While Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley are next-door neighbors in the heart of premium California wine country, a visit and wine tasting tour shows contrasting styles, experiences, and wines to enjoy.

Napa wineries are easily accessible. From the south to the north, most of the wineries are located on a grid bordered by Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. Your visit to Sonoma Valley is more of an adventure that requires the use of Google Maps, and better yet, a good old-fashioned printed Sonoma Valley winery map. For Robin’s annual December birthday vacation, we dove into the “adventure” of a visit to Sonoma Valley.

Sonoma Valley is much more laid back than Napa Valley—$1,000/night rooms and acres of resort facilities are not part of the culture. For me, that’s a good thing. Michelin star or wannabe star restaurants and $400 dinners for two are for Napa, not Sonoma.

The advantage of a late December visit is less traffic and reduced crowds at the wineries. These days it is always best to schedule appointments for everything from a tasting to a complete wine and food pairing at some wineries. With the generous help of Amy Patrick at Sonoma County Vintners, we scheduled visits to wineries in the Russian River Valley up north to the Alexander Valley, enjoying beautiful road trips from Sonoma to Healdsburg to Santa Rosa. We visited the heart of their Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel country.

Next, some advice on quality vs. quantity: Schedule no more than three wineries a day, and if lunch is included, perhaps just two. We enjoyed incredible food and wine pairings at St. Francis Winery and Ram’s Gate Winery. Each provided a unique experience that we will always treasure. You can also choose to stay out of your car for an afternoon and visit the tasting rooms on the square in Sonoma.

Owner Janet Barnett with a wine tasting flight in NABU’s tasting room

Why NABU, we ask?“When my wife Janet Barnett and I started the winery, our main focus was producing wines from Napa Valley and from our local mountains of Malibu, and that’s why we are called NABU,” says Owner Greg Barnett. Any “Star Wars” reference? “No,” he laughs, adding, “but we do have fun with our name on May the 4^th, Star Wars Day, at the winery every year; people arrive in costume with light sabers and more. It’s a lot of fun.”

When you visit NABU’s winery, you have no idea what to expect, and when you step inside, you realize you have arrived at a destination. While NABU Wines still produces wine in the Napa Valley and the Malibu Coast, its focus has expanded to neighboring AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) in Northern California, including Mendocino County, where they produce Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon on the Talmage Bench in Ukiah, as well as Pinot Noir on the southern part of the Sonoma Coast.

“In 2023, I began producing white wines in Paso Robles again with Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño. Both have been well received by our guests and at competitions at fairs,” says Greg. “So far, both have won two gold medals each and one silver medal each. We also have four barrels of Petit Verdot almost ready to bottle. I am very excited to share this with everyone.”

Mizel Estate Wines are grown on their 38-acre estate in the Malibu Coast AVA (American Viticultural Area). The geography of Mizel Estate, located on a fertile valley floor protected by mountains, provides ideal growing conditions for exceptional fruit.

When you taste Mizel’s fine wines, you drink in the pure expression of their vineyard.

“The real secret to Mizel’s superb red wines is the ground they come from,” says Mizel’s Winemaker, Guillaume Fabre. “The soil brings the tannin structure and creates a certain elegance that is so difficult to find—and impossible to add.”

Handcrafted Elegance

Mizel Estate Wines is a boutique, limited-production winemaker, focused on quality. Sustainably grown and hand-harvested, only the choicest grapes are used for Mizel Wines.

“Mizel’s dedicated team has control over the entire winemaking process, which allows us to consistently produce excellent wines,” says Michael Fowler.

Mizel grows six French grape varieties on their estate that are well suited to their terroir: Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Syrah. Throughout the growing season, the vines are nurtured under the direction of Estate Manager Hector Ambriz and Winemaker Fabre, who bring forth the premium characteristics of each individual block of Mizel’s extraordinary fruit. As harvest approaches, the grapes are carefully monitored to ensure that each variety is harvested at its peak.

The winemaking commences in Paso Robles, with Fabre managing crush and fermentation, bringing forth each grape variety’s unique flavor profile. Afterward, each varietal is aged in superlative French oak for 18 months.

“There is a little bit of an art and science to figuring out which types of oak and how old the barrels should be for each varietal. Guillaume is the expert, and he knows best,” says Fowler.

Santa Barbara’s World of Pinot Noir

The 3-day World of Pinot Noir is a wine-fueled weekend held in February at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara, celebrating delicious and storied wine. Attendees include wine aficionados, sommeliers, winemakers, and those who just love a culinary explosion of vino and bites.

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A Thursday evening Opening Night Party kicks off live music and endless stations of West Coast Pinot, with surprising finds from other U.S. regions. Guests can participate in a White Burgundy Seminar, Global Blind Taste Challenge or specialty winemaker lunches and dinners that showcase the beloved grape. On Friday and Saturday, a VIP Grand Tasting brings wine lovers to the beautiful grounds all afternoon.

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The venue’s Bubble Lounge welcomes guests with an array of fine sparkling wines and caviar. Bacara’s exciting food stations abound, including a make-your-own cannoli, create-your-own poke bowl, and dazzle-your-own rum-glazed donut with ice cream and toppings. Central Coast Creamery cheeses, wood-fired pizzas, seafood, and handmade pasta are available to pair with wine too. One thing is certain, California produces exceptional Pinot Noir, ranging from lean, Burgundian-style to richer, fruit-forward varieties.”

Final Girl Wines, Solvang’s Slasher Tasting Room

Could you ever dream up a spooky wine tasting room, where bottles showcase film scenes of girls who survived slasher movies? Where ghoulish artifacts abound and moving glowing faces pop from the fireplace as bold expressive wines, from Sauvignon Blanc to an orange “Skin Contact” white blend, are poured. Surely a Goth-like educational vino experience to remember

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Brecon Estate’s Chic Paso Robles Property

More than 40 grape varieties ripen to perfection in the Adelaide sub district of Paso, where the Brecon Estate is named after a national park in South Wales, and where the couple who began the boutique winery met, exploring their love of caves. Here, in this land of warm days and cool nights in the rolling westside hills, absorb the tranquil setting on the patio of this stylish modern architecturally stunning property, with a tasting flight of the oldest Cabernet vines on the Central Coast. Brecon Estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are recognized as part of the Historic Vineyard Society. The 2022 Budgie Smuggler, a four-red blend with just 374 cases produced, was especially tantalizing for our taste buds.

Napa Valley’s Vine Trail Bike Path Starting in Calistoga

From Dr. Wilkinson’s Backyard Resort and Mineral Springs, complimentary bikes make it easy to peruse the town of Calistoga. Journey down the street from the hotel, along the Vine Trail bike path, to be captivated by the heart of wine country. Just a short spin ahead, arrive at Sterling Vineyards, where a gondola ride brings guests to wine tasting around the white stucco wannabe Mykonos structure with a view 300 feet above the town and panoramic views of Napa Valley.

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Chateau Montelena, Where the Wine Put Napa on the Map

Carved into the hillside, this 100+ year old French chateau, Chateau Montelena, spirals up, dripping in ivy and flanked by Chinese gardens, a Jade Lake, and “Parking for Irish Only,” as these elements tell the unique history of three different owners over the past century. This vineyard put Napa on the map during a blind wine tasting in 1973. Known for crafting age-worthy Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, this vineyard invites guests to learn the stories behind each vintage with a wine tasting at this “Judgment of Paris” white wine winner.

A Bacon and Wine Pairing at Priest Ranch in Yountville

In the idyllic culinary town of Yountville in Napa Valley, determine your favorite red varietals at Priest Ranch’s Bacon and Wine Pairing, with four reds from their 1,700-acre estate, 20 minutes away. Here, the fats soften the tannins, enhancing the wine. Discover your favorite pairing, such as the 2022 Priest Ranch Cab with Pear Mostarda and Bacon.

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Anderson Valley’s Disco Ranch and Laidback Tasting Rooms

This relaxed wine paradise produces some of the finest small-production wines, most notably Pinot Noirs and traditional-method sparkling wines. Spiral through the Anderson Valley, where time stands still, in a good way. Visit bucolic Goldeneye, where female winemaker Katey Larwood showcases a reserve tasting of Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer.

Be surprised at Brashley Vineyards tasting room, with an amazing dry Riesling (with Finger Lakes grapes) and a mind-blowing White Pinot Noir, thanks to winemaker Ashley Holland. She also produces incredible wines under her own Read Holland brand, such as the 2021 Deep End Pinot Noir and Peter Martin Ray Chardonnay (Santa Cruz Mountains), which were named Top 50 Wines in the U.S. by Decanter.

In the heart of this cool-climate rural wine region, discover more wines at the Disco Ranch, a rustic wine bar and specialty food market with a friendly patio. Female winemaker Shalini Sekhar showcased her Ottavino wines, luring us with her St. Laurent varietal from Los Carneros AVA.

Arrive for Anderson Valley’s White Wine Festival in February, Pinot Fest in May or harvest in the fall. Create your own wine tasting tour any time of year, as the charm of this redwood vineyard landscape in NorCal is part of the allure. This is California at its best! Sip wines like speed dating at Husch, Lussier and Foursight. Try a Gewurztraminer from Lula, rustic bubbles from Fathers and Daughters, Sauvignon Blanc from Topaz and White Riesling from Navarro.