Rancho Caymus Inn

California’s wine country is full of architectural homages to Europe, and this one, built in the 1980s by salt heiress Mary Tilden Morton, is a hacienda-style tribute to the Spanish countryside, built from timber reclaimed from a 19th-century barn, long before that sort of thing became a staple of green construction. It’s also modestly sized, by the standards of villas built by heiresses — with the result that now, in its current life as a luxury boutique hotel, the Rancho Caymus Inn remains somewhat intimate, weighing in at a mere 26 rooms and suites.

Today the inn retains much of the character of a private residence; the artworks and decorative elements are thoughtfully sourced, and the aesthetic is eclectic but consistent throughout. The rooms and suites are luxurious, but tastefully so, and include comforts like gas fireplaces. There’s a plunge pool and a capacious hot tub in the hotel’s courtyard, and a substantial breakfast is augmented by an all-day light menu and a plentiful selection of wine. For restaurants, you’re scarcely five minutes from St. Helena, and not much farther from Yountville; and wineries abound all up and down the St. Helena Highway and the Silverado Trail.