1. The Raven Film Center
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-5448
Address: 415 Center Street
2. Armida Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-2222
Address: 2201 Westside Road
Description: Tastings here are charmingly casual, and the setting is spectacular. Built on the side of a hill, the winery looks out on the Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys, with Alexander Valley, Geyser Peak, and Mount St. Helena to the east and south. High on the hillside, three geodesic domes house the winery, lab, and administrative offices. If you’ve been looking forward to a game of Italian bocce ball (or if you’d like to learn what it is), visit the bocce court near the picnic grounds. Armida is known for its “everyday” Zinfandel called Poizin (the reserve bottle comes resting in a coffin), as well as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
3. Kendall-Jackson Tasting Room
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-7102
Address: 337 Healdsburg Avenue
Description: The hugely successful Kendall-Jackson operation encompasses several wineries. The largest of these is Kendall-Jackson itself. It produces a Highland Estates label, for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as Grand Reserve and Vintner’s Reserve lines in those same grape varieties and more. The Stature product is a meritage of five classic Bordeaux varietals. The friendly folks at the K-J store in Healdsburg will be happy to direct you to their other location: Kendall-Jackson Wine Center, 5007 Fulton Road, Fulton, (707) 571-7500. That facility features a viticulture exhibit, where students from Santa Rosa Junior College—and visitors—can become acquainted with 26 varietals and 19 trellising systems.
4. Mill Creek Vineyards
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 431-2121, (877) 349-2121
Address: 1401 Westside Road
Description: This beautifully landscaped winery is set on a rise above the vineyard, which has been operated since 1975 by the Kreck family. The tasting room, complete with working waterwheel and a mill pond, is in an air-conditioned, two-story redwood building. The bar top, trusses, and beams are all made from one redwood tree from the Kreck ranch on Mill Creek Road. A 3,000-square-foot picnic deck overlooks the Dry Creek Valley, Fitch Mountain, and Mount St. Helena. Buy a bottle of the winery’s Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, or Syrah and dig into your picnic basket.
5. Everett Ridge Vineyards & Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-1637
Address: 435 West Dry Creek Road
Description: Views, good wine, and Shona sculptures, too—that’s Everett Ridge. The wines include Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, a Harvest Fair gold medal–winning Syrah, and a meritage blend called Diablita. With a pastoral view of the Dry Creek Valley, the patio is a relaxing spot to unwind. African Shona sculptures dot the property, adding to the peaceful mood (they’re for sale, too). Read more about Shona sculptures in the Shopping chapter under the Spirits in Stone listing.
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Address: 11455 Old Redwood Highway
7. Dry Creek Vineyards
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-1000, (800) 864-9463
Address: 3770 Lambert Bridge Road
Description: Opened in 1972, this was the first new winery in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley since the days of Prohibition, and it led to a dramatic wave of change in this long-neglected grape-growing region. The Stare family produces Fumé Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and other wines, including the estate-bottled meritage (a Bordeaux blend). Dry Creek Vineyards is known for its collection of sailboat labels, based on a personal long-standing love affair with the sport of sailing. The gray stone winery resembles a French country wine château, and the tasting room is casual and informal.
8. Ferrari-Carano Vineyard & Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-6700, (800) 831-0381
Address: 8761 Dry Creek Road
Description: The Wine Shop at Villa Fiore (the name of the château that houses the Ferrari-Carano operation) is one of California’s friendliest and most enchanting Wine Country destinations. Visitors will discover magnificent gardens, critically acclaimed wines, and unique gifts. Allow extra time to walk through the Enclosed Garden with its parklike setting. If you time your visit just right, you’ll see more than 10,000 tulips and daffodils in bloom (call ahead to find out precisely when the flowers unfurl). The spectacular underground barrel cellar where the wines of Don and Rhonda Carano age is also a favorite. Among the wines poured at the wine shop are Fumé Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Siena (a Sangiovese-based blend), Chardonnay, Merlot, and a late harvest dessert wine called Eldorado Gold.
9. Lambert Bridge Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 431-9600, (800) 975-0555
Address: 4085 West Dry Creek Road
Description: Established in 1975, the winery takes its name from a neighboring landmark bridge that spans Dry Creek. Many of the wines of this small, high-quality winery are available only in the charming tasting room, where the wine-stained tasting bar was made from oak casks. A crackling fireplace cheers on frosty days, and on sunny days the picnic grounds may be the most elegant in Dry Creek Valley. The tasting room pours Viognier, Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel.
10. Preston Vineyards
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-3372, (800) 305-9707
Address: 9282 West Dry Creek Road
Description: According to the folks at family-owned Preston Winery, “Having fun is no scandal.” They take pride in being known as the alternative winery: the place to go when you want something different and delicious. Not only can you taste some unusual wines, but you can also enjoy some freshly baked bread (“Lou’s Bread,” named for owner Lou Preston) and picnic among flowers, herbs, vegetable gardens, and olive trees. If that’s not enough fun, you can play a game of bocce on the house courts. Preston is slightly off the beaten path, but with so much going for it, the adventure is worth taking the drive. The 115 acres of grapes grow without insecticides and produce flavorful, eccentric wines such as Mourvèdre, Rousanne, Barbera, Cinsault, and Marsanne.
11. Quivira Vineyards
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 431-8333, (800) 292-8339
Address: 4900 West Dry Creek Road
Description: For centuries, European explorers searched for the legendary New World land called Quivira. It was thought to be on the Pacific Coast in the region now known as Sonoma County. Three centuries ago European mapmakers placed it just about where the Quivira Winery is located now. Whatever else you find out here about the legends of Quivira, you will also encounter some excellent Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Grenache. This is a great place for a picnic, complete with terrific views.
12. Hanna Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 431-4310, (888) 854-3987
Address: 9280 Highway 128
Description: Dr. Elias S. Hanna, a Marin County surgeon who was born and raised on a farm in Syria, founded Hanna Winery in 1985. His estate winery now produces about 40,000 cases of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir annually from its approximately 250 acres of vineyards. Jasmine, a rosé, is also available. You can taste Hanna wines at two hospitality centers, one at 5353 Occidental Road in Santa Rosa and the other at the address above. The patio of the visitor center in Healdsburg is a lovely place for a picnic, with panoramic views of the Alexander Valley and Hanna’s magnificent hillside vineyard.
13. Simi Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-6981, (800) 746-4880
Address: 16275 Healdsburg Avenue
Description: In 1881 two Italian immigrant brothers, Giuseppe and Pietro Simi, bought a winery near the grain depot in Healdsburg for $2,250 in gold coins. They built a magnificent, hand-hewn stone winery, and their business soon doubled. Then, in the midst of success, both brothers died, and Giuseppe’s teenage daughter Isabelle took over. Prohibition was a blow for her, but when it ended, she had one of the winery’s enormous redwood tanks rolled outside and created a retail tasting room. Isabelle could be found there until her late 80s, still selling Simi wines. In today’s more modern tasting room you will find sips of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
14. Hop Kiln Winery
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-6491
Address: 6050 Westside Road
Description: Housed in an old stone building that was once a hop-drying kiln, the tasting room at Hop Kiln displays a fine collection of winemaking tools and a gallery of old photos showing the history of the hop industry, which bustled in Sonoma County during the early 1900s. The Hop Kiln was declared a state historic landmark in 1977 and has been used in several motion pictures. The tasting room is cool and rustic, serving samplings of Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and two popular blends, Big Red and Thousand Flowers. Hop Kiln’s grounds are a great place to have a picnic. A picturesque pond inhabited by local wildfowl sparkles next to the tasting room, and trees provide plenty of shade around the outdoor tables.
15. The Wine Shop
City: Healdsburg, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (707) 433-0433
Address: 331 Healdsburg Avenue
Description: It’s all wine here, and it’s also a wine bar, meaning it’s licensed by the state to serve and charge for full glasses of wine, not tastings. But the selection is enormous: The shop specializes in hard-to-find small production wines worldwide, with more than 600 wineries represented. They will ship your selections too.