These are good days in Carneros. The wine grapes are harvested, the cows graze in pasture and the reeds sway in the afternoon sunshine along the Napa-Sonoma marsh.
This is the outrageously bucolic setting that developers of the $57 million Carneros Inn are hoping will provide an ideal backdrop for the first resort to be built in Napa County in nearly 20 years.
"Everything is designed here to reinforce the natural mood and tempo," said Keith Rogal, the lanky chief executive of Carneros Partners, walking through the property's hedged-trimmed lanes and stands of fruit trees. "You slow down and observe the birds and the climate, and you sit back and enjoy the tremendous agricultural handiwork around you."
The 96 guest cottages and 24 for-sale residences at the Carneros Inn share careful attention to detail. Every surface, sightline, fork and tablecloth was personally vetted by Rogal, a former Trammell Crow real estate professional whose real passion is duplicating the gracious Old World living of a bygone era.
At Harvard, Rogal wrote his senior thesis on English country homes and estates. He grew up seeing the world with his father, a tour operator in Boston, and came to appreciate both the grand and small gestures that make travelers happy when they are far from home.
At the Carneros Inn, the objective will be to bathe guests in the Wine Country's gentle rhythms and pleasures. From the time you arrive to the moment you rest your head on the pillow for the night, you'll be surrounded by reminders of the luxuriant natural beauty of the Carneros region.
The one- and two-bedroom cottages ($375 a night and up) are set in little compounds that are themselves surrounded by the inn's neighboring vineyards.
Trickling fountains burble in the background, and the smell of camphor and other airborne delights wafts from hundreds of trees planted throughout the grounds.
The Carneros Inn is reached via Highway 12/121 in Napa, just one hour north of San Francisco.
Take Highway 101 North across the Golden Gate Bridge and go 19.2 miles to the Vallejo/Napa 37 exit. Bear right at this exit and proceed 7.7 miles to the 121 Sonoma/Napa exit. Go left at Infineon Raceway and travel 6.6 miles to junction 121 Sonoma/Napa and bear right. Travel on 12/121 (also known as the Carneros Highway) for 7.6 miles. Turn left at The Carneros Inn.
For details regarding both the inn and the opportunity to own a home at the resort go to: TheCarnerosInn.com
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