It took only eight months after opening for Auro at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley to garner a Michelin star, making it the only Calistoga restaurant so honored.

It’s been a long time in coming for Executive Chef Rogelio Garcia, who was born in Mexico City and grew up in the Napa Valley. Last year, he returned to Wine Country to open this fine-dining restaurant after honing his skills at the such revered establishments as the original Cyrus in Healdsburg, the French Laundry in Yountville, Spruce in San Francisco, and Luce in San Francisco.

This marks the first star he’s earned.

And what a triumph it has been, as evidenced by the superlative meal I experienced when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant earlier this month.

Pull up to the roundabout driveway of the country-chic resort, and you’ll find the restaurant off to the right. Auro shares the same pristine kitchen as the resort’s casual restaurant, Truss.

The upscale restaurant serves a 5-course tasting menu for $175 that showcases Garcia’s deft touch in melding California coastal, Japanese, French, and Mexican influences.

For a really special time, go for the $215 tasting menu that not only includes a couple extra courses, but allows you to sit at one of the two chef’s tables inside the glass-fronted kitchen. My husband and I were fortunate to be seated there. It affords a bird’s eye view of the preparation that goes into everything, as well as the team’s military precision and focus, knowing exactly when each dish is ready and when it is on its way to what table.

To get to Auro, you walk through Truss to reach an anteroom lined with wine bottles. There, you are greeted with glasses of Champagne and airy gougeres before being led to your table.

It isn’t long before two waitstaff approach your table, bearing an oversized tray laden with half a dozen different canapes that they place in front of you one at a time. You’re instructed to enjoy them in the order in which they were set down.

That meant an explosive first bite of a Mexican corn sope garnished with tuna and house-made kimchi. While other tasting menus may start off tame, then proceed to more aggressive flavors, this one starts off with fireworks from the get-go.

There’s a hit of spiciness to the next bite, too, a morsel of fried Spanish octopus with citrus and pimenton, and squid-ink yogurt to cool things off.

Much like a gilded crown presented on a silk pillow, fatty, melty, oh-so-rich Japanese A5 Wagyu sits atop its own puffy oyster cracker and gets finished with a mound of Osetra caviar. It makes for a downright unctuous mouthful.

A purple endive leaf provides the perfect vehicle and note of bitterness for Ora king salmon superbly smoked over cherry wood, and finished with sweet-spicy mustard. Put this on a bagel, and you’d never want anything else as a topper again.

The artsy duck foot egg cup can be found nowadays at quite a few upscale restaurants, typically holding a hollowed out egg shell filled with a soft-poached egg and accoutrements. Not so here.

The surprise is that the egg shell contains a soft and foamy chocolate pudding with cocoa liqueur and a touch of maple syrup. The booziness prevents it from veering into dessert territory, though, there is a faint sweetness. Consider it another of Garcia’s homages to his heritage by paying respect to the Mexican and Latin American invention of chocolate that was originally enjoyed as a bitter drink.

The last bites are whole baby Tokyo turnips with their greens attached, sitting in soft, whipped truffle cheese to dunk into. They’re crisp with an earthy sweetness emboldened by the truffle flavor.

The main menu opens with 7-day dry-aged Hawaiian amberjack, sliced thinly, and formed with slivers of K&J Orchards’ nectarine into a striking rose shape, then accented with avocado, and ice lettuces from the hotel’s culinary garden. A citrus aquachile gets poured tableside. It’s racy with acidity and chili. A spoon is set at the table for this course, and you’ll want to use it to sip every last drop of the cold, refreshing lime-infused broth.

Next comes glossy, pillowy Japanese milk bread glazed with Marshall spews when you tear into it. Normandy butter and Humbolt gold cheese come alongside to slather on for creamy, lush goodness.

Brentwood summer corn shines in a thick, creamy veloute that’s poured tableside into a bowl arranged with cherry tomatoes, Medjool dates, and a fun everything-bagel tuille. The flavor of corn is so intense, it’s as if half a dozen ears of corn were somehow distilled into this petite bowl.

Next, all eyes turn as sommelier Derek Stevenson walks over to the table, carrying a decanter that resembles an oversized and very elongated musical note. It holds the 2016 Hartmann Dona “”Dona Rouge,” a red wine blend of mostly Schiava with 2 percent Lagrein, and 3 percent Pinot Noir.

The Italian Schiava is known as the “cotton candy” grape because it smells of that county-fair beehive staple and tastes like that melded with strawberries. While it’s typically consumed young, this particular wine, Stevenson explained, is barrel-aged in ancient oak barrels to develop its spicy, herbaceous qualities.

It was paired with turbot, which is showed off at the table in its entirety, as a server explainsthat it’s aged for 7 days.

Once plated, it arrives pan-seared and golden on top, with a buttery Semillion sauce, spring shallots, and summer beans.

Instead of the usual risotto infused with black truffles, Garcia presents a creamy cauliflower polenta instead, topped with a cloud of Parmesan foam, morels, and porcini. Pickled ramps offer a piquant note to all that lovely richness.

A huge hunk of A5 Wagyu is next presented for inspection, which I’m sure my husband would have pocketed, if he could. While the meltingly tender rib eye cap was served in the canape, it’s the beefy tasting eye that’s featured in this last savory course, napped in an oxtail bordelaise sauce that has depth for days.

Afterward, Garcia invites us up to the pass to explain the workings of the kitchen, which turns out about 100 covers for Truss and 45 for Auro daily. He also points out the daily inspirational saying he posts for the staff.

Then, he escorts us to the pastry station off to the side, where the chefs there invite us to enjoy a fanciful, leaf-shaped tuille adorned with apricot-lime curd and a fresh nectarine slice.

Then, it’s back to our seats to enjoy a creme chiboust that’s like a lighter creme brulee that forms the foundation for a bruleed crackly-topped fresh fig, with basil from the garden. It’s finished with vibrant basil oil and 12-year-old balsamic that brings out the honeyed, fruity taste of the fig even more.

That’s followed by a dish of chocolate mousse with salted caramel ice cream, candied pecans, and candy cap mushroom mousse with the beguiling taste of maple syrup.

Mignardises include chocolate-dipped and gold-flecked espresso madeleines. teeny honey-rose profiteroles, and floral, slightly tart rose pate de fruit, all arranged on a bed of pearl sugar.

Last but not least, there are little bags of hazelnut chocolate bark to take home to savor the experience just a little longer.

Congrats to one of California’s newest — and brightest — stars.