We visited Copia in Napa a couple of weeks ago and it was a pleasant 'edutainment' museum type experience. The price was right at only $5 per person and they offered a wine tasting from Wattle Creek Winery (pretty decent Shiraz) and a food and beverage sample (a goat cheese dip w/ a small cup of strawberry lemonade)...I went back for seconds on the lemonade. We took the 30 minute volunteer docent led tour of the facility with a knowledgeable and entertaining docent (many famous and not so famous wine quotations were offered during or short tour).There were two exhibit halls with both permanent and rotating exhibits on the history of food and beverage and some good displays on what people eat and food memories told in small dining room type rooms with good audio-visual effects. One of the highlights was a photographic exhibit on what families eat around the world in a week. The differences and similarities were startling and we interesting to see how much prepared food the typical(?) United States family consumes in a week.
The 'Edible Gardens' were nice and offered some good examples with samples of some berries and fruits that pair well and taste similar to different varietals of wine. We spent about 30 minutes cruising the gardens and looking at the different plants and trying some of the fruits/herbs. For lunch we had made reservations at Julia's Kitchen, the only restaurant endorsed by the Julia Child Estate and the food lived up to the name and reputation. The highlight was the basket of breads and muffins that were still warm and very good. Overall the food was above average but the service was somewhat lacking. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine and they arrived after the food and we needed to remind the waiter to bring them. I would recommend Julia's Kitchen for the food and hopefully the service was an isolated case. Overall it was a nice 3 hours spent at Copia and I recommend it to others wanting a museum like food and wine experience.
Copia: http://www.copia.org/
The 'Edible Gardens' were nice and offered some good examples with samples of some berries and fruits that pair well and taste similar to different varietals of wine. We spent about 30 minutes cruising the gardens and looking at the different plants and trying some of the fruits/herbs. For lunch we had made reservations at Julia's Kitchen, the only restaurant endorsed by the Julia Child Estate and the food lived up to the name and reputation. The highlight was the basket of breads and muffins that were still warm and very good. Overall the food was above average but the service was somewhat lacking. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine and they arrived after the food and we needed to remind the waiter to bring them. I would recommend Julia's Kitchen for the food and hopefully the service was an isolated case. Overall it was a nice 3 hours spent at Copia and I recommend it to others wanting a museum like food and wine experience.
Copia: http://www.copia.org/
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