How to Spend a Spectacular 72 Hours in Sonoma County

Many people are newly discovering Katy Wilson’s wines, but the journeywoman winemaker has been at it awhile. She launched LaRue in 2009 while leaving the well-known Flowers to work at Kamen Wines, and ran LaRue on the side. Named for her great-grandmother Veona LaRue Newell, Wilson’s personal brand has long been an insider secret, producing vineyard-focused pinot noirs and chardonnays from mostly far-Sonoma Coast sites without much fuss. Her wines are delicate and delicious – the H. Klopp Vineyard chardonnay is always a standout – and Wilson is as humble as they come, raised on a walnut orchard in California’s Central Valley with multiple generations of her family, including Veona.

In 2021, with husband David Meneses, she added a cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc under the Charlie LaRue label (their daughter is Charlie). Wilson also makes the wines for Anaba, BloodRoot, Reeve, and Smith Story Wine Cellars. The couple operate a tasting room in a small farmhouse on the Anaba property just outside of Sonoma. The sit-down tastings of six wines with or without cheese is usually with one of the two themselves.

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One of the most anticipated restaurant openings of 2025, for good reason, Stella is the sister restaurant of the beloved Glen Ellen Star, set within the former confines of Kenwood’s Cafe Citti, a well-run pasta house with fun wine list, open for lunch and dinner, with a heated outdoor patio. The mortadella meatball sandwich is the right call at lunch, or go for one of its housemade pastas made daily. (Or do the combination half-sandwich with fries, salad, or warm tomato soap.)

Stella not only makes its own pasta, it operates a Puglia-imported mozzarella bar of varying options involving Hobbs’ bacon, 24-month-aged prosciutto, aged balsamic, and other choices. But whatever you do, order the scamorza impiccato, grilled garlic sourdough seeped with truffle honey. In addition to wine by the glass and bottle, there are low-proof cocktails, beer, and cider.

A sprawling, modern winery at the entrance of Carneros, Ram’s Gate makes a range of lovely pinot noirs and chardonnays from both its own estate vines and nearby sites. The property is on a knoll with views of San Francisco Bay and the Sears Point racetrack across the way. Most of its attention is focused on farming, having attained Regenerative Organic Certified status earlier this year, one of only two dozen wineries in the world.

What this means in practice: The team takes good care of its 28 acres of vineyards, including an agroforestry initiative to plant fruit trees within vineyard rows. They can tell you more while you’re there. Above all, it’s a relaxing, open, airy space surrounded by nature in which to enjoy the day and taste some great wines.

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Enclos opened in December 2024 and, fast as lightning, achieved two Michelin stars and a ton of buzz (they were the first stars awarded to any restaurant in Sonoma). Housed in an 1890s Victorian, the tasting-menu effort is a partnership between Leslie and the late Mac McQuown of nearby Stone Edge Farm, and chef Brian Limoges (a veteran of Atelier Crenn, Quince, Birdsong, Angler, and Saison), with ample culinary gardens on which to draw. They even make their own chopsticks from fallen trees.

Limoges is French-trained and grew up in New England, both of which inform how and what he cooks, though ingredients sourced from throughout Sonoma County are the star. Highlights include Pacific spiny lobster and clam chowder-inspired chawanmushi, although the 8-10 courses change with the seasons. The phenomenal wine list focuses on California and France. There are only 30 seats a night and plenty of interest, so book well in advance.

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Though the address says Healdsburg, Auteur’s new Russian River estate is on Wohler Road, closer to Forestville, amidst the redwoods of West County, just off River Road and a stone’s throw from the Russian River itself. Seated tastings go through winemaker and proprietor Kenneth Juhasz’s range of pinot noirs and chardonnays. Juhasz has made pinot all over the world, including Burgundy, which informs the earthy, subdued wines he makes here. Wife Laura runs the estate, overlooking the layers of vineyards below. Auteur also operates the Sonoma Bungalow tasting space in the town of Sonoma.

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Set in the main part of town, Ramen Gaijin is a locals’ favorite, the number one place to go for ramen, donburi and izakaya staples, with excellent cocktails. The shoyu and spicy tantanmen are great for lunch, as is the pork belly chashu donburi with farm egg and yuzu mayo.

To drink, get the Barrel-Aged Kurobuta (Spirit Works gaijin private barrel cask-strength rye, Averna, Cynar, Carpano Antica, bitters and zest of lemon) from nearby Spirit Works Distillery, or Tanuki (Japanese-whisky, umeshu, red vermouth, bitters, soy pickled shiitake). The zero-proof options work too. Wait for the mid-afternooon happy hour and you can still order ramen and spicy tantanmen but enjoy $9 cocktails and $7 well drinks and wine with smaller bites like oko fries or crispy tofu.

An isolated yet invitingly cozy tasting room along Bodega Highway, between Sebastopol and Bodega Bay, family-owned Black Kite settled in the tiny, fog-shrouded Freestone Historic District in 2024, calling their 1,000-square-foot outpost Jasper House, named for the Jasper Freestone Vineyard the family planted in 2015. Both Jaspers are inspired by Jasper O’Farrell, an Irish immigrant who came to California by way of South America in the mid-1800s who helped design much of San Francisco (O’Farrell Street is named for him) and once owned the land on which Jasper House sits.

Built-in bookcases make it feel, by design, like a study. A pinot noir and chardonnay specialist, Black Kite started out in 2003 in the Anderson Valley with its own estate grapes and still makes those wines, but has expanded into its current surroundings, sourcing grapes from West Sonoma Coast sites near the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere in Sonoma.

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On N. Main Street from the Ramen Gaijin team, Khom Loi is to Thai food what Gaijin is to ramen, sourcing from local farms like Pink Barn, Singing Frog, and Liberty Duck farms for its dishes, inspired largely from the chef-owners’ travels in Northern Thailand and Laos.

The menu of “all things spicy, sweet, salty, funky, and fresh” runs all day with items meant to be shared, from the Yam Bped 5-spiced duck confit salad to Neua Massaman beef curry and Kaeng Khua Kling Neua Gae wok-curried lamb. Happy Hour Friday, Saturday and Sunday features Tua Tod Samun Prai, also known as “Thai peanut crack,” as well as $3-$5 lagers and $7 glasses of wine.

Started in 2001 by Napa Valley locals Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts, Arnot-Roberts has always been about cool-climate wines that express its sites, whether they be on the Sonoma Coast, Santa Cruz Mountains, Central Coast, Sierra Foothills, or Napa.

The pair, along with assistant winemaker Caitlin Quinn, look for older, dry-farmed vineyards and make some insanely good syrahs, as well as chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zin, and cab franc and some really fun stuff like falanghina, trousseau, touriga nacional, gamay noir, and ribolla gialla. They also make exceptional appellation wines. Tastings in downtown Healdsburg are held outdoors in a courtyard next to where they make the wines.

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A bakery, bistro, and coffee bar enough of a draw to get people to stand in line, Troubadour makes its sourdough breads in-house, using them as canvases for the delightfully French-style sandwiches available to enjoy on site or to go.

At night it turns into Le Dîner, serving a 7-course tasting menu in its main space or an 11-course Chef’s Table in its private study. But don’t pass up the chance to nosh here during the day on sandwiches like chicken salad, egg salad (Fridays only), muffaletta, jambon beurre, or their calling card, the sumac roasted carrot. Or take a Yecora Rojo Sourdough made with native California grains, or pain au lait with you to eat the rest of the day. Sarah’s (rum-and-vanilla) Canelé coated in beeswax and butter is well worth stashing in your day bag, too, if there are any left by the time you get there. Troubadour is run by the same husband-and-wife team behind nearby Quail & Condor.

Newly opened on the Healdsburg Plaza by winemaker Scot Bilbro and his architectural designer wife Lisa Steinkamp, Bilbro makes the Marietta estate, family series, and ever popular OVR (Old Vine Red) wines, continuing the legacy started by his father. The Bilbros are a longstanding family of Sonoma winemakers – dad Chris founded Marietta (named for an aunt) in an old cow barn in Dry Creek Valley in 1978, moving it to Geyserville in 1990, where it still stands.

Marietta farms 400 acres of its own vines, and Chris’s three sons followed in the family footsteps, Scot taking the reins at Marietta, older brother Jake once owning Limerick Lane, and youngest brother Sam founding Piedmont-inspired Idlewild Wines, also in Healdsburg.

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Cyrus 2.0 is the vision of Michelin-starred, James Beard and “Top Chef Masters”-winning chef-owner Douglas Keane, who ran the successful Cyrus 1.0 in downtown Healdsburg in the mid 2000s. This version opened in 2022 in Geyserville after many years of searching for the right spot. Tasting menus feature local produce, seafood, and proteins in season, Keane drawing additional inspiration from Japanese cuisine, among others.

The multiple-course tastings take place over multiple rooms, beginning in the Bubbles Lounge where Martini and Champagne carts await. (It’s also open for drop in drinks and small bites Thursday through Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.) From there, diners go progress through other rooms and other courses before entering the formal dining room to enjoy main courses like turbot or Sonoma duck. And to wrap, guests are invited into the Chocolate Room for housemade chocolates. Reservations are released two months in advance in one-month blocks.

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