First Taste, Downtown Napa’s exclusive kick-off event for Flavor! Napa Valley will return for a third year on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. First Taste will take place at the new City Winery Napa in downtown, and offer guests the ultimate experience in awakening the senses.
Incredible food and wine are infamous in the Napa Valley, but at First Taste at City Winery, the experience will be taken to new heights to include live music pairings, along with a memorable food and wine experience.
First Taste will feature some of the city’s best chefs as they pair delicious cuisine with world famous wine and live music; and legendary Napa wine educator, Richard Miami, will be the MC of the evening to head the night of culinary entertainment.
Guests that book lodging at participating hotels in Downtown Napa for the night of November 19, will receive two complimentary tickets to First Taste Napa while supplies last. This year’s participating restaurants include; Angèle Restaurant & Bar, City Winery Napa, Kitchen Door and Oenotri, and will be paired with premier Napa Valley Wines. Guests will need to book overnight accommodations in the City of Napa directly online. Two tickets will be provided for every room that is reserved.
First Taste is the kick-off event for Flavor! Napa Valley, an annual event that features world-class Napa Valley wines alongside the Napa Valley’s master chefs and graduates of The Culinary Institute of America’s culinary education programs. To purchase ticket packages to Flavor! Napa Valley, visit www.FlavorNapaValley.com.
For more information about First Taste and to make lodging reservations, visit www.DoNapa.com.
Napa is becoming one of our favorite romantic getaways and it’s a great sign when my husband constantly asks when we were heading back! My answer would be every weekend if possible, with so much good food, great wine, and charming places to stay we are just hooked on the Napa Valley. Right on the very river that I kayaked on almost a year ago is the 
The Inn is located within the Historic Napa Mill that was a shipping and merchant business in 1884 along the riverfront. The mill as a warehouse for stocking supplies and wines for local vineyards led by Captain Albert Hatt, designating it a Historic Hotel of America. It’s a wonderful place to stay with so many great amenities that will have you come back time after time!
Our nautical themed Embarcadero Building room included a queen bed and fireplace to make for romantic quarters. The circle mirror reminded me of a porthole combined with the wood paneling, we could have been on a ship. The view across the river houses the Napa Wine Train, an excursion we included on this very visit.
Walking around the property we found the Plaza Building rooms surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens with palms and flowers making us feel like we’re on a tropical island. We’ll request those rooms next time!
Over 20 wine tasting rooms, many fine dining restaurants, and shopping are within a few walking blocks in distance from the Inn, but right on site you have the Napa General Store, Angele, Silo’s (live music, tribute bands, humorists), Sweetie Pie’s Bakery, Vintage Sweet Shop, and Celedon at your fingertips. 
The Vintage Sweet shop offers lots of decadent pleasures and includes wine tasting with or without chocolates and will dip wine bottles in chocolate for unique gift ideas!
Delivered to your room in a basket, you can immediately hop back into bed with it or cozy up by the fireplace and enjoy it picnic style. Let me tell you, the food was incredible but those pastries I could buy in bulk. After breakfast you’ll be sure to be visiting the bakery/cafe to see what else you can sink your teeth into!
After breakfast indulge in the shower with the invigorating NV Organics body products, the shower is just big enough for two! With names like Champagne Sparkling and Cabernet you almost are tempted to taste them (just kidding), they are very fitting for wine country and also available for purchase, you’ll love their intoxicating scents!
We are spoiled. Our family lives in the best spot in California in my eyes. We’re less than 30 minutes from the Monterey/Carmel coast line and beautiful Pacific Ocean. We are just 90 minutes from San Francisco and only 4 hours from the beautiful Lake Tahoe in the Sierras. Along with those beautiful cities we are a short 2 hours from the most gorgeous wine country our state boasts! As you can imagine, our year includes many weekend trips to these iconic travel destinations and lucky for us some can even be conquered in a day. We love Napa’s wine country and who doesn’t, even our kids have enjoyed a ride on the fabulous 
Each ride begins at the McKinstry Street Station in Napa. Here you pick up your boarding pass and you can also visit the gift shop for clothing or the wine shop for area wines and the chance to purchase a lock for the Love Lock Bridge and have it engraved a personal message. Also there is a bar inside the station to whet your appetite.
Once the train arrives you head over the Love Lock Bridge and snap on a memento of your love. Don’t worry, your seats on the train are reserved, take you time and and read some of the notes on the locks, I think it’s such a romantic gesture! Whether it be for an anniversary, birthday, or “just because” the locks’ sweet messages are something you should plan on bringing or purchasing in the station!Photos are taken of your party before you board and you can purchase them at the end of the night.
Stepping onto the train you jump back in time to circa 1915. Our Gourmet Dinner Express package had us in the the 1915 Pullman Lounge Car for “second seating” which means appetizers and our taste of either a local red or white wine traveling north to St. Helena. Expertly refurbished, the cars offer large picture windows on either side to maximize the view along the way. Honduran mahogany paneling, etched glass partitions, and brass accents provide an authentic feel and just add so much to the overall experience. The swivel chairs face the windows but also can face your company for eye contact and smiles throughout the ride.
An appetizer plate for each person includes a plethora of items such as fruit, meat, cheese, fish, bread, and spreads. One thing I can tell you is that you must ride the train hungry because you get such an amazing amount of food! 
During this time, you also have the option to wine taste and walk about the train. Wine tasting can be done at your seat with a white, red, or mixed wine flight or you can walk to the tasting bar in the Zinfandel lounge car (at an additional cost). 
You can also choose watch the master chefs at work in the Kitchen Viewing car as they prepare each feast to order.
This gourmet restaurant on the tracks is just something you need to think about for a minute. The kitchen team is led by Chef Kelly Macdonald and he and his staff use environmentally responsible ingredients; humanely raised, hormone-free meats and fresh, and line-caught fish for a freshly prepared meal for each guest. All while on a moving train! I have trouble getting up from my seat and walking 5 steps without holding on to the chair next to me!
Dinner is a choice of 5 phenomenal dishes that includes a beef, pork, salmon, ravioli, and ‘special of the day.’ We really wanted to try something different so we could share but we had the roasted beef tenderloin on our brain and it was so moist and tender it just melted in our mouths. Served with baby vegetables, shiitake mushrooms and a tangy balsamic onion marmalade, it was over-the-top delicious! Clearing our plates with happy stomachs we were left with one final choice between desserts. Creme brulee has the best crispy topping that I love to crack through, while my husband hardly left any of his chocolate tiramisu truffle for me to sample!
Walking back to our resort, we vowed to indulge in this romantic escape every few years because it doesn’t get old, only better. If you want to book a Napa Valley Wine Train Gourmet Dinner ride, visit 
