Visiting an Auberge Resort in Napa Valley For an Early Taste of The Much Anticipated Birdsall Residences in Houston

Dinner reservations at Auberge du Soleil, check. Spa appointments, check. Professional in-home wine tasting, check. Grange tour with farm director, check. Experiencing the remarkable service and amenities inherent in the DNA of Auberge Residences checks all the boxes as our visit to Napa Valley’s Stanly Ranch, Auberge Collection proved.

Three days in a luxe villa at the resort offered us a sampling of what one might expect when the doors open on The Birdsall, Auberge Collection, Houston’s first Auberge-branded residences and hotel, sometime in late 2027. Apples and Oranges, you might say, but all Auberge Residences — whether in Park City, Utah or Puerto Rico — share a rich heritage of five-star luxury and hospitality.

Stanly Ranch rises amid 712 heirloom acres of rolling vineyards, eucalyptus trees, and walking and biking trails. Be it the vineyard homes or the villas, the various accommodations offer a fluid indoor-outdoor experience — as one would expect in Napa Valley — via glass partition walls, multiple patios, fire pits and outdoor showers.

Each of the Auberge resorts is designed to salute the surroundings. Stanly Ranch is a prime example with accommodations tucked in and around chardonnay and pinot noir vines, with architecture an authentic yet subtle salute to California viticulture and the state’s laid back lifestyle

On arrival we were greeted by the team of valets and attendants who, in keeping with the theme, are referred to as “ranch hands” and are appropriately dressed in denim jeans and jackets, Western hats and boots. These congenial fellows are vital to the experience as the property is widespread and they operate the custom mini-vehicles for transport — just a phone call away.

The Stanly Room Life

Settling in at our two-bedroom villa we found that the fridge was stocked with our requisite Diet Cokes and orange juice plus beautiful strawberries and raspberries, cheeses, eggs and more. It’s as if staff had done grocery shopping for us, a common Auberge Residences service. The bar cart was aptly supplied (including Tito’s Vodka, a Texas thing) and a bottle of dreamy Dunstan chardonnay was chilling.

The wine poured, the glass doors open wide, we sauntered onto one of the three outdoor patios — this one overlooking vines and open green space — for a bit of early afternoon R&R. Dinner followed at Bear, the ranch’s primary restaurant option where the chef’s penchant for seasonal, ingredient-driven cuisine clearly celebrates California’s abundant agriculture.

Returning to our villa as the night chilled, we lit the gas fireplaces in the living room and our bedroom for the cozy ambience that flickering flames deliver. Had we been so inclined, we could have moved to the enclosed front patio where another fireplace is double-sided opening to the outdoor shower and tub on the other side of the high wall. Yes, we love the outdoor shower and tub.

Experiential travel is part and parcel of the Auberge gene pool and Stanly Ranch has plenty to offer. Consider the “From Wheel to Wine, Cervantes Family Vineyards” adventure for which Auberge arranges an exotic car rental for a valley excursion to the winery. The Grange Harvest Dinner Series finds guests dining al fresco next to the chef’s garden and beneath a bower of flowering wisteria. Pizza making classes and a kids’ camp add to the myriad experiences offered.

For dinner at sister property the iconic Auberge du Soleil, chauffeured Mercedes Benz transport was arranged. The concierge team was flawless in curating a winery experiences, arranging a private tasting and making restaurant reservations. Here, the magic is in crafting personalized itineraries. Nothing is left wanting.

Except perhaps the identity of the guest whose presence required armed guards wearing bulletproof vests during our visit to Stanly Ranch. No amount of coaxing  several staff members — even on our departure — resulted in an answer. And that is what privacy means in an Auberge property.

The Birdsall Follows Suit

Back in Houston, The Birdsall is following Auberge’s blueprint, privacy included. The 44 private residences in the 34-story tower will rest atop a 105-room luxury boutique hotel in the heart of The RO, Transwestern‘s 17-acre visionary mixed-use development including a retail village of chef-driven restaurants, boutiques and services.

As is Auberge Collection tradition and unlike any other residential high-rise in Houston, The Birdsall will offer unique weekly programming, exclusive onsite and offsite experiences and special events such as the Auberge concert series, wellness retreats and pop-ups with luxury partners. All of which Birdsall residents will receive priority access to.

Homeowners will be offered a host of amenities that go beyond that of the typical condo tower. Among them: grocery shopping and stocking, in-residence chefs with butler and catering services, floral installations, party and event planning and membership in the chic Auberge private club.

Limited to hotel guests, residents and members, the club is designed to reflect the understated glamour of 1920s River Oaks. Residents will find themselves cosseted in venues including a cafe, a walled garden and living room with a grand double-height library with fireplace. That is what five-star high-rise living should offer. And that is just what Transwestern imagined for The RO.

This collaboration between Transwestern and Auberge insures that The Birdsall will be the aesthetic and social centerpiece of this new urban village. As it should. Named after prominent architect Birdsall Parmenas Briscoe (1876 to 1971), one of Houston’s foremost designers of the refined Southern homes that graced Courtlandt Place, Broadacres, Shadyside and River Oaks, Briscoe’s homes helped to cultivate his clients’ social identities with a sense of permanence, gentility and beauty.