4 minute read
A Harvest Of New Attractions | By Benjamin Einstein
Sonoma County’s recent vintage is but one of its latest lures.
THE BUBBLE ROOM, Bubble Bar and Bubbles Lounge—and Bauhaus plates—are among the updates from Sonoma County’s wine country.
ARTS + CULTURE
THE SEQUOIAS HAVE long been the draw at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville but now there’s another: tours of Pond Farm Pottery, the home, school and studio of renowned 20th-century ceramicist Marguerite Wildenhain. The first woman to graduate from Germany’s seminal Bauhaus as a master potter, Wildenhain left Germany in the 1930s and taught hundreds of students at Pond Farm, now a National Treasure.
The Museum of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa unveils Sonoma County Stories, a permanent exhibition that encourages the public to engage with the county’s past and contribute to its future: Oral histories, videos, recordings and images span two centuries of Native American, Latino, Asian, African American and European cultures.
LIFE'S A BUBBLE
CHEF DOUGLAS KEANE has relaunched his legendary Cyrus, with its dining-as-journey approach, in Geyserville. Successive encounters include the martini and Champagne cart in the Bubbles Lounge, the bustling Kitchen Table, the dining room with its sweeping valley views and the otherworldly Chocolate Room. A separate “Taste of the Lounge” experience includes three items from the Bubbles Lounge menu and grower-producer Champagne.
The “Shifting the Lens” series in the Bubble Room at J Winery and Vineyards in Healdsburg showcases cuisines typically overlooked in Eurocentric wine country culinary programs. J’s Nicole Hitchcock, last year’s Wine Enthusiast Winemaker of the Year, oversees wine and sparkling wine pairings for stunning five-course lunches; guest chefs offer their perspectives on the changing culinary landscape.
Foley Family Wines winemaker Sarah Quider and restaurateur Samantha Tilley, her sister, unveil Healdsburg Bubble Bar, a Parisian-chic sparkling-wine tasting room, and Cuvée House, an Airbnb in a 1905 Queen Anne Victorian home. Tastings at the Bubble Bar, near Healdsburg Plaza, focus on grower Champagnes from small producers.
LIBATIONS LOOKOUT
BOASTING 700 ACRES in the Russian River Valley and Chalk Hill appellations, Notre Vue Estate and Winery in Windsor has heretofore offered tastings atop its summit. Eau de Vie (Water of Life)—more intimate affairs featuring the estate’s lauded reserve wines and artisan charcuterie—now take place in a luxury pavilion overlooking a lake.
Lo & Behold bar and kitchen in Healdsburg presents global comfort fare on a garden patio and in a cozy lounge and dining room. Tempting cocktails include the Temptation Island, featuring KoHana rum, olive leaf, verbena, falernum and Corsican aperitif Mattei. On the menu: brisket-confit tacos and Vietnamese crepe with pork belly and prawns.
ACCOMMODATING
A RECENTLY reimagined 1881 gabled residence, The Madrona presents quirky touches and contemporary art everywhere. It boasts 24 accommodations in six buildings, eight acres of lush grounds and gardens and a restaurant and bar featuring classic and creative cocktails and cuisine. The Madrona, a mile from downtown Healdsburg, and luxury boutique Farmhouse Inn in Forestville, made Travel + Leisure’s most recent list of favorite U.S. resorts.
Home in turn to a bank, a law firm and a college, more modest Hotel E in airport-convenient Santa Rosa blends beaux-arts architecture and modern décor. The building on Old Courthouse Square is 111 years old. The hotel debuted just before the pandemic and now plans to expand; its Enology Lounge melds wine bar, living room and lobby.
ARRIVED
The recent $40 million terminal modernization project at Charles M. Schultz Sonoma County Airport adds a spacious lobby, four boarding gates, a refreshed ticketing lobby, concessions, improved security lanes, and artwork that embodies the spirit of its namesake, the beloved American cartoonist who created Peanuts.
