Napa Valley’s mustard season celebrations include wine forays, restaurants and spa treatments
Head for wine country, when yellow mustard blossoms fill the vineyards and restaurants, hotels, spas and wineries offer tempting deals and special events.
One of the first signs of spring in wine country is mustard season, when the rolling hills and long valleys that host the vineyards are swathed in brilliant blankets of yellow bloom. Photographers, plein-air painters and sightseers revel in this striking scene, especially in the Napa Valley, where wild mustard appears in abundance from January through March. The vivid blossoms are heralded in the annual Napa Valley Mustard Celebration as a multi-venue, multi-faceted festival of art, food, spa treatments and wine.
Grape growers nurture this hardy plant in dormant vineyard rows not only to showcase the beautiful wine country terroir but, more importantly, as a cover crop during the rainy winter months to reduce vineyard soil erosion, replenish the nitrogen in the soil and discourage pests, such as microscopic nematodes, from impacting the vines.
Mustard has been used as a food and medicine for thousands of years. Ancient Romans developed the earliest version of the classic condiment we know today, when they combined ground mustard seeds and unfermented grape juice to create a tangy sauce. Its name hails from the Latin phrase, mustum ardens, meaning “burning must,” which refers to the spicy heat of the seeds combined with the juice, known as must.
(A bit of mustard trivia before we head for Napa: In 1866, two men from Dijon, France, Maurice Grey and Auguste Poupon, famously combined brown mustard seeds with white wine to create Grey Poupon Dijon and, in the 20th century, American Francis French concocted his iconic version using white mustard seeds, vinegar and turmeric for its classic bright yellow color. Today, Dijon mustard is a staple of French country cooking — and what’s a ballpark dog without French’s?)
We embarked on our two-day wine country mustard odyssey in mid-February, when torrential rains were still sweeping in from the Pacific Ocean. Despite the cloudy weather and minor flooding in the valley, the bright yellow bloom illuminated our way to our first stop: the gallery and studio of the Napa Valley Mustard Celebration’s founder, artist and writer Jessel Miller, whose studio and gallery are a perfect introduction to everything mustard in the region.
Inside her labyrinthine building, a whimsical old whiskey distillery, you can see the original cover art of this year’s festival poster — a vibrant painting by local artist Michael Fitzpatrick — and other mustard-themed landscape art, taste locally produced mustard made with garlic, Champagne and honey, and even buy colorful clothing printed with Jessel’s artwork.
Miller has occupied her gallery space for 40 years and reimagined the defunct Napa Valley Mustard Festival, which stopped in 2018, as the three-month Napa Valley Mustard Celebration, now in its second year. Miller, who is almost always at the gallery, is a bundle of energetic hospitality and information. In addition to creating her colorful artwork, she has curated an entertaining collection of events offered by the festival’s participating resorts, wineries, restaurants, spas and regional galleries.
You’ll find the Jessel Gallery, which is open from 10 a.m. to 5 pm. daily, at 1019 Atlas Peak Road in Napa; jesselgallery.com.
Just behind the Jessel gallery, at 1021 Atlas Peak Road, is the large Tasting Barn, where three wineries offer pours of their vintage reds, whites and rosés. The official festival wine, Bougetz Cellars‘ 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Special Edition Mustard Celebration label, is sold two doors down.
We opted for Prime Solum’s lofty tasting room and their signature flight ($65) of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir and a red wine blend made from Napa Valley and Mendocino grapes, best enjoyed with an elegant cheese and charcuterie platter.
After visiting the gallery and tasting room, we drove a short distance to our abode for the evening: a cozy bungalow at the Silverado Resort, a historic resort and golf destination hidden away on Atlas Peak Road on the valley’s east side. We had signed up for the resort’s special mustard season package (rooms start at $247), which included a $50 resort credit per room and a colorful gift bag with a bottle of cabernet sauvignon, a jar of Napa-made mustard and a print of this year’s event poster.
That evening, we dined on seared scallops and king salmon at the resort’s restaurant, The Grill, which overlooks the resort’s scenic North golf course before retreating for the night, as torrential rains moved in again overnight. It was a perfect cap to the first day of our mission to discover everything mustard in the Napa Valley.
Mustard season is a great time to visit this region. Crowds are slim, the wineries welcome visitors with extra warmth and a slower pace, and the multi-hued vineyards decorate the valleys and hillsides, a beautiful sight even on cloudy days. If the weather gods are on your side, the blue skies, puffy white clouds and sun will make your wine country truly dazzling, like a living Van Gogh painting.
Mustard season in the Napa and Sonoma valleys brings all sorts of mustard-themed events and dining opportunities. You’ll find everything from mustard-themed art shows, craft fairs and festivals to colorful guided multi-day bike rides with stays in elegant inns, mustard-themed fine dining, even mustard-seed baths and body scrubs at the Silverado and Meadowood resort spas.
The Napa Valley Mustard Celebration site — www.napavalleymustardcelebration.com — lists many of the mustard-related events, but here’s a look at several especially enticing options.
Culinary events
NOMA House Cafe & Collective on Main Street in quaint St. Helena offers a mustard-themed happy hour from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Don’t miss the their themed snack, mustard and tarragon egg salad served in gem lettuce cups. The cafe and retail shop are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1429 Main St.; nomahousecafeandcollective.com.
Grgich Hills Estate is a family-owned winery with Croatian roots. The Rutherford winery hosts a Bud Break Mustard Celebration ($100) with a specially curated tasting menu, complete with artisan mustards paired with cheese and charcuterie, smoked salmon and wine pours. It’s offered daily through March at 1829 St. Helena Highway. Find winery information at www.grgich.com. Book a tasting at www.exploretock.com/grgich/.
Enjoy a special mustard lunch or dinner at Lucy Restaurant at Yountville’s Bardessono Hotel and Spa. Lunch includes Caggiano’s bratwurst ($16) with braised sauerkraut, roasted peppers and Dijon mustard vinaigrette. For dinner, try the mustard-glazed Snake River Farms pork chop ($54) with braised mustard greens, bacon and pickled mustard seeds. The restaurant is open daily at 6526 Yount S. Take a peek at the menu at www.lucyyountville.com.
And Norman Rose Tavern’s Mustard Celebration special features pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloin, roasted fingerling potatoes and Brussels sprouts with apple compote, and mustard sauce. The tavern is open daily at 1401 First St. in Napa; normanrosetavern.com.
Mustard spa treatments
Even you prefer your mustard applied externally, the Silverado Resort spa offers a mustard seed body scrub and massage ($310) using distilled mustard seed oil to condition the skin, helping to reduce inflammation. After the scrub, you’ll be treated to a relaxing 50-minute Swedish-style massage. Find details on the resort, 1600 Atlas Peak Road in Napa, and its spa offerings at silveradoresort.com/experience/spa/.
A “bath butler” at Yountville’s Bardessono Hotel & Spa will prepare a special therapeutic mustard remedy bath in your guest room. The soak is infused with mustard seed and rosemary and is rich in magnesium, selenium and antioxidants, a bath elixir that we’re told helps relieve pain and inflammation while boosting the immune system and promoting relaxation and overall well-being. If you do it as part of the “Mustard Masters” package ($1,013 and up, two-night minimum), the experience includes overnight accommodations, two mustard-inspired spa wellness experiences, two “Almost Here” mustard season cocktails and dinner for two at Lucy’s. Find details about the resort and spa at 6526 Yount St. in Yountville at www.bardessono.com.
Mustard-themed wine pairings
Sterling Vineyards has created two different tasting sessions that incorporate mustard-inspired culinary pairings. You ascend to the winery via an aerial gondola then head to a hilltop tasting room which overlooks the Napa Valley. Reserve the experience, which includes five winery-exclusive wines paired with small bites, by booking a Hilltop ($95) or Terrace ($75) tasting in March at sterlingvineyards.com/en/visit/tastings. The winery is at 1111 Dunaweal Lane in Calistoga.
Yountville’s Priest Ranch is offering a tasting ($75) of four wines paired with four unique mustards from Edmond Fallot. Find details on the winery at 6490 Washington St. in Yountville; priestranch.com. Book a tasting at www.exploretock.com/priestranchwines.
And Baldacci Family Vineyards on Napa’s Silverado Trail is doing tastings that include small bites celebrating mustard season. Tastings typically start at $65. Find details on the winery, which is at 6236 Silverado Trail in Napa, at baldaccivineyards.com.
Bicycle tours
Napa Valley Bike Tours offers a range of bicycle excursions during mustard season and year round, from a half-day guided e-bike tour with one winery stop ($174) to a self-guided outing that includes bike rental and a Bouchon picnic lunch ($149). They don’t include wine tasting fees, but they offer wine purchase pick-up service.
For a more luxe getaway, Berkeley-based Backroads offers weekend and weeklong bicycle tours of the Napa and Sonoma wine country with stays in some of the region’s finest inns. Bike touring is an awesome and active way to immerse yourself in wine country spectacles at any time of year. Rates start at $2,799 and are all-inclusive, from accommodations and meals to wine tasting and bicycles. Learn more at backroads.com.