5 Sonoma County Experiences Worth the Splurge

Everyone needs to splurge once in a while on extra-extraordinary, spirit-lifting wine tasting, dining, and spa pampering in California's Wine Country. With the million acres of ocean-to-meadow-to-mountain landscapes in Sonoma County, 425+ wineries, plus a vibrant arts and culture scene – many pleasures exercise the body and the soul, too.

A Wealth of Wine Tasting

Celebrity owners and grand estates roll out the red (or perhaps vineyard-mustard-flower yellow) carpets for indulgences like the multi-course wine and luxury chef's bites tour through the 1,200-acre Jordan Estate in Healdsburg, or the lavish vineyard and culinary garden tour plus seated luncheon in the Olympic caliber equestrian pavilion of Alexander Valley's Chalk Hill Estate.

In Sonoma Valley, Hamel Family Wines woos with elaborate cave tastings and sophisticated small bites menus, while St. Francis Winery celebrates a sumptuous multi-course tasting menu with guided wine pairings. Or, there's the temptation of the seasonal pairings at Ram's Gate in Carneros-Sonoma, which includes an in-depth tour of the Howard Backen designed winery and a seated, guided tasting through five wines and five dishes prepared by the estate chef.

The Bliss of Spa Resorts

Many Wine Country spas use local products like honey, grape seeds, and even wine.

Farmhouse Inn, of Forestville, shines with farm-to-table spa signatures using heirloom cider apples from the inn's home ranch for facials, plus herbs grown in its kitchen garden for a sumptuous 'body melt' with a warm pillow of muscle-healing herbs, alfalfa hay, lavender, and chamomile.

Gaige House + Ryokan, of Glen Ellen, tempts with deep-tissue massages in an outdoor cabana in the Japanese gardens followed by a soak in the hot tub or steam in the sauna.

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa: This luxury resort in the Sonoma Valley includes the state-of-the-art Willow Stream Spa, with baths fed by the resort's ancient natural thermal waters. The signature Bathing Ritual included with each spa visit features an exfoliating shower, two mineral water soaking pools, herbal steam, dry sauna, and cool-down showers.

For an only-in-Sonoma indulgence, Kenwood Inn & Spa, of Kenwood, offers a luxurious private tub for bath treatments with glorious vineyard views, while at Bodega Bay Lodge, spa suites overlook the Pacific Ocean and Sonoma coastline, offering a signature warm-shell massage with tiger clam seashells.

It's a virtual trip to Japan via Freestone, meanwhile, with Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary's cedar-enzyme baths, meditation in sand gardens, and massages in outdoor pagodas amid the whispering trees.

Decadent Dining

Opened with much anticipation in late 2016, SingleThread in Healdsburg earned two Michelin stars in 2018 and three Michelin stars in 2019 and 2020 for its 11-course tasting meals customized to guests' dietary preferences and restrictions. Their dishes are crafted as works of art, with delicacies like black cod Fukkura-san (donabe style, which is rustic clay pot cooking) with root vegetables, cabbage, charred onion, and walnut-nori pesto. 

Two Sonoma County restaurants earned a single Michelin Star in 2020. The restaurant at Farmhouse Inn earned a star for dishes like Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit which includes a roasted rack, a loin wrapped in applewood smoked bacon, and confit draped in velvety whole grain mustard sauce. 

Santé in Sonoma shines with seasonal signatures like sweet butter-poached Maine lobster with globe artichokes, buttered carrots, grilled spring onion compote, pickled pearl onions, and barigoule vinaigrette. Drakes Sonoma Coast, in Bodega Bay, is ultra local with crab cakes slathered in tomato-ginger chutney, and braised California lamb shanks with Valley Ford Highway One polenta. Also in Bodega Bay, Terrapin Creek Café focuses on farm-fresh ingredients and boutique wines, with plates gorgeously arranged for signature dishes like cold crab salad with the seafood plucked straight from the sea outside, all in a cozy neighborhood setting.

Heart Pounding Adventure

Lose your breath in the 180-degree hairpin curves at Sonoma Raceway as part of the Sears Point Racing Experience, driving anything from a 125-cc racing kart to a Formula 3-derived race car at high speeds. In the water, several charter boat companies based in Bodega Bay offer sportfishing adventures, Dungeness crab catching charters, to fishing for rock cod, 25-pound-plus salmon, albacore, halibut, or Humboldt giant squid, as well as whale watching cruises. For details, read Bodega Bay: Boat Charters & Tours.

For the dare of the air, it's hard to beat zip lining through a redwood forest, over a ravine 300-feet below, and along a creek with Sonoma Canopy Tours, of Occidental.

Festivals, Music, Wine & Food Events

Imagine hundreds of boutique cheeses awaiting sampling, and you've got the California Artisan Cheese Festival, featuring hands-on farm and creamery tours, learning how to make cow's, sheep's, and goat's milk cheeses, and the highlight Marketplace for tasting endless local cheeses, wines, beers, ciders and other local foods.

More eating and drinking awaits with Taste of Sonoma, where thousands of guests join hundreds of chefs, wineries and artisan food purveyors for a weekend of elaborate lunches, and dinners.

Throughout the year there are plenty of other wine tasting events, too, like Barrel Tasting along the Wine Road, Experience Alexander Valley, and Passport to Dry Creek Valley.

If music moves you, grand concerts and festivals range from the Country Summer festival to Broadway Under the Stars in Jack London State Park, world-renowned artists performing at Green Music Center, in Rohnert Park, or headliners at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, and lots of winery concerts like the ever-popular Rodney Strong summer series or the B.R. Cohn Fall Music Festival. See all events here. Feed your appetite for art, meanwhile, with open studio insider's tours like the annual Sonoma County Art Trails event.

Written by Sonoma County Insider Carey Sweet.