Our 2011 Food and Wine Events

At the Wine Country Inn, we know you love food and wine. While the Napa Valley has many great food and wine options, we’ve also put together our own food and wine events for 2011. Each event will be fun, educational, and—we hope—a celebration of our more than 35 years helping guests experience the wonderful food and wine the Napa Valley has to offer.

Fun Thursdays Each Thursday May through October, we will be hosting a special food and wine educational event in the Inn's Common Room from 6-7 p.m. These events are for Inn guests only, and subject to availability. First Thursday: "All about Olive Oil" with Chef Diane DeFilipi Second Thursday: "All about Balsamic" with Chef Diane DeFilipi Third Thursday: "Food and Wine Pairing" with Marty Paradise Fourth Thursday: "Food and Wine Pairing" with Marty Paradise Note: The Food and Wine Pairing classes are limited to 12 people, and cost $25/couple or $15/single.

Anniversary Al Fresco Dinners We will be hosting nine specials dinners this August and September to help celebrate our 36th anniversary. Stay tuned for more info. Ode to the Olive Our fourth annual Ode to the Olive celebration will take place November 18-20. Please visit our Ode to the Olive schedule of events for more info.

New Year’s Eve On December 31, 2011, we’ll host our third annual New Year’s Eve dinner. This special night will include a four-course Italian meal served family style in the Inn’s common room (complete with roaring fire), wine, and midnight champagne toast. Cost will be $175 per couple plus tax and gratuity. Seating will be limited to 26 people (13 couples), so contact the Inn for reservations. Please don't hesitate to call us toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 for more information, or to reserve your spot!

Room 10 Picture

We are updating our room pictures for our web site, using a new special "panorama" software program. What do you think of this shot, of room 10 here at the Wine Country Inn:

New Ad Promoting Wine Country Inn

We have many listings on many inn- and travel-related web sites. One site that sends us a great deal of traffic is winecountry.com. Here's a new ad that we're about to launch on the site: It's part of our new theme here at The Wine Country Inn: that we are in the center of Napa Valley's fantastic wineries and restaurants. What do you think?

Return Guest Reunion Set for Feb 25-26

Our third annual Wine Country Inn "Return Guest Reunion" will take place February 25-26, 2011.

This event is the "baby" of our Inn Manager, Deniese, who plans a fun two days, including on Saturday a special party complete with cocktails, a catered dinner in the Inn's Common Room, and more. Guests who have stayed at Wine Country Inn in the past and who would like to return for this fun weekend (and make some new friends) should contact Deniese for availability:

Toll-free: 888-465-4608

From a cell phone: 707-963-7077

Come have some fun with your friends at Wine Country Inn!

New Year's Eve 2010 Dinner Menu

We're excited to announce the following as the menu for the Wine Country Inn New Year’s Eve Dinner to be held Friday, December, 31, 2010. Cost for this dinner is only $175 per couple (plus tax and gratuity), which includes the meal, all wine, and a midnight champagne toast. Wines for this special Italian family-style dinner held in the Inn’s Common Room (complete with roaring fire!) are from our friends at Jessup Cellars.

Prepared by Chef Domenico Cardano, of Grana et Vina (Grain and Wine)
Corso Speciale
"Foccacia Tre"
Three different Italian foccacia breads: one with cherry tomatoes, olives, and oregano; another with potatoes and rosemary; and a third with onions and sage.

Prepared by Chef Diane De Filipi, of Let’s Go Cook Italian
Antipasti Course
“Crispeli Bechamel”
Delicate Italian "crepes" filled with a mixture of spinach, nutmeg and aromatic Italian cheeses baked in classic Bechamel sauce.
Jessup wine: 2009 Napa Valley Chardonnay

Prima Piatti
“Papa Pomodoro”
A classic Florentine dish: thick, zesty soup of tomato, bread, and herbs.
Jessup wine: 2007 Napa Valley Merlot

Secondi Piatti
"Chicken Cacciatore"
Traditional "Hunter's Chicken" browned in a savory style Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and simmered in a tomato and white wine reduction sauce. Includes coarsely chopped carrots, red onion, fresh porcini mushrooms and black olives.
Jessup wine: 2006 Louer Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Dolce
"Olive Oil Cake with Ricotta"
A delicate white cake, baked with a light and fruity style Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and filled with a cream of imported Ricotta Cheese, vanilla powdered sugar, and Sultana's (raisins) soaked in Vin Santo.
Jessup wine: 2007 Napa Valley Zinfandel Port

After Dinner
~ House-made Lemoncello
~ Special “nibbles”
~ Midnight Champagne toast

Come, eat, enjoy!

For reservations, please call 1-888-465-4608 or 707-963-7077.

Guest Comments

At the Wine Country Inn, we're proud of the many positive things guests say about their stay with us. Here are a few recent guest comments from folks across the U.S.:

“We got engaged here and had a perfect romantic weekend. The rose petals, champagne, and fireplace were amazing touches. The staff was extremely nice, knowledgeable, and helpful! Thank you and hopefully we will see y’all soon!”
- The future Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Solt, Cypress, Texas

“Amazing stay! The rood, staff, rooms, and small personal touches were all so special and amazing! We were celebrating a birthday this weekend and we were greeted with such warm wishes by everyone! We will definitely recommend the Wine Country Inn and be returning! Thanks!”
- Ashley and Noah Lazarus, Irvine, CA

“Words cannot convey the appreciation my family and I feel for how we were treated during our stay here at Wine Country Inn. I am happy to say that you have lifelong customers with myself and my family. And I am excited to tell as many people as possible about the Wine Country Inn.”
- Sean Murphy and Terri Sharpe, Scottsdale, AZ

“We love this place! We were here 10 years ago, and it’s even nicer this time! Everyone on the staff is so accommodating. Thanks!”
- Dolores Whiteside and Brigette Swisse, Lake Worth, FL

For a complete list of recent guest comments, please visit this page on our web site.

Anniversary Dinners a Hit!

Our 35th Anniversary 'Al Fresco' Dinners (on our lower patio) have been huge hits. Again, these special dinners are held every Wednesday in August and September to celebrate Wine Country Inn's 35th anniversary, in August 2010.

What's a Malfatti? Find out this and more including how you can join us by calling us toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 or clicking here.

Ciao!

New Year's Eve Dinner 2010

The Wine Country Inn will host its second annual New Year's Eve dinner on Friday, December 31, 2010.

This dinner will be an "Italian family style" dinner, served in the Inn's common room (complete with roaring fire!). Cost is $175 per couple, which includes: a five-course meal, wines provided by our friends at Jessup Cellars, after-dinner treats, and a midnight champagne toast. For the dinner menu, please click here.

This is a fantastic way to spend a romantic New Year's Eve, while also making new friends...and being able to simply walk to your room after dinner! Come join us for a wonderful weekend and to celebrate the coming year.

Toll free: 1-888-465-4608; Local: 707-963-7077

Food and Wine Pairing Classes

Marty Paradise, one of our Inn-cursion wine tour drivers and author of the book Paradise Picks, will host a series of food and wine pairing classes at Wine Country Inn. These classes will take place the second and fourth Mondays of the month, June through October, from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Cost per person will be $10.

Please call us toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 for more information.

Anniversary Al Fresco Dinners

As part of our 35th Anniversary celebration this summer, we will be hosting what we are calling our Anniversary Al Fresco Dinners. Here are the details:

Date and Time:
Every Wednesday in August and September; 7:00 p.m.

Location:
We'll eat outdoors on the Inn's lower patio

Food and Wine:
The dinners will be in an Italian "rustica" style--hearty, everyday (though very quality) food and wine, served family style, meaning that you'll not only get to feast on great food and wine, but also meet new people and, we hope, make some new friends.

Cost:
$80 per person (includes full meal with wine)

To Reserve a Spot:
Contact the Inn by phone toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 to reserve your spot. (Please note--our Anniversary Al Fresco Dinners are only available to Inn guests.)

We look forward to dining with you under the stars!

Our 2010 Food and Wine Events

At the Wine Country Inn, we know you love food and wine. While the Napa Valley has many great food and wine options, we’ve also put together our own food and wine events for 2010. Each event will be fun, educational, and—we hope—a celebration of our 35 years helping guests experience the wonderful food and wine the Napa Valley has to offer. Fun Thursdays Each Thursday April through November, we will be hosting a special food and wine educational event in the Inn's Common Room from 6-7 p.m. These events are complimentary to Inn guests (and subject to availability). First Thursday: "All About Olive Oil" with Chef Diane DeFilipi Second Thursday: "Cheese Tasting" with Dean & DeLuca Third Thursday: "Stories from the Vineyard" with grapegrower and winemaker Pete Hoffman Fourth Thursday: "Chocolate Tasting" with Woodhouse Chocolate Food and Wine Pairing Classes Marty Paradise, one of our Inn-cursion wine tour drivers, will host a series of food and wine pairing classes at Wine Country Inn. These classes will take place the second and fourth Mondays of the month, June through October, from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Cost per person will be $10. Anniversary Italian Al Fresco Dinners We will be hosting nine specials dinners this August and September to help celebrate our 35th anniversary. Click here for more info. Ode to the Olive Our third annual Ode to the Olive celebration will take place November 18-20. Please visit our Ode to the Olive schedule of events for more info. New Year’s Eve On December 31, 2010, we’ll host our second annual New Year’s Eve dinner. This special night will include a four-course Italian meal served family style in the Inn’s common room (complete with roaring fire), wine, and midnight champagne toast. Cost will be $175 per couple plus tax and gratuity. Seating will be limited to 26 people (13 couples), so contact the Inn for reservations. Please don't hesitate to call us toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 for more information, or to reserve your spot!

Elopements

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, we also wanted to mention how Wine Country Inn is a wonderful place for an elopement or vow renewal ceremony. We have a full package complete with lodging, minister, flowers, and other goodies. We do elopements throughout the year, and brides (and especially, the grooms!) love the simplicity... and also the "quiet elegance." Throw in a vineyard setting, and you have the perfect place for an unforgettable moment in time!

To learn more, visit the elopement page on our web site, or call us toll-free at 1-888-465-4608.

To a wonderfully romantic 2010!

Wine Country Inn in the News

Happy 2010!

We're looking forward to a great year, as this -- 2010 -- is our 35th anniversary. Please be watching for all kinds of special events (and yes, special packages) throughout the year.

For now, here are a couple of mentions of Wine Country Inn in the "news" (both online and in a traditional newspaper). The first article talks about us during a review of the St. Helena area, which the second article discusses our Ode to the Olive event we held in November 2009. Enjoy!

Wine Country Inn/St. Helena review

Ode to the Olive review

New Year's Eve: Dinner at the Inn!

Come join us for New Year's Eve at Wine Country Inn -- including a special dinner!

Many restaurants mark up their New Year’s Eve menu prices. Now you can have a great meal at a reasonable price, meet new friends, and walk back to your room. Our New Year’s Eve Extravaganza will include a four-course Italian meal served family style in the Inn’s common room (complete with roaring fire), wine, midnight champagne toast, and the opportunity to purchase for $50 a half-bottle of Hourglass wine (a standing-room-only wine, made from grapes on the Inn’s property).

Dinner wines will come from our friends at Jessup Cellars. Jessup makes a variety of varietals using their estate grown grapes. Winemaker Mark Jessup began Jessup Cellars in 1996 after working for, among others, the Opus One wines jointly produced by Robert Mondavi Winery and Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

Dinner begins at 8:00 p.m., and will be limited to 30 people (15 couples). Cost is only $75 per person plus tax and gratuity.

Please call us for information or reservations: 1-888-465-4608.

Happy New Year!

NEW: In-room Dining Menu

We're excited to announce a new program with our neighbors, Silverado Brewing Company: now you can order dinner from your room, and we will pick-up and deliver your food for you! Our special in-room dinner menu program runs from 5:00 - 8:30 p.m., April through November. You can order a wide selection of Silverado's amazing, unusually sustainable food, including the juicy Silverado burger (with Niman ranch beef!), beer-battered fish and chips, spinach salad, and much more.

And remember, at the Wine Country Inn front desk, we offer soda, water, beers, and of course a wide selection of great Napa Valley wines.

Just arrived and want to relax? Or simply want to "stay in" after an almost-too-much-fun day of winetasting? Now you can eat in the comfort and convenience of your room. Enjoy!

Summer Pleasure Package

A special note from Innkeeper Jim Smith:

I’m excited to announce that we just put together a cool Summer Pleasure Package here at Wine Country Inn (I wanted to call it Play with Your Spouse Package, but Deniese, our manager, reminded me that not everyone is married). Anyway, come stay with us and play, and you’ll save money. Here’s how: for a set price of $325, you and your partner will receive one of the following:
~ Two one-hour couples massages (a total of four hours)
~ Two Inn-cursion tours (each Inn-cursion is for two people)
~ One Inn-cursion tour (for two) and one couples massage

You save from $105 to $135 depending on what you pick. Obviously all offers do not include gratuities, and are subject to availability, so booking early is the key.

For room rates and availability, or for more information, please call us toll-free at 1-888-465-4608. PUT A LITTLE PLEASURE IN YOUR SUMMER.

Inn Wins Celebration Vacation Recognition

ST. HELENA, Calif. July 1, 2009 – Editors of BedandBreakfast.com, the leading online bed and breakfast directory and reservation network worldwide, have named the Wine Country Inn among its best inns nationwide for celebrating love.

Sandy Soule, a BedandBreakfast.com editor and highly recognized author on the B&B industry, said Wine Country Inn received the “celebration vacation” recognition based on many factors. “The Wine Country was singled out as being a romantic destination based on its pampering amenities, quality décor, vineyard setting, hospitality, and food and wine,” Soule said. “Again and again guests have called this a truly magical place to celebrate a special occasion.”

Jim Smith, The Wine Country Inn’s innkeeper, said the award didn’t surprise him. “We put a focus on hospitality and creating a unique guest experience in everything we do, from our staff to our beautiful grounds to our homemade granola,” Smith said. “We feel there’s no better romantic getaway for two in the Napa Valley.”

Celebration vacations remain a key part of travel nationwide. According to editors at BedandBreakfast.com, a June 2008 survey conducted by Peter Yesawich’s Y Partnership found that 70% of respondents celebrated a special occasion with a vacation, while 75% vacationed in celebration of their honeymoon or significant anniversary. Similarly, a May 2009 survey compiled by hotels.com found honeymooners are not cutting back despite the economic times; more than 98% of the 500 brides surveyed are still planning to honeymoon after their wedding.

About The Wine Country Inn: Celebrating 34 years of romance
Built and operated by the Smith family since 1975, The Wine Country Inn has been transformed from the Napa Valley’s first bed and breakfast inn into a magnificent Boutique Hotel. The Inn contains 24 distinctive rooms and five luxury cottages. Each guest stay includes a full gourmet breakfast and afternoon wine tasting. Guests also can avail themselves to spa services, local winery tours, and a complimentary evening shuttle service to nearby restaurants. For more information: www.winecountryinn.com and www.winecountryinn.blogspot.com.
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2009 WCI Special Events

At Wine Country Inn, we believe strongly in adding as much value to your stay with us as possible. With this in mind, we have created the following Special Events throughout 2009 to make your stay even more pleasurable. Most are complimentary to Inn guests, and all are available only to our guests. For reservations or more information, please call our front desk staff toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 or send an email to: romance@winecountryinn.com.

February 27-28, 2009: Return Guest Reunion
Please click here for a quick recap of our inaugural Return Guest Reunion.

Fun Thursdays: April through November
Each Thursday April through November, we will be hosting a special food and wine educational event in the Inn's Common Room from 6-7 p.m. These events are complimentary to Inn guests (and subject to availability). Here's the lineup:

First Thursday: Wine Appreciation
Join Marty Paradise to learn the ins and outs of how to better understand -- and appreciate -- the various wines you'll be exposed to during your stay in Napa Valley. Marty is a fantastic wine person (note, we were tempted to call him a 'wine geek') and fun to be around, to boot.

Second Thursday: All About Olive Oil
Diane De Filipi, who leads yearly gourmet cooking class excursions to Tuscany and Rome through her company Let's Go Cook Italian, will help educate us on all things olive oil-related, including how to taste, olive oil characteristics, and much more. Diane's passion for food and wine -- particularly as they relate to Italy -- are unmatched!

Third Thursday: Beer Fun
Our friends at Silverado Brewing Company will lead a "beer fun" course sure to entertain and delight. Brewmaster Ken Mee will lead many of these events. As Ken says, "Keep drinking beer--I'll make more!"

Fourth Thursday: Italian Wine Appreciation
Our friends at Benessere Vineyards will lead this exploration of all things Italian-wine related, including some fantastic wine and cheese pairings. Wine Country Inn guests will learn about the various Italian grape varieties planted throughout Napa Valley, and the steps Benessere takes to produce the highest quality grapes possible (in the winemaking world, more is not better, better is better).

November 19-21: Ode to the Olive
We'll put on a three-day tribute to all things olive-related, culminating in a Saturday blind olive oil tasting with celebrity judges. This was event was a huge hit with Wine Country Inn guests in 2008. For a complete schedule of events, which are limited to Wine Country Inn guests and, unless otherwise noted, complimentary, visit our Ode to the Olive site. (For information on last year's Ode to the Olive event, click here.)

December 31: New Year's Eve
We're putting together plans for a special New Year's Eve party (hint: might be one of only a handful of dinners we've actually hosted at the Inn). More info coming soon...

February 26-27, 2010: Return Guest Reunion
Mark your calendars now: We'll celebrate our 2nd Annual Return Guest Reunion this weekend. Stay tuned for more info.

Return Guest Reunion Rocks!

Wow, we had a wonderful time February 27-28 with our first annual Wine Country Inn Return Guest Reunion. Guests who have stayed with us before from all across the U.S. attended our special event.

The Return Guest Reunion culminated in a special dinner held in the Wine Country Inn common room. Guests and Inn staff began with cocktails from Charbay and wine from Benessere Vineyards, along with cheese and other passed appetizers, including Sonoma Duck Pate, Hog Island Oysters, and caviar and salmon gravlax on potato gaufrette.

For dinner, catered by the catering department at Silverado Brewing Company led by Chef Bernardo Ayala, we feasted on Maine Lobster Salad, pan-seared Filet Mignon, and, for dessert, Dagoba organic bittersweet chocolate cake with raspberry ganache and passion fruit coulis.

The Inn's common room looked beautiful, and guests were treated to a guitar accompanist.

Please note: If you missed this year's Return Guest Reunion, have no fear--plans are already underway for next year's event. Stay tuned.

Coming Feb 27-28: Return Guest Reunion

Just a friendly reminder that our first ever/annual Return Guest Reunion will take place at Wine Country Inn February 27-28, 2009. We have planned a fun time for those people who have stayed at the Inn before and would like an excuse (hey, it's February!) to get away, enjoy some fantastic food and wine, reconnect with our Inn staff, and also meet new friends.

For more information, click here.

For information, room rates, or availability, please call the Inn toll-free at 1-888-465-4608.

P.S. We're busy making plans for our events in 2009; stay tuned.