Napa train station revamped into swish dining spot

A historic rail station in Napa Valley has been transformed into a gleaming food and drink emporium, with  added gin distillery.

A rail station in Calistoga, Napa Valley, which dates back to 1868, has been given an impressive overhaul and new lease of life by luxury wine group the Boisset Collection, with fine drinks and dining at its core.

Renamed Calistoga Depot, it’s a veritable Disneyland for gourmands with a series of vintage rail carriages on the station platform transformed into individual eateries, including Mexican restaurant and Tequila bar Casa Obsidiana, and JCB Parlor Car, offering Champagne, oysters, and caviar. Premium cocktails are mixed in First Millionaire’s Saloon.

Visitors can buy a Golden Ticket to explore all facets of the complex, which also boasts Boisset’s Depot Provisions in the terminal entrance. The retail store’s shelves are stacked high with gourmet and artisanal goods, including a wide selection of wines from Calistoga and Napa Valley.

Vegetarians can check out Nova Terra Kitchen & Creamery to shop for 100% plant-based comfort food focused on local, organic, and sustainable ingredients. Examples of delicacies include plant-based cheese made in-house and barrel-aged vinegar.

And not content with simply serving drinks, the Depot produces its own all-American sprits too, in a distillery housed in the railway station’s Great Hall. Two giant copper stills are the focal point for Calistoga Depot Distillery 1868, and these are used to make the venue’s Fame & Misfortune Straight Rye Whiskey and Prosperous & Penniless Barrel-Aged Gin.

The Depot officially opened on 25 April 2024 and word is starting to get out, with visitor numbers rocketing.

Long history

The original Calistoga rail station was built by New Yorker Sam Brannan, who arrived in California in 1848 with a plan to profit from the influx of miners flocking to the state during the Gold Rush. He became California’s first millionaire by selling picks, shovels and gold pans to miners before they headed out into the fields to try their luck, buying the items for just 20 cents each, and selling them on for US$15 apiece.

In 1860 Brannan also purchased 20,000 grapevine cuttings on a trip to France for a nursery he established in Calistoga, the grapes of which went towards making wine and brandy. At one point he had 25 growers working for him and his distillery remained in use until 1875.

Brannan founded the Napa Valley Railroad Company in 1864 with the railroad reaching the town of Calistoga on 31 July, 1868.

Passenger service to Calistoga was discontinued in July 1929, with freight cargo limping on until 1969.  From this point onward the station has lain relatively unused and forgotten about, until it was snapped up in 2021 by Jean-Claude Boisset of luxury wine group the Boisset Collection, which owns 40 estates and brands in France and California.

Jean-Charles Boisset, known to his friends as JCB, said: “I have loved Napa Valley since I first visited when I was 11 on a trip from France with my father. That’s part of why we have such a strong presence here; I am driven to connect both the Old World and the New World.  Preserving historical buildings by reimagining them for the modern world excites me.”

Keen to “breathe new life” into the Calistoga Depot, JCB set about building something “wholly unique”, which allows visitors to “fully immerse themselves in incredible food, wine, beer, and spirits.”

The new facility artfully blends Sam Brannan’s pioneering achievements in rail travel and distilling together for a new generation to enjoy.

 

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