California Wine Guide: Sonoma County

F&W's guide to the best of Sonoma—fantastic food, great wine and perfect places to stay (also, spectacular recipes from local chefs, at right).

Sonoma County's Best

Places to Eat in Sonoma County

Barndiva

Barndiva sources its ingredients from small, sustainable Sonoma County purveyors, muddles cocktails with herbs grown on owner Jil Hales's farm in Mendocino and produces its own Cabernet.
barndiva.com

Bear Republic

Founded by third and fourth generation Sonoma County natives, this brewery is still family-owned and -run. Visit the brewpub for a pint of super-hoppy Racer 5 IPA or a specialty brew like Old Baba Yaga, a Russian imperial stout.
bearrepublic.com

Courtesy of Cyrus

« Cyrus

Opulence is never out of style at Cyrus, Sonoma's destination for foie gras, caviar and seasonal white Alba truffles. Chef and co-owner Douglas Keane turns out spectacular dishes but avoids the stuffiness that often follows lavishness.
cyrusrestaurant.com

El Dorado Kitchen

A sophisticated bistro serving straightforward seasonal dishes. On warm evenings, the patio is a lovely place to try one of the inventive cocktails, such as the refreshing gin-based Kiwi Martini.
eldoradosonoma.com

Flying Goat Coffee

Founder Phil Anacker brings farm-direct coffees to Sonoma County with his local chain of small and cozy cafés.
flyinggoatcoffee.com

Hana Japanese Restaurant

Located in a strip mall, this spot's surroundings don't betray its offerings: superlative traditional sushi—including superfresh toro—and avant-garde rolls like the Fat Boy, made with tamago, unagi tempura and foie gras.
hanarestaurant.com

Singletree Café

"My favorite place in Healdsburg for breakfast," says Douglas Keane, chef at Cyrus. "It's almost like a truck stop, but they make their own biscuits and gravy and nice, fluffy omelets (I hate overcooked omelets). In the summer they have heirloom tomatoes."

Back to top

Places to Stay in Sonoma County

Beautiful Places

This luxury-vacation outfit can set you up in some of wine country's finest lodgings—like the Vineyard Knoll Estate in Glen Ellen, set on 25 acres with a vineyard in the front yard, a pool in the back and spectacular 360-degree views of the surrounding countryside.
beautiful-places.com

Courtesy of Duchamp Hotel

« Duchamp Hotel

A luxurious, post-modern retreat. Breakfast pastries are from the fabulous Downtown Bakery and Creamery and the pool's pretty cool too.
duchamphotel.com

Hotel Healdsburg

The other fashionable hotel option in Healdsburg: Think W meets California chic. Home to Dry Creek Kitchen.
hotelhealdsburg.com

Back to top

Places to Visit in Sonoma County

A. Rafanelli

Dave and Patty Rafanelli's heralded Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons (now made by their daughter, Shelly Rafanelli–Fehlman) are available only at the winery and on restaurant lists. There are no bells, no whistles, just outstanding wines sold from a rustic barn—old-school yet still cool.
arafanelliwinery.com

Chateau St. Jean

Book ahead for a seminar in which you blend your own wine with the varietals used in Cinq Cépages Cabernet Sauvignon. The visitor center (where walk-in tastings are held) sells good panini, charcuterie and cheese for picnics.
chateaustjean.com

Gallo Family Vineyards

Secretive Gallo has pulled back the curtain a bit by opening its first public tasting room, on the plaza in Healdsburg, and offering appointment-only tours of its 650-acre Barrelli Creek Vineyard.
gallosonoma.com

Hanzell Vineyards

The only way to visit this established producer, which made some of the first Chardonnay to be fermented in stainless steel, is to book one of two tours, which are often led by Ben Sessions, son of winemaker emeritus Bob Sessions.
hanzell.com

J Vineyards & Winery

Their Bubble Room is the best tasting room in all of Sonoma County. Seated tastings ($65 per person) feature six small plates—each paired with a signature wine such as lobster–shellfish cakes with a safron aïoli paired with J's Russian River Valley Chardonnay.
jwine.com

Lancaster Estate

This small estate winery produces estate grown and bottled wines of very limited availability such as Sophia's Hillside Cuveé, named for the owner's daughter. Private tours are followed by a tasting of four wines in the caves.
lancaster-estate.com

Lime Stone

Charlie and Lisa Palmer are Healdsburg's power couple. He's the chef at Dry Creek Kitchen; she picks the design items for their fantastic shop, Lime Stone. One top seller: trays decoupaged with bottle labels from local wineries ($96).
limestonehealdsburg.com

Medlock Ames

Up on Bell Mountain, Medlock Ames winery produces amazing wines in a utopian setting. Down in the valley, the Medlock Ames tasting room is its own little piece of food heaven, serving topped with gooey Bellwether Farms Crescenza cheese from local producer Liam Callahan.
medlockames.com

Courtesy of Peay Vineyards

« Peay Vineyards

The vineyard is an hour's drive from both Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, but it's worth the trip to get an inside look at a mom-and-pop operation—and to see vines planted on hillsides so steep that tractors tip over.
peayvineyards.com

Seghesio Family Vineyard

Seghesio offers a fantastic appointment-only Family Table program, in which guests gather in private dining rooms around tables crafted out of recycled redwood wine tanks to enjoy selections of limited vintages paired with Italian dishes.
seghesio.com

Siduri Wines

Adam and Dianna Lee make an astonishing 27 different Pinot Noirs under the Siduri label. Though the winery is bare-bones, the appointment-only tours—usually given by one of the Lees—include a sampling of wines aging in barrels for a preview of upcoming vintages.
siduri.com

Studio Barndiva

Carries beautiful one-of-a-kind items that help support local communities worldwide such as a women's co-op in India that embroiders sari table throws.
studiobarndiva.com

Back to top