Harvest Inn

As if plucked from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the English Tudor architectural design of the Harvest Inn—complete with intricate brick designs and ornate woodwork—is quietly tucked amid tall trees and lush landscaping in the heart of Northern California's Napa Valley wine region. Behind the AAA Four Diamond property, lush foliage gives way to sprawling vineyards, with green, forested mountains in the distance offering added perspective.

Idyllically situated on Main Street in the town of St. Helena, the eight-acre property opened in 1980 with 23 guest rooms and has since grown to include 74 accommodations pooled together in a series of four "neighborhoods." The most recent neighborhood to come on-line is the property's Fountain Neighborhood, which was unveiled earlier this year and includes 20 luxury accommodations, each with the added comfort of a gas fireplace below a flat-screen television and entertainment center, complimentary wired and wireless high-speed Internet access (available throughout the property), a private terrace or deck, and bathrooms with granite countertops, a deep soaking tub and stone tiles covering the floor and walk-in shower. The Fountain Neighborhood guest rooms surround a community courtyard with a central fountain (hence the neighborhood name), a 1,500-square-foot conference center and a 1,200-square-foot outdoor function space.

Additional meeting and banquet facilities are available in the Harvest Inn's Main Lodge building, including the 1,050-square-foot Mountain View room, highlighted by a huge stone fireplace and mountain vistas, a boardroom with seating for 10 and the 1,050-square-foot Vineyard View room, which opens onto a 1,600-square-foot reception patio with bucolic vineyard and mountain views.

Planners will also appreciate the building's inviting Great Room and Wine Bar, which are available for private receptions but also routinely host wine tastings.

"We host wine tastings every Thursday, Friday and Saturday," says Alfred Matter, Harvest Inn's general manager. "In most cases we bring in smaller, lesser-known wineries, and it's nice to have a different winery each night so guests can try different wineries each night."

The relationship that the Harvest Inn enjoys with smaller local wineries affords advantages for groups that go beyond the property's afternoon wine tastings.

"We very seldom have a group that is all work; most of the groups that we have will do a half-day of meetings and then a wine tour and tasting, or in some cases a dinner at a winery," Matter says. "A lot of the smaller wineries do not have permits to open to the public on a walk-in basis, so you have to have established relationships with the smaller, more intimate wineries in order to be able to utilize them. Our food and wine director has been here for a long time and he knows those people, so we can offer our guests something a little more than the typical wine region tour, something a little bit more intimate and a little bit more exclusive."

The Harvest Inn does not have an official restaurant, though a complimentary "Wine Country breakfast" is available each morning for all guests. As a result, groups are obliged to either bring in an outside caterer or utilize one of the many outstanding Napa Valley restaurants for banquets. According to Matter, however, this fact is rarely a setback for groups.

"The corporate meeting planner does not want to deal with different entities so they just tell our conference services what they are looking for and we will make the arrangements," he says.

Small surprises await guests around every curve of the walkways that link facilities throughout the property, from a peaceful pond stocked with koi or the Harvest Inn's two swimming pools, each complemented by a whirlpool spa, to secret nooks with benches under tall redwood trees. Another hidden surprise is the Harvest Inn's Garden Spa Sanctuary, a tented cabana for outdoor massages available during the warm months of May through October. A wide-ranging menu of in-room spa services are also available for guests.


For More Info

Harvest Inn    707.963.9463    www.harvestinn.com