I
like California for its sunshine, its beauty and its healthy,
unashamed hedonism. I love the Napa Valley for its manicured
wineries, its gentle pace and its devotion to excellence. And I
adore Meadowood for its setting, its staff and its impeccable
standards. Glimpses of Heaven are what we poor pilgrims through
this Vale of Tears seek on our uphill struggle. We need them to
sustain us and to give us hope. And here, in California, in the
Napa Valley, at Meadowood, is the thrill of experiencing what
life can be when all is well, and all manner of things are well.
I must not lapse into religiosity, for the pleasures to be had
among these 250 acres near St Helena are very much of this
world. Yet, for those fortunate enough to occupy its 85 rooms
from time to time, the level of enjoyment at Meadowood can
certainly approach the spiritual.
This must have something to
do with the closeness to Nature. After passing through the
security post at the entrance to the estate (Heaven must be kept
safe, after all) and checking in at Reception, I followed in my
hire car as the golf cart in front whizzed along shaded lanes
through the woodland. Then we went up a hill to a small parking
area. Here the young fellow jumped from his cart and, with that
smiling and friendly enthusiasm I was to encounter repeatedly in
the staff during my stay (a tribute to the General Manager,
Alain Negueloua), he led me down a winding path to a log cabin.
This was not any log cabin: it was my log cabin. To be
precise, it was room number 57 ~ a ‘Treeline room with
fireplace’ and therefore $950-$1,005 a night (depending on the
day of the week) for two, breakfast extra.
Please
banish from your mind immediately any thought that a log cabin
must be primitive or uncomfortable. This log cabin was
air-conditioned. From its terrace I could ~ and did ~ sit in the
afternoons with a cup of Earl Grey tea, made in my own tiny
kitchen, and look over my own private valley. From the hallway,
the door on the right opened into a sitting room of soft tones
of grey, white and brown. Next to its 3-seater sofa was a
fireplace and a supply of logs, and it became my habit to sit
next to a blazing fire before I retired each evening. A
flat-screen television was provided, but music seemed more
appropriate for a pastoral idyll, so a cd player was promptly
installed and the melodies of Mozart and Duruflé soon began to
accompany my daydreams. To the left of the hall was the bedroom,
with a throne-like bed of immense comfort. Behind the louvred
doors of its wardrobes, I found plenty of hanging space for my
suits. I was anxious for a moment that there was no safe, but I
discovered that it was concealed within a cupboard in the
sitting room. In the bathroom I found a tub of very good size
and Molton Brown toiletries.
The
sense of a quiet retreat was powerful and pleasing. But the
number of activities on offer, should I have wished to stir
myself from my little Shangri-La, was equally impressive.
Meadowood has seven tennis courts (with a resident
professional), two croquet lawns (with a resident professional),
a nine-hole golf course (with a resident professional), a spa
and a wine centre. (This last is particularly appropriate, as H.William Harlan ~ he of the famous Harlan Estate cabernet ~ is
a Managing Partner.) Then there was the opportunity to commune
with Nature on the hiking trail, and to try a bit of ‘twitching’
~ for no fewer than 112 different varieties of bird pass through
during the year. I, however, was content with doing very little,
and found my inactivity made the more satisfying by the thought
that others were doing so much. When I wished to move, I had
only to pick up the telephone and, within moments, a cart and
driver were at hand, ready to transport me to my desired
destination. For example, I thought it might be diverting to
watch a bit of croquet, and I present for you a picture of
myself, doing just that.
Then
there were my trips for eating. And so we encounter another
reason why folk come here from far and wide. Not many hotels can
boast a restaurant with two Michelin stars. But Meadowood can.
The chef of The Restaurant is Christopher Kostow (pictured),
from Chicago. On the evidence of my dinner, I can report that he
is a cook of prodigious talent, with an approach to food which
is intelligent, accomplished and exciting. His dishes are the
product of serious work, and yet they are playful and ~ most
important ~ intensely enjoyable. Clearly, he knows where to
obtain the very finest ingredients, and he handles them with a
technical brilliance which fills me with admiration. My only
regret about his food was that I did not eat more of it.
Although the first-floor
room is comfortable and well-furnished in a sophisticated modern
manner, the place to sit ~ as I did ~ is on the terrace. Out in
the darkness a forest of crickets made their amorous
assignations, as I settled myself into a wooden armchair before
a tablecloth of light beige. The beam of a spotlight overhead
caused the fine Riedel glasses to sparkle. My fellow diners were
well-dressed and their quiet conversation drifted across the
warm evening air. All was set for a gastronomic experience of
the very best sort.
And
thus it was. Chef Kostow offers an 8-course tasting menu for
$155, or 4 or 5 courses from the carte for $95 and $115
respectively. (The cheese course is $30.) I am not the keen fan
of tasting menus I used to be (perhaps I have had too many of
them), so I went for the 4-course option. Each of these dishes ~
brought to me by Lindsey, the attentive waitress in a dark
waistcoat ~ was a delight both for my palate and for my eye. The
roasted corn soufflé, with langoustine, cherry tomato and basil,
was a glorious opening. The shape of the soufflé made me smile:
I do not think I have had a square one before. Then came the
highlight of the meal. The red flesh of this Tasmanian Ocean
trout was so tender and luscious, and so flattered by the
accompanying currants (so sweet), eggplant and padrone pepper,
that I went quite weak at the knees. With dishes as good as
this, Mr Kostow must be pushing quite hard at the door which
leads from two to three of those Michelin stars. My meat was
partridge, poached and roasted, with matsutake mushrooms,
truffle and partridge eggs ~ the whole delicious and wonderfully
balanced confection served in a big white bowl. I finished as I
had begun, with a lovely soufflé ~ this one of banana, with
brown butter ice cream. $95 for this quartet of dishes
constituted a serious bargain.
The
cellar, overseen by the knowledgeable French sommelier, Rom
Toulon (from Vouvray), is strongest, as you would expect, in
local wines ~ with nearly 300 Californian cabernets. Prices of
the 950 offerings on the list range from $22 for a 2006 Spanish
rosé to $4,000 for the 1994 vintage of that most prized of Napa
Valley cabernets, Screaming Eagle. The grander achievements of
the Old World are not forgotten, however, with some good clarets
from more recent vintages ~ like 1999 Latour ($480) and 2000
Haut Brion ($725). It was good to see, too, 14 German whites ~
including a fine riesling Trockenbeerenauslese from the Mosel
(Bernkasteler Doctor Wegeler, 2003 - $485, half).
That riesling, of course, is
sweet. The one brought to me by the helpful Assistant Sommelier,
Andrew Seagrave, was dry ~ light-bodied, fresh and with tiny
hints of petrol (Kabinett, Bacharacher Hahn, Toni Just,
Mittelrhein - $35). The Napa Valley cabernet was much bigger,
with the ripeness of black cherries and damsons bursting through
its muscular tannins (Realm, Farella, 2005 - $70, half). This
was a super partner for the partridge. I enjoyed my drinking
here.
I
enjoyed my breakfasts, too. These were had in Meadowood’s other
dining room, The Grill, which occupies the ground floor
underneath The Restaurant. Here I again took advantage of the
clement weather and sat outside, overlooking the manicured grass
of the fairway and the croquet lawns. There was no buffet, thank
goodness, so the good, honest food from the kitchen of Chef
Arturo Guzman was brought to my table by the young members of
staff. I liked to start with a plate of honeydew melon, follow
it with mushrooms on toast and end with the terrific muffins in
my ‘bakery basket’ ~ all washed down with many cups of hot
coffee. I urge you also to have the freshly made green apple
juice. I found it quite superb. (Allow around $50 for this sort
of breakfast.) Thus did my days begin with pleasure and
tranquillity.
Meadowood, with its beauty,
its comfort, its closeness to Nature and its atmosphere of good
health, sums up what is best about California and the Napa
Valley. That is why I adore it. If Heaven is not like this, it
jolly well ought to be.
MEADOWOOD
900 Meadowood Lane, St Helena, California 94574, U.S.A.
Telephone +1 707 963 3646
Fax +1 707 963 3532
Email:
reservations@meadowood.com
www.meadowood.com
Double rooms from $725, breakfast extra
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special offers© 2008 Francis Bown. Used by
permission. All rights reserved. For reviews of hotels and
restaurants across the world, visit
www.BownsBest.com
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