Why You Should Visit California Wine Country Now

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Why You Should Visit California
Wine Country Now
by Paul Brady March 1, 2017

With a new Japanese-in􀇈ected hotel-restaurant hybrid that even the
locals are talking about, Sonoma is having a moment.
Many think of Sonoma County as the relatively laid back sibling of the more polished Napa/St. Helena
corridor. But Sonoma’s Healdsburg feels white hot these days thanks to the December opening of Single -Thread Farms, a restaurant/inn that quickly became as pilgrimage worthy as any cult cabernet. Owners (and high school sweethearts) Kyle and Katina Connaughton spent years cooking and farming in Hokkaido, Japan, and Berkshire, England, before returning to their native California with a vision for a
property that would embrace the Japanese concept of omotenashi—the sort of thoughtful (and rigorous)
approach to hospitality found in the best ryokans. In the dining room, they do an ever evolving 11 course
tasting menu that’s as much kaiseki as it is West Coast farm to table, with produce from their own fields.
Upstairs are five AvroKO designed loft like rooms with wood beam ceilings and exposed white brick
walls (and Teforia tea infusers, house made chamomile ice cream in the minibar, and ceramic
vases with flower arrangements by Katina). The room service breakfast (a spread of dishes like grilled trout, clay pot rice, and umami packed miso soup) might make you want to hole up here, but don’t: In a long weekend you can hike, sip, eat your face off, and still get plenty of breakfast in bed time.

Our Sonoma Shortlist

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, Guerneville
Think of it as a mini Redwoods National Forest, with 805 acres of unbelievably massive, centuries old
trees and a variety of easy to sweat it out difficult hikes. Go in the morning, before that impossibly atmospheric Pacific fog burns off.

Campo Fina, Healdsburg
This Italian joint has outdoor dining and a well stocked bar, and the back patio gets packed in summer when the bocce picks up.

Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Geyserville
Of course you can do a tasting, but locals come for the swimming pool, open spring to fall (passes are $35); they’ve even got private cabines with lounge chairs that rent from $170 a day.

Geyserville Gun Club Bar & Lounge, Geyserville
They’ve traded the firearms for frosty Gibson cocktails and General Tso wings.

​Jimtown Store, Alexander Valley
A casual carry-out making some of Sonoma’s best sandwiches—peanut butter, bacon, and pepper jam; hot pastrami Reuben—and killer biscuits for breakfast.

Medlock Ames, Alexander Valley
The winery’s low key tasting room has pours of cabs, chardonnays, and pinots until 5 p.m., when the space turns into the Alexander Valley Bar, serving refreshing cocktails like the Medlock Mule, with house made verjus and ginger beer.

​Scopa, Healdsburg
Hit this Italian spot for Winemaker Wednesdays, when local vintners like Kevin Rogers from Nico Wines and Eric Sussman from RadioCoteau work the room, pouring their own reds and whites while sharing their backstories.

Scribe Winery, Sonoma
Its “hacienda,” which opened in January, is a newly restored nineteenth-century homestead that hosts reservation only tastings and dinners
paired with its estate grown chardonnay.

Shed, Healdsburg
An all-in-one coffee shop, takeout café, and home-goods store stocked with kitchenwares like Laguiole knives and the Japanese clay pots known as donabe. They’ve also got what could be the country’s only “fermentation bar,” serving kombuchas and zippy vinegary shrubs.