Napa Valley Wine Train

I used to live in the Napa Valley and the Napa Valley Wine Train was a familiar sight chugging through the vineyards along the valley's main artery, Highway 29.

I had not been on the train for about a dozen years, so I was pleased to revisit late last month for the 3-hour lunch excursion that begins in the city of Napa and travels north to St. Helena before reversing course and returning to Napa.

I rode in the elevated Vista Dome, a 1952 Pullman dining car with gleaming Mahogany paneling and brass accents. A glass of Domaine Chandon sparkling wine was poured as we sat  and menus for a four-course lunch were presented with at least two choices in each category and five choices of entrees (beef, salmon cooked two ways, duck and a vegetable plate). Chef Kelly Macdonald prepared the food for the Vista Dome car in a kitchen located in the car itself. Price per person for lunch or dinner in this car is $144 -- not inexpensive, but there are other cars with their own menus at lower prices.

Someone asked me to report back on whether the wine train was too "touristy." It certainly attracts plenty of tourists who were enjoying themselves -- this is not a commuter train used by anyone for reasons other than viewing the valley's vineyards while eating, drinking and soaking in the Napa experience. But is it artificial, gaudy, inauthentic, rowdy or otherwise obnoxious? Hardly. Service is friendly and helpful (kudos to Gerald, our server), the food and wine high quality, the views serene and colorful, and it's a fun ride.

Train, culinary, or wine purists may find fault that it's not a real train, or that the food or wine menus are more limited than you would get in a local restaurant or wine bar, but the whole package adds up to a special experience you can't get anywhere else in California wine country.