Sonoma and Napa at the Table

Six nights in California wine country, three in Healdsburg and three in the Napa Valley. A private tasting at Aperture Cellars, where the resort's own grapes are made into wine, an evening with the valley's winemakers, and a private morning in the caves at Schramsberg, with dinner at Hazel Hill and Forum in between.

Length: Six nights
Pace: Two stays
Style: Food and wine, countryside, slow
Route: Healdsburg, Sonoma County to St Helena, Napa Valley

Healdsburg, Sonoma CountyThree nights
St Helena, Napa ValleyThree nights

Rows of green vines on a sunny hillside below wooded ridges.

Days 1 to 4 · three nights

Healdsburg, Sonoma County

Driven up from San Francisco to Healdsburg. Private tastings and tours at wineries the resort works with in the Dry Creek, Alexander and Russian River valleys, and one at Aperture Cellars, minutes away, where the grapes from the resort's 15.5 acres of vines are made into wine. A day south in the Sonoma Valley can bring a private ride through oak, madrone and bay forest, with a picnic lunch at the ranch afterwards. On the weekly Meet the Maker evening, local winemakers pour their own wines and tell the stories behind them, and dinner is at Hazel Hill among the vines; from late summer into autumn, harvest brings grape picking in the vineyards.

Where you stay

Montage Healdsburg

Montage Healdsburg sits among rolling vineyards in Sonoma wine country, with 130 bungalow-style rooms and suites, a third of each given over to outdoor living. Dinner is at Hazel Hill, and Spa Montage holds outdoor yoga classes among the vines.

The valley floor in autumn, with vineyards turned red and gold below a long mountain ridge.

Days 4 to 7 · three nights

St Helena, Napa Valley

Over the Mayacamas Mountains to the Napa Valley, for tastings along the Silverado Trail and a balloon flight over the vineyards at sunrise. A private morning at Schramsberg, by appointment from Sunday to Thursday, through the caves to a tasting of six wines of your choosing; its 1965 Blanc de Blancs was the first commercial use of Chardonnay in American sparkling wine. On request, a morning in the kitchen with a local chef, cooking French technique with Napa Valley ingredients, a glass of wine in hand. Back at Meadowood, the Wine Center, open only to resort guests and members, holds tastings led by wine professionals.

Where you stay

Meadowood Napa Valley

Meadowood spreads across 250 acres of wooded canyons and vineyards running down to the Napa River. There are three pools, five tennis courts and a Wine Center for tastings, with dinner at Forum and a spa set among the trees.

Arranged on request

A private tasting at Aperture Cellars

A private tasting minutes from Montage Healdsburg at Aperture Cellars, where the grapes from the resort's own 15.5 acres of vines are made into wine.

Meet the Maker

Once a week, local winemakers come to the resort to pour their signature wines and tell the stories behind each bottle.

Schramsberg in private

Private tours of the caves, Sunday to Thursday mornings only, with a tasting of six sparkling and Davies Vineyards wines of your choosing, by appointment.

The Meadowood Wine Center

Tastings led by wine professionals, with special events drawing on writers, winegrowers and sommeliers, open only to Meadowood guests and members and reserved in advance.

Harvest in Sonoma

From late summer through autumn, harvest season brings grape picking and work in the vineyards.

Cooking with a Napa chef

A private class with a local chef, French technique applied to Napa Valley ingredients, with wine as you cook. On request.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

Two nights in San Francisco to start or finish.
A day at the hot springs and spas of Calistoga.
A wine blending workshop or a cocktail class at Montage Healdsburg.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.