California Wine Country with SingleThread

Just beyond the town of Yountville, the Napa Valley floor widens over a vista of rolling vineyards framed by mountains. Before you lies one of the world’s great wine regions, a remarkable confluence of microclimates and soils that, like France’s Bordeaux region to which it’s always compared, is every inch its noble rival.

We’ll gather in the late afternoon at Meadowood, set on 250 wooded acres and our magnificent home for the next three nights. SingleThread’s wine director and sommelier, Rusty Rastello, will lead us on a tasting of the valley’s signature Cabernet Sauvignons alongside other marquee Napa varietals.

Dinner tonight is at one of visionary winemaker Bill Harlan’s private vineyards, personally prepared for us by a Napa culinary icon: thoughtful, personal, and in harmony with Napa Valley’s seasonal rhythms. We’ll toast joyfully under the stars, celebrating the perfect start to our journey together.

Bill Harlan’s determination to build a first-growth winery put Napa on the map in the 1980s; his family winery, Harlan Estate, now helmed by son Will, produces a mere 2,000 cases per vintage — highly coveted, and considered by wine critic Robert Parker as the single most profound red wine in the world. Our private tour of Harlan vineyards will be led the Harlan family and include tastings—depending on what’s pouring the brightest—at the Bond or Promontory wineries.

Lunch in St Helena is at three Michelin star Chef Christopher Kostow’s casual kitchen, Charter Oak, where seasonal bounty is sourced from their farm just down the road. Next, a tasting and tour with Ann Colgin of Colgin Cellars, truly one of the great American cellars of all time, considered “viticultural nirvana” by Robert Parker.

There’s time to relax and unwind back at Meadowood before dinner at PRESS, with its Napa-only collection of 10,000 bottles spanning five decades. Rare pours aren’t the only appeal here: after dinner, we’ll share a talk and toast with a Napa culinary legend and member of the first American team to win the international Bocuse d’Or cooking competition.

Greystone is the California campus of the Culinary Institute of America, the world’s premier nonprofit culinary college. We’ll tour the expansive gardens and, joined by Chef Kyle Connaughton, get hands-on with the college’s next generation of culinary talent.

Our next stop is Aubert Vineyards, where Napa native Mark Aubert uses traditional Burgundian barrel fermentation to turn out voluptuous, balanced single-vineyard Chardonnays with a multi-year waitlist. We’ll have an exclusive tasting, then head to Ink Grade for another exclusive opportunity: tasting alongside winemaker Matt Taylor.

We’ll have downtime in the afternoon to wander St Helena, or simply to relax poolside or at the spa at Meadowood, before reconvening for our Napa grande finale: dinner at The French Laundry. It’s one of just 13 three Michelin star restaurants in the U.S., honored as the Best Restaurant in the World not once, but twice. Needless to say, this will be an evening to cherish.

We meet up with Kyle and Katina Connaughton this morning at Knights Valley Wagyu Beef Ranch, a 227-acre environmentally minded ranch nestled between Calistoga and Healdsburg, with cattle foraging freely on the valley floor. We’ll hop in vintage Broncos or Land Cruisers and tour the oak-shaded hills. Our barbecue lunch is prepared by Chef Kyle, featuring select wagyu cuts.

Greenhouses and chicken coops, an heirloom fruit orchard, beehives, and a cattle paddock surrounded by grapevines. SingleThread’s 24-acre farm inspires — and is inspired by — seasonal awareness and a deep respect for nature. Head farmer Katina Connaughton will lead us on a tour of the culinary crops, the knife and wood shop, and farm store; we’ll stop for a hands-on demo in floral arrangement and aesthetic plating which is at the core of SingleThread’s visual storytelling. We’ll end the day with a private dinner at Little Saint, the Connaughtons’ plant-based and farm-forward casual kitchen in downtown Healdsburg.

A light morning hike under a towering canopy of old-growth coastal redwoods… if only every day could start surrounded by so much beauty.

Our ultimate goal this morning is the Russian River, a region home to California’s greatest cool-climate varietals. We’ll have our first taste at Williams Selyem, renowned for its old-world methods — down to foot-treading the grapes — with winemaker Jeff Mangahas. A lunch of wood-fired pizza under the oaks awaits at Reeve Winery, where winemaker Noah Dorrance will share his favorite cool-climate Pinots. At Kistler Vineyards, a unique single-clone Chardonnay house, we’ll taste vineyard-designate Chardonnays from one heritage Californian vine planted across 15 vineyards.

The afternoon is ours to enjoy, explore or simply relax in preparation for an incredible eleven-course, wine-paired meal tonight at SingleThread. Kyle and Katina opened their restaurant, inn, and farm in 2016, built on the ethos of Japanese omotenashi: the spirit of selfless hospitality. SingleThread earned two Michelin stars in 2018, and a third in 2019. This will be a meal for the ages, celebrating the bounty of California Wine Country with Kyle, Katina and Rusty.

The coastal mountains of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties are storybook California: old-growth redwoods, and mountain tops peaking through morning fog like so many islands in the clouds. Our first stop at family-run Littorai, where owners Heidi and Ted Lemon showcase not just great wines, but leading generative and biodynamic farming practices.

A quiet two-lane highway meanders past beaches and hillsides dotted with grazing cows, down a long slender inlet to Tamales Bay and Hog Island Oyster Co., another champion of environmental stewardship. We’ll sit down for a charcuterie and oyster lunch at this pioneering intertidal farm that supplies many of the area’s top restaurants.

In the afternoon we’ll visit Akiko Freeman’s iconic tasting room at Freeman Winery. We’ll be treated to a private tour of the caves and a tasting of her benchmark-setting cool-climate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.

Tonight’s farewell dinner—an elevated barbecue at the SingleThread farm, nestled among the fields, fruit orchards and vines —is a true farm-to-table celebration. We’ll toast to Kyle and Katina, to Rusty, and to the entire SingleThread team, honoring not just the wines and cuisine of this remarkable land — but each other, and the lasting bonds we’ve made.

Alas, our time together has come to an end. After a farewell brunch with Kyle, Katina and Rusty at Little Saint, we’ll head for the San Francisco airport and our next adventures.

As you reflect on our week alongside some of Wine Country’s most innovative humans—the chefs, winemakers and artisans who have shared their worlds with us—we hope these precious moments stay with you and resonate for years to come.