If the budget cannot accommodate a meeting in Tuscany or Provence, there is no reason to despair. A similar level of fine cuisine and ambience lies just off California’s Highway 29 in the small Napa Valley enclave of Yountville.
While it’s best known as the home of the French Laundry, a restaurant where securing a table is akin to getting into Harvard, Yountville also boasts a growing number of other acclaimed establishments devoted to French-inspired cuisine prepared with the superb fresh ingredients that abound in Northern California.
Not only has Yountville grown in stature as a dining destination over the past few years, but it’s also become a popular spot for corporate meetings and retreats.
For groups with champagne tastes, the place to go in Yountville for a festive lunch or dinner is Domaine Chandon, a winery known for its sparkling wines and lush setting of rolling vineyards and oak-shaded duck ponds. At L’Etoile, Domaine Chandon’s recently redesigned and renamed restaurant, Chef Chris Manning creates customized multicourse menus that pair wine selections with dishes featuring items such as wild salmon, baby beets and heirloom tomatoes.
L’Etoile and its spacious outdoor patio and terrace under the oaks provide a variety of event spaces, including a private dining room on the upper level seating up to 50 people. Adjacent to the restaurant entrance, the Tasting Salon is available at night for receptions for up to 150 people, while the Grotto, with its waterfall and tropical setting, is a place where smaller groups can gather for sparkling wine and hors d’oeuvres.
Along Yountville’s main drag, which could easily be called Restaurant Row, is an impressive lineup of dining spots that welcome groups. Among them is Hurley’s Restaurant, where chef and restaurateur Bob Hurley has devised a seasonal menu that runs the gamut from braised wild boar to a spicy Moroccan-style vegetarian tagine.
For group dining, Hurley’s offers a private dining room accommodating up to 42 people with an adjoining terrace and views of the Napa Valley’s eastern mountains. Also available are an outdoor patio, seating for up to 46, and a vintner’s table adjoining the wine cellar that seats up to 14.
Just down the street, Bistro Jeanty evokes the French countryside with its flower boxes, striped awning and menu devoted to such rustic classics as cassoulet and coq au vin. While not designed for large parties, the restaurant will work with planners in accommodating groups either indoors or on the patio.
Although reservations at the French Laundry, one of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants, can be hard to come by for individuals, groups have an edge. The restaurant, which seats 62 people downstairs, offers a private upstairs dining room for up to 10 and is also available for buyouts.
Even when tables cannot be had at the French Laundry, there is more accessible—and affordable—dining at two other restaurants in town that are also operated by Chef Thomas Keller. At Bouchon, diners can enjoy bistro staples in a casual atmosphere, while Ad Hoc offers a nightly changing menu of four-course dinners served family-style.
Yountville’s major hotels for groups, the 80-room Vintage Inn and the 112-room Villagio Inn & Spa, are sister properties with a combined total of 10,000 square feet of meeting space that are part of a 23-acre spread called Vintage Estate. Located between the two hotels is Vintage 1870, a 19th century brick structure, originally a winery, that houses a 2,600-square-foot barrel room available for meetings, as well as two floors of specialty shops.
Adjacent to Vintage 1870, the Pavilion is a new 16,000-square-foot events plaza designed to handle corporate gatherings of up to 1,000 people.
In keeping with Yountville’s gastronomic bent, Vintage Estate recently signed a catering agreement with Real Restaurants Group, operators of 10 popular Northern California restaurants, including San Francisco’s Beetelnut, Bix and Fog City Diner. The caterers can design custom menus focusing on California-Mediterranean cuisine as well as drawing on specialty items from the company’s various restaurants.
