The standards of hospitality are high in the Napa Valley, from the quality of the wine to chefs like
The French Laundry's Thomas Keller and
Meadowood's Christopher Kostow, who use incomparable local ingredients to create some of the world's most refined and beautiful food. Hotels do their best to follow suit, and up in Calistoga, where the hot springs bubble, one of my favorite places to stay is Solage, a low-key resort and spa with bungalow-type rooms spread out across a sunny patch of Valley floor.
Years ago, I dined at Solage's SolBar restaurant, where my meal of beet salad with avocado green goddess dressing; a duck confit bahn mi; and almond cake with black mission figs was nothing like what I'd expected of spa cuisine, that trend of the '80s. It was wonderful. After the meal, I sat in the airy indoor-outdoor space before an elegant fire that blazed atop an infinity fountain, and watched the spa goers all around me take their repast in fuzzy white bathrobes and slippers. I knew I had to come back and stay; I wanted to dine in a bathrobe, too.
So, recently, I returned to Solage, along with my kid and partner. Our sunny, cabana-like room opened onto a front patio with comfy lounge furniture, and bicycles were parked at our door for tooling around the property and pedaling into the quaint town of Calistoga. But the best thing about our accommodations was the bathroom, where I took too long in the rain shower, water cascading onto its pebbled floor, while my partner, Jeanne, dozed on the divan. (Note to selves: Next time we renovate a bathroom at home, let's make room for a divan.)
Jeanne's parents, who live on the central coast, drove up to meet us, and while Jeanne's mom napped in front of the flat screen, the rest of us went to the spa where we indulged in the gleeful Mudslide treatment. We were given a bucket of mineral-rich sludge laced with essential oils of our choosing—I got a relaxation blend—and were escorted to a heated stone room where we smeared ourselves with the stuff and lolled about. Every so often we'd splash ourselves with frigid water, rinse off, and slather ourselves up again. The second part of the treatment was spent in sound chairs, healing harmonics reverberating through us at such a kooky molecular level that I totally left the building, metaphorically speaking. The finale was a spin in the warm spa pool, the sauna, the cold plunge. We went round and round between them, sluggishly, giddily, guzzling cup after cup of cool, cucumber-infused water, feeling primordial. It was an excellent afternoon.
That night I returned to SolBar for dinner. Low-lit and elegant, it was as good as I had remembered it. The menu is divided into "healthy, lighter" and "hearty," so the food is as indulgent or as wholesome as one might choose. And I love the wine list at SolBar, which includes lots of organic and biodynamic finds from all over California, not just Napa blockbusters. A glass of the Truchard Vineyards Roussanne washed down ponzu-broiled hearts of palm accompanied by a creamy avocado parfait brightened with yuzu vinaigrette. The elegant Qupé Grenache paired precisely with a confit of Niman Ranch pork shoulder, served with bacon-roasted Brussels sprouts and a tangy-spicy Sierra Beauty apple butter.
The following morning, I wore my bathrobe to breakfast, thrilled that feasting publicly on trout and poached eggs in my robe was a perfectly acceptable thing to do at Solage. Afterwards, I sat at the sprawling pool shimmering just outside the restaurant. I decided that the whole of Solange is as therapeutic as the spa, with the smells from the thick aromatic plantings hanging in the fresh air. While my kid splashed around in the pool, I breathed deeply and reclined, succumbing to sleep and the restorative powers of California dreaming.
—Betsy Andrews IN THE AREA:
- Bike and Shop: Solage provides guests with bicycles, so use one to peddle into the charming, nearby town of Calistoga for some shopping.
- Wine Tasting: There are hundreds of wineries in the Napa Valley; go on a tasting spree, starting at nearby Twomey where winemaker Daniel Baron produces one of the Valley's most balanced and delicious merlots.
- Hot Air Balloon: An awesome thing to do, particularly if you're with kids, is soar in a hot air balloon over the Valley as the sun is climbing into the sky. Solage's concierge team can hook you up with a ride.
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