WINE COUNTRY GOLFING IN NAPA VALLEY

North of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and through Sausalito, lies a little strip that produces the finest wines in the New World, and golf too.

- BENNY TEO

Upon entering Napa Valley, you will be greeted with a welcoming sign that states, "Welcome to this world-famous wine U growing region," followed by a side note that quotes nineteenth-century Scottish poet Robert Louis Stevenson, "... and the wine is bottled poetry...'

While many visit this wine mecca, the valley is also home to championship golf courses and some of the state's finest restaurants in California. Together with an emerging arts scene and luxury accommodation, it represents a slice of heaven merely an hour's drive from San Francisco.

Wine production dates back to the nineteenth century and yet, it was only from the 1960s onwards that premium winemaking began to grow here. Today, the wide global acceptance of wine on many fronts has helped transform Napa from a small, idyllic local spot to a premier travel destination for wine aficionados, golf vacationers, and even investors.

This is already proving to be the right place with the right notions. Nevertheless, if one is expecting to drive across heavenly highlands synonymous with the home of whisky and golf, he may be disappointed; Wine producing regions were never meant to be set upon craggy mountain ranges anyway and this one in particular, spans a mere 30-mile range, along equally stunning rolling hills on highway 29 and the Silverado trail in Northern California, not along the A9 to Inverness, Scotland.

SILVERADO, EAGLE VINES AND CHARDONNAY 

A wonderful golf destination along the trail is the historic Silverado Resort and Spa. Home to two of the area's top championship golf courses, its North and South courses were both Robert Trent Jones Jnr courses but have been redesigned by former US Open and Open champion, Golf Hall of Famer, celebrated TV commentator and course architect, Johnny Miller, who together with two partners bought Silverado for $25 million in July 2010.