Travel Far Grape Expectations

GRAPE Above: Quilt wines draw from nine Napa Valley American Viticultural Areas to create its full-bodied, decadent vintages. EXPECTATIONS

Four exquisite days in Napa Valley

STORY: Joanne Hayes

Above: Lydia and Rob Mondavi Jr. of Rutledge & Vine.

Above: The Instagram-worthy charcuterie board at Quilt & Company is just the thing to pair with its beautiful wines and conversation.

Napa Valley has been on my bucket list for most of my adult life. The region reopened three weeks prior to my travel dates and exceeded every expectation. After a direct flight from

Atlanta to Sacramento and a onehour drive, my husband and I settled in for a short but sweet four days between Napa and Oakville, allowing easy access for exploring the valley.

Our experience started with a personal visit to Rob Mondavi Jr. and his

Southern-born wife, Lydia. The couple’s hillside estate is in the Stags Leap district where they grow and produce their Rutledge & Vine brand, named after her family and their vineyards. We learned about grapes, seasons, soil, irrigation, climate and vineyard operations, as well as the family’s personal experience with the 2017 wildfires that ravaged the area from this fourthgeneration winemaker who has worked in every area of the industry.

Next, we were treated to vintner

Joe Wagner’s Quilt & Company tasting, including the Belle Glos,

Quilt and Elouan brands alongside a fabulous charcuterie board, followed by dinner at Wagner’s next-door California cuisine restaurant, Avow. Fresh oysters on the half shell were followed by scallops with romesco and chorizo, and

Pacific halibut to complete the day. On our second day, a visit to downtown Napa, thriving with local artists, tasting rooms and a new visitors’ center, was followed by lunch in St. Helena at farm-to-table restaurant Farmstead. Menu items incorporate eggs, chicken and beef from its Long Meadow Ranch, as well as the vegetables, herbs and edible flowers grow in tableside beds. This quaint town is also home to the famous Woodhouse Chocolate, Napa Soap Company and the 90-year, familyowned Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing company, all worth a visit.

Checking out the Petrified Forest in Calistoga was next on the agenda. Then a scenic drive back to our hotel on the Silverado Trail parallel to the main highway took us through Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville and Yountville, and offered views of dozens of picturesque vineyard properties. Dinner at local favorite Bistro Don Giovanni, seated by fragrant rose bushes and under a lighted tent, made us feel like we were on a movie set.

Our third day began with a late breakfast at Black Bear Diner, where the sweet cream pancakes are not to be missed, followed by a leisurely tasting at Caymus Vineyards where we watched the vineyard’s owner, Chuck Wagner (the aforementioned Joe’s father), and his son, Charlie, host a live virtual event on the grounds. We enjoyed sunshine and pool time at our hotel before dinner at rustic French restaurant Angèle on the Napa River.

On our last day, we arrived early at Model Bakery, where lines form for the Oprah-famous English muffins, and noshed on breakfast sandwiches before our vineyard tour at Kenzo Estate. Encompassing 3,800 pristine acres in the mountains east of Napa, 80% of the world-class wine produced here is sold in owner and Capcom founder Kenzo Tsujimoto’s native Japan. We couldn’t resist shipping home a Kenzo ai cabernet and the Bordeaux-style blend Rindo, available exclusively through the vineyard.

Our final tasting was O’Brien Estate’s Bordeaux-style blends Romance and Seduction, which boast varying percentages of cabernet, merlot and cabernet franc grapes, and are only available to members. We capped off our last night by heading to Auberge du Soleil for sunset cocktails and a late dinner of micro-regional rustic Italian at Bottega by Chef Michael Chiarello in Yountville.

My grape love affair with Napa is official. A girls’ trip is next: Add mud baths, spa treatments and shopping to the wining and dining. Who's with me? n

Above: This Kenzo Estate vintage is named ai, which represents the color indigo in Japanese.

TOP TIPS

l There's a lot to do from Napa to Calistoga, so don’t try to fit in more during a brief stay.

l Reserve ahead and visit two wineries a day, preferably in close proximity. Tasting and tours are usually 90 minutes, plus drive time.

l The first vineyard experience should be educational to learn about the area, then just enjoy the tastings.

VISIT NAPA VALLEY

707.226.5813 visitnapavalley.com

Below: Scope out the sculpture garden at the Georgia Museum of Art, then head indoors to marvel at the masterworks on view.

Adventure in Athens

Explore art, nature and animals in this Georgia gem

Above: Get an up-close look at a menagerie of animals native to Georgia, including American black bears, at Bear Hollow Zoo, a sanctuary for nonreleasable wildlife.

STORY: Ginger Strejcek

Up for a summer road trip that’s fun, family-friendly and absolutely free? Put on your walking shoes and head east to Athens for a day or two of sightseeing play at three unique places: a scenic showcase of flower power at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a woodsy respite for injured animals at Bear Hollow Zoo and a treasured gallery of magnificent masterpieces at the Georgia Museum of Art. About a 70-mile drive from Buckhead, the attractions are located within a 3-mile radius of each other on the stomping grounds of the University of Georgia, with plenty of painted concrete bulldogs marking the territory.

Spend the morning roaming the 313-acre State Botanical Garden. Part of UGA, Athen’s top-ranked tourist spot is a kaleidoscope of seasonal blooms, themed gardens and natural areas that promote conservation and agricultural history. From the wisteria-covered arbor and fragrant tea olive hedges to the babbling stream and chirping birds, it’s a full sensory experience that beckons guests to literally stop and smell the flowers.

Diverse horticultural offerings in the lush landscape include formal plantings of antique roses and fringy meadows of wildflowers, a hillside orchard of fruit trees and pretty perennial borders for pollinators. Tropical beauties from equatorial climates flourish inside the three-story conservatory at the Visitor Center, an exotic oasis of bamboo, palm, pineapple and papaya. Placards explain the vital importance of these species, nutritional to medicinal, as the world’s tropical forest habitats continue to diminish.

Unleash the kids in the children’s garden, an imaginative nod to Mother Nature with such amusements as a tree house, fossil wall, edible plants and musical mushrooms. Or venture out along 5 miles of color-coded trails to discover heath bluffs on the Middle Oconee River, amphibolite geology and, perhaps, a winged wonder on Hummingbird Trail.

From there, skip over to Bear Hollow Zoo, a small wildlife sanctuary in Memorial Park, for a peek at some native animals that are non-releasable due to physical or behavioral challenges. While three black bears are the resident stars, visitors can also watch the splashy antics of a pair of river otters, spy white-tailed deer camouflaged in a shady grove and marvel at the primordial stealth of a sun-basking gator. The easily navigable venue features a dozen natural habitats and a Reptile House. Among the feathered friends: bald eagles, turkey vultures, wild turkeys and owls.

Afterward, enjoy a picnic lunch beneath the treetop canopy at the 72acre park. Clock in extra steps on the 1.25-mile Birchmore Trail that winds through a hardwood ravine with uphill climbs and small creek crossings.

Next, cool off on the second floor of the Georgia Museum of Art, located on UGA’s east campus in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex, with an eclectic unveiling of works from Southern decorative arts to Italian Renaissance treasures, as well as 19th- and 20thcentury American paintings. Both an academic museum and the official art museum of the state, the building houses nearly 17,000 objects in its permanent collection. That’s quite an expansion from the original 100 paintings donated by founder Alfred Heber Holbrook back in 1948 when the museum opened in the basement of the old library on UGA’s north campus.

Art appreciation ranks high in this vibrant college town, where the cultural scene is packed with so much more to explore, you might want to spend the night.

Consider a stay at The Colonels B&B and Inn. Erected as a “two over two” farm house in the 1860s, the whitecolumned manor is steeped in country elegance, boasting seven renovated guest rooms furnished with European antiques and modern amenities in the pastoral surrounds of a 30-acre horse estate. n

The spectacular grounds of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia are abloom in seasonal color, with cultivated gardens, tropical conservatory and nature trails.

DETAILS:

Bear Hollow Zoo 293 Gran Ellen Drive Athens 30606 706.613.3580 accgov.com/bearhollow

Georgia Museum of Art 90 Carlton St. Athens 30602 706.542.4662 georgiamuseum.org

State Botanical Garden of Georgia 2450 S. Milledge Ave. Athens 30605 706.542.1244 botgarden.uga.edu

The Colonels 3890 Barnett Shoals Road Athens 30605 706.559.9595 thecolonels.net