Category: What’s New in Wine Country

Best North Coast Wines Determined at North Coast Wine Challenge

The judges of the North Coast Wine Challenge sipped their way through more than 1,050 wines at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country Hotel in Santa Rosa Tuesday in a quest to uncover the best wines grown on the North Coast, one of the state’s premier wine-growing regions. The fourth annual wine competition, which drew entries […]

Quivira’s Hugh Chappelle Makes a Rock Star Rosé

Hugh Chappelle had a precocious palate. While just a kid he was an everyday wine drinker, thanks to his German mother who gave him a taste of the finest rieslings. Chappelle is the winegrower behind our wine-of the-week winner — Quivira, 2015 Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County Rosé at $22. The Quivira is a striking […]

Five Picnic Wines Under $20 For Your Next Sonoma County Outing

There are ground rules for the adventure date, but the most important one is that you don’t tell your date where you’re going. I’m not encouraging you to blindfold your date. Just don’t disclose your plans. Meanwhile keep your stash — the perfect wine and picnic fixins’ out of view. Picnics can happen anywhere and […]
The "Raw Fish of the Day" is the chef's selection. This day it included cucumbers and blood oranges at Oso restaurant in Sonoma. (Photo by Charlie Gesell)

Sebastopol’s Ramen Gaijin Leads Sonoma County’s Passion for Japanese Restaurants

Written by Heather Irwin for BiteClubEats. Don’t know an izakaya from an omakase? Don’t worry, you will. Although nearly a third of Americans included in a 2015 National Restaurant Association survey said they regularly eat sushi or “Japanese” food, the lion’s share of that is Americanized sushi, strip mall teriyaki and Top Ramen. But homestyle […]

Sonoma County Events Happening This Week

Written by Crissi Langwell & Dan Taylor for The Press Democrat. Looking for something to do this weekend? Here are a few ideas. This weekend, celebrate the start of salmon fishing season with the Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival. On Saturday, discover your new favorite beer at Battle of Brews. Or you can run in your […]

Trail of the Week: Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail

Written by Diane Peterson for The Press Democrat. The Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail is a popular destination for dog lovers such as Genevieve Jago of Sebastopol, who hooked up her energetic, 8-month-old English Cocker Spaniel in the Highway 12 parking lot and embarked on a restorative walk on a warm, spring day in early […]
Sebastiani Tasting Room

Sonoma County Wine Tasting Rooms for Spring

Early spring is a time of renewal in the vineyards, with naked vines beginning to sprout. It’s a beautiful season to enjoy what’s in bloom and the beginnings of longer days and sunshine. Wineries offer new releases as well as barrel sampling, a spring ritual sure to make you feel like a connoisseur. Wine writer […]
Writer Dana Gioia served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and was appointed California State Poet Laureate by Jerry Brown in 2015. (JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat)

California Poet Laureate Returns to Santa Rosa

Santa Rosan Dana Gioia is the new California Poet Laureate, appointed to the post by Gov. Jerry Brown in December 2015. During his two-year term, Gioia will spread the art of poetry and inspire a new generation of writers while visiting schools and libraries in many of the state’s rural counties. He picks up where […]
Photo by John Burgess.

Upcoming Sonoma County Events in April

APRIL 9: Battle of the Brews Now that Wine Country also includes Beer Country, this 20th annual event promises to be bigger than ever, with a full day of beer and food tastings and pairings, a professional brewing competition and more. 1-8 p.m. $50-$95. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, 707-545-4200, battleofthebrews.com […]

Sonoma Film Fest Puts on a Show

Who doesn’t adore a rich bit of parody, bawdy comedy and a magic trick or two — particularly when it’s in the middle of gracious downtown Sonoma? The 19th annual Sonoma International Film Festival will be even more glamorous this year (March 30-April 3), thanks to a new entertainment village anchored by Le Tigre, a […]