{"id":1351,"date":"2019-08-31T19:43:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T19:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1351"},"modified":"2019-08-31T19:43:51","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T19:43:51","slug":"yountville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1351","title":{"rendered":"Yountville"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not so long ago, Yountville was a sleepy farming village where freight trains stopped to pick up produce and drop off supplies.\u00a0 We always hoped it was named for Milwaukee baseball legend Robin Yount, but it actually got its name from one George Yount, who was reputed to have planted the first vineyard in Napa Valley.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons why it grew into the tourist mecca it is today, not least being the explosion of interest in California winemaking.\u00a0 But if Yankee Stadium is the House that Ruth Built, then Yountville is the Town that Thomas Keller Put on the Map. Beginning with French Laundry, he has added Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery and Ad Hoc to his restaurant empire, all along Washington Street in Yountville.\u00a0 Keller has recently opened La Calenda, a Mexican restaurant in the location that used to house the late, lamented Hurley\u2019s.<\/p>\n

With all that, Yountville is now the culinary capital of Napa Valley.\u00a0 After his time as chef at Domaine\u2019s Chandon\u2019s \u00c9toile restaurant, Philippe Jeanty opened Bistro Jeanty, a veritable reproduction of a country French bistro.\u00a0 Richard Reddington added Redd and then Redd Wood.\u00a0 And on and on.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to find a bad meal in Yountville.<\/p>\n

With the restaurants came the diners and the shoppers.\u00a0 Washington and Yount Streets abound with boutiques, topped by the V Marketplace, a shopping center with the full line of Napa Style accessories, housewares, wines, restaurants and galleries that give Napa Valley its fashion tone (and fill your mailbox with catalogs).<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Yountville.com<\/em><\/p>\n

There are also a number of tasting rooms along Washington Street.\u00a0 As with all in-town tastings<\/a>, there are some that are well worth a stop and others that are best passed by.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there is little way to know in advance which is which.\u00a0 In Yountville, we have enjoyed Priest Ranch and Beau Vigne, which is not to say that some of the others aren\u2019t worthwhile.<\/p>\n

As a visitor to Yountville, a great way to enjoy it is to make a day of it.\u00a0 This is especially good advice on a weekend, when the roads and wineries on Route 29 are jammed.\u00a0 Begin with breakfast at Bouchon Bakery.\u00a0 You\u2019ll stand in line for coffee and croissants but the wait will be worth it.\u00a0 Sit outside at one of the little tables and think about all the places you will go today.\u00a0 Well fortified, you can try a winery and look into a gallery or two.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s time for lunch.\u00a0 Why not a pizza at Redd Wood or a salad at R & D Kitchen?<\/p>\n

A few more wineries in the afternoon and some serious boutique-ing come next.\u00a0 Be smart about the alcohol you consume; still, it\u2019s nice to know that you don\u2019t have to get behind the wheel to go from place to place.\u00a0 An aperitif at the bar at Bistro Jeanty will give you the chance to mingle with a few locals.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s off to dinner.<\/p>\n

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Yountville at Christmastime.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Yountville.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

As noted, the choice of restaurants is broad, but if you want to be in with the in crowd, queue up for a table at Ciccio.\u00a0 Run by the owners of Altamura Vineyards, Ciccio doesn\u2019t take reservations and it is always packed with people who have the patience to dine there.<\/p>\n

A final word: visit Yountville at Christmas season.\u00a0 They wrap every tree on Washington Street in little white lights and the town becomes a fairyland.\u00a0 It\u2019s magical.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0And the crowds are less in December as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not so long ago, Yountville was a sleepy farming village where freight trains stopped to pick up produce and drop off supplies.\u00a0 We always hoped it was named for Milwaukee baseball legend Robin Yount, but it actually got its name from one George Yount, who was reputed to have planted the first vineyard in Napa … Continue reading Yountville<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1354,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions\/1354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}