Northern Sonoma

There’s probably no other wine-producing region in California that has as much to offer visitors as northern Sonoma. Famed Victorian horticulturist Luther Burbank called this part of Sonoma the “chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned,” and he was pretty well traveled. For a man who tinkered with plants, this was paradise.

This is also a place where living off the land has always been, and still is, a way of life. That land provides some of California’s best wine and food and countless recreational possibilities. You can mix wine with almost anything outdoors here: kayaking, mountain hikes, apple picking, camping, fishing, lounging on a sandy beach, flying, or even a safari.

While “Hop Country” and “Prune Country” don’t have quite the same ring as Wine Country, those crops and others once dominated the land but have long since vanished. (At one point in the last century a silkworm farm was planned, and a frog farm briefly found fame with its edible amphibians.) There’s even a major road named after the slowly disappearing gravenstein apple. It would be easier to name crops that had not at some point been grown on these hills and valleys, helped along by the vast number of microclimates. There are probably more here than in any other part of the Wine Country—which is saying something in this climate-challenged part of the world. One day vines too might disappear, only to be replaced by the next big agricultural cash generator.

That’s not to say that all is peace and rural tranquillity. Far from it. The freeway that was carved through the region in the 1960s has brought with it the kind of suburban sprawl and rush-hour traffic that sucked the soul out of the largest city, Santa Rosa. While Santa Rosa continues to bulge outwards, it doesn’t take much to get back to the land and step back in time. Less than a half hour away deep in the woods are towns like Guerneville and Occidental that still retain some feeling of the frontier towns they once were, even as they become overrun in the summer by an unlikely mix of urbanites, hippies, bikers, and ranchers who all seem to happily coexist for a few months.

Even the Victorian town of Healdsburg has managed to keep in touch with its historic past, despite trying ever so hard to sell its soul to those marketing an imaginary Wine Country lifestyle.

The whole area is slowly being dragged upmarket, however, as the burgeoning Bay Area population seeks out bigger backyards. At the southernmost edge of this part of the Wine Country, Sebastopol is starting to resemble a hip San Francisco neighborhood. Property prices everywhere are soaring, slowing down the machine of change that has continually transformed the land since European immigrants first arrived here in the 1800s and carved out a life for themselves in the soil and forests.

Winemakers still produce wines to rival the best in the world, but as the cost of doing so rises the conglomerates are increasingly taking over, much as they have already done in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. You now have to be big to survive in the wine world here, and many new winemakers are looking farther north in Mendocino and Lake Counties for a chance to get in on the action.

Nevertheless, there is still an amazing diversity of wine, scenery, and activities in northern Sonoma, and there’s still plenty of life left in the northern Sonoma scene, of course. There might be trouble in paradise, but it’s still paradise to visit.

Hop Kiln Winery: The towering hop kilns are so well preserved that this small winery could almost produce beer in addition to its unusual range of well-priced wines. (read more)

Korbel Champagne Cellars: In a forest clearing in Victorian times, two Czech brothers started making wine, and the historic stone winery still makes sparkling wine fit for presidents. (read more)

Iron Horse Vineyards: An unassuming barn off the beaten track is home to some of the Russian River Valley’s best sparkling wines and a flock of wild turkeys. (read more)

Luther Burbank Home & Gardens: Discover more about the Victorian horticulturist who created hundreds of new plants in his greenhouses and see many of the plants in the historic gardens. (read more)

Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve: Take a break from the car and the heat on a short hike through the cool, damp redwood forest in this historic park. (read more)

The Russian River: Rent a canoe for a day and drift through the trees on the Russian River, stopping at some of the many secluded beaches. (read more)

Michel-Schlumberger: Producing some of the best cabernet in a valley dominated by zinfandel, this winery is housed in a beautiful mission revival building tucked away in a scenic canyon. (read more)

Ridge Vineyards: This is a sister winery to its more famous sibling in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and its building made of rice straw takes the principle of organic wines to a whole new level. (read more)

Raven Theater: Visit this historic theater for performance art, a movie, or simply a quick lunch, and support the artists that help keep Healdsburg real. (read more)

Alexander Valley Vineyards: Incorporating part of the homestead of the valley’s first settler, Cyrus Alexander, the grounds of this winery are peppered with historic buildings. (read more)