What do a Michelin-trained culinary team, more than century-old zinfandel vines, and a former-bio-major-turned-sommelier-and-now winemaker have in common? The Brian Arden Winery Chef Experience ($179). Chef Spencer Conaty brings what he learned at Morimoto, Atelier Crenn, and Saison to the wine-paired lunch, with the assistance of experienced sous chef Ben Martin. Wines are mostly reds and are often named for special moments in owners’ Brian Harlan and Amanda Lusk-Harlan’s lives.

This hidden gem, high up on Diamond Mountain north of Calistoga, is a relative newcomer to the modern winemaking scene, despite the fact that the property dates back to the 1800s. Theorem’s most popular food pairing experience is the signature Food and Wine Culinary offering ($450) to be enjoyed among sweeping vistas of Mount Saint Helena and the surrounding Vacas Range. The four-course tasting includes a welcome glass and appetizer and is prepared by chef Josh Mitchell based on what’s growing in the kitchen garden or available locally. Dishes change but have included little gems, English peas, and rock shrimp paired with sauvignon blanc, and akaushi ribeye with duck fat potatoes and a double wine pairing of the Hawk’s Prey and Voir Dire. 

Quite the anomaly in Napa Valley, Brasswood is a small production winery with 17,000 square feet of caves, a restaurant, a bakery, and a bottle shop all in one. Tastings pair cabs with cheeses in the caves ($145) or, more economically and claustrophobe-friendly, in the “den” ($100). The sensory tasting features seasonal bites and hand-blown glass globes to draw out the distinct aromas and characteristics of the wines. The Brasswood lunch pairing ($255) taps Brasswood Bar + Kitchen to pair four wines with four dishes. The current menu starts and ends with chardonnay, paired first with hand-pulled mozzarella and last with a foie ganache and carbonated grapes.

Most people know the ranch by way of its restaurant, Farmstead. But the restaurant is only one piece of the Long Meadow Ranch collection. The Hall family runs an actual cattle ranch; makes estate olive oil; grows food on a 40-acre farm and 1-acre demonstration garden; and produces bright low-alcohol wines. Those wines can be tasted alongside an elegant spread of bites: a local Hog Island sweetwater oyster may be topped with granita made of pinot gris and a Southern-influenced heirloom tomato pie paired with the house Feliz chardonnay.

Clif Family Winery (yes, owned by the same people behind Clif Bar) is a wine tasting room and lunch spot in one, touting its own farm and Bruschetteria food truck. There are enough food and wine options to make your head spin. Available daily, the King of the Mountain experience ($85) pairs four Howell Mountain wines with four bites; La Cima Reserva ($125) pairs all single-varietal cabs with more involved dishes, or go for the Pasto e Vino experience ($195), intended as a complete lunch. Two morning-themed tastings — Presto Gusto ($100) and Rise and Wine ($65) — offer wine-paired brunch. If you want something more casual, you can order right from the food truck (Wednesday through Sunday) and opt for a patio tasting.

The wines of legendary Jean-Noel Fourmeaux (who came to Napa in 1980 on a mission from the French government to spy on the Napa wine world, and never left) are not available in stores or restaurants so a visit for his Very Good Sh*t (actual acronym) is imperative. Though there’s no chef, food from chef Ken Frank (of Napa’s Michelin-starred La Toque) is available as part of the Signature Wine and Food Tasting ($95) featuring six wines and elegant dishes. Recently the Fourmeaux Chardonnay was paired with carrot, ginger, and coconut bisque with a bit of Maine lobster, and the VGS Potelle Two with a perfect pork belly slider with hoisin glaze. With advanced planning and a bigger appetite, the Epicurean Garden Lunch ($250) offers a two-hour, five-course full lunch for a maximum of 8 people in the garden.

The historic Louis M. Martini — it was one of the first wineries to open in Napa Valley after Prohibition — offers a diverse array of wine and food experiences. Led by executive chef Aaron Meneghelli, the Heritage LoungeTasting ($125+) with optional food pairing offers five small-lot wines with five bites, such as pickled green strawberry, rabbit Wellington, and Nutella mille-feuille, while the Martini Park Tasting ($55) features a trio of wines and a cheese board. The two-hour Outdoor Cabana Tasting ($175, available seasonally, Thursday to Sunday) is perfect for a small group (10 people max) to lounge in the cabana for two hours while sipping wines and noshing on Italian dishes. Lastly, for $325 per person, head down to the 85-year-old underground cellar lined with giant redwood casks for a multi-course wine and food adventure.

From the culinary gardens to the working olive oil mill, Round Pond Estate products and estate-grown produce feature in the four-course Il Pranzo lunch ($225 per guest, Thursday to Sunday). Following a tour of the garden and olive grove, lunch and Round Pond wines are enjoyed al fresco on the winery terrace. An Artisan Tasting ($95) features a charcuterie plate with wine pairing, and the Taste of the Estate experience ($125) upgrades that experience with the addition of an olive oil tasting.

At Cakebread, culinary offerings are varied. The team gets creative with whatever’s growing in the winery’s garden for the Perfect Pair ($100, offered Thursday to Monday), a tasting that matches four wines with bites like red flint corn polenta with burrata, chiles, and artichokes. Notably, Cakebread does offer a family-friendly wine tasting where children are welcome to listen to the tour guide while their parents drink.

One of the early adopters of food and wine pairings, Robert Sinskey offers two tasting experiences that feature food from chef Maria Helm Sinskey. Root to Glass ($65) pairs a flight of wines with Vineyard Kitchen nibbles. Root to Table ($125) is like a supersized version, upgrading the tasting experience with more dishes and seating. Recent dishes have included a vegetable tarte featuring estate-grown zucchini, parmesan, and black pepper shortbread, and a French-Southern mashup: a pimento cheese stuffed gougere.

The Delicacies experience at Piazza Del Dotto ($225, available Thursday to Saturdays) is like a scene right out of Under the Tuscan Sun. The atmosphere is casual, though the wine and food are anything but. Start with a barrel tasting of about five wines in the marble-lined cave. Then sit down for a bottled tasting of another five wines, along with four bites prepared by French Laundry–trained chef Joshua Schwartz. The array of dishes changes regularly, but recently included Maine lobster panzanella paired with chardonnay; potato cappellini with classic Italian pork belly sugo paired with pinot noir; and avchocolate chip cookie parfait with espresso mouse and the Del Dotto Dolores, a fruit-forward dessert wine.

Though Handwritten was founded more than a decade ago, its Yountville tasting room only opened in 2020 and winemaker Rob Lloyd’s experience is extensive. He worked for Cakebread, Stag’s Leap, and La Crema, before joining the Handwritten team. The Bread and Butter experience ($100) puts butter on the pedestal it deserves, with three types on offer — an Amish cow’s milk butter with sea salt, a goat and cow milk blend from Petaluma, and an all-goat milk version from Wisconsin — to taste alongside the wines — a sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, and three cabernets. With flufa (Swiss pastry cheese twists), truffle potato chips, bread from Bouchon Bakery, “stagberry” salame (elk with dried blueberries) from Indiana, and a deeply salty aged gouda from Oakdale Cheese & Specialties, it’s like a savory afternoon tea time but with wine.

Stag’s Leap helped put Napa Valley wine on the map when their cabernet sauvignon won the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Now their Cellarius Kitchen Experience ($245, Saturday and Sunday) is one of the most ample wine and food experiences around. Chef Travis Westrope whips up dishes in connection to culture and current moments, like a menu honoring Hispanic Heritage Month that marries seared ahi with prickly pear and hazelnut mole with duck confit. The Celestial experience ($125, Monday, Thursday, and Friday) begins with a cave tour and ends with a seated tasting of four wines and four small dishes to match. 

Located on Napa’s Silverado Trail, Darioush welcomes visitors with estate pistachios, roasted with sea salt and citrus zest, customary when welcoming guests into a Persian home —quite logical, as the winery is also the residence of owners Darioush and Shahpar Khaledi. Culinary offerings are taken seriously here with a signature mezze ($85) featuring a flight of wines and classic bites like hummus and pickled cucumbers. A wine and artisan cheese pairing ($100) includes a walking tour of the winery, as does the educational “sensory sessions” experience ($125) featuring estate olive oil, wine, and nibbles. The indulgent By Invitation Only gives an exclusive experience ($150) that includes a chance to taste the winery’s “crown jewel” cabernet, the Darius II, in a gorgeous etched bottle, plus limited releases, with deftly executed pairings like corn prepared four ways (agnolotti, pudding, tortilla and sauce of the husk), carrots, and beets and mesquite grilled rib cap with cherry sauce. 

Trefethen proprietor Janet Trefethen played a major role in kickstarting Napa Valley’s world-class culinary industry in the 1970s when she founded the Napa Valley Cooking School and brought in top chefs from all over the world, including Thomas Keller, so it’s natural that the tradition continues via food and wine experiences. Taste the Estate ($100) pairs five completely different wines with plates like wild mushroom mousse with toasted brioche, sous vide beef short rib, and cheese arancini with preserved red peppers. You can also book the private, after-hours Twilight at Trefethen experience ($200, Thursday and Friday). Perfect for an anniversary celebration or dare we say, proposal, you’ll be the only table on the grounds.

Have you ever had a very cool friend who owns an amazing mid-century modern house on the cliffs of Malibu? Yeah, neither have we. But a visit to Ashes & Diamonds is what we imagine that must feel like. The food-friendly, lower alcohol wines express the 1960s style of Napa Valley winemaking, natural for pairing with all manner of exceptional, deceptively casual foods by chef Ethan Speizer. While several wine tastings include cheeses or other small bites, the wine-and-food experience ($165) is most substantial and features five wines with family-style dishes including a recent beet preparation that nods at the classic Jewish bagel and schmear. The wines and menu both change seasonally.