May 22nd, 2023
The main reason for coming to Napa was to try some fine wines, but second, on the list was taking a Hot Air Balloon ride. There is just something so perfect about the verdant green hills contrasting with the bright balloons effortlessly floating over the Vinyads. It’s just the perfect locale to take a Balloon ride and evokes all kinds of romantic notions.
Balloon rides can be a little fickle, however. Always subject to weather conditions and cancellations. To combat this we booked our flight as early in the trip as possible to ensure we had the best shot at re-booking if the worst happened. We also spent a lot of time researching companies and one jumped right out as the Number 1 choice.
Napa Aloft
The main reason for choosing Napa Aloft is for its backup location. This might seem an odd thing to base your booking on, but it is the ONLY company to offer an alternate still within Napa County. During May and June, and even April and July, the chances of Napa Valley getting fogged in are pretty high, in fact, it’s almost a guarantee.
We really hoped by moving further inland we could escape the May Gray, but no, it followed us right the way into Napa and as we awoke at 4 am for our Balloon ride, the skies were thick with clouds and deep fog. Napa Aloft has a great Alternate Site, but all the other companies head south and out of Napa County flying over valleys and fields that are not exactly wine country. Napa Aloft is able to shift just a touch to the East into Pope Valley, which is actually more beautiful than Napa Valley and has all the charm and trappings of prine Wine Country. In fact, its more rustic and old-school charm actually makes it MORE like the Napa of your imagination!
Check-in
At check-in you are provided a light breakfast, muffins, pastries, and Coffee while filling in your Waivers, we were informed we would definitely be taken to the Alternate and we just need to hang around while we were assigned groups and Pilots. The whole process was very swift and we got given our group and met our Pilot Ferrel. It turns out we got pretty lucky as Ferrel was one of the most experienced Pilots there and gave us a fantastic experience.
Relocating
We all then hopped into the Vans while Our pilot took us the short hop over the mountain past Lake Henesy to the Alternate Launch Site in Pope Valley. As we climbed up the hillside, and past the lake, the fog was seriously socked in, and visibility was almost zero. There was no chance of any kind of flying in the Valley today. Our Pilot explained that despite the glossy brochures and jazzy websites, the reality was this is pretty much a dead cert for May and June. There is basically NO Hot Air Ballooning taking place in Napa Valley for around a quarter of the year.
Really for most of the competition, this is false advertising, they mention you may be relocated, but do not stress this is pretty much certain and the relocation is not actually going to be in Napa. It feels a bit off to be selling Ballon Rides in Napa Valley when you know full well they will be somewhere else! For Napa Aloft this is somewhat mitigated. Pope Valley is not actually Napa Valley, but it’s very close and very similar and IS in Napa County. It’s Napa Wine Country through and through, and really as there are so few landmarks in Napa, it really does not matter that you are one valley across, and it’s one heck of a beautiful Valley.
I think given the choice we would actually pick Pope Valley as it really is stunning, is far less built up, and just looks postcard perfect. Well it should, all we could see was FOG!
The Flight
Somehow, with just a few miles to go, the fog lifted. We descended to the valley floor and the skies just opened up and sunlight poured down, we were a little miffed to miss sunrise to the Fog, but the early morning rays were illuminating the valley and all was well in the world again.
As we approached the Launch site we could see the 4 balloons being inflated and once off the van, there was a fairly swift process as we loaded up the Balloon and got ready for take-off. The Balloons fitted a whopping 16 (+Pilot) passengers into the Basket, which sounded Crazy but we had a good amount of space and were not too squished up with our new basket buddies.
Once aboard we got a quick briefing and then lift-off. Ballooning is such a relaxing and sedate experience, the basket just gently lifting off the ground and softly into the air. The Brners provided a lot of warmth which was nice as there was a little nip in the air.
The three other balloons had got off in front of us and this made for such a stunning spectacle. Ferrel kept a fun and interesting narrative running throughout the flight, informing us of all kinds of things such as what he was doing, what the other pilots were doing, what the rules and regulations were, about where the other companies would have taken their clients this morning, even completely unrelated stuff such as his flying career and just a bit of interesting information about the Valley and the Wine Growing that was going on. He also informed us how skilled he was, and how he could land the balloon anywhere he wanted…this would come back to bite him!
We gently soared over the wineries and took in the stunning scenery. The back of fog was visible between the valleys with pockets of mist lingering in the cool parts of Pope. The sunlight illuminated the verdant valley walls and begin the process of warming the valley floor ready for a day that was forecast to be a scorcher!
As the Balloon moves s slowly there isn’t really a lot to see and do as you glide over the landscape. Unlike Helicopter rides where you only have seconds to look at things as you soar by, the balloon experience is very sedate, the scenery barely changing from beginning to end. You are more just floating along taking it all in. It was one of the most peaceful and relaxing experiences of our lives!
After around an hour of bobbing along above the valley floor, we came in to land at the far end of Pope Valley. We had watched as the 3 other ballons had struggled to touch down in the required spot, the first ballon needing to be towed in via rope to avoid a costly landing in a lawyer’s field next door. All this was explained by our pilot who assured us he could learn from their errors and bring us in for the perfect landing.
As we approached the site, things kind of when a little haywire. According to our Pilot, the conditions changed last second and the winds that had affected the other balloons switched and now we were heading towards a road, a lake, and some pretty robust trees! With the pilot almost ready to abandon the landing and take to the air, a member of the ground crew managed to grab the guide rope and pull us back to the field for a super soft touchdown.
We were never worried, even when brushing the trees, but it was a little humourous after the pilot “boasts” to see it go so wrong…all good fun and well-humored.
Breakfast
Once on the ground, it was back to the Main HQ for a champagne Breakfast. This was optional and an additional fee, but we figured it would e rude not to, so had pre-booked our slot.
The breakfast is a small Buffet but it was all excellent quality with a selection of Paries Muffins, bacon Eggs, Breakfast Potatoes, Ham, toast, sliced and whole Fruit, cereal, and such. It was a really nice meal and topped off with endless pours of Champagne or Mimosas.
We left very happy and a little confused to be back at the Inn at only 10 am after already having had such a fun-filled day! The rest of the plan for the day was to be pretty boozy, so we figured it a little early to be drinking more, so took the time to just relax by the Inn’s charming pool.
V. Sattui Winery
After some downtime by the pool, we headed up to the room to get ready for our first Winery! We had purchased a Priority Wine Pass and intended to take it for a spin today to see what savings we could find. V. Satturi offered a 2for1 so we had made reservations here and were excited to hit our first Winery.
Our St Helana Base was within walking distance of a few Vineyards, but in the hot sun, we thought it best to get a ride out and then walk back. This was actually pretty challenging as Trasport links in the area are not great and the Uber took a long time to find and then nearly 20 mins to arrive.
Down at V. Sattui, we entered the stunning grounds and took a quick look around the Gift shop and Deli before chinking in for our tasting. This was $XXX but 50% off with the pass. We got 5 choices from an extensive menu We tried a selection of Napa Chardonnays, Pinot Noir, and some Cabinet Sauvignon right up to a $98 bottle of 2018 Rutherford Origin, far more costly than what we usually drink.
The wine was all stunning but with very little to compare it to yet we held off on making any purchases. However, we did hit the Deli afterward and picked up a Bouchon Bakery Baguette and some fantastic stinky cheese to enjoy for lunch in the stunning gardens. Fantastic.
We then made the short walk to the Louis M. Martini Winery next door, which was further and far less accessible along the Highway than we expected. The St Helena Highway is largely non-pedestrianized and there are no crossings outside of the town itself which meant even the short walk to next door was pretty fraught and we are not sure it was even legal as we spend a lot of the time on the sidings of the Napa Railway line! the near 100°f temperature didn’t help either.
Louis M. Martini Winery
Anyway, once at the Winery, we were seated indoors for our next tasting. Again, 2for1 on the Wine Pass. Here we only received 3 wines and they were limited to Red, which Kate is not overly a fan of. The server was happy to keep supplying Kate with a selection of whites but these were fairly basic wines and made the whole experience less valuable.
The 3 reds were exquisite, starting with a blend (2018 – $70) then a Petite Sirah (2015 – $90), and finally a Cabinet Sauvignon ($2018 – $100). This was accompanied by a fantastic Cheese Board, and while Kate was a little short-changed on the Wine the Cheese more than made up for it. A fantastic experience for $50 and we spent a while outside exploring the charming grounds.
This Winery was massively different from the V. Sattui winery, here we found luxurious wood, fine marble floors, and really plush finishings whereas the V.Sattui was more rustic and charming. The wine at Louis M was definitely superior however we much preferred the added choice at V. Sattui.
After enjoying the Wineriy we continued along our perilous march along the St Helena Highway back to Our Inn.
Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch
We took an hour or so back at the inn to let the wines soak in, prepare for tomorrow’s wineries (we needed to pre-book to use our wine pass), and get ready for dinner. Our first fancy meal was to be at the Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch. It is a real rarity to actually use the Michelin guide to choose our dinner spots, usually, they are just in addition to the many numerous dining options in a place, but in Napa, it seemed more restaurants were Michelin Recommended than not. Maybe without a Mention in the guide establishments just don’t last in Napa.
Farmstead does not have a Star but does get a mention in the guide. The grounds were fantastic with a real rustic charm. We were seated on the patio outdoors and ordered a bottle of their own Chardonnay.
To eat we decided on the St Luis Ribs, an order of wings, and a side of Mac and Cheese, portions were not huge but plenty for the two of us. As you can see this is not Fine Dining, but very high-end comfort food. Everything was excellent and we had a good go at the Bottle of Wine but ended up taking a glass or two back to the Inn with us.
We couldn’t resist the Big Easy Beignets with Bourbon Caramel Sauce and these are possibly the nicest things we have ever eaten. Everyone loves Beignets but when they are piping hot and super fresh they are seriously stunning, just as these were.
We retired back to the Inn after a long day of adventuring and drinking and settling to catch another stunning sunset over the Grapevines.
Walking Total – 12,423 Steps – 6.4 Miles
Even with a calm and relaxed day such as this we still clocked up a good few miles, really this is not a major focus on this part of the trip, we prefer measuring our steps on busy city breaks, but it still shows even doing comparatively nothing the steps add up.
