Napa Valley · Estates
Readers Name Four Seasons Napa Valley the Best Wine Hotel in the Country
The Zoe Report's 2026 Readers' Choice Awards put the Calistoga resort first in the United States, and its new harvest experiences at Elusa, Davis Estates, ADAMVS, and Chateau Montelena show what the voters were responding to.
October 19, 2026 · Words by Andrew Foster, Director of Partnerships · Photography, see credits
Photography courtesy of Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley
The readers have voted, and the vineyard won. Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley has been named No. 1 in the United States in The Zoe Report's 2026 Readers' Choice Awards for Best Wine Hotel, a result the resort announced on September 18, in the middle of harvest in Calistoga. The Zoe Report published its readers' favorites on August 14, and the comments it collected read like a summary of the property itself: morning sun on the vines watched from a private terrace, tastings at a working winery on the grounds, pristine pools, and service readers called thoughtfully personalized.
The numbers behind the romance are unusually concrete. This is a Forbes Five-Star resort organized around 4.7 acres of organically farmed Cabernet Sauvignon, with Elusa Winery steps from the guest rooms. Four Seasons describes it as the only Forbes Five-Star resort in Napa Valley with an on-site working winery, which means the distance between a guest room and a production cellar is a short walk rather than a designated driver. In its fifth year in Calistoga, the resort has spent 2026 turning that walk into a program. Announcing the award, General Manager Robby Delaney put the emphasis on the people rather than the place:
““A beautiful setting brings people here; the way we care for them gives them a reason to return.” Robby Delaney, General Manager, Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley”
Photography courtesy of Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley
Beyond the resort gate
New for harvest 2026, the resort's experiences reach past its own fence line. Davis Estates is seven minutes away: a private visit walks the estate vineyard, enters the Howard Backen-designed winery, and descends into 11,000 square feet of caves, with barrel pours on the route and a tasting of four current-release wines, each paired with a seasonal dish from the estate's culinary team. On Howell Mountain, ADAMVS opens privately for resort guests, although the 80-acre estate ordinarily receives visitors only by advance appointment and from its own list. A walk through the vineyards and biodynamic gardens ends with estate wines poured beside selections from the Adams family's Bordeaux properties, Château Fonplégade in Saint-Émilion and Château L'Enclos in Pomerol. The estate has held Demeter biodynamic certification for more than 16 years.
Chateau Montelena, also in Calistoga, offers guests an Insider Experience that pairs library and current-release vintages with access to areas outside the standard visit. The timing is deliberate: 2026 marks 50 years since the estate's Chardonnay prevailed at the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the blind tasting in Paris that put California wine on the international stage. A second option, the Vineyard Vista Experience, runs in spring, early summer, and fall, and ends with wine, cheese, and charcuterie on a secluded hillside terrace. A complimentary house car is available on request for the Davis Estates and Chateau Montelena visits.
Winemaking without leaving the grounds
Guests who never leave the property can still do more than taste. Blend Like a Winemaker, for groups of six or more, starts with a production tour, introduces the season's blending wines, and ends with each guest bottling a personal blend to take home, with an Elusa grazing board on the table. Vines and Vintages: A Morning with Elusa opens with a pour of the 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, walks the organically farmed vineyard, and seats guests at a table between rows of Cabernet Sauvignon for two red wines with cheese and a briefing on the volcanic soils of the Calistoga appellation. A third format, the Chocolate and Wine Tasting Experience, pairs Elusa wines with locally made chocolates chosen to mirror or contrast their fruit, spice, and structure.
Photography courtesy of Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley
The table after the cellar
The day can end where the wine program is deepest. Auro, Calistoga's only Michelin-starred restaurant, serves Executive Chef Evan Neumann's seven-course tasting menu, built on Napa Valley ingredients at their peak. Below the menu sits a cellar of more than 4,400 bottles across 750 labels, directed by Resort Beverage Manager Derek Stevenson, and in 2026 both Auro and TRUSS Restaurant + Bar received Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence. Auro's Wine Dinner Series, which runs from May through October, has one date left: Hundred Acre on October 28, when limited-production Cabernet Sauvignons from Jayson Woodbridge are poured alongside wines from his sister labels, Fortunate Son and Summer Dreams.
Photography courtesy of Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley
The award lands in the resort's fifth anniversary year, and the calendar keeps moving after harvest: a community celebration is planned for November, followed by the return of holiday programming. For a stay built around the winery, the Napa Valley Getaway pairs vineyard-view accommodations with daily breakfast for two and an Elusa Library Experience for two, with a two-night minimum and reservations at least three days ahead. The readers who voted for this place were describing a hotel that behaves like an estate. The harvest program is the estate showing its work.
Details verified at time of publication. Photography courtesy of Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley.
