Without a doubt, Wine Country is one of the world’s most breathtaking regions to travel through, whether you are looking for a romantic escape, a relaxing retreat or seeking thrills.
The area abounds with diverse landscapes and places to explore, as well as a plethora of ways to get there. Planes, trains and automobiles are just the start. There are also hot air balloons, horseback riding, replica vintage cable cars and a variety of other modes of transport that capture the imagination.
They say it’s not the destination, but the journey that matters. We’ve compiled a list of ways to get around Wine Country that make both the journey and the destination a true delight. Read on and click through the above gallery for inspiration.
Trains
With its origins in the 19th century, train travel conjures up the romance of the past, but investments in new technology also make it a vision for an environmentally friendly future. Romantics, commuters and day trippers alike can enjoy a ride on the rails on the Napa Valley Wine Train or the SMART train.
Traveling through the heart of Wine Country, theNapa Valley Wine Train features a variety of leisurely journeys in vintage Pullman rail cars that include multi-course gourmet meals, sparkling wine and afternoon tea, as well as stops for tastings and photo opportunities at vineyards along the way. Travelers can cap off their experience with a stay at the Napa Valley Railway Inn, eight steam-era railcars converted into finely appointed hotel guest rooms in downtown Yountville.
For a more modern take on the rail experience, the SMART train is an excellent way to travel in Sonoma County or south to Marin County. The line’s stops in Santa Rosa are close to attractions that include the Charles M. Schulz Museum, shopping at Whistlestop Antiques and Hot Couture Vintage Fashion or a stay at Hotel La Rose by Railroad Square; the Cotati station is a short walk from a meal or snack at Oliver’s Market, Acme Burger and Red Bird Bakery; the Petaluma station brings travelers right up to cultural venue the Petaluma Arts Center, while the city’s downtown restaurants and music venues are only a 10-minute walk away.
Afternoon tea on the Napa Valley Wine Train. (Courtesy of Napa Valley Wine Train)
Planes
There is nothing like getting a bird’s eye view of Wine Country’s varied topography and natural beauty. Based in Sonoma, Obsidian Wine Co.provides wine-related excursions including a de Havilland DHC-2 Beavers seaplane flight that takes off in Sausalito with an overfly of the Golden Gate Bridge before heading over the Mayacamas Mountains and making a water landing onto Clear Lake. (Food & Wine magazine recently named Obsidian’s Seaplane Wine Flight one of “the most extreme wine tastings around the world”.)
If you want to experience aviation history while you feel the rush of air and adrenaline, you can book a ride on a 1941 open cockpit biplane through Vintage Aircraft Co.in Sonoma. The Boeing PT-17 Stearman, which now takes passengers for joyrides above Wine Country and beyond, was used as a training plane for cadets prior to and during World War II.
Automobiles
If you have ever dreamed of driving a classic sports car or luxury vehicle through the rolling hills of Wine Country, your dreams may not be so far from coming true.
This fall, the Four Seasons Napa Valley in Calistoga created a weeklong curated driving and sightseeing itinerary that allowed guests to drive their own car or choose from iconic sports cars such as the Aston Martin DB11, silver and neon green Lamborghini Huracan Spyder or cherry-red Ferrari 488 GTB.
The next iteration of the Napa Valley 750 Road Rally, a five-day event that brings together more than two dozen owners of vintage race cars (such as a 1958 Porsche Speedster or 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider) for a local road tour, takes place May 5-10.
The event’s organizers have created a one-day 125-mile road tour route of Sonoma County for anyone to enjoy. Sites such asVinity and Turo make it possible to rent the dream car you most desire for a local spin, from a Bentley R Type to a Porsche 911L to a Pontiac Firebird 400 Convertible.
Horseback
For centuries before the advent of planes, trains and automobiles, the quickest way to travel over land was on horseback at a gallop. But these days it’s okay to saunter along riding high in the saddle, enjoying scenery and paths not accessible by mechanized transport.
Bartholomew Estate Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma offers a 45-minute ride on horseback through its historic estate guided by Sonoma Valley Trail Rides. The experience includes a bottle of Bartholomew Estate wine to take home.
Triple Creek Horse Outfit in Glen Ellen provides a variety of riding trail options at Jack London State Historic Park, allowing guests to explore different areas of the park from rides that last an hour to combo rides that take place over the course of two days. Riders can commune with the writing legacy and life of “Sailor on Horseback” Jack London, taking in the views of the author’s prized Beauty Ranch while passing through the many natural features that captured his imagination.
Triple Creek Horse Outfit in Glen Ellen provides a variety of riding trail options at Jack London State Historic Park. (Triple Creek Horse Outfit)Enjoy scenic flights over Sonoma County with Wine Country Balloons. (Courtesy of Wine Country Balloons)
Hot air balloons
If you’d like to travel at a more leisurely pace, floating above it all, there are plenty of options. Calling its rides “A Nature Walk in the Sky,” Wine Country Balloons says it has flown everyone from chef Gordon Ramsey to musician Dave Matthews, and customers are invited to take part in the set up and inflation process. Wine Country Balloons, established over 40 years ago, is the oldest continuously operated balloon company in Sonoma County. Based out of Yountville, the family-run Napa Valley Aloft’s ballooning history also stretches back to the 1970s. Napa Valley Balloons starts the day with a pre-flight pastry from Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and offers packages that include wine tasting and bike experiences.
Vintage cable cars
If you only think of the city when you think of cable cars, you might just think again after visiting Wine Country. The Sonoma Valley Wine Trolley, designed to look like an 1890s San Francisco cable car, takes riders on a six-hour tour from Sonoma Plaza that includes guided private wine tasting experiences.
The Napa Valley Wine Trolley has two distinct six to seven hour tour routes travelers can choose from to ride on a replica San Francisco cable car on wheels: The Napa Valley Classic wine tour focuses on South Napa and the Up Valley Castle Tour visits wineries in North Nap, including the Castello Di Amorosa.
Gondola
Flat-bottomed boats traversing the canals of Venice might first come to mind when you hear the word gondola. However, Sterling Vineyards in Napa features the kind of gondola you are most likely to see when climbing the Alps.
Thought to be the only winery in the world with an aerial gondola, Sterling’s tram provides 360-degree views up a tree-covered hill to the winery. After the gondola ride, travelers can have a self-guided wine tasting, learn about the art and science of winemaking and enjoy a seated tasting of a reserve wine paired with a cheese board on a terrace overlooking the Napa Valley as part of Sterling’s The Tour and Terrace Experience.
Sonoma Wedding Photographer
Volkswagen bus
If you are not interested in another run of the mill chartered bus tour, you just might want to check out West Wine Tours’ fleet of classic VW buses which embarks on tours in Sonoma and Napa. You can book just a seat or an entire six-seat or eight-seat bus for groups. Tours include stops at local wineries (wine tasting fees not included) or you can create your own custom itinerary if you book an entire bus. A picnic lunch is included in every itinerary.
14-person party bike
Those who like to get some exercise while socializing, sightseeing and imbibing might want to take a ride on one of Bike Healdsburg’s two basic tours. The Just The Seat Tour features a bar crawl of three stops in Healdsburg, while the All-Inclusive Tour features three unique wine tastings and small bites.
Skydiving
For the pure adventure seekers, there are few experiences that can match the thrill of jumping out of a plane, free falling in the sky before pulling open your parachute and gliding down to earth. NorCal Skydiving caters to those interested in taking a tandem skydive or receiving instruction to be able to make a solo jump.
Oakville Grocery on the Healdsburg Plaza. (Mariah Harkey/Sonoma County Tourism)
According to an Instagram post by Shop Local Healdsburg, a new cafe is opening in the former Oakville Grocery space on the Healdsburg Plaza. The new owner is Chef Beryl Adler, who is well-known in the community as the general manager of Black Oak Coffee Roasters in Healdsburg.
Adler is a longtime chef who headed the culinary program at W Hotel in Bali and Ritz-Carlton locations in Half Moon Bay and Grand Cayman. He also helped create the in-house menu at Black Oak in Healdsburg. Black Oak Coffee Roasters, however, are not part of the Oakville Grocery ownership team.
Though Adler confirmed the project in a phone call on Wednesday, he said he is waiting until the project progresses before giving more details.
The owners of Oakville Grocery hinted that new ownership was already in the works before they closed in mid-November after 25 years.
“A respected member of the Healdsburg community will soon unveil exciting plans for this beloved site, bringing their enthusiasm and passion to the forefront,” said an Instagram post on Nov. 15.
Aerial photo of Lodge at Marconi. (Lodge at Marconi)
After a multi-million-dollar renovation, the historic Marconi Conference Center in West Marin has been transformed into Lodge at Marconi, a luxury hotel property located within the 62-acre Marconi State Historic Park just south of Marshall.
The Marshall site has a storied past. Originally home to native Coast Miwok, it was turned into a signal-receiving station in 1912 by Guglielmo Marconi, often credited as the inventor of radio. (Though the 270-foot towers that once anchored a mile-long antenna are gone, many historic buildings constructed for the Marconi Wireless Company remain.)
Then, in the 1960s, the Marconi property became the headquarters for Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program that turned into an “alternative lifestyle community” before eventually becoming the Church of Synanon in 1975. After allegations of violent activity and subsequent investigations that led to the controversial cult’s demise, the property was purchased by the philanthropic San Francisco Foundation and was eventually gifted to the California Department of Parks and Recreation in 1989, to be used as a nonprofit conference center.
After its moment of infamy, the West Marin property and its conference center have remained unknown to many. In 2022, the grounds were acquired by Nashville-based Oliver Hospitality, as part of a 55-year lease agreement. The hotel and restaurant management company then started the process of renovating the existing hotel rooms and event spaces tucked away on the 62-acre property.
“People have no idea that we exist. We’re just starting to get the word out, which is really exciting,” said Leah Fritts Vitali, hotel manager of the Lodge at Marconi. “Restoring these old, cool buildings is very satisfying.”
Guest room at Lodge at Marconi. (Lodge at Marconi)
Reimagined retreat
The renovated property overlooking Tomales Bay features 45 rooms and suites, all designed with a natural color palette that is inspired by the surrounding forested landscape. Thoughtful and interesting touches, including Heath Ceramic tiles and mustard colored, retro-looking phones, can be found throughout but no two rooms are exactly alike.
Spread throughout four buildings, accommodations range from rooms with king or queen beds to quarters with lofts that are ideal for families or groups of friends. All quarters have modern amenities, including refrigerators, electric kettles and Wi-Fi, but there are no televisions.
The reimagined lodging is inviting and comfortable, but it’s the coastal West Marin location that’s truly the star of the show. Almost five miles of trails crisscross the property, revealing picturesque views of Tomales Bay and Point Reyes and, for those who are curious in the property’s past, remnants of Marconi’s transmission towers. Picnic tables abound and there’s even a basketball court, volleyball and assorted lawn games, such as croquet and horseshoes, to help guests while away a day in the great outdoors.
The renovation and reopening of the Lodge is the first of many planned updates to the property. Still to come: a sauna, onsite restaurant and day spa with fitness center and guided yoga, as well as the renovation and reopening of the historic cottages that dot the state park. Programming including guided hikes, bird watching, beach bonfires and more is also in the works.
Rates at Lodge at Marconi start at $299 per night. There is no daily resort fee or charge for parking. The property is pet-friendly; there is a one-time $50 pet fee. 18500 Highway 1, Marshall, 415-663-9020, lodgeatmarconi.com
The oyster poboy at Oyster restaurant at The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Kim Carroll/For Sonoma Magazine)
Feeling like dining is finally fun again? We are, too. Underground pop-ups, food-centric wine bars, and farm-to-table favorites are gathering all kinds of momentum this summer.
For this list, our team focused on spots that have opened since 2022. We defined “restaurant” loosely — as in, “any place where you can get great food”– canvassing food trucks, popups, and takeout spots as well as more traditional establishments. And just for fun, we’ve asked each of our winners to share where they like to dine out with their own loved ones. The result: A snapshot of favorites you’ll return to again and again. Click through the above gallery for a few top dishes.
Cyrus
This is Cyrus 2.0, really, since the Healdsburg original closed a decade ago, then reopened last September as a dramatically reinvented concept in a former Sunsweet prune packing plant. It’s elegance perfected, as guests are guided through a Champagne and canapes reception, elaborate hors d’oeuvres at an interactive chef’s table in the kitchen, entrées in the main dining room, and finally, dessert in room of chocolate with a molten candy fountain.
Chef-owner Douglas Keane has brought back many from his original team, and a few signature dishes, including a gorgeous Billi Bi soup of slow-cooked mussels in a silky broth of heavy cream, butter, fennel, and saffron.
The 20-course, $295 per person feast showcases Cal-Asian creations that embrace the five essential flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. That can mean delicate squares of raw shima aji (horse mackerel) set atop compressed watermelon radishes and sliced kumquat with sorrel, finger lime, ice lettuce, and shio koji. Or a silky oval of Hudson Valley foie gras drizzled in peach syrup-an already over-the-top rich dish elevated with warm steamed buns and salty-sweet white miso butter.
Cyrus’s Bubble Lounge is open for walk-ins, offering wine and à la carte bites. 275 Hwy. 128, Geyserville. 707-7235999, cyrusrestaurant.com
Guests enjoy the Kitchen Table while chatting with Chef Doug Keane at Cyrus in Geyserville. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
Bloom Carneros
Owner Jordan Kivelstadt recently decided the former Kivelstadt Cellars WineGarten & Eatery needed its own name, just in time for summer. So welcome to this newly rebranded, garden-centric destination on Highway 12/121. The creative, Cal-Med menu from chef Jennifer McMurry, is so expertly crafted that it can be hard for newbie customers to score a seat amid all the regulars flocking in. Previously open only for lunch, Bloom Carneros now serves dinner, too.
Kivelstadt scored a coup in landing chef McMurry, a Sonoma County native. She works magic with simple, seasonal, local ingredients in playful recipes that burst with upscale flavor. Chill out with clever mortadella corn dogs or fried chicken bites dolloped in whipped Bellwether Farms ricotta and house-made Calabrian chile jam. Or fancy things up with burrata and pea shoot pesto over arugula, followed by a bowl of glazed pork belly with grilled Hen of the Woods mushrooms, pistachio pesto, burrata, radicchio salsa verde and nasturtium flowers.
Bring your kids and puppies, too. The garden is a perfect playland and offers a kid menu. And-how cool is this-the kitchen treats canines like royalty, with their own menu of rice, veggies, and chicken.
Sushi Grade Ahi Tuna with avocado, kewpie and served with chips from served with Twice Removed Rosé from the taps at Bloom Carneros in Sonoma. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Farmstand
Most people equate the posh Farmhouse Inn with the equally posh Farmhouse Restaurant. But last summer, owners and siblings Joe and Catherine Bartolomei opened a casual sister restaurant on-site, offering à la carte meals.
Under the direction of chef Seamus Guevara, the eatery operates out of a corrugated-metal-roofed shed that houses a mobile kitchen and a freestanding wood-burning oven. Guevara makes his own sourdough pizza doughs, breads, and pastas, including a towering, crisp-edged lasagna layered with chunky meat sauce and four types of cheese, or a wood-fired pizza topped in pork guanciale (the insanely tender and fatty cheek that sings with umami richness and a salty, velvety back note) and spicy Calabrian chiles.
Relaxing poolside next to the inn’s gardens feels almost like glamping, especially when we tuck into luxuries like local roasted trout dressed with chewy fregola pasta pearls, tart olives, and peppery arugula and French fries dolled up with porcini mushrooms, truffle oil, and a flurry of Parmesan cheese. It actually feels more decadent to eat such finery in a more rustic setting. And here’s a bonus for our ever-busy lives: we eat fine food, but we also can be in and out in an hour.
At Farmstand restaurant in Forestville. (Aubrie Pick)
Maison Porcella
This charming family-run gourmet shop and wine bar recently started offering lunch during the week with golden croque madame sandwiches, pâtés and French bread, and other gourmet treats. They’re also pouring on the elegance in the evenings with regular soirées featuring chef Marc-Henri Jean-Baptiste’s housecured salmon, duck pâte, and other delicacies.
Everything feels sparkly and special, especially with warm hospitality from Marc-Henri’s wife, Maud Jean-Baptiste. The couple, who met when Marc-Henri was working at a high-end restaurant along the French Côte d’Azur, have poured their heart into the business, a former catering kitchen transformed with French antiques (including Maud’s grandmother’s oak armoire and kitchen tools), shiny copper cases brimming with prepared foods to take home, and a thoughtful selection of French and local natural wines.
The bar is becoming a regular hangout for the winemaker set, many of whom have been taken, as are we, with Marc-Henri and Maud’s earnest passion for their work and their shared love of French food-both delicacies and rustic luxuries like country pâté and pickles.
More winemaker dinners are scheduled in the months to come, and the couple hope to expand their hours in summer. 8499 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor. 707-955-5611, maisonporcella.com
Croque-Monsieur from Maison Porcella in Windsor. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)Rillion of pork belly, with Pork Jus and Salsify Pureé from Maison Porcella in Windsor (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Kapu
First and foremost, Kapu is a tiki bar. You know, the kind with little grass huts as seating areas, island iconography, and fruit-forward rum drinks that will knock you on your caboose if you’re not careful.
Kapu mixes and matches midcentury modern and pinup culture with island nostalgia, pirate booty, and tacky tiki elements everywhere. A large rectangular bar has open seating for a better view of the bartenders at work on their mysterious concoctions — the Fink Bomb, Tropical Itch, classic Mai Tai or Missionary’s Downfall.
If you know tiki, you likely know Kapu owner/manager Michael Richardson. He came to Sonoma County in 2020 to oversee the beverage program at Burdock Bar in Healdsburg, where he wowed locals with outlandish tiki drinks he first created for the famous Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas.
Chef Mike Lutz’s Hawaiian-inspired comfort food is ono-licious. After spending more than 20 years on the islands, he knows his grindz. Moody lighting makes it a little challenging to see the beauty of the food, but the flavors speak loud and clear. Poke nachos, fried noodles, and a tasty stuffed rockfish with sweet kabayaki Hollandaise are top picks. And the garlic chicken is a must-order, with crispy nuggets double-fried, bathed in shoyu, and sprinkled with furikake and crispy garlic.
From Left, Fink Bomb, Classic Mai Tai and the Tropical Itch at Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller Street. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
L’oro di Napoli
Opening a new restaurant is never easy, but the launch of this family restaurant on downtown’s Fourth Street was a little bumpier than owners Domenico and Taylor De Angelis would have liked. L’Oro di Napoli opened quietly last summer but closed for a few weeks in fall for a quick reset with a new business partner. It reopened in late November with a fresh ambience, complete with art of a Naples street scene, and a renewed focus on Domenico De Angelis’s ingredient-driven pizza menu.
The Naples-born chef knows what makes authentic Neapolitan pie, and he’s nailing it, night after night. The crust, blistered from a wood-fired oven, is puffy and crisp with an irresistible, slightly stretchy chew. The classic Margherita, topped with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil is a great place to start. Elsewhere on the menu, De Angelis takes some creative license with toppings but keeps the puz y, crispy, chewy crust.
There’s always an of-the-moment salad, and De Angelis plans to add regular pastas as well. If it’s on special, don’t miss the mile-high lasagna, with sheets of housemade noodles layered in tomato sauce and béchamel-a dish as exciting as the pizza.
Margherita, the queen of pizzas with sauce of fresh tomatoes, melted mozzarella cheese with fresh basil and EVOO from L’oro di Napoli in downtown Santa Rosa. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Second Staff
When Sean Quan and Jenny Phan moved to Sonoma in early 2021 for Quan to take a job at SingleThread, the couple realized they missed late-night socializing with other industry professionals.
“We needed to find a way to hang out with people,” says Phan, “so we thought, ‘What the hell, we’ll just do it ourselves.'”
And so Second Staff was born, with a core group of six friends and a stable of different, cheeky pop-up concepts, including RageCage fried chicken, Space Balls boba and street snacks, and Small Men, with sandwiches named after different trim models of the Honda Civic.
Several friends have fine dining experience, so they recently launched a small-plates spinoff called FNCY + PNTS. Quan’s younger brother, Emmett, who is helping out in the kitchen while spending a gap year in Sonoma, calls FNCY + PNTS “the anti-tasting menu.” Diners carry cafeteria-style trays and choose dishes directly from the chefs. Nothing is over $15, and most dishes are less than that. It all feels very underground and understated-a food lover’s freestyle mix-tape of a meal.
“Restaurants should be a reflection of the communities they are part of,” says Quan. “But they should also matter and provide an insight into the community that you wouldn’t normally see.”
Years in the making, this 7½-acre culinary paradise fully opened just last summer. Set in the heart of the predominantly Latino community of Roseland, a gathering of food trucks entices with tastes of Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoacan, Yucatán, and Mexico City. There’s also a vibrant al fresco bar, live music, and an adjacent craft market.
Mitote is an incubator for Latino-owned businesses, giving entrepreneurs like the food truck owners support to establish success. Crowds throng to some 10 trucks, including Lucha Sabina (fabulous wild mushroom tlayudas and molotes), La Victoria (brilliant zucchini and pumpkin-blossom quesadillas on housemade tortillas), Maria Machetes (wildly good griddled hot dog draped with bacon, mayonnaise and queso), and Gio y Los Magos (decadent enchiladas Michoacánas served with roast chicken and potatoes).
Colorful papel picado banners decorate the picnic tables, and savvy diners load up with bites from several different vendors and always share plates to uncover flavors like huaraches loaded with cactus and chiles or quesadillas stuffed with huitlacoche, an earthy, savory mushroom-like delicacy.
For a sweet finish, hit up La Churroteka, for impossibly light, crispy churros stued with chocolate, caramel, or creamy condensed milk.
Who knows seafood better than a sushi chef? Chef Jake Rand, owner and sushi master at the popular Sushi Kosho at The Barlow in Sebastopol, opened a sister restaurant across the street last November. The Parisian-style oyster bar and seafood spot has beautiful outdoor patio seating and recently expanded into a larger indoor space next door.
Oysters are, not surprisingly, a highlight of the menu. They’re served raw, baked, and fried. The rest of the menu leans on sustainable shellfish, fish, prawns and octopus, all named “best choices” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. Rand brings awareness to aquafarmed seafood-controlled cultivation of fish and bivalves in water. He also promotes the eating of filter feeders like oysters, mussels, and clams, which help keep ocean water clean, sequester carbon, and can protect shores from erosion.
Sustainability doesn’t always mean deliciousness, but here, you don’t have to compromise. Rand’s chile-dusted calamari with a kicked-up rémoulade sauce, a hearty oyster po’boy sandwich with a creamy lemon slaw, and seared scallops with brown butter are familiar yet luxurious. He makes his own aioli and cocktail sauce and has added fish and chips with duck-fat fries to the menu. Be sure to grab a bottle of bubbly to go with those oysters.
The oyster po’boy sandwich at Sebastopol’s Oyster restaurant. (Kim Carroll/For Sonoma Magazine)Mussels mariniere at Sebastopol’s Oyster restaurant. (Kim Carroll/For Sonoma Magazine)
Piala
The tiny, rustic hideaway holds a secret, serving Georgian cuisine from the Eastern European republic, alongside rare Georgian and European wines. Owner Jeff Berlin has created a casual, cozy place that invites you to hang out and play, though he takes his work very seriously. That’s him behind the bar, sharing his love of the region with anyone who wants to listen.
Before opening, he flew in a consulting chef from Georgia to teach his full-time chef how to make the unfamiliar-sounding dishes as authentically as possible. It’s hard to resist a clay crock of steaming-hot chashushuli, a soulful, aromatic stew of lamb head and neck with potatoes, tomatoes, chickpeas, and lots of spices and herbs.
Try the classic Georgian dumplings, too, stuffed with spiced beef and pork, kale and ricotta. And chvishtari, crisp-edged golden corn cakes oozing melted cheese, served with a side of lobio, a fragrant, garlicky bean stew for dunking.
Note: Berlin’s business partner is restaurateur Lowell Sheldon, who in 2021 was accused of sexual harassment by six former employees and, in one instance, of sexual assault. As a condition of the restaurant’s alcohol permit, Sheldon is not allowed to work at Piala nor enter the space when employees are present.
These chewy, crispy, double-baked, rectangular Roman-style pizzas first captured our heart as a pandemic takeout offering, and we were over the moon when a brick-and-mortar location opened in Sebastopol. The menu here changes weekly, with options dreamed up by husband-wife owners Nicholi Ludlow and Leith Leiser-Miller that celebrate the season.
Farm-fresh toppings include chèvre with fresh lemon and herbs; potato with chile oil, mozzarella, and crème fraîche; and hot coppa with Estero Gold cheese, mozzarella and hot honey. There’s always one vegan selection, several vegetarian choices and a couple of meaty slices. The pizzas are sold by weight (order by the finger width-three fingers wide is a good small slice and runs about $7) and trying different options is encouraged.
“We’re a slice house, and we want people to have fun, just have a little levity. We want them to come eat good food, hang out, chill and maybe have a drink and just be happy,” Ludlow says. “We’re not fine dining, and we’re not looking to make anyone intimidated.”
The couple launched Psychic Pie as a side hustle while working full time at San Francisco’s Del Popolo pizzeria, perfecting their recipe for a chewy-crispy, naturally fermented sourdough crust. They sold out completely by word of mouth and a business was born.
So why the name Psychic Pie? The couple aren’t psychics or mystics. Ludlow studied to be a podiatrist, and Leiser-Miller is a former field researcher with a Ph.D. in the biology of bats. Both walked away from academics for a life in food, using all their brainpower to obsess about things like dough and where to get seasonal tomatoes or sustainable meats while raising their young family in Sonoma (the couple are expecting their second child just as this issue hits newsstands).
“We want to be a mom-and-pop and focus on this community,” Ludlow says. “Everyone is warm and fun, and we want to continue to support the people here.”
Grilled Carrots with Black Sauce, made with herbs, feta, local honey, and fried cumin, at The Redwood in Sebastopol. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)Window seating area at The Redwood natural wine bar in Sebastopol. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
The Redwood
Young restaurateurs and bar owners in Sebastopol are contributing to a forward-thinking food scene unlike any other, and that includes the city’s newest spot, a natural wine bar with excellent food called The Redwood. Owners Geneva Melby and Ryan Miller (both alums of local Thai standout Khom Loi) know exactly what the next generation of wine drinkers want in their glasses.
These new-school sippers are, in simple terms, an un-futzed-around-with style of wine that stands in contrast to the helicopter-parent winemaking of Napa and Sonoma. They’re food-friendly and often remain unfiltered, giving them an often funky, un-wine-like quality.
Melby is an excellent chef, whipping up stunning nibbles as well as bigger entrées for dinner. The menu is divided into snacks, small plates, big plates, and desserts and guests are welcome to eat, drink or both.
The Redwood’s Route One Pita and Dips include a lineup of smoky baba ghanoush, hummus, and herbed labneh that you’ll crave for days afterwards. Dishes like scallop crudo tart with slices of kumquat, fennel, and drips of fennel frond sauce is chef’s-kiss good. The menu changes seasonally, but will continue to include snacky tinned fish with potato chips and pickles, and heartier, vegetable-forward dishes and risottos.
Sonoma Eats owner Efrain Balmes arrived in Sonoma County in 2007 with nothing but a dream and a drive to make something of himself. Though it’s a worn archetype, it exemplifies the vineyard-worker-to-business-owner hopes of many in the Agua Caliente community. Working multiple jobs, he saved up to buy a $29,000 mobile home shared with multiple roommates. In 2017, he sold the home for three times its original price and used the proceeds to purchase a food truck he parked at the Barking Dog Roasters.
Balmes’s Oaxacan eatery serves up elevated basics like a mole enchilada with intense flavors –chocolate, roasted chiles, nuts and potent herbs-mixed into an almost black sauce and cooked slowly over several days. Simple shrimp tacos are served with a light aioli studded with juicy tomatoes. This dish is restrained rather than over-seasoned and drowning in toppings to mask cheap ingredients. Generous beer-battered Baja fish tacos made with catfish beats the pants oz more traditional cod, while Balmes’s chipotle aioli lends sweet heat.
Vegan mushroom tacos are so much more than a concession to the moment, elevated with avocado and salsa verde. They’re also great in the mix with other à la carte tacos, including carne asada, chicken, carnitas, al pastor, chorizo and nopales.
At Barking Dog Roasters, 18133 Sonoma Hwy., Sonoma. 707-939-1905; sonomaeatsmex.com
Vine Burgers
When James Byus III swung open the doors of Vine Burgers last March, his mission was to make the best burgers in town. Those in the know seek out the unassuming strip mall location tucked behind a weedy field that was the K-Mart before the Tubbs fire. It’s a gritty landscape that belies the quality food that Byus and his small team turn out each day.
There’s a burger here for everyone, from basic beef to feta-topped lamb with meat sourced from Sonoma County Meat Co. A selection of seafood sandwiches, including lump crab cakes and a Cajun tuna burger, are made in- house from scratch with seafood from local purveyors. All burgers are served on toasted brioche bun.
This is a burger joint even vegetarians can feel good about, with a veggie burger, several salads, and a robust list of vegetarian sides including mayo-slathered street corn and housemade fried pickles.
Regulars know to order a side of fried cheese curds from the “secret” menu, a once-in-a-while special that was so over-the-top good that Byus made it a permanent addition-dine-in only, though.
It was a wine sales job that drew the Maryland-born Byus to Sonoma County in the first place, so it’s no surprise that he offers a succinct but super-appealing globe-spanning wine list. There’s also a rotating list of craft beer on tap so burgers can be washed down the way they were meant to be-with a cold pint of suds.
3579 Industrial Dr., Santa Rosa. 707-536-9654, vineburgers.com
At Troubadour in Healdsburg. (Troubadour)
Troubadour
This pop-up dinner restaurant is refreshingly single-minded in its vision of elevated French bistro cuisine. A side project of chef Sean McGaughey, the intimate, multi-course dinner is served five nights a week in the same space as the nibble-size bakery he and wife Melissa Yanc founded in 2021. The couple is also behind the buzzy Quail & Condor bakery that opened locally in 2020 and a yet-to-open spot in the former Campo Fina. Yep, that’s four concepts in less than two years for the SingleThread alums.
The menu isn’t Cal-French or Mediterranean-French or another fusion. It’s just French, with all the unpronounceable but delicious sauces that have been perfected over centuries. McGaughey and his small team cook seasonal, locally sourced dishes such as duck à l’orange with crisp salty skin, Wagyu steak tartare with a cured egg yolk, petite escargot served in a Limoges teacup with creamy velouté and roasted garlic, and a thick tomato slice with tart sauce vierge and caviar.
The small kitchen at Troubadour, lacking a grill and many other staples of a restaurant kitchen, forces the team to think creatively and keep things simple. The four best seats in the house are at the counter facing Healdsburg Avenue. There, you can watch people go by (and be watched, eating) in the evening hours.
More private seats at the bakery counter are better for intimate dining, and groups of up to four can sit at a communal table. The vibe is a mix of irreverence (don’t miss the homage to Andre the Giant in the bathroom) and old-school French, with antique mix-and-match plates and a clubby San Francisco cafe atmosphere.
Calidanza Dance Company will stage the 19th annual Posada Navideña holiday celebration December 8 at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. (Will Bucquoy)
For many years, Steven Valencia of the Calidanza Dance Company tried to keep two very different parts of his world separate, almost as if he lived a double life. But in 2010, “a huge photo” of him dancing ballet folklórico ran in a local newspaper. The next day, he walked into his job as a corrections officer at a maximum-security youth correctional facility, and inmates and staff all had funny looks on their faces. “Everybody wanted to know, ‘Is this you?’” he recalls.
Walking the line between dance theater and the penitentiary, Valencia takes a lot of pride in helping shape the lives of kids in both jobs. “In the prison system, you get to see the other side—what happens to kids when they don’t have programming and things in their lives that are important to them,” says Valencia, a fourth-generation Mexican American.
Valencia’s Calidanza Dance Company will stage the 19th annual Posada Navideña holiday celebration December 8 at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.
Steven Valencia.
Reconnecting with culture
“Posada Navideña is the Mexican celebration of Christmas, held for nine nights (Dec. 16-24) and recreating the journey of Mary and Joseph as they were looking for shelter before the birth of Jesus. In America, we often condense it down into one night. For some people, it’s about discovery, and they’re learning about their culture through dance and music.
Other times, I’ll see older people in the audience in tears because it’s something they miss, something they remember when they were a child, when they were younger growing up in Mexico. It’s important for people to reconnect.”
Teaching the next generation
“I started dancing in elementary school and now we go into so many schools every year. We do an interactive assembly, where we’ll teach them how to do things like “gritos” (shouts) or we’ll bring a few kids up and teach them steps, so they’re learning about what they’re seeing and it’s not like, ‘Oh, that’s a pretty dance with pretty colors and pretty dresses.’” Dance as therapy
“I’ve been assaulted three different times. The last time was in 2017. I was out for about 10 months with a shoulder injury. I love my career, but prison can really bring you down emotionally, spiritually, and physically. I think having that balance in my life with dance, having something that’s meaningful and brings so much joy, has really left me with a very healthy balance where I don’t feel like I’m pulled down too much.”
Changing it up
This year, there’s a new piece from the state of Guerrero that takes a mixture of the different regions of Guerrero and fuses them together. But this one’s really about women empowerment represented in dance.
Usually ballet folklórico is male-dominated. A couple dances, with the male taking the lead, that’s what you usually see. We wanted to change the narrative and bring the women to the forefront, as the lead in this choreography.
The Sonoma Coast will experience some of the biggest tidal swings of the year in December and mid-January.
King tides typically occur at a new or full moon and when the moon is closest to the earth, and they cause even greater impact when they coincide with big winter storms. They’re of interest to climate researchers because they can give a glimpse of how the coast may be impacted as sea levels rise.
Waves crash into Duncan’s Landing near Wright’s Beach on the Sonoma Coast, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Post up on the cliffs above Goat Rock or along the Kortum Trail to take in winter’s drama from a safe distance. Check tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov for tide tables.
Local conservation group Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods will offer docent-led king tide interpretive events along the coast in January and February (see stewardscr.org for information). Dec. 13 and Dec. 24, Jan. 11.
When visiting the coast, be aware of weather and water conditions and heed warnings. Never turn your back to the ocean and stay much further back from the water than you might think is necessary.
“Sneaker waves can sweep people and pets into the sea from rocks, jetties, and beaches as well as move large objects such as logs, crushing anyone caught underneath,” according to the National Weather Service.
Sometimes, as a designer, the hardest thing to do is to hold back. Paul Pavlak and Karen Gilbert, founders of SkLO, a Healdsburg-based company that produces handblown glass lighting and accessories, focused on restraint when designing the renovation of their 1,200-square-foot cabin-style home outside Sebastopol.
The couple shunned large additions and excessive ornamentation in favor of the humble, essential beauty of a smaller, cozier space marked by untreated redwood siding, stone slabs, and large glass windows to bring the outdoors in.
“It’s very warm,” explains Paul, who trained as an architect. “As an architectural point of view, and as people, we don’t want fussy stuff. We like things that are durable, things that will wear with you.”
The couple chose redwood for the exterior siding. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)The cabin’s cozy great room. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)
The couple’s daughter, Lola, now a sophomore in high school, was just a few months old when Paul and Karen bought the property, a 70s-era rancher and an adjacent outbuilding along a winding country road. The house was in fairly rough shape, with wall-to-wall shag carpeting, orange Formica counters in the kitchen, and a funky old circular fireplace that was the only source of heat. Oh, and there was a cat—an elderly, indoor-outdoor cat that had belonged to the original owners.
At the time, with their growing careers and a young child to raise, the couple didn’t have much of a budget for renovations. They painted inside, ripped out the carpet, and installed a makeshift kitchen, but other needed improvements, like a more functional bathroom and better insulation and heating, had to wait a few years.
“When Lola was little, I just remember getting up in the morning, and it would be like 46, 48 degrees in the house,” says Paul.
“You get pretty good at making a fire when you use it for your heat source every day,” laughs Karen. With Paul’s architecture training and Karen’s background in jewelry and product design, the couple never stopped picturing what would come next in the property’s evolution. When Lola was 10, they took on a much larger renovation of the space, moving into a single small bedroom as work began.
“Remember at the beginning of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ where everyone sits in the bed together? That was us. There was nowhere to be, but the bed. And Lola was still little enough that we could get away with that,” says Paul. His design added a mudroom and a half bath at the front of the house, a fully updated kitchen, and a new family bathroom. They also replaced doors and windows, added insulation and central heating, and traded the old fireplace for an economical European woodstove.
The family streamlined material choices, layering in color with SkLO glass, books, and artwork. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)Karen creates simple holiday displays of foraged greens, lights, and SkLO glass in jewel colors. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)
As they updated the layout and made the house more energy efficient, Paul and Karen focused on maintaining the pared-back simplicity that had drawn them to the home. Post-renovation, it still has a “just the facts, ma’am” feel, with a thoughtfully laid-out main room that combines a kitchen, dining area, and living spaces, plus two identical, modestly sized bedrooms just off the living room.
The couple chose redwood for the exterior siding, durable and inexpensive basalt stone floors in the new mudroom, and oiled redwood kitchen counters, inspired by ones they saw on a visit to Jack London’s turn-of-the-century cottage in Glen Ellen. The wood for the bathroom countertop is from their old dining table, studded with small touches of paint from Lola’s childhood art projects.
At every opportunity, Paul and Karen sought out the most honest expression of the materials they chose.
“I remember when the contractors were putting up the pine boards for the interior walls, which we’d repurposed from the old flooring. They were trying to figure out how to space the joints so they were all perfect, and one guy was trying to fill in all the old knots, so it would be seamless. And I was like, no—I want that texture, I want to see those knots. I want to see those old nail holes underneath the paint,” says Paul.
Intentionally, the redwood siding on the exterior is untreated, and the interior floors are treated simply with tung oil. There’s no drywall anywhere, no polyurethane sealants, no window coverings to separate the home from the outdoors.
“Everyone’s kind of obsessed with permanence,” says Paul. “But impermanence is part of the deal, for all of us. And we embraced that in building. The redwood—it is probably going to fail a little bit faster because we didn’t seal it, but it also would look different if we’d sealed it, right?”
Karen says she appreciates how the renovated space maintains the connection to the outdoors.
“That’s why it’s kind of like camping,” she says. “You’re very tied to the outside in all the seasons.”
When the weather is warm, the house opens up to the breezes, with skylights and sliding doors and various window configurations. And as winter approaches, the family can close off the windows and doors, or perhaps build a small fire on the weekend. (Even though the new wood stove is highly efficient, Paul is conscious of how often they use it, as the particulates in the smoke affect the environment.)
Karen and Paul’s workshop and design studio is just across the courtyard from the main home. It is a functional, barn-like space with tile floors and space for drawing, prototyping, and metalwork. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)Karen pins up sketches and color palettes for future SkLO lighting and tableware. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)
Paul and Karen are minimalists by nature and keep the common spaces neutral in tone, layering in color through books and art. While all the walls in the main space are painted white, Lola, who has grown up to be an artist and creative like her parents, wanted more color and vibrancy in her bedroom. She left the pine paneling in her bedroom in its raw form and chose a brightly colored bedspread.
The cabin feels cozier and quieter in early winter, as Lola sketches on her bed or at the kitchen counter and Karen works at the dining table.
“We’re very homebody people—we all kind of have our own inner world,” says Karen. “I make things, Paul cooks. We’re out in the country, so you don’t just go out for coffee. We make everything here.”
With the main home updated, the family turned their attention two years ago to a 1940s outbuilding, renovating it into a design studio and workspace for their business. The new studio is an unapologetically industrial space, with sturdy tile floors and big windows that look across the courtyard to the house and let in beautiful light to work by. One corner is given over to machinery and tools for Karen’s metalworking and jewelry, and there’s a large table at the center where she and Paul can spread out prototypes and work together on new designs.
SkLO’s lighting and accessories are designed by Karen and Paul in Sonoma County but are produced by artists at a glassblowing facility in the Czech Republic. “There’s this allure of being creative and working with a team of people in this ancient tradition,” says Karen. “Glassblowing is a craft—an ancient, living craft. Things are made exactly as they were 200, 300 years ago.”
The simplicity of the home in all of its seasons remains at the heart of what the family loves about living here. This time of year, there’s always someone in the kitchen, often heating up water for tea or starting a batch of soup. Lola puts on headphones and wanders under the oak trees, lost in an audiobook. They hear deer rustling in the leaves down by the creek, sometimes in the middle of the night. And the early winter light is especially resonant, pouring in through the windows to warm the home indoors and out.
“It’s one of the most beautiful times of the year,” says Karen. “You go somewhere else and it’s so gray all the time. We have entire weeks when it’s sunny—the sun is low and it’s still warm outside. That’s the real appeal, I think, of where we live.”
Karen Gilbert, Paul Pavlak and their daughter, Lola. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)The SkLO showroom. (Adam Potts)
Building a Business
Karen Gilbert and Paul Pavlak founded SkLO 10 years ago with design partner Pavel Hanousek. The trio have a new trade showroom in Healdsburg, and their designs are produced at a glassblowing facility in the Czech Republic. As with Karen and Paul’s nearby home, the focus is on subtlety and process, paring back shapes to their essence while layering in vibrant color. Handblown pendant lights and sconces, jewel-colored vases and vessels, and elaborate glass-beaded wall art (a nod to Karen’s background in jewelry design) are staples of the lineup.
Early on, the three founders felt compelled to put every dollar they made straight back into each next project. But as they found their footing, the company expanded. This year the trio introduced beautiful fluted and frosted glass, and soon, they will add new furniture and tabletop accessories. “I feel like we’re finally making what we want to make, versus what we had to make,” says Karen. “You go through a phase in design where you’re just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and make something that people want. I think we’re finally at that phase where we have a language we can speak in.”
An understated sense of luxury reigns at the updated Dawn Ranch, with sophisticated velvet and sheepskin seating in the lounge. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)
Saying goodby to sun-soaked summer days isn’t easy, but come fall, a barely noticeable but seemingly magical current takes hold along the banks of the Russian River, encouraging us to catch our breath and slow down. Warm days linger on, but the tempo of life in the bohemian community of Guerneville changes, as the quieter season evolves into an opportunity to relax and reconnect.
Those in the know have been seeking solace in Guerneville for years.
But this once-sleepy spot has seen a recent resurgence in popularity that’s redefining what visitors expect. Several of the town’s historic lodgings have been made over in recent years, including The Stavrand and Casa Secoya, attracting a new generation of visitors seeking more high-end amenities and experiences.
In this context, Dawn Ranch first appeared on the scene in the spring of 2022—testing the waters, so to speak—before the resort’s new owners also purchased the neighboring Fern Grove property across Highway 116 and set to work reimagining the combined destination as an immersive wellness retreat.
At Dawn Ranch in Guerneville. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)Views of towering redwoods, the fragrance of dew-covered meadows, and the calming harmony of chattering bamboo canes will transport you to a calming oasis. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)
“Our design brings new life to a historic property, where the ocean meets Wine Country, and the river meets the southern edge of the redwoods,” says Atit Jariwala, CEO of Bridgeton Holdings, which operates Dawn Ranch and its sister resort, the Marram Montauk in New York. “With this sense of place in mind, we capture the inviting charm of a quintessential Northern California camping retreat to provide a livedin and grounding quality so guests can relax and gather inspiration to create.”
People have been gathering inspiration on these acres since 1905, when the Murphy family opened a resort with tent cabins and a dining hall, catering to wealthy San Franciscans looking for summer retreats on the Russian River. In 1978, it became Fife’s Resort, one of the first gay destination resorts in Sonoma County. Rebranded yet again as Dawn Ranch in 2005, the property operated as an events venue until floods in February 2019 forced the venue to close.
The Dawn Ranch guests experience today pays tribute to the resort of days past, shining light on its charmingly rustic bones while incorporating a more modern feel. The 81 newly renovated cottages and cabins feature four-poster beds and brutalist-style bedside cabinets, as well as hand-loomed rugs and unlacquered brass bathroom fixtures that will patina over time.
Gleaming bathrooms with handmade sage-green tile that echoes the colors of the trees and river. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)
Accommodations come in a variety of configurations, ranging from luxe glamping tents and one-room cabins to two-bedroom bungalows with a full kitchen. You won’t find any televisions here, but the views of towering redwoods, the fragrance of dew-covered meadows, and the calming harmony of chattering bamboo canes will transport you to a calming oasis.
A bungalow that once served as the living quarters for the resort’s owner has been reimagined as a jewel box of a spa. Offering a variety of nature-inspired services, the trio of treatment rooms feature wood-paneled ceilings inspired by the home’s original millwork details.
However, it’s the chance to gaze at starry skies while lounging in one of the spa’s four Japanese ofuro soaking tubs that’s likely to leave the longest-lasting impression.
“Dawn Ranch was designed to rejuvenate guests’ creativity, to help them create their own indulgences in life, on the property or after their stay,” says Jariwala.
A plethora of wellness experiences ranging from yoga and meditation, to origami and beading workshops, take place throughout the resort on any given day. A simple chalkboard perched outside the open-air lobby reminds guests that days here are enriched with opportunities for renewal. Amenities the likes of Fender guitars, Swarovski wildlife binoculars, sketch books, journals, kayaks, and inner tubes encourage musings and exploration.
A bungalow that once served as the living quarters for the resort’s owner has been reimagined as a jewel box of a spa. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)The chance to gaze at starry skies while lounging in one of the spa’s four Japanese ofuro soaking tubs is likely to leave the longest-lasting impression. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)
Original to the Dawn Ranch property, the 1900s-era lodge guests see when they first arrive is now home to a restaurant, bar and lounge area, where the original redwood paneling still shines behind the bar.
“We wanted to make the bar and lounge area a hearth and center place for guests to meet, plan their days, and indulge in a cocktail upon return,” says Jariwala.
“In doing so, we reorganized the design around the key forms of the building—revealing the gables of the ceiling and providing uplighting to accentuate them.”
A cool lime plaster now brightens public spaces, while allowing many of the lodge’s original details, like redwood flooring and trim, to shine. Luxurious velvet couches mix with organic wood furniture to bring the rustic texture and beauty of Dawn Ranch’s outdoor spaces inside.
The resort’s new restaurant, The Lodge at Dawn Ranch, debuted when the Guerneville landmark reopened Memorial Day weekend. Chef Juliana Thorpe, formerly of Napa Valley’s three-Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood, and famed chef Fernando Trocca of Argentina have crafted a vegetable-forward menu with constantly changing offerings the likes of roasted beets with ricotta and pistachios, rainbow trout à la plancha, and wild mushroom risotto.
“My desire is for people to come here and to just get lost on the property and to let themselves wander,” says Teach Mayer, the resort’s manager.
The resort’s new restaurant, The Lodge at Dawn Ranch, debuted when the Guerneville landmark reopened Memorial Day weekend. (Gentl and Hyers/Dawn Ranch)
Those who dedicate time to roam often find themselves at the shoreline of the Russian River. Float and kayak trips extend the boundaries of exploration, but even just a quick dip of the toes is enough to slow down and appreciate the seemingly untouched beauty of this part of the county in fall.
Along with highly sought-after river access, the now 22-acre property boasts a diverse natural landscape that spans the river, multiple redwood groves, a small orchard, and meadows filled with wildflowers. Towering redwoods and giant bamboo mingle with persimmon, pear, and plum trees. The apple trees in the orchard, located between the Russian River and Fife Creek, are believed to be about 120 years old. And then there’s the property’s namesake, a pair of dawn redwoods, a rare and unusual member of the redwood family that dates to prehistoric times and were once thought to be extinct. Fall is the perfect time to linger in their shade, as their feathery leaves turn a vibrant shade of orange.
No one knows for sure how these two dawn redwoods came to be on the property. Legend has it that sometime around 1900, Mrs. Murphy, one of the resort’s original owners, may have allowed arborists working at the nearby Bohemian Grove to camp on her land for free in exchange for planting some of their saplings.
“Clearly, this did not happen just on its own,” says the resort’s Teach Mayer about the unusual and historic plantings. “Will we ever know? Probably not. But I love that story, and I love telling it.”
Rates at Dawn Ranch start at $450 per night. A second pool and restaurant, with a view of the property’s two namesake dawn redwoods, is planned for next summer. Dawn Ranch, 16467 Hwy. 116, Guerneville. 707-869-0656, dawnranch.com
Almos waits as long as five years for salvaged and recycled woods to properly dry and age. Only then will he craft his designs. (Erik Castro/for Sonoma Magazine)
To an untrained eye, the stacks of wood from 19th century old-growth redwood wine tanks in Jesse Almos’s Rincon Valley workshop might look like something you’d take to the landfill, or put on the curb, hoping someone might haul it away.
But to Almos, the owner of Sonoma Woodworks, these stacks are as good as gold. His workshop is piled high with slabs of walnut and oak, often salvaged after wildfire, each one awaiting a magical transformation into a custom dining table, bench, or cutting board. Many of the trees might otherwise have been left to rot or die in place—or even cut up for firewood.
In many ways, Almos is like a rescue organization for local trees. He almost never sources the wood for his projects from freshly cut trees or from purchased sources. Instead, he reclaims his material from trees left behind due to wildfires, disuse, abandonment, or neglect. He’ll take what is left behind, mill it on-site, then patiently wait until the wood is properly dried and aged, often as long as five years. Only then, sometimes years later, will he begin to craft the material into beautiful pieces destined for forever homes.
Jesse Almos of Sonoma Woodworks at his workshop in the Rincon Valley neighborhood of Santa Rosa. (Erik Castro/for Sonoma Magazine)
A native of Santa Rosa with a deep connection to craft, Almos started working with wood at a young age. When he was 5 years old, his parents separated, and his father told him that he would need to be “the man of the house.” It was an old-fashioned message, but one Almos took to heart, crafting simple benches and other small household items—even a fort for his friends. By the time he was 12, he was making and selling skimboards: flat, oval-shaped boards used for gliding across small waves as they break across the sands. “Everyone in my neighborhood had my skimboard,” Almos recalls, smiling.
A years-long childhood friendship led to the growth of Almos’s skills. Growing up, Almos’s best friend was the grandson of Henry Trione, a key figure in Sonoma history who preserved much of what is now Trione-Annadel State Park. Almos and his friend spent many hours camping and exploring the Trione family’s sprawling Mendocino County ranch.
Much of the old-growth redwood Almos uses today comes from the Trione Winery’s abandoned redwood wine tanks in Geyserville. He still visits the ranch, and harvests wind-fallen trees for his craft. “I’m blessed to be able to get these old wine tanks from the Trione family and build beautiful furniture from it,” he says.
“All that old-growth redwood was once wine tank wood that was basically going to be discarded,” Almos says. “It was sitting out in the vineyards, and their vineyard manager says, ‘Do you want it? I’m going to burn it if you don’t take it.’ And it’s like the most beautiful wood ever. That wood is California history.”
Woodworker Jesse Almos shows impressive attention to detail, from carving minute chiseled designs to sorting through massive recycled slabs of redwood, oak, and walnut. (Erik Castro/for Sonoma Magazine)The former heavy-equipment operator started working on wood projects as a child, starting with simple tables and moving on to carved skimboards for his friends. He started selling his designs at farmers markets in 2011. (Erik Castro/for Sonoma Magazine)
For two decades, Almos worked as a foreman at a heavy equipment operator. Woodworking was a side gig, and he occasionally sold small pieces at farmers markets or craft fairs. “I had built some furniture, including chairs, bistro sets, and lazy Susans, and then went to the farmers market to ask if I could set up a booth,” he remembers. “That first day I sold everything, and it really showed me what I was supposed to be doing.”
In 2011, he took a leap and founded his one-man company, with the goal of selling his furniture and working on larger pieces by commission. At first, he operated out of his home. Three years later, he relocated to a much larger workshop with more room to store scavenged and found materials. While he remains a one-man show, he occasionally has some help from his mom and his 9-year-old son.
Almos keeps a library of wood along one wall of his workshop, with slabs of upcycled walnut, old-growth redwood, red gum eucalyptus, maple, cedar, madrone, oak, and rare Monterey cypress. “Most people would use this wood for firewood, but I turn it into tables,” he says. Almost all the wood he works with is from Sonoma County. Almos often receives calls from homeowners or builders looking to clear land for new developments. Burnt trees from the devastating 2017 Tubbs fire provided a valuable addition to his collection.
“Most people would use this wood for firewood—but I turn it into tables,” says Almos. (Erik Castro/for Sonoma Magazine)
After a lifetime around wood, Jesse sticks to a simple message, modestly playing down his role as a rescuer of rare local wood. On his Facebook page, he shares stories of majestic Sonoma County redwood trees felled to build cities, infrastructure, bridges, and schools alongside 1880s-era photos of loggers standing tiny among the towering. He says he develops a deep attachment to much of the material he acquires. Walnut is his favorite—a wood he says can appear dull brown and unremarkable at first glance, but a great deal of patience, not to mention hours of sanding, oiling, and staining, is transformed into highly individual pieces, each with a story to tell.
These trees, this wood, from these hills holds a special, almost mythical place in Almos’s heart.
“They have a third life, I call it,” he explains. “First, they were massive trees, then big wine tanks, and now they become tables where people sit around and tell stories.”
A Red-tailed Hawk soars over the Jenner Headlands. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Forget canaries in the coal mine. For Larry Broderick, the real indicator species are raptors soaring high overhead, hunting along Sonoma’s rich marshlands, or nesting in our native trees. “They’re a biological bellwether,” says the Santa Rosa-based leader of the Jenner Headlands Raptor Migration Project and West County HawkWatch. “When things are going wrong with them, it often means that things can go wrong with us.”
Citizen scientists like Broderick consider fall and winter the best time of year to observe these adaptable hunters. That’s when migratory harriers, hawks, kites, kestrels, merlins, eagles, and osprey from farther north join year-round residents countywide in search of “little furry things” to eat.
Visiting birds move freely among Sonoma’s wildlands in search of a good meal. “There are like all these restaurants throughout the area, and [the birds] are gonna go to which ones are serving the food based upon prey availability,” says Broderick. Even so, individual birds have been observed to return year after year to the same overwintering location, like a vacation home. Others are only passing through.
After three decades of observing raptors, Broderick has noted population declines in several species. The timing of local migrations has also changed, moving back about two weeks since the early 1990s, an outcome Broderick thinks is at least partially due to climate change. “It’s a good way to gauge how healthy the environment is,” he says, “by checking out your top-of-the-food-chain predators.”
Where to observe raptors
It’s no coincidence that some of the best places to spot raptors are along hiking trails at some of Sonoma’s most treasured public lands. Each destination shows off early winter’s quiet beauty.
