Heading to Sonoma, need advice

Greetings all,

TWGW and I will be traveling to Sonoma in December, sans children, for a little 10-year anniversary trip. Because our children range in age from 1-7 years old, this trip must, unfortunately, be short. Since time is of the essence, I am looking for advice on how to best appreciate the region. We fly to SF on a Thursday AM and fly home on the following Sunday. I feel we should have up to 2.5 days to tour the region. We want to "pack it in," but within reason. We know we can't see it all, and we want to take the time to enjoy ourselves during the process.

So...
What is the one _________ we really have to see/do in Sonoma*, in your opinion?
- winery
- restaurant
- hike
- shopping
- town
- etc.

Thanks in advance!

* Because of the limited time, we don't intend to tour Napa, see San Francisco, or do any of the hundreds of other fun things we would love to do during a 2 month vacation to California. ONLY SONOMA, please!

You won't need much time.Aside from the numerous wineries and vineyard covered hills,downtown Sonoma is small and compact.There are a few restaurants there,check "yelp" for reviews.While downtown stroll over to General Vallejo's mansion,it's worth a look...

For a real treat look for the Ledson Winery in Kenwood. My wife and I were among the first visitors there when it opened and we have returned twice. The grounds are beautiful and the surrounding properties luxurious.

The Misson and Sebastiani winery are worth a look; both are within easy walking distance in Sonoma. Ditto on General Vallejo's mansion.

One tip from our first trip-they roll up the sidewalks in wine country by 8 pm. Book dinners ahead for some nicer restaurants

Any shaving stores I should hit in the area?

If you are a lover of beer and even remotely close to Santa Rosa then you should abandon everything and head into Russian River Brewing. If you are not close to Santa Rosa then you should abandon everything and head into Russian River Brewing.

reverseapachemaster said:

If you are a lover of beer and even remotely close to Santa Rosa then you should abandon everything and head into Russian River Brewing. If you are not close to Santa Rosa then you should abandon everything and head into Russian River Brewing.

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Alas, I am not a lover of beer (I only go for Guinness), and SWMBO would not tolerate this travel diversion.

Assuming you're driving, the Dry Creek Valley would make an excellent day trip. It is a beautiful area, pretty low key, with some great wineries to visit. Stop at the Dry Creek Store for a selection of killer sandwiches, salamis, cheeses and other goodies for grand picnic lunch.

Have fun.

I'm not aware of any stores that carry shaving stuff in that area. If you are heading to Dry Creek, which is a great place to visit, I would stop at Preston. It's a farm and winery, they make olive oil and bake bread. You can have a nice picnic there. Unti is one of my favorite winemakers in that area. Also Seghesio if you like big Zins. If you are in Sonoma square stop by Roche, some of the nicest people I know in the biz and some good wines too. As for restaurants I had a very memorable meal at Zin in Healdsburg a couple of years ago. I also enjoy Girl and the Fig in Sonoma. Great bar there too. For breakfast check out Fremont Diner. If you are into coffee be sure to hit up Flying Goat.

If you make it up to Healdsburg I'd highly recommend Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen for dinner. Great food and service and no corkage if you bring in a Sonoma wine (at least I think they still do this).
And a +1 on Girl and the Fig on the Sonoma square.

Lots of good wineries, and less attitude than in Napa. Ones we've liked are:
Joseph Swan
Porter Creek
Ridge
Dehlinger
Coppola is pretty cool to visit, even if you don't taste there. And I haven't been to Arista yet but have heard good things.

I have heard good things about Coppola from my Sonoma friends. Old Faithful is also nice but I'd do downtown Sonoma and wineries first.

ackvil said:

For a real treat look for the Ledson Winery in Kenwood. My wife and I were among the first visitors there when it opened and we have returned twice. The grounds are beautiful and the surrounding properties luxurious.

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+1 Jim bet me to it, one of the best in the area IMHO.

Hey thanks, guys. We found that with our relaxed schedule, we had difficulty making it to an official tour, so mostly we did tastings. We found that 2 tastings per day was sort of our max. In general, we slept in, got a nice breakfast or skipped it and did lunch, did a couple tastings, then went out for a fabulous dinner. No kids meant that we could really do some nice adult restaurants.

We went to Ledson, DeLoach, Gloria Ferrar, Ferrari-Carano. We did not eat at Girl-Fig, but wanted to. We did eat at a lovely Portugese restaurant on our anniversary, then Sante at The Fairmont, then we did a 7-course meal with wine pairings at Dry Creek Kitchen. Try doing that 2-hour sit-down with a 1-year old.

Mostly, it was a lovely opportunity for my wife and me to reflect on 10 years, reconnect, and enjoy each other's company. And it sure was nice to see the kids again when we got home. You should have seen the 1- and 3-year-old's reactions when we were on FaceTime. It was like, "How did Mom and Dad get into the computer screen?"