I spent the last 4 days in Calistoga at the northernmost tip of Napa Valley for a work "offsite". We there to do work and I had to give a 45 minute presentation to the group, so I actually did work, but it was also a lot of fun.

We stayed at the plush Indian Springs Resort & Spa. I arrived on Tuesday night and went straight for the pool . We met for dinner on the main drag of Calistoga at the Flat Iron Grill, it was first of many great meals. It was also my first opportunity to try Clos Pegase Pinot Noir, which is as perfect a wine as I have ever tasted (not that I have much experience).

The entire next day was devoted to work. Breakfast and lunch were catered by local places. Then we went to Greystone at the CIA for dinner. Absolutely spectacular. Possibly the best restaurant I've ever eaten at. Dinner starts with what they call "Temptations" a selection of tasty nibble-sized appetizers that changes nightly. We had butternut squash soup in a thimble. Hummus with baked lavash, duck pate on a cruton. Very chi-chi. Vert delicious, Very tiny. I had something called Lobster Mariposa as an appetizer. It was a little bit of lobster meat topping a piece of magno cut out in the shape of a butterfly. Odd combination? Perhaps. But it looked great. Tasted even better.

The main course was lamb with roasted potatoes. We drank a Savignon Blanc, which I didn't really look at and Flowers Pinot Noir, which was sublime (and around 90 bucks a bottle). Desert was out of control. Not only did I have Bananas Foster with vanilla bean ice cream, but we didn't realize at our end of the table that the president of our division, who was dining with us, had ordered 6 massive chocolate souffles. I felt disgusting afterwards, I was so full, but it was a good full, a really good full, probably a 200-300 dollar full. A rare full.

What do you do after a dinner like this? What else? You go hang out in the pool (did I mention it was heated to 101 by natural thermal geysers?).

The second work day was short. We had presentations til noon. Then we all got on bikes and took a tour of 3 wineries in Calistoga in the afternoon. First we went to Bennett Lane where we had our first tasting. The wine was just ok, but the catered lunch (smoked salmon, tons of cheese, pesto tortellini salad, etc.), was first rate. On the bikes again and off to Calistoga Cellars. Again, the wines were not so hot, but they did have a wicked cabernet port that we drank down with squares of bittersweet chocolate. Yum. Just to explain quickly, we have some people in our group that are really into wine (not me) and when we go out to eat, we always have great wines, so the standard is damn high and after the previous two night's dinners it was hard to top the wines we had. Done with Calistoga Cellars, we headed south to the incomparable Clos Pegase (pictured above).

Not only is this place beautiful, filled with incredible works of art, but their wine in nonpareil, at least to anything I've ever had. I even liked their Chardonnay and I hardly drink white wine at all. The chard had everything I like about white wine but so rarely find. It started off crisp and finished with the most most subtle oaky, buttery flavors. Everything I tasted there was delicious. Cabs. The Pinot. The Claret. But the best was the port.

Normally they don't offer the port for tasting, but we were a big group and it wasn't too hard to convince the guy to open a bottle for us. And it didn't hurt that we bought several bottles of the port and the chardonnay and the pinot. It's just so great. I can't really describe other than to say the perfect combination of savory sweetness.

After we cycled back to Indian Springs for a spa treatment. Not a bad way to spend someone else's money.