The Setting Inn Napa Valley Discover somewhere new to sip and stay at one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots. Take a break from your regular Napa Valley destinations and enjoy fresh renovations and new experiences. Elevate your Napa Valley vacation with an immersive tasting experience or cozy up in a boutique inn with luxe amenities. We gathered up all the details of Napa Valley’s new hot spots for your next wine country trip.
The Setting Inn
Luxurious comfort awaits you at one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots to stay and play. The Setting Inn was previously known as the Napa Vineyard Inn, and has since been rebranded with renovations that have added contemporary luxury in order to make it a modern wine country getaway. Surrounded by vineyards on the frontage road where this boutique property sits, co-owners Noah McMahon and Jeff Cova transformed an original 1901 farmhouse into a luxurious destination for those looking for outdoor activities alongside expansive views from their room window or patio doors while they enjoy fine wines from nearby award winning wineries like Vengeful Wines & Calistoga Cellars the two-story property features bright, airy guest rooms in signature, deluxe, and premiere categories. A detached, large two-bedroom cottage is also available for guests who are looking for more space. Every room is unique with its own flair and was designed with inspiration from the natural vineyard surroundings. Rooms are decked in soothing, natural tones with a touch of bold accent pieces. Each room features scenic vineyard views, private terraces, electric fireplaces, and mini bars with Nespresso coffee makers. Bathrooms are spacious with heated-floors soaking tubs, robes and slippers, and LATHER Bamboo Lemongrass Bath Amenities.
Enjoy a bottle of wine and lawn games like Connect Four or Ladder Ball on the lawn by the red barn or relax by the outdoor firepit and watch the sunset. Behind the sliding barn door is a living room with leather chairs, a guitar and an instagram worthy wall that reads “These are the days”. This is the perfect place to relax before heading to your room for the evening.
Popular by all guests at this boutique inn is an exclusive, complimentary tasting of The Setting Wines. The Setting Inn is the sister company to The Setting Wines. The Setting Wines are created by Jesse Katz and owners of the inn, Jeff Cova and Noah McMahon. The Setting Wines famously sold one of their bottles for a record-breaking $350,000 in a 2017 charity auction. Prior to arrival, the staff will coordinate a private tasting, which takes place in the renovated Barn lounge. Guests are taken through The Setting Wines from white to red, all while learning about the wine-making process.
In addition to the complimentary wine tasting, The Setting Inn offers a variety of amenities to enhance all guests’ visits to Napa Valley. Daily breakfast is delivered to your door from Bouchon Bakery with fresh orange juice. Complimentary electric cruisers are also available to enjoy a ride on the Napa Valley Vine Trail or to explore Yountville. A fitness center is onsite featuring a Peloton bike.
This Napa Valley’s new hot spot will have you feeling like a local when you settle in. Stay and play or enjoy their luxe amenities between your wine country adventures.
Heron House Yountville
Featuring a collective tasting space, Heron House Yountville is one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots for wine tasting. Heron House Yountville brings together artists and winemakers in an intimate tasting experience. Featuring eight winery partners, you will discover something new with the opportunity to purchase a bottle to bring home.
Tastings are private experiences and are available in two seperate tasting galleries. Experience a flight of five wines in one of their tasting galleries with an option of four different flights. You can enjoy tastings seated in one of their private tasting galleries or the Heron House Wine Lounge. The Heron House Wine Lounge is a more communal tasting experience.
Enjoy the distinctive blend of wine tasting, art and life in Yountville at this Napa Valley new hot spot. Pick a flight by winery partner or customize your tasting experience to your taste preference. You will be guided through your tasting with stories and insight, bringing you close to people that craft these wines.
Heron House Yountville offers Bench Vineyards, Eponymous Wines, Hobel Wines, Lindstrom Wines, Myriad Cellars, Steltzner Vineyards, Switchback Ridge and Zeitgeist Cellars. All wineries hand-craft small production wines and often only produce only several hundred cases a year. Additionally, Heron House Yountville features a curated selection of art, textiles, jewelry, and local products. You can also purchase a bottle from one or more of the small family producers to take home.
Flights range from $85 to $125 per person and change throughout the year. Tasting fees are waived with a minimum purchase per guest. Expect to spend about 90 minutes for your private tasting experience, and a little extra time to shop after. Reservations are strongly encouraged, however you might get lucky walking in for a tasting.
Cakebread Cellars Renovation
Famous for world-class wines, Cakebread Cellars’ new renovation is one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots for wine tasting. The new renovation expands the winery’s hospitality program and creates new ways to explore their rich history. Cakebread Cellars opened the doors to their 10,000 square foot renovation and 36,000 square foot addition in November, 2019. This project required about 15 years of planning and three years of construction.
Guests can connect to the winemaking process in one of their nine new private tasting rooms. Their distinct indoor tasting experiences gives guests a chance to immerse themselves in the winemaking process. Each tasting experience tells the story from the vines to fermentation, aging, and bottling. The new space allows for a unique way to experience their wines, food pairing, and winemaking education in an intimate way.
Enter the new space through an expansive reception area filled with natural light and welcomed with a display of Cakebread’s history. Exteriors of the new Visitor Center are sided with reclaimed Redwood wine tank staves, a homage to Napa Valley winemaking. Restored mid century furniture adds a rich warmth to the reception area with custom wine barrel stave light fixtures.
Each tasting room was designed with small format tastings in mind, with each space’s interior featuring its own distinct design. All tasting rooms give guests an elevated and personal experience. The Culinary Wing houses the first three tasting rooms; Annahala Ranch, Suscol Springs, and Apple Barn. These rooms were created with Cakebread Cellars’ signature wine and food seminar programs in mind. These educational spaces offer veteran Chef, Brian Streeter, opportunities to showcase produce from Co-Founder Dolores Cakebread’s estate gardens.
Four other tasting rooms include Doggwood, Foster Road, Dancing Bear Ranch, and Cuttings Wharf. Each of these rooms offer educational wine tastings directly within the cellar. These rooms were designed to give guests a window into the winemaking process. Foster Road and Doggwood are both in the fermentation hall and look out onto twelve custom-made concrete egg fermentation tanks. Visitors in the Foster Road room will taste Cakebread’s white wines, while visitors in the Doggwood room will taste reds. The Dancing Bear room offers library tastings. The Cuttings Wharf room features large windows that give visitors a front row seat to the production facility.
Inside the Lab you will find a bright room with glossy white countertop tables on a polished concrete floor. This is the space for technical wine tastings and workshops to gain a greater knowledge of their wines and winemaking process. Their Tank room is the largest tasting space on the property and is perfect for large groups. The space is also a live production space for the winery with nine fermentation tanks lining the walls.
After enjoying a tasting, visitors can explore the retail lounge with a temperature controlled and glass enclosed wine library. You will be able to choose from a selection of significant vintages and large format bottles.
Experiences and tastings are by appointment only and range in prices starting at $25 for their current release tasting. These new additions and renovations offer an immersive tasting experience, making this one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots.
Bouchaine Vineyards
Located in the Carneros District, Bouchaine Vineyards is the oldest continually operating winery, but with new renovations. The fresh new look of Bouchaine Vineyards makes it one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots for wine tasting. Sitting on a hill overlooking the existing historical winery, the new 5,000-square foot Visitor Center is designed in a semi-circle. The unusual shape of the new building provides amazing views of the vineyard and surrounding hills. The renovations also include a 22,000 square foot expansion of the production facilities and a new 2,100 square foot terrace. Total acreage on the Bouchaine estate is about 104 acres of which approximately 84 acres are planted mostly to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Welcoming you into the new tasting room are the words “WINE MAKES YOU HAPPY” embossed on the floor. Cut from one tree, the new tasting room bar is made from reclaimed cypress slabs. The bar also provides an inviting view of the large terrace and breathtaking views. At one end of the building is the Copeland Room. This room features a massive see-through fireplace built with stone from a local Napa Valley quarry, with a large mantle made from reclaimed timbers. This is a large room that provides seating for up to 80 guests.
Another addition inside is their new 750-square foot contemporary open-design kitchen. The new kitchen features two Molteni ranges, two Euro-Cave Professional Show Cave Wine Cellars, and Cambria Stone countertops.
Outside you can enjoy the beautiful weather surrounded by two soothing water features and landscaped gardens on the outdoor terrace. Get cozy in one of the comfortable sofas or armchairs and enjoy a casual outdoor tasting experience.
Bouchaine Vineyards has long been critically and environmentally acclaimed as a premier producer of Estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. They produce two estate
Chardonnays in different styles; one with oak and one without. A number of their limited production wines are only available at the winery so you will want to purchase a bottle to bring home.
Tastings are available by walk-in or by reservation for private tasting. For only $20 per person you can taste five wines while sitting in the gardens or at the bar. Barrel Tastings and Vineyard Tours are also available at $50 per person with a reservation. During the tour you will take a trip to the top of the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay. Private pourings can also be arranged for groups at one of the garden tables.
1881 Napa
Experience wine tasting like you never have before. 1881 Napa is one of Napa Valley’s new hot spots offering a unique way to personalize your wine tasting. This new tasting room is also the first and only Napa Wine History Museum. Enjoy a self-service or curated tasting experience while learning about the different terriors and winemaking processes that make them unique. Located next to Oakville Grocery, this is the perfect stop during your wine tasting adventure.
Inside a gorgeous restored Victorian house, 1881 Napa blends history, education, and wine into an unforgettable experience. Jean-Charles Boisset, the French-born wine mogul behind the Boisset Collection, has created Napa Valley’s first wine history museum and tasting salon. The newly done space is your opportunity to learn about Napa’s rich history while enjoying the wine.
Upon walking in you will be taken back by the gorgeous and large Baccarat Chandelier hanging from the second floor. The Chandelier along with a reproduction of an 1895 Napa County map make the perfect centerpiece for the tasting space.
Since being rebranded, the tasting format at 1881 Napa has changed from exclusively 1881 wines to select Napa Valley producers. Some of the wines available are more exclusive from premium producers that are hard to find. Rather than hospitality members pouring the wines, they are available in self-service wine dispensers called Napa Tech machines. These machines offer a selection of more than 50 wines by the glass. Wines are organized by Napa Valley sub appellations and rotate throughout the year. Guests can purchase a wine card to use for a taste; half glass or full glass.
Flights are also curated in three options with four wines to taste. One flight compares
warm and cool appellations, while a second flight compares mountain-grown wines with valley floor wines. The third flight offered is based around Cabernet Sauvignon from cooler regions. Guests are also welcome to purchase full bottles to enjoy on the property along with food purchased from Oakville Grocery.
Housed upstairs is the majority of the museum’s collection that focuses on rare tools formerly used in the wine industry dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. On the walls of the wraparound balcony upstairs you will find old tools like presses, and pruners on display. This antique viticulture collection was derived from a large collection housed in Burgundy, France. A display of maps and portraits of winemaking pioneers are also on the balcony that overlooks the downstairs tasting room. The museum is roughly organized by sub appellation and has a small display of the most famous vineyard, To Kalon.
Take advantage of the view from both stories that have windows that overlook the To Kalon vineyard and Mayacamas Mountains. Admission to the museum is free and self-guided so you can explore before or after your tasting.
