Napa Valley Wine Train

Some of the world’s best wines, restaurants and vineyard scenery are found in the Napa Valley. The wines measure up against the best from France, the concentration of award-winning restaurants is what you’d expect only in major cities, and it’s hard to top the views of neatly rowed vineyards and forested hillsides. The Napa Valley Wine Train fuses all three of these glories of Napa’s Wine Country into one as it rolls down the tracks.

It’s a slow roll, because like the best wines, the Wine Train takes its time. It rattles along at an average speed of 18 mph on a roundtrip journey between Napa and St. Helena, but it’s not like you’re in a hurry to get somewhere. The soothing ambiance of the train and excellence of the meals and Napa Valley wines are why you’re there. Besides, if you went much faster, the scenery would go by too fast and you might spill your wine.

On the lunch train ($50-$124), which leaves the station daily at 11:30 a.m. for its three-hour trip, you’ll enjoy the best lunch you’ve ever tasted while in motion. It’s a far cry from the usual train or plane food. Local and seasonal ingredients are used in the meal’s preparation, much of it that morning or by on-board chefs. You will choose among three menus: a four-course meal prepared onboard by an award-winning chef in the luxurious Vista Dome car ($129 includes complimentary wine), the Gourmet Express prix-fixe meal in classically elegant 1915-1917 Pullman cars ($99) or the casual Silverado Grill lunch in an Old West-themed passenger car ($50, lunch ordered from a menu that costs extra).

There’s also a dinner excursion (6:30-9:30 p.m.) offered one to five nights a week—five nights in the summer—with the same dining/passenger-car options as for lunch and at similar prices ($50-$129). For a fuller Wine Country experience, you can take a Gourmet Express lunch train that stops for a tour and tasting at a winery along the tracks: Grgich Hills on weekdays ($119) and Domaine Chandon on weekends ($139).

Whichever excursion you choose, you’ll spend much of the time admiring the views while sipping wine as the train chugs through the Napa Valley. Cheers!

HelloSanFrancisco Tip: Don’t choose the Silverado Grill lunch in the summer unless you want to be grilled; that train car isn’t air-conditioned and Napa summers are hot. 
 

- by Bob Cooper, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Bob Cooper

Bob Cooper is a full-time freelance writer (www.bob-cooper.com) who writes about travel, outdoor sports and health. He is a monthly contributor to Runner's World and has written recent articles for other national magazines such as Continental, Ladies' Home Journal and Inc.