28 minute read
Sonoma Valley - More than Just Great Wine
From historic parks to botanical gardens, I discovered lesser-known treasures in the “Valley of the Moon.”
By Kris Grant
One of the pleasures of travel that I sometimes experience is visiting a destination and finding its history so compelling that I want to dig deeper once I return home. Happily, it becomes somewhat like an extended vacation. Such was my visit to Sonoma Valley, and particularly discovering the life of American novelist, journalist and activist Jack London, who settled there in “his later years.” Those would be the years when Jack was in his thirties, as this prodigious writer and adventurer died at the age of just forty.
Jack London packed all his writing into a career that spanned 17 years, including hundreds of short stories published in national magazines and more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books, including Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea-Wolf. He was the first writer in American history to earn more than a million dollars from his craft.
Sonoma Valley, about an hour and a half north of San Francisco, is comprised of three towns: Glen Ellen, Kenwood, and Sonoma. London lived, wrote and is buried at his former ranch, which he dubbed “Beauty Ranch” in Glen Ellen that is now Jack London State Historic Park. It is indeed beautiful, from the eucalyptus-lined roads that lead up to the ranch, to the oak-covered rolling hills and stone buildings within. All overlook Sonoma Valley, which London dubbed “The Valley of the Moon.”
Well before my time and yours, Jack London led a rag-to-riches life filled with adventure. He hopped trains and tramped across the country, headed north to Alaska to seek his fortune in the gold fields of the Yukon, worked as a war correspondent in China, Japan and Manchuria, and sailed the South Seas, navigating by the stars.
He worked hard and played hard his entire life, beginning with paper routes in the morning (rising at 3 a.m. for this job) and afternoon in his hometown of Oakland, California to help supplement his family’s small income.
After dropping out of high school at age 15, Jack turned to oyster pirating on San Francisco Bay, smoking and carousing with his fellow pirates in the saloons along the Oakland waterfront, today a popular tourist venue entitled Jack London Square. From these waterfront connections, he was invited on his first sea adventure, a seal-hunting trip off the coast of Japan.
I dug deeper into his life when I got home by checking out a book Jack London An American Life by Earle Gardner from our local library. I recommend it to you, as well as a visit to Jack London State Historic Park.
Jack London State Historic Park is just one of the many reasons a visit to Sonoma Valley is rewarding. There’s history here at every turn, from Sonoma Plaza to Sonoma Botanical Gardens. And, oh yes, there are more than 80 wineries producing some of California’s most revered vintages.
What made Jack London a celebrated writer?
It wasn’t just adventure. From his earliest years, Jack was a voracious reader, finding that adventures in books could take him away from his hardscrabble life. He first visited the Oakland Public Library when he was ten years old and had the good fortune to be mentored by the library’s director, Ina Coolbrith, who guided his reading. Coolbrith was also an accomplished poet and named California’s first poet laureate in 1915.
Jack’s mother Flora was a spiritualist who supported the family by giving piano lessons, conducting séances, and working as a seamstress. His probable biological father was William Chaney, Flora’s first husband, if they were indeed married as Flora attested; birth records were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire.
Meanwhile, Jack’s adoptive father, John London, was a positive influence in his life, taking him on camping trips and teaching him to sail. However, John London had lung damage sustained from measles and two bouts of pneumonia during his Civil War duty; a later railroad accident left him in fragile health.
Keenly aware of her son’s knack for telling good yarns, Flora encouraged Jack to write. It was she who saw an announcement of an essay contest on October 27, 1893 in the San Francisco Call (the newspaper was purchased by Claus Spreckels and his son Rudolf just two years later). With a deadline fast approaching, Jack wrote three days and nights straight about his seal-hunting trip that had taken place the previous spring. It was Flora who boarded a ferry to San Francisco to deliver the manuscript on deadline day.
Jack won the contest and its $25 prize. Inspired, Jack returned to high school, earned a diploma and even went on to study for a time at the University of California, Berkeley. But he dropped out when he no longer could afford tuition.
Besides, he was just as inclined to fuel his writing with true life adventures. He began submitting stories to newspapers, magazines and book publishers but, alas, received rejection after rejection. Then came a story placement for $40, and then The Atlantic for $120. He was off.
I’m going to fast forward now past London’s meteoric rise to fame and past his first marriage to Elizabeth Maddern that lasted only four years; the couple did have two children, Joan and Bessie.
London married Charmian Kittridge in 1905. He had indeed found his life partner, a fellow writer who matched his spirit of wanderlust.
Charmian and Jack were a remarkable team. Jack would write a minimum of 1,000 words a day, then Charmian would read, edit and, as necessary, retype pages of his manuscripts. She also kept prodigious diaries and authored a story about their South Sea adventures. Their working office at their Beauty Ranch Cottage home has been recreated.
Jack and Charmian thought it would be a splendid idea to sail around the world together. So they had a twomasted yacht, the Snark, designed and built and took off with a crew of three in the spring of 1907 from San Francisco Bay for their first stop, Hawaii. It wasn’t the picnic they envisioned, as the entire crew experienced severe seasickness on their one-month sail. They also found their ketch leaked just about everywhere. But they enjoyed an extended stay in the islands, and while their boat underwent repairs, they were treated like visiting rock stars.
The Londons pressed on to Tahiti, somehow losing the majority of their drinking water on the way there. Jack rationed all aboard to a quart a day, not much in the sweltering South Seas heat. If not for a Pacific storm that replenished their supply, they would not have made it.
Next came a sail through the Solomon Islands, where they encountered an erupting volcano and declined to go ashore on several islands due to, dare I say it, reports of beheadings and cannibalism.
But it was their failing health, Jack’s in particular, that caused the abrupt end to the trip. Jack suffered from all forms of ailments, including malaria, extreme flaking of skin that he feared might have been from contracting leprosy during a visit to the Hawaiian Island of Molokai (it wasn’t), hands swollen to nearly twice their size and other maladies that I politely won’t mention here, but which required surgery in Australia.
They arrived in Australia in November 1908 and over several months Jack’s health improved. They sold the Snark for a fraction of its cost to build and in April, boarded a tramp steamer bound for Ecuador. After traveling through Panama, where construction was underway on the canal, the Londons returned to the states, docking in New Orleans.
The Londons arrived home to their ranch, a former and long dormant vineyard, in Glen Ellen on July 24, 1909 more than two years after their voyage began.
From plowing the seas to plowing the land
Now London’s dreams centered on agrarian excellence. He adapted many of the farming techniques he discovered in Asia at his ranch. In many respects, he was ahead of his time, practicing organic farming and introducing sustainability initiatives at his ever-expanding Beauty Ranch.
He summed up his new mission: “I am rebuilding worn-out hillside lands that were worked out and destroyed by our wasteful California pioneer farmers. I believe the soil is our one indestructible asset, and by green manures, nitrogengathering cover crops, animal manure, rotation of crops, proper tillage and draining, I am getting results which the Chinese have demonstrated for forty centuries.”
He designed what he called a “Pig Palace” for his prize-winning pigs. The round stone building featured sterile concrete floors and a central feedery; each pig and her sows had their own quarters with outside access.
London also loved horses, especially big, strong horses. He bred the largest breed, Shire stallions, and also had several riding horses. Charmian also was quite a horsewoman who refused to ride side-saddle; she designed her own split skirts to ride astride.
The Londons had a 15,000-squarefoot home with 26 rooms and nine fireplaces designed for their ranch by noted San Francisco architect Albert Farr. In August 1913, just when it was nearing completion, Wolf House burned to the ground. It was not until 1995 that a team of forensic scientists determined that the house fire was due to spontaneous combustion of linseed oil rags that had been left in a pile after the interior paneling had been polished with the oil. (Side note: In 1996, a fire broke out along the side walkway of my own Coronado home. Firefighters quickly doused the flames and determined the cause to be rags soaked in linseed oil, found in a trash can. Mea culpa! And thank you, Coronado Fire Department!)
Much of London’s later works – Burning Daylight (1910); Valley of the Moon (1911) and Little Lady of the Big House (1916) – centered on the pleasures of his country life, away from the stresses and congestion of the city. He continued writing and planning with boundless enthusiasm almost up to the day he died, Nov. 22, 1916. His cause of death was gastrointestinal uremic poisoning.
Charmian inherited the property and lived there until her death in 1955. Thirty-nine acres, including the House of Happy Walls, the Wolf House ruins, and the Londons’ gravesite were gifted to the State of California in 1959. In 1979, the state purchased an additional 756 acres including their cottage and the ranch outbuildings. In 2001, 600 acres of Sonoma Developmental Center land, including the historic orchard, were transferred to the park. Today the park encompasses approximately 1,570 acres.
The property was declared a California Historical Landmark and dedicated as a State Park in 1960. It was made a National Historic Landmark in 1962.
Sites within the park include:
• The Wolf House Ruins Only the massive stone walls of the Londons’ dream home remain.
• The House of Happy Walls Museum Built after Jack London’s death, Charmian designed a new home, smaller yet reminiscent of Wolf House. Her will stated that she would like it to become a museum. It houses artifacts and displays that tell the Londons’ story, as well as Charmian’s Steinway piano.
• The Cottage was the Londons’ principal home. The modest home was to be a temporary abode; it was enlarged when Wolf House burned.
• Historic Ranch Buildings include the Pig Palace, Sherry barn, silos and winery ruins.
• Jack London Grave Site Jack and Charmian London and Jack’s step-sister Eliza Shepard are buried in a simple gravesite surrounded by a wooden picket fence.
More than 29 miles of trails roam through mixed forests, redwood groves, oak woodlands, and grassy meadows on Sonoma Mountain. Free docent-guided tours are available on weekends. Guided horseback tours are offered through Triple Creek Horse Outfit concession. Food is not sold in the park but visitors are invited to bring food; picnic tables are located throughout the park.
East meets West at Sonoma Botanical Garden
Just a stone’s throw from Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen, I made a turn into Sonoma Botanical Garden. A friendly staff person led me on a golf-cart tour of this unexpected hillside oasis that is an enchanting mix of temperate climate Asian plants and California native flora.
Over a century ago, the 67 acres that make up Sonoma Botanical Garden was once nothing more than a sandstone quarry used for road foundations. Quarry operations resulted in a landscape pocked with holes that filled with water during heavy rains, creating a stream with ponds and waterfalls.
After sitting dormant for years, in 1964 much of the area burned in what was called the Nuns Fire.
Four years later Jane Davenport Jansen of San Francisco purchased 61 acres including the former quarry, all sitting on Coastal Miwok land, where she envisioned building a vacation home on the hillside and establishing a small vineyard of cabernet grapes on the valley floor. Jansen’s husband, Vernon Jansen, was a wealthy businessman involved in the shipping industry. After his death, Jane inherited a significant fortune, which she used to fund her philanthropic endeavors, particularly in the field of botany.
As she began designing the uncultivated land, Jansen worked with landscape professionals including Dr. Peter H. Raven, then director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, in creating a hillside botanical garden that featured California native plants and rarities from China and other parts of Asia.
In 1987 she sponsored the first of many seed-gathering expeditions to Asia. The purpose of these missions, often to remote and challenging regions of the Himalayas, China and Japan, was strategic. Many of the region’s plants were highly endangered due to habitat loss and environmental changes. Her garden became one of the few places in the world where these plants could be preserved and studied outside their native habitats, with the goal of conserving rare and endangered species.
In 1988 a nursery was established and a cooperative relationship between Jansen’s nonprofit garden enterprise, then named Quarryhill Gardens, and London-based Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew Gardens and the Howick Arboretum began. Additional acres were purchased, and planting began in 1990. That was 34 years ago. As I toured the gardens, I found that the lushness, color, bubbling brooks and multi-specied tree canopy turned this otherwise hot summer day into a cool refreshing experience.
The landscape, with its steep hillsides, rocky outcrops and natural ponds, was meticulously designed to mimic the native environments of the plants, creating a harmonious blend of natural beauty and horticultural excellence.
The garden’s annual seed collection expeditions to Asia continued through 2017. It has grown several hundred plants from seeds in pots and then replanted them on the grounds. The garden’s collection today includes approximately 20,000 wild origin plants, representing over 1,500 individual species.
The goal was to create an in-situ collection of rare and endangered plants to preserve, study and celebrate biodiversity. An example is a rose that’s endangered in the wilds of China, Rosa rugosa. It is now widely planted at the garden.
This oasis is home to many species of rhododendrons, native to both Asia and California. In addition to rare and endangered plants, the garden includes comprehensive collections of wild Asian roses, oaks, maples, magnolias, lilies, conifers and dogwoods.
Jane passed away quite suddenly at age 60 in the year 2000; two years later Quarryhill Botanical Garden opened to the public.
In 2017, another huge fire lapped at three sides of the garden. Also called the Nuns Fire, it broke out when high winds knocked an alder tree into a power line. The blaze ultimately burned 88 square miles and destroyed 407 homes in the Glen Ellen region, but the garden, save for the loss of some grapevines, was unscathed.
This summer, as I drove through bucolic Glen Ellen, I saw no signs of the fire’s aftermath. In its stead is a picturesque community where age-old oak trees gracefully line roadways, their branches often arching overhead to create a canopy that filters sunlight into a soft, dappled glow. But rest assured, residents are on constant alert for fire; today handy online apps, particularly Watch Duty that debuted in 2021, provide real time information about fire movement.
In 2021, the garden changed its named to Sonoma Botanical Garden and expanded its mission to include conservation of California native plants. Open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for major holidays and the afternoons preceding them, garden admission is $15 for adults, with discounts for seniors, teens, active military and students. Children 4 and under are free. Both self-guided and docent-led tours are available. A gift shop at the entrance features a variety of gifts for botanicallovers, and some limited packaged snacks. Picnics are encouraged.
On Wednesdays through Oct. 30, and beginning again in May, the garden extends its hours to 8 p.m. with live music in the amphitheatre, lawn games and special family-friendly activities. Dogs on leashes are welcome during this time only and attendees are also invited to bring picnic dinners.
I was delighted by the current exhibit of 23 whimsical, larger-thanlife frog characters placed in vignettes throughout the garden. If you hurry you can see the Ribbit Exhibit, too. Sure to make you smile, it has been extended through Sept. 29.
The playful sculptures were handcrafted by North Carolina artist Andy Cobb. The copper figures with a natural greenish patina include “Zenny,” meditating on a leaf in the garden’s pond, and Edward the Tree Frog, you guessed it, perched in a tree. The garden has a handy frog-finder map.
Sonoma Plaza...the heart of the community
Sonoma Plaza, at eight and a half acres, is the largest town square in California and it is truly special. It’s also one of the most historic, a National Historic Landmark, that was laid out in 1835 by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the founder of Sonoma.
Vallejo’s life spanned the evolution of governments in both Mexico and California. That he was able to navigate the various wars and uprisings and ultimate transition of land to U.S. government rule is a testament to his people skills.
Vallejo was born in 1807 in Monterey, California. As a commander under Mexican rule, Vallejo established Sonoma as a strategic military outpost to counter Russian expansion in the region. He constructed the Presidio of Sonoma, which became the northernmost Mexican military outpost in California. Vallejo played a crucial role in securing the area and promoting its agricultural development.
Following the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, which briefly declared California an independent republic, Vallejo supported California’s transition to American governance, becoming an influential figure in the new state. He contributed to the region’s growth by managing land grants and fostering a sense of community. In later years his wealth and land holdings were greatly diminished, and he confined his political affairs to the local level, serving as Sonoma’s mayor for two terms. Although he lost much of his lands, he retained his Sonoma home, now a state historic park, where he and his wife lived for 35 years.
Sonoma Plaza’s central park features an amphitheatre, duck pond, and children’s playground equipment. At the center is the town’s city hall, an early 20th Century building dedicated in 1908. The former Carnegie Library is now the town’s Visitor Center. An immense tree canopy provides plenty of shade for picnicking with plenty of tables provided.
The Plaza is a shoppers’ and foodie paradise, with old adobe storefronts, meandering alleys and courtyards offering an eclectic mix of restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, wine tasting rooms at the vintage Sebastiani movie house. Two of my favorite shops on the plaza are Chateau Sonoma, a home, garden and gift shop specializing in hand-picked items from France, and Sign of the Bear, a home goods store with an extensive collection of cookware and kitchenware. And just a block off the plaza is the grand-daddy of kitchenware stores, Williams Sonoma, occupying the entire building where Chuck Williams opened his first store in 1956 (and lived just behind it with his mother).
I stayed at the historic El Dorado Hotel & Kitchen on the plaza. Built in 1843 for the brother of Mariano Vallejo, the two-story adobe building has been updated with modern amenities while still maintaining its charm, including balconies off most rooms, including mine. There’s also a small solar-heated saltwater pool tucked away in the back, and you can order food to be enjoyed there from the hotel’s famous Kitchen. By the way, this being a historic hotel, you should know that there is a grand staircase to the second floor, but not an elevator. No worries, bellhops are at your service.
El Dorado Kitchen is a destination for Sonoma residents and visitors alike who appreciate its farm-driven California cuisine. For dinner, I ordered the seafood paella, served sizzling hot with shrimp, calamari, mussels, market fish with a tangy chorizo saffron and lemon plus crispy bomba rice. My cousin Barbara was equally thrilled with her perfectly seared scallops, served over a bed of citrus segments, golden raisins, capers, almond, spinach, and Yukon gold potatoes with a cauliflower curry púree. It was a memorable meal with impeccable service.
On another evening, we drove over to Glen Ellen for dinner to dine at the girl and the fig, although we could have hopped across the street at the plaza to go to the second restaurant of the same name. But we made the right choice – the little French bistro in tiny downtown Glen Ellen is absolutely delightful. The setting is one large room, with banquettes along the window, tables in the center and an antique bar on the opposite side. Artwork is displayed throughout, including paintings by “the girl,” Sondra Bernstein, who established the restaurant in 1997, moving to its present site in 2000.
The menu changes seasonally, featuring garden vegetables and herbs presented in a rustic Provencal-inspired style. I love figs and have two fig trees on my property that are now beginning to ripen. So of course I ordered the signature Fig & Arugula Salad, prepared with arugula, goat cheese, pancetta, pecans and grilled fresh figs in season. I paired it with a California Rhône varietal. You can also order wine flights and pair them with local cheese here, making for a nice light meal. Entrees feature local seafood, lamb, rabbit and duck, pastas and grains. I’m happy to report that everything is quite reasonably priced. I ordered the scallops, served with roasted corn, baby broccoli, corn velouté and basil pistou. The dish was so flavorful and the scallops so succulent, that I do believe that’s why my cousin chose scallops as her entrée at the El Dorado Kitchen the following night.
Of course, this is wine country!
I visited three Sonoma wineries and one distillery, the latter yielding a nice surprise, more on that on the next page, but let’s start with the wineries.
At Sangiacomo Family Wines, I enjoyed the Signature five-flight tasting that included a nice charcuterie box as I relaxed on the outdoor patio overlooking the vineyards. Sangiacomo’s first vineyards were planted in 1969; now the family also farms vineyards in Carneros, Napa and along the Sonoma Coast. Its 2021 Chardonnay is top-rated by Wine Spectator with a 93 rating and it was superb. But let me be more specific by deferring to Wine Spectator’s evaluation: “with aromas of Asian pear and white peach mingling with citrus blossom and white pepper. Crisp yet weighty on the mid-palate with flavors of apricot, ripe peach, baked apple, and lemon curd, this enticing chardonnay is mouthwatering with a mineral-driven finish.” Yeah, it was all that!
Coursey Graves Estate wine tasting was an elevated experience, with a winding drive ascent of 1,500 feet overlooking the Bennett Valley at the northeast corner of Sonoma Valley. Here the
emphasis is French, beginning with the Monet-style gardens and pond on this private estate where all tastings are by appointment. Then it was on to a tasting of Bordeaux-style wines – a 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2021 Bennett Mountain Estate (a smooth and superb blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot) and a 2022 Syrah – all complemented with local cheese. I made a quick stop at Sebastiani Winery, just a couple of blocks from Sonoma Plaza. It’s one of the largest and oldest of Sonoma’s wineries, and even made sacramental wines for the nearby mission through Prohibition. Samuele Sebastiani emigrated from the Tuscany region of Italy in 1895 and started Sebastiani nine years later. A stonemason by trade, he quarrymined the Sonoma hills for cobblestones that were used to build the streets of San Francisco. (Could it be the same quarry that is now Sonoma Botanical Garden?) Sebastiani’s barrel room features antique redwood tanks and original wine making tools.
When I met the owner of Hanson of Sonoma Distillery, I did a double take. Scott Hanson was a name and a face that I recognized from – could it be – 36 years ago? Yes! Scott, who owned several West Coast art galleries at that time, was my client when I worked at San Diego’s largest public relations firm. His gallery on Prospect in La Jolla represented and hosted receptions for world-famous artists like Leroy Neiman and Thomas McKnight. Scott still has his original Sausalito Gallery and some of his own art hangs at the spacious Hanson of Sonoma distillery. Scott and his wife Judy were approached in 2012 by their four children – Brandon, Alanna, Chris and Darren – who asked them if they’d be willing to bootstrap a new family business featuring a unique organic artisan vodka. It would be hand-crafted in small batches and distilled from organic grapes, rather than potatoes. Mom and Dad were in. Two years of research and development followed, with the family crew developing and testing 155 separate batches, using different grape varietals, distillation techniques and filtration methods. In 2013, the distillery participated in blind taste tests at the Spirits International Prestige Awards in London where it won Best in Show and a Platinum Award. Since then, awards have kept coming. For example, its Mandarin organic vodka scored 94 points, best vodka, double gold at a San Diego International Spirits Challenge.
I sampled four flavors – Original, Meyer Lemon, Pink Grapefruit and Mandarin. They say that vodka should be tasteless, but what makes it great is a silky mouth feel, which came through on the Original. My favorite was the Meyer Lemon, which I learned featured Meyer lemons sourced from a local Sonoma Valley farm, then hand peeled and given a long maceration in Hanson’s Original Organic Vodka. The result was a sweet yet tart lemon flavor with a bit of spice. I bought two bottles and, hmm, I might just open one shortly.
Say Cheese!
On my last day in Sonoma, I participated in my first ever cheesemaking class. We gathered at the Epicurean Connection, tucked away in an artsy industrial park community. Sheana Davis welcomed us, invited us to have some juice, water, or wine (guess what I chose) as we waited for all the class participants to arrive. Then our group of 14, including several couples, chose our battle stations, which had been outfitted with hot plates, mixing crocks, utensils and recipes. Sheana has been making cheese for nearly 30 years, (some of her cheese has been featured at The French Laundry) and for this class she was assisted by her husband, wine connoisseur Ben Sessions. We began with Sheana’s demonstration of how heavy cream whips up to whipping cream, then mascarpone cheese, used in desserts such as tiramisu, and then butter.
Then we made Crème de Ricotta. Who knew that ricotta cheese, which I pay a fortune for at the grocery store, is simply a mixture of whole milk, cream, distilled white vinegar and kosher salt? After we prepared about three pounds each, we divided the finished product into smaller portions and flavored them with a variety of herbs, sweet and savory. They made for perfect souvenirs to share with family and friends. Good thing I had a cooler in the car.
IF YOU GO…
Sonoma Valley Visitor BureauVisitor Center on the Plaza 453 First Street East www.sonomavalley.com
Recommended Accommodations
El Dorado Hotel & Kitchen405 First Street West (Sonoma Plaza) Sonoma www.eldoradosonoma.com
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa100 Boyes Blvd. Sonoma www.fairmont.com>sonoma
Kenwood Inn & SpaA Four Sisters Property 10400 Sonoma Highway Kenwoodwww.kenwoodinn.com
Restaurants
the girl and the fig 13690 Arnold Drive Glen Ellen or110 West Spain Street Sonoma Plaza www.thegirlandthefig.com
Salt & Stone 9900 Sonoma Highway Kenwood www.saltstonekenwood.com
Sweet Scoops Homemade Ice CreamSonoma Plazawww.sweetscoopsicecream.com
EL Dorado KitchenSonoma Plaza www.eldoradosonoma.com
Attractions
General Vallejo’s Home/ Sonoma State Historic ParkThird Street & West Spain Street (about a half mile west of Sonoma Plaza) www.sonomaparks.org/generalvallejoshome
Jack London State Historic Park 2400 London Ranch Road Glen Ellen www.jacklondonpark.com
Mission San Francisco Solano Sonoma Plaza www.californiamissionsfoundation.org
Sebastiani TheatreFilm and performance venue Sonoma Plaza www.sebastianitheatre.com
Sonoma International Film FestivalEvery March (March 19 – 23, 2025) “Best in film, food, wine and fun” www.sonomafilmfest.org
Sonoma Botanical Garden 12841 Highway 12 Glen Ellenwww.sonomabg.org
The Epicurean ConnectionCheese-Making Classes (707) 235-9560 www.epicureanconnection.com
Wineries & Distilleries
Coursey Graves Estate 6860 Serenity Way Overlooking Bennett Valley www.courseygraves.com
Hanson of Sonoma Organic Vodka Distillery 22985 Burndale Road Sonoma www.hansondistillery.com
Sangiacomo Family Wines 21543 Broadway Sonoma www.sangiacomo-vineyards.com
Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery 389 Fourth Street East Sonoma www.sebastiani.com
