Camp Napa Culinary

July 11-16, 2010
Extra session added! September 5-10, 2010
September 19-24, 2010
October 3-8, 2010

Join us for our 19th year in beautiful Napa Valley. This is an “insider’s” tour to Napa Valley’s elite small wineries, great kitchens, and homes, and the tour is limited to just 16 attendees. Hugh is your teacher for all the participation cooking classes and your host for every event throughout the week. All the recipes are based on Hugh’s 15 cookbooks. This year’s theme centers on visits to private estates and to tiny family-run wineries acclaimed for their wines and open only by invitation. The owners personally welcome us. Then, as we taste their wines matched with appetizers, we’ll hear their stories about how they transformed a passion for wine into a way of life.

The programs are created for independent travelers who want to combine a learning vacation with free time to pursue their own interests while in Napa Valley. That’s why more than 1,700 food and wine lovers have attended “camps” during the last 18 years, and many are returning “graduates.” Between our scheduled events, you’ll have time to take the “cure” at a luxurious spa; visit artists’ studios; explore the historic towns of Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga; and choose from Napa Valle’s fine restaurants for a romantic dinner. Join us for an opening night party at our home, and then treat yourself to five more days in one of the great wine and food regions of the world.

How to Get Here: Napa Valley is approximately 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. If you fly into San Francisco (or Oakland or Sacramento, the closest airports), we recommend you rent a car at the airport. We will provide you with hotel information and directions.

Class Itinerary

Sunday: Welcoming Reception and Dinner at Hugh’s and Teri’s home. Tonight Hugh and Teri host a reception and dinner at their new home, which is set in an olive grove and surrounded by the vineyards of Napa Valley. You’ll dine on chilled prawns, pan-fried dumplings, smoked baby pork back ribs, chilled soup with lobster, and homemade ice cream.

Monday: Cooking Class at Cakebread Cellars, Croquet Tournament at Meadowood. This morning Hugh teaches the first of three participation cooking classes at Cakebread Cellars. Jack and Dolores, their son, Bruce Cakebread, and their families are much loved in Napa Valley, and we are fortunate to be their guests at the winery. Virtually every top chef in America has cooked in their wonderful kitchen, and now you will have the same opportunity. Each class is full participation and utilizes recipes from Hugh’s latest books. The afternoon is free. In the late afternoon we meet at Napa Valley’s most luxurious retreat, Meadowood Resort, for croquet. Dressed in our “whites” and with wine in hand, we’ll negotiate one of the few championship croquet greens in America under the guidance of the Meadowood croquet pro, Jerry Stark, the top-ranked American player. His magnetic personality transforms everyone into a croquet fan. The evening is free.

Tuesday: Cooking Class at Cakebread Cellars, and a Visit to a “Cult” Winery. This morning we return to Cakebread Cellars for our second participation class, aided by the winery’s talented Executive Chef Brian Streeter. We’ll pick vegetables from their bountiful garden, grill fish over a wood-burning barbecue, and prepare appetizers and dessert in the newly redesigned state-of-the-art kitchen. Then we’ll lunch in the beautiful gardens, joined by the Cakebreads. In the afternoon we are fortunate to visit one of Napa Valley’s cult wineries. Opened just a few years ago, the winery produces fewer than 1,000 cases of super-premium Cabernet. We’ll tour the winery, which was designed by famed architect Howard Backen, meet some of the key people in charge of the day-by-day operations, and taste the wine. In order to protect the privacy of the owners, we have agreed not to mention the winery name or location. The evening is free.

Wednesday: Cooking Class and Lunch at Alexander Valley Estate and a Private Invitation to a Special Napa Valley Winery and Estate. This morning we meet at Andrea Mugnaini’s country estate near the charming town of Healdsburg. Andrea is the nation’s leading importer of Italian wood-burning brick pizza ovens. We’ll spend the morning creating an entire menu from appetizer pizzas to desserts that are cooked in wood-burning ovens (all recipes can be made in your standard kitchen ovens, too). Utterly charming and an outstanding cook and teacher, Andrea will lead us in a cooking adventure and host a wonderful lunch. Afternoon free. Late in the day, we gather at a tiny, exclusive winery and estate located high in the hills overlooking Napa Valley. For many years it has produced what many wine writers believe is the quintessential Napa Valley Cabernet. We will enjoy a special tour of the winery and estate, which is rarely open to anyone other than “the trade,” as we are led by some of the key people in charge of daily operations. Then, we’ll taste the wine in an exquisite setting never to be forgotten. The owners have asked that the winery name not be provided.

Thursday: Cooking Class and Lunch Vineyard 29, and a Visit to Constant Winery. This morning we cook and have lunch at one of the most talked-about small wineries in Napa Valley, Vineyard 29. Meeting at the spectacular winery, we’ll prepare lunch in its state-of-the-art kitchen, tour the caves, and then enjoy our lunch in a dining room that overlooks all of Napa Valley. Through meticulous management of their land, owners Chuck and Anne McMinn are producing red wines that are among Napa Valley’s finest, rarest, and most sought after. Chuck will be our host for lunch. The afternoon is free. Early this evening we gather at the home and winery of Fred and Mary Constant, owners of Constant Wines. Located high above Napa Valley, their Diamond Mountain Vineyard produces some of Napa Valley’s best Cabernet (called by Wine Spectator “a can’t be missed Cabernet”). We’ll tour the vineyards, play bocce ball, and then enjoy appetizers and their fine wines from various stunning settings in their home, which was recently featured in Architectural Digest. We’ll hear their “insider’s” account about the many complex steps necessary to conceive and then bring into being a small boutique winery, the marketing challenges to establish a demand, and their future plans. This fascinating visit could be titled “The Anatomy of a Winery.” The evening is free.

Friday: Wine Blending and Lunch at Palmaz Vineyards, Cakebread Dinner Graduation. This morning we meet at one of the most beautiful new wineries in Napa, Palmaz Vineyards, which is never open to the general public. Today we are guests of the Palmaz family as we tour the caves (the equivalent to an 18-story building), create our own wine blends, tour his Porsche racing car collection, and conclude with lunch. The wine press calls Palmaz “one of the top wineries of the world,” “spectacular,” “an astonishing Napa winery” (The Wine Review), and “one of the most incredible winemaking facilities in Napa Valley” (Wine Business Daily). The afternoon is free. Then this evening we gather for our final cooking class and graduation dinner at Cakebread Cellars. We’ll feast leisurely into the night with great foods and Cakebread wines, take farewell photographs, and reminisce about the week.

Saturday: Napa to Home. After last-minute morning adventures, those with flights depart for the airport, or you may stay on to enjoy the many other activities available in the Bay Area. We look forward to your visiting us again in Napa!