Posts Tagged ‘Entertaining’

Luxe green travel at Solage

Solage is more than just a resort – it is a complete experience. This new, solar-powered, green-friendly hideaway is part of the Auberge Resorts, and it exceeds the expected level of luxury and high-end style associated with the name.

Situated in beautiful Calistoga, just below Mount St. Helena, Napa Valley’s dormant volcano, this modern California-chic establishment offers affordability and progressive opulence in the wine country, perfect for a destination wedding. With 89 studio-design guestrooms to choose from, each rich with distinctly attractive style, every couple is certain to find true bliss at Solage.

This unique resort offers complimentary bike cruisers for all guests and staff to transport themselves around the resort. In line with their environmentally-conscious philosophy, Solage is also dedicated to serving organic and locally-grown produce.

They are pet-friendly and even welcome your pampered pooch with a water bowl, a plush dog bed, and organic doggie treats! Start your stay with a refreshing splash in their stunning 130-foot swimming pool, then slip into a relaxing yoga class or play a round of bocce ball. Later on, sip cocktails at their hip Solbar, savor the modern Bistro “Sol-ful dining,” and lounge around the cozy outdoor fire pits.

Solage is a strong promoter of health and wellness, so a trip to their impressive 20,000 square-foot Solage Spa is a must. Indulge together in the natural geothermal spring waters, treat yourself to a pampering with Kate Somerville’s skincare line, and pony up to the mud bar to relish in revitalizing volcanic goo. In an adventurous mood, try the “Solage Mudslide for Two,” their signature mudslide spa treatment, and relax completely with a couples massage afterwards.

For more information on Solage, click here.

For more on Autumn Millhouse and her book Romantic Napa Valley, An Insider’s Guide for Couples, click here.

Autumn Millhouse is an award-winning travel writer who specializes in wine, food and romantic getaways. She is also an international trekker who has wined and dined across the globe from Barcelona to Beijing . A self-proclaimed “hopeless-romantic” and author of Romantic Napa Valley: An Insider’s Guide for Couples, Autumn also has a bi-monthly column called Love Vines published in Napa Valley Life Magazine. She resides in Napa Valley where she cultivates her wine and food relationships with top chefs, winemakers and a slew of other foodies. Besides, sniffing, swirling and sipping wine daily, Autumn is currently working on her next travel book Romantic Sonoma Valley: An Insider’s Guide for Couples.

In pursuit of the best signature cocktail for a destination wedding, we recruited the award-winning Napa Valley Charbay Distillery. Popular for their fresh picked fruit flavored vodkas, Charbay produces an impressive collection of spirits, ranging from the newly launched tequila Blanco to Tahitian Vanilla Bean Rum and Pilsner Whiskey.

Located near the top of Spring Mountain in St. Helena, the Charbay Vodka line started 12 years ago by Marko Karakasevic, who’s been “Distillin’ and Chilin’ since 1983″. Interestingly, the birth place of Charbay Vodka is Tra Vigne, back in 1997 when Marko was “pulling a shift at the bar” he noticed that the only flavored vodkas in the market (all 2 of them) were not made with fresh fruit, but instead “natural flavors.” The idea struck, and that November, he picked organically grown Meyer lemons from a Napa Valley grower to make Charbay’s first Vodka, Meyer Lemon. The rest is a happily-ever-after tale of the cocktail kind; with cocktail recipes in Bon Appetite Magazine, sales across the nation increasing monthly and a continuous launch of new products Charbay continues to make Napa Valley a hedonistic paradise.

Marko has personal experience creating a signature cocktail for weddings when he created and poured a special vodka concoction for Michael Chirarello’s wedding years ago. Since then, he implemented his own signature cocktail last year at his wedding to his beautiful wife Jennie. Named ‘The 8 Year Kiss,’ a reflection of their eight-year courtship was made with Charbay Raspberry Vodka, fresh raspberries, simple syrup, Odwalla lemonade shaken, served over ice and garnished with a few more raspberries.

Personalize your wedding by taking into consideration the theme, time of the year and wedding colors and location. Other entertaining ideas are to use a signature cocktail to honor your groom’s heritage, generate excitement about your honeymoon or pay homage to your first kiss.

No matter the twist on your cocktail, be creative, happily serve thirsty guests and make memories using a signature cocktail.

Two crowd pleasing cocktails Marko recommends are –

Tahitian Passion

1 1/2 oz. Charbay Tahitian Vanilla Bean Rum
1 oz. Passion Syrup*
1 1/2 oz. Lime Sour*
1 oz. Soda Water
Handful of Mint
Combine all ingredients in a Shaker and Shake. Note: Please do not muddle—shaking the mint with the ice does it.
(Created by Milton Bland of Piatti Restaurant, Sonoma)
*Passion Syrup – Equal Parts Perfect Puree Passion fruit Concentrate and Simple Syrup
*Lime Sour – Equal Parts Lime and Simple Syrup

Pomegranate Wedding Cosmo

1.5 oz. CHARBAY Pomegranate Vodka

1/2 oz. cranberry juice
1/2 oz. Cointreau
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice; shake until frosty and strain into a martini glass; add a squeeze of lemon & garnish with a lemon wheel.

For more on Autumn Millhouse and her book Romantic Napa Valley, An Insider’s Guide for Couples, click here. For more on Autumn Millhouse and her book Romantic Napa Valley, An Insider’s Guide for Couples, click here.