Boutique hotels in Sonoma County
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Hotel Healdsburg
- Style
- Cockle-warming wine retreat
- Setting
- Sonoma vineyard country
Sonoma County Overview
United States
- Countryside
- Valleys and vineyards
- Country life
- Farms, fields and flavours
The Napa Valley is often treated as California’s headline act on the world wine scene, but its smaller sister, Sonoma County is a picture-perfect patchwork of more than 250 wineries, majestic mountains and vast lake vistas.
A few miles to the north of San Francisco, hugging a strip of Pacific coastline and nudging into Napa, Sonoma County is the birthplace of the Californian wine industry. In 1825, thirsty Franciscan missionaries planted the States’ first grapevines, thus kick-starting the state’s vineyard supremacy. Although the neighbouring Napa Valley gets more international attention today, Sonoma’s less corporate, more-down-to-earth attitude and the friendly, family-run ethos of many of its wineries makes it the perfect destination for connoisseurs of grape and grain who are looking for a less well tourist-trodden trail. The warm sunny weather is as good for both vine and visitor, and the rolling landscape of mountains, lakes and green-gold plains is as photogenic as the county’s pretty, modern towns of Kenwood, Sonoma, Healdsburg and Glen Ellen.
Suitably Sonoma County
In 1846, while Mexico and the United States were wrangling for the control of the area, the town of Sonoma was the short-lived headquarters of the independent California Republic. Although the new country lasted less than a month, it left a lasting legacy in the form of California’s state flag, which features a bear and a star – the emblems of the ill-fated republic.
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- It’s often easier to get the hotel to call you a cab as flagging one down can be tricky, but if you need to book a taxi yourself try the Healdsburg cab Company on +1 707 433 7088, or A-C Taxi (www.a-ctaxi.com) if you’re in or around Santa RosaIt’s often easier to get the hotel to call you a cab as flagging one down can be tricky, but if you need to book a taxi yourself try the Healdsburg cab Company on +1 707 433 7088, or A-C Taxi (www.a-ctaxi.com) if you’re in or around Santa Rosa.
- Tipping culture
- Tip what you can when you can. Anything less than 15 per cent risks being interpreted as a sign that there was some horrific service disaster and may require justifying to your waiter.
- Siesta and Fiesta
- Sonoma’s working day winds down at 5–6pm, by which time, the restaurants are filling up. Most stops serving relatively early, at around 9pm, and you won’t find many bars (that aren’t of the sports variety) open beyond midnight.
- Packing tips
- Be sure to include one or two hangover cures in your baggage – somehow it’s just too hard to spit at wine tastings.
- Recommended reads
- A Hedonist in the Cellar: Adventures in Wine is a compendium of Jay McInerney’s humorous anecdotal wine columns for House and Garden magazine. Glen Ellen resident Jack London’s novel Valley of the Moon provides a snapshot of the Northern Californian wine region 100 years ago.
- Regional specialities
- Wine is obviously Sonoma’s biggest draw, rivalling the neighbouring Napa Valley in both quality and quantity produced. There are more than 250 wineries in the region, producing zinfandel, merlot, syrah, chardonnay, among others. The region’s strong in other area of agriculture too, with delicious artisan breads, cheeses and olive oils available throughout the year from roadside shops and farmers’ markets. Sonoma’s Californian cuisine mixes the earth with the not-so-distant seafood of the coast.
- Currency
- US dollar.
- Time zone
- GMT -8 hours
- Dialling codes
- + 1 for the United States; 707 for Sonoma County.
- Do go/don't go
- Mid-November to April can be rainy, but April is not too crowded, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get cool and crisp mornings and warm sunshine in the day. The hot Augusts can be stifling, with no cooling sea breeze and a crush of tourists.
Don't go home without
A visit to the Kaz winery in Kenwood – it’s Sonoma’s smallest that still has a tasting room and without doubt the county’s most crackpot, making its own bottle labels from family photos, and focusing on producing unusual wines, ports and mustards. It’s pure Sonoma – individual, family-run, small-scale but unforegttable.
