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If you’re headed to Napa Valley, the bulk of your itinerary is already predetermined: you will be drinking wine. Surrounded by the mountains and under the NorCal sun, this is a more than enjoyable way to pass the time. But the newest Auberge resort, Stanly Ranch, aims to offer a bit more than mere tasting notes.
Located on 712 acres of vineyards and ranch land, Stanly Ranch evolves the traditional Napa trip (it’s Auberge’s third property in Napa, alongside the wellness-oriented Solage and the French Riviera-inspired Auberge du Soleil). After driving 50 minutes from the Bay Area and on a winding road to the Ranch’s center, you’re greeted with a cluster of buildings that don’t attempt to overpower the landscape’s natural beauty. The outdoor fires, wooden finishings, and many large windows work with the surroundings instead of against it. Consider the lavender pool—actually a collection of two pools, a bar, and several hot spas. It’s set in its own valley and surrounded by its namesake plants. When I was there it was freshly planted, but when it’s in bloom it should be a gorgeous visual and olfactory display.
I arrived at Stanly Ranch after a turbulent six-hour flight from New York, tightly wound and on the hunt for food. It wasn’t a long expedition. Delivered to my room was an extraordinary burger topped with bacon jam and the bar menu’s take on chips and dip—crème fraîche and trout roe with taro chips. The bar is the unofficial fourth place to eat at Stanly Ranch. Otherwise, the restaurant trifecta is the upmarket Bear, the coffeeshop Gavel, and the poolside Basin Bar. I happily ate up and promptly fell asleep in my room equipped with heated floors in the bathroom and an outdoor shower. I was unwinding already.
When I woke up, I could appreciate the full scale of the property. In addition to the three restaurants, it hosts a spa, 135 cottages and guest rooms, and 110 villas and vineyard homes on the market for people looking to buy. There’s also a substantial garden, called the Grange, which provides herbs and vegetables to Bear.
Bear’s menu—created by chef Garrison Price, who previously worked at Il Fiorista in New York—is expansive. At breakfast you can feast on a delicious poached egg, bean, and tomato bowl or a monkey bread made from 127 layers—really!—of pastry. The dinners are multi-course. One night, I tucked into bison tartare, crispy rice with shitake pickles, sunchokes with cheddar, snapper, short rib, and particularly delectable spot prawns with chimichurri. An attentive staff is on-hand to advise on which chardonnay to pair with the harissa chicken, should you find yourself in that predicament.
But what truly sets Stanly Ranch apart are the experiences on offer. Let’s start with the spa: Set on top of a hill next to the infinity sculpture by Gordon Huether is Halehouse, the multi-building wellness center built around another pool. First on my agenda was a trip through the Springhouse Circuit, a series of baths and saunas that, I was promised, would “activate the body’s natural healing processes.” I started with a cold shower, then transitioned into the Springhouse’s pièce de résistance: a stunning cedar sauna with a wall-to-wall window. After an enjoyable few minutes sitting in the dry heat and watching a hawk circle the property’s vines, I moved into a 54-degree cold bath (the spa attendant told me I lasted longer in the freezing tub than any other guest, boosting my ego along with any natural healing processes). After that energizing dip, I knelt in front of a futuristic machine that lymphatically drained my abs and legs like a giant foam roller moving at 25 miles per hour. My muscles were lightly sore as I oiled up for my final ritual: exfoliating with a metal scraper à la Roman gladiators.
I padded out of Springhouse for a massage on a warmed table. My masseuse asked afterwards if I did a lot of typing, because my hands were tired and needed special attention (I do, and they did). After undoing the damage from sitting at a desk, I moved to the final stop on my exhaustive tour of Halehouse: a customized facial with Biologique Recherche products. My facialist applied a special serum to address my dry cheeks and burgeoning forehead wrinkles. I left glowing, despite the wine.
The spa is just the beginning. Stanly Ranch has a host of activities guests can book and indulge in, from a tour of the Grange with the charming Farm Director Nick Runkle, to a falconry display and the opportunity to drive top sports cars at the Silverado Trail. Runkle walked me through the herbs that decorated my specialty cocktails, and indulged me with freshly picked young radishes for a pre-dinner snack.
Earlier in the day, I had explored San Francisco and the Valley via helicopter. After breezing over the Golden Gate Bridge through a cloudless sky, we touched down on the Donum Estate. A hybrid vineyard and sculpture garden, Donum invites guests to drink their exceptional Pinots (which are not available anywhere else) and look at sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, and Keith Haring. Arriving via helicopter, I only became more enamored with my surroundings as we moved towards the main tasting area: a beautiful white house with a flower-filled garden nearby.
My last day, I didn’t have a sip of wine before dinner. I had been too focused on the pool and the spa, soaking up all the Vitamin D that I could before waking up at 5:30 a.m. for a flight back. It was a welcome break from the expectations that can come with a trip to Napa—though I did have six bottles shipped home to New York.
