Sonoma County is around a 90-minute drive from San Francisco, but feels a world away from the city, making it prime minibreak material for the Bay Area’s work hard, play hard crowd. And for epicurean international travellers exploring California on four wheels, Sonoma is what road trip dreams are made of, with picture-perfect vineyards and rolling hills, world-class restaurants and inviting tasting rooms to dip into along the way.
California’s almost supernaturally fertile and biodiverse landscape gives rise to reliably excellent locally grown produce, all spectacularly showcased in a farm-to-table dining scene that is the envy of chefs around the globe. But nowhere is the Golden State’s abundance more evident than in the Sonoma valley – bordered to the east by the Mayacamas, and to the west by the Sonoma mountain range. Nestled in the valley, gorgeous vineyards, hip boutique hotels, amazing restaurants and more than 4,850 hectares (12,000 acres) of dedicated parkland amount to a vast idyll for wine lovers and food obsessives from around the globe. Start with the Three Sticks Wines tasting room in the landmark Vallejo-Castenada Adobe building, dating back to 1842, and then check out some of these other places:
