Calistoga

About Calistoga

Calistoga occupies the warm northern end of Napa Valley, where entrepreneur Samuel Brannan built a hot-springs resort in the 1860s and gave the town its name; it incorporated in 1886. With roughly 5,228 residents, it retains a low-key, main-street feel distinct from the valley's busier towns, and its geothermal springs still drive a spa-and-mud-bath tourism culture found nowhere else in Napa. The surrounding hillsides and valley floor produce some of Napa's most powerful Cabernet Sauvignon, ripened by the area's heat. Just outside town, Chateau Montelena earned a permanent place in wine history when its 1973 Chardonnay won the white-wine flight at the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Between tastings, visitors climb Mount Saint Helena, watch the Old Faithful geyser, or soak in the mineral pools.

Practical details

Wine tourism notes

At the warm northern end of Napa Valley, Calistoga combines geothermal spa resorts with powerful Cabernet Sauvignon; Chateau Montelena, whose Chardonnay stunned the 1976 Judgment of Paris, sits just outside town.

Regional cuisine

Relaxed Napa Valley cooking — farm-driven bistros, wood-fired dishes and casual wine-country dining — set against the town's spa-and-hot-springs culture. Big, structured Cabernet Sauvignon from the warm upper valley dominates local pairings.

Canonical attractions

• Old Faithful Geyser of California
• hot springs and mud-bath spas
• Chateau Montelena
• Petrified Forest
• Mount Saint Helena hiking

Editorial notes