Wine Country Road Trip: Napa

This week we’re taking a virtual road trip through California’s wine country — where Williams-Sonoma’s story began — to explore the area’s top destinations for dining, wine tasting and shopping. Follow us on Twitter! and retweet our #wsroadtrip tweets with your favorite wine country destination named in the tweet, for a chance to win a $100 gift card. Today, after making our way through Point Reyes and Sonoma, we’re stopping in downtown Napa to meet local chefs and artisans.

 

For lunch, grab a table at Azzurro Pizzeria & Enoteca, run by husband-and-wife team Michael and Christina Gyetvan. It’s one of Napa’s best spots for authentic, thin-crust pizzas, fresh pastas and seasonal antipasti, with a focus on freshness and simplicity.

 

Afterward, drive over to Oxbow Market, Napa’s one-stop destination for all things food and wine. Sit down for a meal at one of the market’s diverse restaurants — serving burgers, house-made tacos and raw oysters — and enjoy a wine tasting at the Cheese and Wine Merchant.

 

Take a walk around the market to experience its gourmet foods and specialties, too — you’ll find chocolates, olive oils and sustainably raised beef for sale from the many purveyors. Don’t miss Whole Spice, where owner Ronit Madmone stocks a collection of hand-selected freshly ground spiced, dried herbs, blends and teas in a colorful and fragrant display.

 

Just outside Oxbow are two more shops producing artisanal foods, favorites for locals and tourists alike. At the Fatted Calf, Taylor Boetticher and his team make hand-crafted salumi, smoked meats and sausage — including their signature porchetta — while supporting small farms. Check out the daily menu for salads, sandwiches and picnic plates.

 

Next door is the Model Bakery, led by mother-daughter team Karen Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell Hansen, specializing in artisan breads made with organic flours, cookies, pastries and more. The breakfast and lunch menu is known for its freshly baked quiches and sandwiches, too. The charcuterie and bakery share a patio with picnic tables, which is perfect for a casual lunch or snack on a warm day.

 

Wind down from a day of shopping and tasting with dinner at Oenotri, a southern Italian restaurant serving housemade salumi, fresh extruded pastas, and other dishes featuring ingredients from the chefs’ own culinary garden. Watch the activity in the open kitchen, where the team, led by Curtis Di Fede and Tyler Rodde, roasts vegetables and bakes pizzas in a traditional wood-fired oven.

 

Next up on our road trip: Yountville! Read on for our picks.

 

 

 

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