Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford

Solid · Yountville

booking essential

Buttermilk fried chicken served family style, the cheap seat on Thomas Keller's Yountville block. The MICHELIN inspectors call it the best bet for how Keller cooks at home.

Solid · Rutherford

booking essentialthe room’s own account

Two generations of Williams family winemakers on the same Rutherford ground, and a $50 seat in the garden behind the Red Barn. Closed Wednesdays.

Listed · Yountville

walk-in

Thomas Keller's fried chicken out of a window, Friday and Saturday, 11am to 2pm. Eat it in the garden or take it away.

Listed · Rutherford

booking essentialthe room’s own account

Chardonnay every year since 1973, and a cooking school attached. Cassoulet and Cabernet runs three mornings in December, $275.

Listed · Oakville

booking essentialthe room’s own account

Four tastings from $130 to $295, all pouring the same Oakville Chardonnay and Cabernet. The extra money buys library bottles and the caves.

Listed · Oakville

booking essentialthe room’s own account

Ninety minutes and $120 puts the Reserve Cabernet next to selected vintages of the Estate, under the Vaca Mountains in Oakville. Bottle service on the lawn runs to four.

Listed · Oakville

book aheadthe room’s own account

Charbono, Vermentino and Tannat off fourteen acres on a dead-end lane in Oakville, where everyone else planted Cabernet and stopped.

Listed · Yountville

book aheadthe room’s own account

Philippe Jeanty has cooked classic French in Yountville for over twenty years. Every menu page on his site is dead, so I have no dish to point you at.