 | Sonoma Welcomes You |
| Sonoma Welcomes You |
The Sonoma Valley, cradled between two mountainous ranges only 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge, welcomes you with the best that California has to offer. Though close to San Francisco, this is an easy-going place, where pick-up trucks share the roads with Mercedes, festivities range from ox roasts to wine auctions, and people are as comfortable in cowboy boots as they are in designer jeans.
The birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley may be best known today for its award-winning wines, produced in dozens of wineries of all sizes.
Numerous small farms, many of them welcoming visitors, raise almost everything from poultry to Christmas trees.
The 17 mile long valley is lined with hundreds of acres of vineyard lands where many of the state's world class wines are created.
In the town of Sonoma are two of the oldest wineries in California, where tastings and tours are available every single day. Towards the north are numerous family-run operations where the person behind the tasting counter may be the winemaker.
Sonoma's town square is an enormous shaded Plaza, rimmed with old adobe buildings and carefully preserved historic structures. A stroll around the town square will take you past former Mexican army barracks, 19th-century hotels and the pristine mission, as well as chic boutiques, bounteous shops and excellent restaurants. Only a half-mile northwest of the Plaza, you'll find the home of General Mariano Vallejo.
A turn of the century hot spot for health conscious Californians, Sonoma Valley continues as a home to several world-class resorts and spas.
Sonoma Valley inspired author and adventurer Jack London to write "Valley of the Moon" and to spend his final years here on his Beauty Ranch in Glen Ellen, now a state historic park.