Visiting Dry Creek Valley & Healdsburg

Over the summer I made a trip to Sonoma County to visit a few wineries and sights.   Sonoma County has hundreds of wineries to taste, so you really need to decide where or what wineries you want to try otherwise you could spend weeks trying all of the wineries.  For my trip I decided to head to the Northern part of Sonoma County near Healdsburg to wine taste in the Dry Creek Valley.  Check out this link for a map of the wineries in the Dry Creek Valley Region.

There were more wineries in the area then I had time for, but here are the one's I did make it to:


                  Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery
                  Dutcher Crossing Winery
                  Seasons of the Vineyard
                  Kendall-Jackson Winery Center           


The wines at Ferrari-Carano and their tasting bar, Seasons of the Vineyard, were excellent.  It is worth making the extra trip to their tasting bar as there are plenty of other shops, boutiques and restaurants in downtown Healdsburg.  Some of the shops are dog-friendly and the two dog boutiques are just lovely - for large and small dogs alike.  There are some great dog-gift items, dog toys and treats available.  If you are shopping for clothes or jewelry there are some great choices and local handmade jewelry that is quite unique.    Check out this link for a listing of menus and restaurants choices.  Besides shopping, wine tasting and checking out the local food, there is a great Muesum and Historical Soceity a few blocks from the all these attractions.  History buffs may want to check out the changing exhibits at the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society.  Downstairs there is a research center where you can browse records with the help of the Research Curator.  I did a little genealogy research here and did find records that pertain to my family tree when they lived in the Healdsburg area.

Ferrari-Carano

Garden area at Ferrari-Carano

My last stop after leaving the Dry Creek Valley was at the Kendall-Jackson Winery Center.  Currently they were remodeling so there was some noise from the workers, but the gardens were still interesting to walk through.  You can ask for a guided tour of the garden grounds and the recommended wine tasting would be the wine pairing experience.  Plan for some time if you are up for the wine paring experience, personally I think I would try the dessert tasting.  I do think the wines are pricey here, but then wine can be expensive.

Driving up to Kendall Jackson

The garden area