Every meal has a tale to tell. But there is so much information that a diner will never see for every experience they have at a restaurant or bar. That’s what inspired Kyle and Katina Connaughton of Healdsburg, California’s TripleThread restaurant to co-create the Paragon series of excursions, which highlight once-in-a-lifetime gastronomic experiences.
“What you see on the plate at SingleThread is simply the top of the iceberg,” chef Connaughton adds. “The produce that I spend one instant with as a chef has been in the works for months and months.” Each bottle of wine has its own unique story. “We can’t reveal everything that goes into preparing a dinner with the guests at the table. But we get to tell those stories through Paragon.”
The tremendous local knowledge and connections of culinary superstars are used to construct one-of-a-kind itineraries at the crossroads of cuisine, wine, and culture on Paragon tours.
The list is strong, with a Modern Adventure program and a Food & Wine Game Changer. What’s next? Friuli and Venice with chef Bobby Stuckey of the acclaimed Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, CO; Korea with Junghyun and Ellia Park of Manhattan’s two-Michelin-starred Atomix; and Mexico City and the Yucatán with Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil, one of CDMX’s leading restaurants and another World’s 50 Best honoree. (The first trip announced, a Japan tour with the Connaughtons, sold out in less than 24 hours.)
“First and foremost, Paragon is about dining, and then moving backward to understand where the inspiration comes from,” adds Connaughton.
No vacation better exemplifies that purpose than the California Wine Country tour, which goes on sale September 27. Kyle, Katina, and SingleThread sommelier Rusty Rastello will lead guests from Napa Valley to Sonoma County and the coast during harvest season in September 2023, showcasing elite wineries (some not open to the public for tastings); their own farm and the Knights Valley Wagyu beef ranch; and two of the region’s best hotels, Meadowood Napa Valley and the Farmhouse Inn by the Russian River.
Guests will, of course, eat extremely well, with not only dinners at SingleThread and The French Laundry, but also experiences from the SingleThread culinary team throughout, from the Japanese breakfast usually reserved for guests of their five-room inn to exquisite bento boxes to accompany winery trips.
Of course, the cost of a no-expense-spared trip is significant – $45,000 per person, restricted to ten guests. (As a certified B-Corp, Modern Adventure donates $50,000 per trip to a nonprofit organization chosen by the chef.)
As remarkable as the roster is, it is defined by the perspective and access of such renowned culinary luminaries. “We love bringing people into our world,” Katina Connaughton explains. That is especially true of their own farm, which Katina designed and oversees and serves as the inspiration for SingleThread’s menu.
A pick-and-taste tour of their Dry Creek Valley farm highlights ingredients that would eventually appear on the plate: tiny cucamelons the size of your pinky nail; negi onions, their only crop grown all year; and “Habanada” peppers that have the appearance and flavor of a habanero but none of the heat. Katina’s enthusiasm is obvious as she describes optimal farming practices, fascinating new crops, and the convergence of nature and human labor, the enormous process that goes into every ingredient.
“We enjoy bringing visitors to the farm so they can interact with nature – to see the fruit on the vines, to come in and pick it, and to eat it in real time.”
Then there are the wineries. Tastings and discussions with winemakers from Colgin Cellars, Williams Selyem, and Kistler Vineyards are included in the visits. The itinerary is also personalized in this case. The wineries chosen range from the celebrated Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines of Bond and Promontory in the Harlan Estate family of wines to Reeve Wines’ excellent Pinots, Rieslings, and Italian varietals. Both are remarkable, despite being separated by a mountain range, a county border, and a tenfold difference in bottle price: one feels like a hidden secret down a winding road of oak trees off Dry Creek Road, while the other is among the most rarefied wines produced in Napa Valley.
Kyle and Katina are natural ambassadors for their home, relaxed and pleasant but extremely authoritative. They have excellent eyes for seeing Napa and Sonoma on a once-in-a-lifetime gourmet excursion.