Once you've had your fill of Ceja's wine and spirit, head back toward the Carneros Inn. Follow the main drive past rows of board-and-batten guest cottages and your dinner spot for the evening, Farm (707-299-4880; entrées, $20–$34), to the reception area at the back of the property. Although there are nearly 120 cottages and fractionally and solely owned houses on the Carneros resort's 27 landscaped acres, you may well feel you have the place to yourself, even in high season. Fortunately, the food at Farm is well worth the effort of rousing yourself from your cow-print chaise longue. The restaurant's exterior approximates its name, but the dining room is San Francisco chic, with neon-backlit wine racks and a glass-fronted kitchen that turns out simple but elegant dishes highlighting local products. If it's a romantic occasion, request one of the leather banquettes by the fireplace.

Day 2 (Friday): Napa and Yountville

You're expected in Yountville at six this morning, dressed in layers. Why? You've got a sunrise appointment for a ride with Above the West Ballooning (800-627-2759; nvaloft.com; $245–$295 per person). Since you can't turn left on Highway 121 from the Carneros Inn, follow the Old Sonoma Highway instead past the A-1 Market to Old Sonoma Road; a left here will take you to another intersection with Highway 121, at which you can make a left toward Napa and then another left up Highway 29. Your crew will meet you near Yountville's Villagio Inn, where you can have coffee while they inflate the balloon before helping you into the basket for your flight over the green-and-gold farmland. About an hour later, you'll return to a convenient landing spot for a sparkling-wine breakfast.

Soon enough, it'll be 10 a.m., time to head to your first tasting of the day, at Frazier Winery (70 Rapp Lane; 707-255-3444; frazierwinery.com). The route here will take you past residential sections of the town of Napa (be prepared to share the road with farm equipment and horse trailers). The hills are dotted with cattle and wine estates, and the manicured greens you'll see on your way to Frazier are the Napa Valley Country Club's fairways. Frazier is another family affair: Dad Bill started making cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and a wee bit of petit verdot when he neared retirement as an airline pilot. Your guide will take you into Frazier's 10,000-square-foot cave, where you can sample the aging wine straight from barrel before sitting down for a bottle tasting paired with three excellent cheeses.

Shade your eyes as you emerge from the cave an hour or so later. At this point, you can either head back past the Carneros Inn to the di Rosa Preserve (707-226-5991; dirosapreserve.org), a sizable indoor-outdoor collection of Bay Area art adjoining a nature preserve, or go for one more tasting at Patz & Hall (851 Napa Valley Corporate Way; 707-265-7700; patzhall.com). Either way, don't bother stopping at Copia, an all-too-academic institutional ode to "wine, food, and the arts" in a warehouse of a building, where the wine tastes are dispensed by machine. More promising is the Oxbow Public Market (610 First St.; 707-963-1345), next door, which just opened last December and is slowly attracting local purveyors to its artisanal food stalls inside and farm stands outside.