From picnicking and hiking to strolling around a farm, a range of experiences that encourage you to get out in the fresh air has long been offered alongside the tastings at Sonoma’s wineries and vineyards.
Ahead, explore some of the best ways to spend your day in the California sun.
Get Your Greens
This family-run winery grows more than grapes on its organic estate property. Perched at the edge of Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley, the Prestons also maintain a produce farm and run a successful community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. Many products, like peaches, brick-oven bread and eggs, are sold at the onsite farm store.
Go for a Swim
During summer, Coppola becomes a place for families to enjoy the sun around two expansive swimming pools. Chaise lounges and private sheltered “cabines” allow for plenty of social spacing, while an outdoor café offers drinks and snacks.
Hike Your Heart Out
While Sutro doesn’t have its own tasting room, you can head to Medlock Ames winery, where the wines are made, for a taste of its estate bottlings. Afterward, Proprietor and Winemaker Alice Warnecke Sutro will take you across the street to Warnecke Ranch & Vineyards for a hike through the vines. The property is chockablock with white ash volcanic soils.
Treat Yourself to an Open-Air Retreat
You’ll need reservations to enjoy the day here. Deemed a “retreat,” a visit to Blue Rock includes two immersive hours tasting a lineup of reserve wines, touring the winery and enjoying bites from local purveyors while surrounded by 100 acres of vineyards and olive trees.
The experience is completely private to you and your group. The Vintner’s Cottage, a stone-walled 1880s-era guest house, can also be booked in advance for overnight stays. A heated pool, bocce court and fire pit promise a good time.
Picnic Peacefully
Tucked along the backroads of the Russian River Valley, Bricoleur is centered around ponds and water gardens that make an ideal picnic setting. A pavilion that overlooks the Chardonnay vines is a great spot for your blanket, but the grounds also feature ample flowers and olive trees to spread out alongside.
Bees, chickens and dogs can be found, too, as well as rows of vegetable gardens that produce the winery’s onsite offerings and donations to local food banks.
Make a Wish
High up Sonoma Mountain Road is the quiet expanse of Belden Barns, a family-run vineyard where you can taste Grüner Veltliner, Syrah and more in a barn built in the 1870s. One unique draw is its Wishing Tree, a live oak where visitors are invited to hang a wish of positivity and hope.
Discover Another Palette
Among the finest estates in Carneros, Donum is already a can’t-miss producer for many. But there’s an additional draw beyond its stunning Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: a world-class outdoor sculpture garden with works from Ai Weiwei, Anselm Kiefer, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Hudson, Keith Haring and many others. A leisurely stroll to explore the property with a glass of rosé in hand will stay in your mind for a long time.
Ramble Around a Ranch
Passalacqua runs a standard tasting room on the floor of Dry Creek Valley, but it also offers a more in depth and off-the-beaten track tour of its 120-acre Cabernet Ranch vineyard nearby.
Owner Jason Passalacqua or Winemaker Jessica Boone will lead the way, with the chance to taste several block selections of its Cabernets in the great outdoors.
Published on June 16, 2021
