and was a truly wonderful experience; we did the chef's tasting menu: began with 5 canapes for the different tastes (salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami): most memorable was the sweet (a "balloon" of blood orange flavored syrup made with calcium chloride and sodium alginate) and the bitter (charred radish with some sort of cream, but I forget exactly what); an amuse of white tuna carpacio with caviar was also excellent, but not totally memorable; for the first course i had an oxtail consomme with tuna: this was absolutely wonderful, the broth was outstanding; my gf had shrimp "ceviche" with radish, blood orange and cuttlefish: this was prob our least favorite dish, but still pretty good; second, I had the bay scallops with a passionfruit/sweet potato puree and turnip foam: the scallops were cooked to perfection and the flavors all melded perfectly; my gf had a quail egg over foi gras and black truffle jus with a carraway/rye tuille: this dish was one of our favorites, although the tuille didn't quite meld with/was overwhelmed by the rest of the dish; third we both had ocean trout wrapped with soba noodles in an oolong broth: we both agreed the sauce was wonderful but the dish as a whole lacked a punch or that "wow" factor; fourth i had the pork cheek with cabbage, a red wine/truffle risotto and a parmesan crisp: the pork was super tender and the risotto was tremendous; my gf had a wagyu strip with lotus and shitaake and a bone marrow flan: she loved the steak but I absolutely fell in love with the marrow flan (it was one of my "best bites of the trip"); for dessert she had a milk chocolate peanut bar which she said was elegant and excellent; i had the butterscotch/popcorn sundae which was very interesting and a nice finish; afterwards we were given an (extremely large) selection of mignardises and a walnut brownie to take home: these were uniformly excellent; as far as drinks my gf was tired from the day of wine tasting, but I had two cocktails that were both inventive and went quite well with the rest of the meal.

Day 2:
checked out mostly the Russian River Valley; highlights were Gary Farrell ( very good wines along with absolutely stunning views) and the Mayo Reserve Room (this was closer to the town of Sonoma); we did the food and wine pairing which was terriffic; the food was really top-notch and almost uniformly enhanced the flavors of the wine (this was one of our top experiences of the whole trip) we also stopped at Merry Edwards and liked, but didn't love the wines.
dinner at Bottega:
should have listened to both my gut and the numerous reviews on this one; the only meal we really weren't happy with; nothing was bad, but nothing was great; overall a pretty meh experience; we went late so it wasn't too loud/crowded but i could see this being an issue at normal meal times. we each ordered an app (I had the polenta under glass which was good, but not truly special, prob our favorite thing we had) and my gf had a beet salad (again good, but not great). for mains we each ordered pastas, neither of which was anything to write home about: mine was a couple minutes short of al dente and hers was fine in terms of done-ness, but somewhat bland. glad we decided to stick with it and get dessert as the cappucino profiteroles were actually quite good. not enough to make the whole experience worth it, but still a nice finish.

Day 3:
highlight of today's tastings was Elisabeth Spencer: small little tasting room off the side of the main highway; pourers were very knowledgeable and helpful; we loved their cabernets, esp the Rutherford reserve; really all the wineries we visited today were good, but this was the highlight (also went to Cakebread, STeltzner, and Luna)
dinner at Bouchon:
met/exceeded expectations. i was a little wary after reading many posts of excessive noise and uneven food, but for us the experience was great; started with the salmon rilletes and a mushroom salad crab glacage: both were good but the rilletes were truly excellent. next had the mussels and the trout: the trout was good if somewhat simple; the mussels were probably the best i have ever had and also came with very nice fries; i wanted to (and somewhat embarrasingly did) ladle the sauce like soup. it was another "best bites of the trip"; no dessert as we were absolutely stuffed with the quite generous portions

Day 4:
nothing super memorable from a winery standpoint today. we went to august briggs, dutch henry, and vincent arroyo, all of which were nice and had some good wines, but didn't quite strike us the way some others did
dinner at Mustards:
this far exceeded my expectations; i came in stuffed having eaten a truly outstanding lunch at solbar (got the lucky pig which was worth the trip to Calistoga by itself; highly highly recommended); i got the rabbit au jus and my gf got a salmon special with fresh vegetables; both were really great; the salmon was cooked perfectly and was simple yet refined; the rabbit was exceedingly tender and came with a great sauce as well as homey mashed potatoes; for dessert (don't ask me why we ordered it after eating only 1/2 our entrees; we're sweet freaks what can i say) we had the hazlenut chocolate caramel molten tart: this was AMAZING!!! def my gf's favorite thing of the whole trip; it really was deilicious.

Day 5:
started with the tour/tasting at Schramsberg: really interesting and the wines were actually better/more interesting than i expected; also went to Saintsbury for some Carneros pinots (very good; we actually preferred these to the ones we had in the Russian River) and Pride; Pride was probably our winery of the trip; although it was a pain to get to (up on Spring Mountatin straddling the Napa and Sonoma border) it was well worth it; got a tour of all the facilities as well as several barrell tastings and tastings of reserve wines not on the pouring list; our pourer was extremely helpful and really listed to our likes and dislikes in terms of choosing which wines to pour; for an intimate experience with really nice wines I would definitely recommend it.
dinner at Zuni Cafe in San Francisco:
had an early morning flight so decided to eat in the city; were somewhat food-tired from our trip so decided to keep it simple and just have the roast chicken: we were thrilled with our decision. it was moist, with a crispy skin and the bread "salad" (more like stuffing) was really really really good. the bread was still crispy yet had soaked up all the yummy juices and the pine nuts and currants paired beautifully with it. a great end to a great trip

well that's it folks. sorry this was so long but wanted to report back fairly thoroughly and add to the tremendous wealth of information that proved so useful to us. once again, thanks to all the SF chowhounders who responded to my several posts and aided us with their insights. looking forward to visiting again soon!

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Zuni Cafe
1658 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Saintsbury
1500 Los Carneros Ave, Napa, CA

Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599

Bouchon
6534 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599

[Ruth Lafler]

Thanks for the great report! Could you tell us a little more about your "truly outstanding lunch at solbar"? Being up in Calistoga it tends to get overlooked when people ask about restaurants in "Napa."

[cubicles]

since it was lunch we didn't order any drinks or that much food. we started with a beet salad that was simple but very nice: red, yellow, and candystripe beets boiled to a tender yet still toothsome texture with some simple mixed greens, oranges, and a nice hazelnut vinaigrette. the real winner though, and the reason i had bookmarked it as a must visit, is the "lucky pig for two". as described by the restaurant: "slow-roasted shoulder of long and bailey duroc pork, black sesame crepes,pickled pineapple, mongolian peanuts, lettuce cups and more". the more included fresh herbs, such as mint, parsley, and basil, as well as a wonderfully sweet and tangy mustard chile sauce. the pig was falling off the bone and super flavorful and the crepes were a perfectly vehicle for the pig and fixings. the pineapple in particular was excellent. overall just a really fun and tasty dish. in general, the ambience was very serene and peaceful, but not to an annoying extent. the decor was minimal but nice, the soothing landscapes and gravel firepits were especially welcome on the rainy day we visited. i dont know about dinner or weekends, but at 2ish on the Tuesday we visited there was hardly anyone there, which made talking extremely easy.

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Solbar
755 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, CA

[syrahgirl]

We love Cyrus, it's a pretty amazing place! Thanks for the report on Solbar, it's first on our list of places to try next visit. I would love to stay at Solage, also! :)