Exploring Napa, Sonoma, and The French Laundry (2026)

First and foremost, this weekend trip revolves around The French Laundry. If you need an introduction, that’s fine: this is a three-Michelin star (the highest honor) restaurant that first opened in 1978, serving multi-course meals of French and Californian cuisine. Its current incarnation dates back to 1994, when renown chef Thomas Keller purchased the existing restaurant of the same name. Present day, this place shows up on some lists as being one of the best in the world. It’s prestigious, and maybe just the thought of such a place seems a bit pretentious. I can understand that, yet we don’t want to miss out on experiencing the finer things for special occasions, and this is a special birthday.

Booking the reservation wasn’t easy. All the time slots open at 10 AM (PST) on the first of each month, for the following month. For 5 or 6 months, I had navigated to the booking page (on a site called Tock) right as the reservations opened and, each time, they were all claimed within literally a minute. When a message I had become so familiar seeing - “Sorry, someone has already selected this time” - finally didn’t pop up, I was momentarily confused. I had 10 minutes to finish making the reservation but immediately sprinted to grab my credit card and locked it in.

With a Sunday night reservation in place, it was time to book everything else, then spend 2 months anticipating. We decided to drive the 6 hours from L.A. on a Friday, after work, do some wine tasting on Saturday and Sunday, then drive back home very early on Monday.

There are hundreds of wineries in the Napa area, so even just deciding on where to try wine can be no easy task. What has helped us narrow the list down so far - and this isn’t a sponsored post at all - is the Priority Wine Pass discount card. It’s good for a year and offers a lot of perks for wineries in several regions… most of those are “2 tastings for the price of 1” deals, which sounds great! I will say, the whole thing seemed a little sketchy, but it’s hard to find a bad review. Before buying, I searched around for a discount code and found one that got us $20 off the annual pass. Also, I didn’t explicitly sign up for auto-renewal but my order confirmation email says “This subscription is set to renew automatically using your payment method on file.” Be careful of that.

Here’s the list of wineries we’ve come up with...

Napa:

Rombauer Vineyards - not a part of the Wine Pass, but we love their Zinfandel

Raymond Vineyards - under the JCB umbrella, and we love JCB rosé champagne

Hagafen Cellars - new to us; we’ll see

Backstage Winery - new to us; we’ll see

Sonoma:

Imagery Winery - new to us; we’ll see

Highway 12 - new to use; we’ll see

There’s no need to bore anyone with the details of our particular, 6 hr. drive from SoCal, except that almond trees line the highway for miles and miles and miles, and cattle farms stink up the air for miles and miles and miles also. Skipping beyond that, let’s jump into talking more about Napa / Sonoma / The French Laundry.

Napa Valley Wineries:

Rombauer Vineyards (in St. Helena)

This is the furthest north we will be venturing from Napa proper during this trip. We’ve reserved the first wine tasting of the day. The host directs us to “The Secret Garden”. It’s lovely, with a panoramic view of the Napa Valley below, the surrounding foliage, and the main building to my left. They’ve put out a nice sign for us on the table that reads “Welcome Kilmers”. The February morning air is a little nippy, but it’s not too cold, and the sun is shining. It’s a perfect start to the day, until bird crap lands on my hand, originating from somewhere in the tree above. Thinking/hoping that’s the end of it, poop then lands on my favorite NCIS hat and on our table. I can now spot the pigeon up above, dropping dark purple bombs onto the danger zone below. We wonder, along with the people at the table next to us, if maybe the bird has been eating grapes from the vineyards. The bird then lets loose again, striking a woman nearby on the head.

Unfortunately, this is the third time an animal has pooped on me: one time a pigeon above dumped onto my shorts while picnicking in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, and a coatimundi (like a mix of a raccoon and squirrel) emptied its bowels on me from a tree above in a Guatemalan jungle.

Anyway, this one tree needs to be cut down, and we need to get out of here.

Raymond Vineyards (St. Helena)

Our tasting here is in the Main Salon room, and our wine host is Leo. He’s an older, soft-spoken gentleman. With this being a winter morning, this place isn’t busy at all, and he gives us a nice tour of the facility. We have a look at the Crystal Cellar, Red Room, Corridor of Senses, and Library Room. 

Some JCB properties, like this one, are known for being a little eccentric. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, since it feels like Napa has a bit of a reputation for being a little stuffy and riding on its historic prestige. At the same time, seeing videos play in the Main Salon of the proprietor - Jean-Charles Boisset - as a James Bond-type character is both kind of funny and a little bit much. In the bathroom, I was reading a letter on the wall from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, which recognized Jean-Charles as an honoree at a gala dinner. Is having people read this while peeing self-deprecating or self-congratulating?

Anyway, the Raymond wines were okay - we didn’t try anything particularly offensive or particularly great here.

Hagafen Cellars (Napa)

First of all, this was a point of contention, so we took note: the pronunciation is like huh-goffen, which comes from a Hebrew word meaning “the vine”. Charlie pours the wines for us here and, again, on this winter day, the place isn’t busy at all. During our tasting, there is just one other couple visiting. The wine is about average. The seating areas are nice and semi-private but are faced right towards the afternoon sun.

Backstage Winery (Napa)

I was initially drawn to this by the Italian-inspired design. The exterior is neat, yet sort of feels like a film set.

The larger, interior, white walls look like smooth plaster, so I’m sure this place gets very LOUD during a nice, summer evening. Out back, a fire pit roars while a couple is doing a tasting. We would be out there, too, but the second fire pit is out of order.

As can be the case in times like these, though, sitting inside, with no other customers around, gives us an opportunity to really chat with the employees.

Here, the team is curious about our Priority Wine Pass. Backstage may have recently joined that program, so we show them what it looks like and where the expiration date is on our virtual (PDF) pass. Beyond our 2-for-1 tasting, they offer a deal on wine, so we buy a bottle. We aren’t blown away by it, but it’s better than what we’ve had at the two previous wineries.

Sonoma Area Wineries:

Imagery Winery (Glen Ellen)

We were drawn to this one by the artwork, and there’s a lot of it here! Interestingly, the recurring theme, incorporated into all the artwork, is a structure that roughly resembles the Parthenon in Athens. Strolling through the gallery, sometimes it fits right into the paintings; at other times, it feels like an afterthought.

As for the tasting experience, I am drawn to the rosé, Janine really likes two of the red wines, and we both really like the red chocolate covered dried cherries. At this point, the local red wines are kind of running together for me, but I’m glad Janine is still able to make sense of it all. For the most part, I am finding the reds in this region to be bold and spicy… a lot of them are tannic and heavy on tobacco and leather flavors. Most of the time, I would prefer a nice, soft red like a pinot noir instead. Our host here, Dori, is very personable, and Tanya adds to the interesting conversation when she’s giving her table of wine tasters a chance to discuss the wine among themselves.

Here, we buy a few bottles of wine, plus a tube of the chocolate covered cherries. This winery has a great outdoor space, which includes a bocce court. It’s kind of a bummer that the bocce set isn’t out, yet we also don’t have a lot of spare time built into the schedule today.

Highway 12 (Sonoma)

Our last wine tasting this weekend… This room is in downtown Sonoma. It can be slightly difficult to find, since it’s directly behind one of the buildings that faces one of the main streets. Adding to this, the logo on the wall says “Highwayman”, not “Highway 12”. Is this a sister location, and our reservation is next door? We check in and, okay, this is the right place after all.

Yet again, on this winter day, we are the only visitors, and that’s fine with us. 

The reds here are very bold… The last one on their tasting list is the most expensive, and after a couple sips, we pour the rest of it out. There’s no wine that can please everyone, and these just aren’t for us.

Like the Wine Pass, this is also something not sponsored: Do you know about the HGTV Dream Home giveaway? Long ago now, my mom told me about it, and I’ve been following this annual sweepstakes ever since. And I’m sure you’re familiar with the drill: a lot of people give up some of their personal info, but at least one person gets a really cool prize from it. That’s what this situation is. Some of the Dream Homes over the years I’ve completely forgotten about, and some have been more memorable, like the 2009 house in Sonoma. Part of what made it unique is that it included a very small vineyard. I can’t help but wonder what it looks like now, so let’s check it out!

As we’re pulling up near the house, I recognize it. Wow! What a beauty in this nice neighborhood.

It’s surprising to see a vacant lot next door. Initially, my recollection seems to be that’s where the small vineyard was. The 2009 Dream Home pages are still active on the HGTV site, and it turns out the small vineyard was actually in the backyard. The website says the ~10 rows of Zinfandel grapes would produce about 2 cases of wine a year. Considering our navigation app is already open, we see a satellite view of the house, and it looks like a pool cover might be where those grapevines would have been.

The French Laundry:

Back in Napa, it takes us about 20 minutes to drive to Yountville, where The French Laundry is located. Geographically, we are so messed up right now, because it seemed like we would just be driving “up the road”, north, and get there. Instead, we head south, west, then north. Maybe it’s just Waze doing what Waze does.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, there’s no valet, and we can certainly appreciate that when it isn’t called for. Street parking is a breeze.

Upon entering through the famous blue door, a party of two is ahead of us. They are given complimentary sparkling wine and are invited to have a seat nearby. We, on the other hand, are taken straight to our table. No bubbly, huh? Not a moment passes before we are asked if we would like a complimentary glass. But of course we would!

The sparkling wine is really nice and helps us ease into such a fancy experience. Soon, the sommelier stops by, and we have a decision to make. There are certainly places where it seems like $10 for a glass of wine is excessive. Here, the cheapest glass of white is about $30 and, for a glass of red, $50. The prices climb way, way up from there.

If the restaurant offered cocktails, we would probably just have a couple martinis, but they don’t. With this being a special birthday celebration, we heed the recommendation given by one of the winery hosts earlier in the day and buy a half bottle. The rosé certainly isn’t cheap, but it ends up being a really lovely wine.

Our waiter checks in, making sure we’re fine with the menu and asks if we are interested in any of the supplemental courses. Nah. One thing, though, and we debated whether to mention this or not when the concierge emailed us upon making the reservation: the birthday girl really doesn’t like shellfish. Do we just go with the flow of the chef’s menu… or not? In this moment, at the restaurant, I decide to bring it up. “Oh! Okay - is there something else you might like instead of the dish with sea scallops? How about yellowtail?” That’ll work, thank you!

Let’s dig into today’s menu and break down what it all means…

Amuse-bouche / bite-sized hors d'œuvre = salmon cornet

This is a sesame-seed-studded cone filled with salmon tartare and sweet red onion crème fraîche, finished with a chive tip.

Reportedly, owner/chef Thomas Keller was inspired to make this after a trip to a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop.

Course 1 = Oysters and Pearls

Pearl tapioca with oysters and black caviar

Going way back, one of my science teachers in middle school, Mr. Heflin, offered us some interesting incentives for doing well in class. Near the end of the school year, one of those was to try a little bit of caviar. I remember trying it, and that was the saltiest thing imaginable. Today, of course my palate isn’t the same, but this caviar was just a little briney, the tapioca felt just like what it is, and the oysters were pretty mellow.

Course 2 = Peas and Carrots

English pea “panna cotta”, carrot “tartare” (carrots often frozen, then thawed, then roasted until tender, then grated or ground, then mixed with potentially mayo, egg yolk, mustard, soy sauce, and other flavor boosters), sugar snap peas, and smoked carrot dressing

Before seeing the dish, I could only envision what we have at home: literal peas and carrots. This version is wildly different, and just the process of making “carrot tartare” seems pretty time-consuming.

Course 3 = Sea Scallop Tataki

Garden sunchoke (a type of sunflower often grown for its edible roots/tubers) coulis (pureed vegetable sauce), cured radishes, golden pineapple vierge (sauce)

Alternate Course 3 (for Janine) = Grilled Fillet of Pacific Yellowtail

Avocado "mousse", cured garden radishes, satsuma mandarin (considered to be the sweetest of all citrus fruits) “pâte de fruit", and coconut-lemongrass "vierge" (sauce)

Course 4 = Sautéed Fillet of Sole “Rouelle” (round/circular cut of meat)

Black trumpet mushroom tapenade, garden broccoli “confetti”, dijonnaise sauce

Course 5 = Bread and Butter

Brioche roll and butter

It’s flaky on the outside like a croissant and soft on the inside. It’s nice but seems like an odd mid-meal choice.

Course 6 = Applewood Smoked Squab

Pinquinto beans, crispy cipollini onion, and bacon jus

This type of bean is native to California’s Central Coast region. Although they’re cooked, they’re still firm, which is normal for this variety. This type of onion in mild and slightly sweet.

Course 7 = Herb Roasted “Prime Rib” Lamb

Green Swiss chard “gratin” (this is the rectangular piece), artichoke on top of boudin noir (French blood sausage), crushed Spanish caper reduction

Course 8 = Gougère

Described as a cheese “fondue” and black winter truffle

A “gougère” is a traditional, savory French pastry that’s a light and airy puff filled with cheese. This version is really interesting, because the cheese flows out once you pop the pastry.

Course 9: Dessert

It was at this point I thought of the “The Menu”, starring Ralph Fiennes. I won’t give away much, even though it came out in 2022, but the dessert course at the fancy restaurant is the craziest part of the movie. I’ll just say I was hoping there wasn’t going to be a surprise announcement that s’mores were going to be the final course.

This is the dessert brought out to our table:

1. A kiwi and basil-infused gelatin with roasted pistachio cream

2. Cardamom-cinnamon ice cream with orange marmalade

3. Slice of Marjolaine cake (hazelnut, chocolate ganache, praline buttercream)

Misc. “mignardises” (an old French word for “precious” or “cute”, these are small sweet treats at the end of a meal):

1. espresso ice cream

2. macarons

3. cocoa truffles

4. donut holes

THEN, we are invited to pick out whichever of the hand-assembled chocolates we want. One I ended up with was, gulp, s’mores.

At this point, I have two things to say: the service has been impeccable, and we are stuffed. We’re going to be taking some of the dessert home. I don’t remember our waiter introducing himself, so I ask: his name is Brighton. He’s funny and very personable and has certainly elevated our experience.

Nearing the end of this dinner, Brighton brings Janine a bottle of the house sparkling wine, which is engraved to commemorate her milestone birthday. Next, we’re invited to see the kitchen. This is awesome!!

At the end of a long day, the kitchen isn’t too busy, with the last of the dessert orders being assembled.

On a wall is a well-known (in the nerdy foodie world, which I suppose we are a very small part of now) “Vacheron Constantin” Swiss clock, with a plaque underneath that reads “Sense of Urgency”. This slogan isn’t originally attributed to, but is very much associated with, the owner and main chef here, Thomas Keller. If you’ve watched the show “The Bear”, the idea of “Carmy’s” (Jeremy Allen White) driving force - his “SOU” / “sense of urgency” is borrowed from this place. On the subject of time, I have absolutely no idea how we spent 4 hours at this restaurant!

Here’s my debrief from this experience…

It was amazing. It was expensive. It was extravagant, and this kind of splurge is rare for us. We have no regrets. The food was very interesting and good, and the service was even better. We also wouldn’t try to rush back to dine here again… The demand at this three-Michelin star restaurant is incredible; after several months in 2024, I gave up on trying to get a reservation, and in 2025, it took about five months to secure a spot.

To close, I’ll leave you with some other interesting tidbits I’ve learned about this place…

• The building was originally constructed as a saloon in 1896.

• In 1920, the place was turned into a French-style steam laundry.

• In 1978, locals Sally and Don Schmitt bought the building and opened a restaurant called The French Laundry, featuring California cuisine.

• Thomas Keller purchased the restaurant in 1994.

• The three Michelin stars were first awarded in 2007, when the Michelin Guide started covering the San Francisco Bay Area.

• The restaurant also has received Michelin Green Stars for sustainable gastronomy. That makes sense to me, as one of my coworkers worked on a “Masterclass” episode featuring Thomas Keller, and he told me all about the culinary garden that’s across the street from the restaurant.

• Supposedly, the waitstaff usually don’t offer up their names, unlike many/probably most restaurants. That’s an interesting choice.

• We weren’t entirely sure what the standard experience is and isn’t. It turns out, the engraved bottle of sparkling wine is rare, and an invitation to visit the kitchen after dinner isn’t automatic.

• I can’t sign off without mentioning that it’s a small world sometimes. The day after our visit, I got on social media and saw one of my friends from elementary/middle/high school in Ohio had dined at The French Laundry on the exact same day, but a few hours before! Last year, I also found out, after the fact, one of my friends was in the same Wizard of Oz screening at Sphere in Las Vegas as us… and I’ve also unexpectedly run into people I know in Hawaii, Paris, and Greece. It’s pretty wild out there sometimes.

Finally wrapping this up, YOLO. That’s all. Someone specific already claimed “sense of urgency”, so this is what I can offer: YOLO. I really mean it, and don’t forget it!

Sincerely,

JJK

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"Exploring Napa, Sonoma, and The French Laundry (2026)"

Written by: Justin Kilmer

Edited by: Janine Kilmer

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