“If it grows together, it goes together.”
Travel to Healdsburg, California—a charming Sonoma County town 70 miles north of San Francisco—and you’ll likely hear this credo repeated by locals many times over. It’s not just a saying that refers to the area’s diverse microclimates and farmlands rich with luscious tomatoes, glossy olives, a wide variety of winegrapes, and thousands of other crops year-round. Everyone in this part of Northern California (which is smack dab at the meeting point of the Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, and Alexander Valley), seems mindful of what “grows together,” especially when it comes to food flavors that’ll complement wine tastings and dessert pairings. But this philosophy is also a way of life for residents, whose vineyards produce grapes that constitute a whopping six percent of all the wine sold in California.
The idea, which ties locals to the land with a unique sense of pride, has given way to a fair amount of industry, turning this region into a chic, but still low-key destination. There are new hotels, bars, and restaurants popping up regularly—along with Mother Nature’s offerings, like the majestic Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve or Sonoma Coast State Park to the west. Sonoma County may not have been on your travel list last year, but mark it down for an upcoming long weekend, or celebratory getaway. Here are five spots and experiences you shouldn’t miss on a trip to this extraordinary corner of NorCal.
Over the past decade or so, Healdsburg and the surrounding towns of Petaluma and Tomales have become vacation destinations in their own right, alongside more historically popular locales like Napa. Leading the charge in Healdsburg is SingleThread, a 24-acre farm in the Dry Creek Valley owned by chef Kyle Connaughton and head farmer Katina Connaughton, which provides the produce and flowers (both edible and decorative) for their inn and restaurant downtown, also called SingleThread. The husband-and-wife team split the duties between the five-room hotel, the farm, and the luxurious restaurant, which has three Michelin stars and offers a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience. After a sumptuous 20-course meal of Japanese-influenced dishes like wagyu beef tartare with radishes and teeny onions wrapped in a shiso leaf, guests can retire directly to their rooms upstairs. Although the word “room” seems conservative here. Each suite is pretty lavish, with high Craftsman ceilings featuring wooden beams and a layout that offers tons of sunlight. The spa-style bathtub, which comes with a freshly replenished scoopful of salt each day, is a particular highlight for harried workaholics looking to relax.
Inside one of the suites at SingleThread Inn.
Photograph by Kassie Borreson
Inside SingleThread Restaurant, which has three Michelin stars.
Photograph by Pamela Crossan
The “Late Spring in Sonoma” spread at SingleThread Restaurant.
Photograph by Pamela Crossan
Even more deluxe are the in-room meals, like a full hot pot spread of your choice and the Japanese breakfast served at the dining table in your suite. It’s a very elevated kind of room service, and it comes with top-tier hospitality as well. Don’t forget to visit the roof at sunset for a glass of pinot noir before dinner.
With rooms starting at around a thousand dollars a night, a stay at SingleThread’s Inn—meal included, by the way—isn’t for everyone’s budget. But all visitors to the area can still experience a small taste of the farm-to-table luxury at SingleThread Farm, where Katina provides tours personally. It is an invigorating space, one where you can pluck a tomato or strawberry right off its stem and pop it into your mouth. It’s also a reminder to get to know this fertile zone of California. There is truly nothing like exploring the valley farms, winding forest roads, and cold and rocky coast in an Audi e-tron, the electric vehicle from the German manufacturer. Audi has a special partnership with SingleThread, so if you stay at the hotel you are given access to a set of wheels for yourself. Hugging the curves of the majestic bluffs in an e-tron hatchback feels a bit like cruising through another majestic planet.
An Audi e-tron on the SingleThread Farm grounds.
Photograph by Pamela Crossan
The farm store at SingleThread.
Photograph by Kim Carroll
Hiking at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve
If you travel to this area of Sonoma County, you must see the redwoods at least once. Armstrong Redwoods Nature Reserve features medium-intensity hikes to breathtaking vistas, along with more kid- and family-friendly trails. There are plenty of benches for post-visit noshing, too. Among the centuries-old, towering trees, SingleThread will organize a bento box-style picnic lunch as part of its “Experiences” offering for guests of the inn, where thermoses of miso soup and cups of homemade floral tea were passed around before the main event: making sushi hand rolls with all the fixings (including, of course, top-shelf sashimi).
There are plenty of wineries to choose from in this region—you’re truly spoilt for choice. One of our favorites is Aperture, which provides a 360-degree view of the wine production process from its sleek, modern tasting rooms. On the outdoor deck—which resembles a mansion in escrow on Selling Sunset—you can enjoy a flight of wines while looking out onto the abundant hills and valleys. Aperture’s vineyard straddles a barn that doubles as founder Jesse Katz’s office; he started Aperture in 2009 with a focus on Bordeaux, then opened the “hospitality center and modern winery” on the vineyard in 2021. Katz’s father is the photographer Andy Katz, and dad’s pictures decorate each bottle of Aperture wines. If you live in the area, consider joining Aperture’s wine club, which gives you access to its fabulous slate of tasty chenin blancs, cabs, and more.
On the Shoreline Highway in Tomales Bay, about an hour south of Healdsburg, there’s Hog Island Oyster Farm, which serves the greater Northern California Bay Area with lush, tasty oysters. You can opt to get the “full hog” experience, touring the facilities and the surrounding beaches, shucking oysters, and yes, eating them too. Or you can plonk onto one of the wooden benches at the on-site Boat Oyster Bar and enjoy a light, seasonal menu of raw or cooked oysters, along with local charcuterie, cheese, and seafood specialties that’ll blow your mind, plus a selection of craft beer and wine. (If you are looking for more of a sit-down situation, try Hog Island’s sister restaurant, Tony’s Seafood, down the road.)
Climb into your Audi e-tron and drive about 30 miles to Petaluma, California, where you’ll find the sprawling McEvoy Ranch—a 550-acre working farm owned by one of the most prominent families in San Francisco history. Nan McEvoy, whose kin were the founders of the S.F. Chronicle newspaper, bought the land in 1990, then had a thousand olive tree seedlings shipped from Italy. She was determined to make the kind of olive oil she’d had there a California staple. Thirty-four years later, the farm is known for its extra virgin, and is still very much up and running, with operating olive tree groves and vineyards sprinkled throughout the property. Upon first exiting your vehicle when arriving at McEvoy Ranch, you might feel like you’ve been transported to Tuscany. But an olive oil tasting hosted on the ranch’s patio, overlooking the green hills of Marin County, will remind you right away: this is NorCal.
