Sonoma Wineries

We are planning on visiting Sonoma from May 10-16th to celebrate my birthday and will be renting a cottage in the Valley of the Moon area (Sonoma). We are huge red wine lovers, altough not snobby or great connoisseurs but are looking to expand our knowledge. We are looking for the smaller wineries that are not so touristy with a combination of great wines/nice scenery. These are some of the wineries we had in mind so far. We have a private tasting/tour scheduled at Jordan Vineyards; also Lancaster Winery, Meeker Vineyards, Passalaqua, Murphy Goode Estate. Any other suggestions? Also, any suggestions on a mid-range restaurant in the Healdsburg area with good food/wine selection (not italian). Thanks.

Sonoma Wineries

Hi, we just returned from a weekend in the wine country in the Healdsburg area. There are many nice restaurants around the Plaza in Healdsburg, we loved our lunch at Willi%26#39;s Seafood and Wine Bar. There is also Dry Creek Kitchen, Barndiva, Bistro Ralph%26#39;s and the Oakville Grocery on the Plaza. I hope you are able to get up to Ferrari-Carano in this area.

In the Sonoma area, I would schedule some time for Imagery. Blackstone is also a nice place to visit with some great wines for all budgets. Have fun! :)

Sonoma Wineries

Thanks for your suggestions. I%26#39;ve spent most all day reading all of your other posts...it seems you are very familiar with the area and you have lots of great information!! Although I spent one day in Napa a few years ago, do you think I should just focus on Sonoma or do I have enough time to do both? I don%26#39;t necessarily want to spend all our time visiting wineries but would also enjoy visiting some other areas like Bodega Bay which sounds nice, Armstrong Redwood State Park, etc. Do you think it%26#39;s feasible?

If you get down to the Santa Rosa area, I love Hook and Ladder wines. The tasting room is nice and relaxed. The fellow poring the wines for us, Devin, was a charming, fun guy.

Bodega Bay is a very nice area to explore, pretty too! We have stayed at the Bodega Bay Lodge %26amp; Spa, they have a great restaurant there called The Duck Club. I would try to see as much as possible in this beautiful area. :)

I am interested that since you are staying in the Sonoma Valley you did not ask about restaurants in that area. The town of Sonoma has some excellent ones, and is probably much closer to your lodgings than Healdsburg, although Healsburg is also a place to visit.

On the Plaza in Sonoma there is the El Dorado Kitchen in the historic El Dorado Hotel, which is a fairly classy restaurant, and the more bistro-like Girl and the Fig in the Sonoma Hotel across the street. The Swiss Hotel is also historic and has more casual and quite reasonable food. All three of these restaurants have patios if the weather is nice for outdoor dining. Estate used to be called The General%26#39;s Daughter because it is in the house that the last Mexican Alcalde built for his youngest daughter, Natalia upon her marriange, on his estate.

Here is a listing of some of the restaurants. I have not tried Della Santini%26#39;s, have not tried Duuce since it changed hands several years ago. Cafe la Haye also gets good marks, I think it is a little small.

If you want to pick up a picnic, the Cheese Factory, also on the Plaza, has a good deli and assortment of other goodies, French Bread, excellent cheeses, etc.

Anyway, if this interests you, you can google them for menus.

You will love your stay in the valley (I grew up there.)

I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. The only reason I didn%26#39;t ask about the Sonoma restaurants is because I have already read up on all of them and seem to have a good idea of where I should go. All of the restaurants are on my list, except I also plan to try the The Girl and The Fig....what I need the most help on is trying to pick the best wineries (small, quaint, big reds, not necessarily wines I can go out and by at the local wine store here in Miami) that we should visit. There are so many and the more I read, the more overwhelmed I become. Also, like I said, I don%26#39;t want to make it all about the wine but would also like to focus on the natural beauty the area has to offer.

Catira,

We have enjoyed our visits to Foppiano Winery in Healdsburg. Small, family owned and casual. They were bottling when we were there and, as we peeked our heads inside the ';barn'; where the bottling was taking place, the manager asked if we%26#39;d like to taste from the barrels. What a fun surprise - a personal tour and a barrel tasting.

http://www.foppiano.com/

Several years ago, we visited Martini and Prati winery and enjoyed the huge 10,000 gal barrels where they dispensed their ';jug'; wine. We got to dispense our own. It was good wine and the ';jug'; that we got served as our evening-wine-on-the-balcony wine during the rest of our trip. Very fun stop. M%26amp;P is no longer there but Martin Ray has moved into the location (one of the oldest winery locations) and still does the ';jug'; wine thing. We haven%26#39;t been there since the change but will be going this weekend. We do like Martin Ray%26#39;s Cab.

www.martinraywinery.com/visit/index.html

Last time, we visited Pasalacqua and really enjoyed it. Very nice picnic area with great views of the surrounding countryside.

If I think of any others, I%26#39;ll post. Hope this helps!

Tammy

I will second spap on Hook %26amp; Ladder. Excellent wines.

Also, if you%26#39;re around Santa Rosa, Ca%26#39;Bianca is a delicious Italian Restaurant with very affordable prices for great food.

You might enjoy stopping by Buena Vista winery a couple of miles east of Sonoma on Old Winery Road.

It is an old stone building under oak trees and it is here that the California wine industry began when the Hungarian Agostin Haraszthy brought the first European wine grape cuttings to California.

Thanks! I took a look on the map and Buena Vista doesn%26#39;t seem to be too far away from where we%26#39;re staying so I think I will definitely drop in for a visit. I really appreciate the suggestions. Lucky you to have grown up in such an incredible place!!