Return Guest Reunion

Many of our Wine Country Inn guests return to the Inn year after year. Of course, our staff becomes quite close with this new friends.... With these guests in mind, we decided to say "thank you" by offering a "Return Guest Reunion" in early 2009. Even if people didn’t know each other at the beginning of the weekend, we figure that they would by the end! Here are the details:

~ Our Return Guest Reunion weekend will be February 27-28, 2009.

~ You and a guest will receive two nights lodging, all regular Inn amenities (breakfast, etc.), and on the Saturday night a return guest party in our common room complete with cocktails, wine, and a four-course catered dinner.

~ The package price for the weekend, for two people, varies by room type:

Traditional Room: $700

Suites: $870

Cottages: $1,190

Please visit our web site or call toll-free 1-888-465-4608 for availability or to make a reservation. We hope to see you --again! -- soon!

New Year's Eve Party

What, a New Year's Eve party that's... free? Oh, wait--they'll just raise the room rates, right? No!

That's right: this year the Wine Country Inn will be offering our guests a special New Year’s Eve party on December 31. Highlights of the event include:

~ Our New Year’s Eve party will be complimentary for guests of the Inn that night. That’s right—while most places mark up (significantly!) their fees for New Year’s Eve, we’re going to throw a party at no additional cost to you.

~ In keeping with our old-fashioned holiday theme, the Inn’s room rates for that night will not increase.

~ Our New Year’s Eve Party will run from approximately 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. (or so), and include a champagne toast and dessert bar loaded with all sorts of homemade goodies.

~ Of course, you’ll avoid driving hazards by simply walking to your room.

Come celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of a new one with old friends... or make some new ones in our cozy common room complete with roaring fire. Visit our web site our call toll-free 1-888-465-4608 for room availability and rates.

Ode to the Olive

Yes, the Napa Valley has awesome wine. But we also have many other food producers, including many ultra-premium olive oil companies. To help our Wine Country Inn guests experience this wonderful fruit, we’ve created what we hope will become an annual celebration: the Ode to the Olive, to be held Nov. 12-15 at the Wine Country Inn.

Wine Country Inn guests will have a multitude of ways to experience the olive, including:
~ Numerous tasting opportunities, from spreads to tapenades to olive oils ~ The opportunity to visit one or more nearby olive oil producers
~ A complimentary copy of our Ode to the Olive Collector’s Book
~ An “ode to the martini” evening event, complete with stuffed olives
~ Special discounts or goodies from nearby participating restaurants

The nearly-week long celebration will culminate in our Saturday afternoon Olive Oil Taste-Off, in which three celebrity judges (stay tuned!) will taste from numerous Napa Valley and local olive oil producers. The winner will become the Wine Country Inn’s featured olive oil for 2009.

For more information, visit our web site, or call toll-free 1-888-465-4608 for room availability and rates. We hope to see you in November!

Rosemary Syrup

We discovered this wonderful Rosemary Syrup during a visit to the nearby Culinary Institute of America (see previous post), and one of its visiting chef's: John Ash. It makes a fantastic dessert topping, as well as would be a wonderful sauce for fish or chicken. Enjoy!

Rosemary Syrup

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c dry white wine

1/3 c water

3 tablespoons rosemary leaves

1 bay leaf

1/2 tablespoon whole peppercorns

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes. Let cool, then strain, store in refrigerator.

Sophisticated Palate

We’re lucky that our Napa Valley inn rests only a mile or so from one of the premier culinary education centers in the world: the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone. While the CIA specializes in formal chef and sommelier programs, there are many reasons for Wine Country Inn guests to visit the CIA, such as:

* The CIA offers numerous public cooking demonstrations and cooking classes.

* The CIA is located within a historic building, and has several displays of antique wine-related equipment.

* The facility has a wonderful gift shop sure to entice the cook (and especially the foodie!).

* Our guests can dine at the school’s renowned Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant.

For those who want to embrace the full CIA experience, be sure to review the CIA’s Sophisticated Palate program—an intense four-day “Epicurean Adventure” with nationally known chef John Ash and one or more CIA chefs. You’ll spend parts of each day cooking, exploring the bounty and offerings of our part of the Napa Valley, and of course dining and wine tasting. Inn guests who have enjoyed the Sophisticated Palate program have raved about both the one-to-one contact with top chefs and Napa Valley winemakers and food producers and simply the breadth of the food and wine experience. If you're a "foodie" (and you know who you are!), the Sophisticated Palate program is a foodie's paradise.

Please contact the CIA directly for schedules, costs, etc.

Salsa!

It's late August, and our gardens are beginning to burst! I've been busy making my world famous (O.K., Napa Valley famous) salsa for our afternoon wine socials here at The Wine Country Inn, plus our staff has been making a killer V-8 juice for the morning. (And, because August is the Inn's anniversary month -- this is our 33rd -- we've also had several bottles of Charbay vodka available for those interested in a morning Bloody Mary.)

The next time you visit us for your Napa Valley vacation, please take a walk down to our gardens. We're proud of how we're utilizing our land and contributing to your enjoyment of wine country with organic, grown-right-here produce. Cheers!

Event 3: Spirit Appreciation

Ah, isn't there something magical about the word cocktail.

We hope you'll join us on August 21 at the Inn when we introduce you to our friends at CHARBAY Winery and Distillery. They will be leading us on a "Spirit Appreciation" quest in which we'll learn about spirits, and (of course) do some tasting, including several of their award-winning fruit-flavored vodkas. This will definitely be something different and unique, which you won't want to miss.

Also, the CHARBAY folks are generously providing a "goody bag" to each couple which will include your choice of either their Pomegranate aperitif or their Green Tea aperitif. And our own Chef Guy will be providing a light lunch.

Details:
Thursday, August 21
Noon - 2:00 p.m. at the Wine Country Inn (registered guests only, please)
$45 per couple

Come join us! To reserve your spot or make a reservation at the Inn, please call our staff toll-free at 1-888-465-4608.