The Best Of Sonoma County

“This marvelous book, splendidly researched, packed with terrific advice and considerable insider information, is essential reading for any visitor.”’ —Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate "Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered...Readable, tasteful, appealingly designed. Strong on dining, lodging, and history."—National Geographic Traveler As helpful for natives as it is for visitors, Explorer's Guide Napa & Sonoma: A Great Destination reveals the richness and color of this remarkable place. There are well-known as well as undiscovered wineries, a wealth of eateries, the best accommodations, and important travel information. Also included is an events calendar, “If Time Is Short” options, local history, color photos and maps, and essential information to help you find the best ways to spend your vacation time. Explorer's Guide Napa & Sonoma: A Great Destination, now in its ninth edition, has been acclaimed repeatedly by The Wine Advocate and Wine & Spirits.

The ultimate guide to Sonoma Valley's food scene provides the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate local culinary offerings.

Sonoma County was the real birthplace of wine in California. But with its wealth of agricultural abundance, the region could have become the Golden State's dairy capital, apple king, berry bastion, or even big cheese. The fact that Sonoma's wine ended up as its No. 1 commodity, and then went on to win international acclaim and comparison with the best wines in the world, is due to the dedication and hard work of people as rich and fertile in character as the soil they till. In Beyond the grapes : an inside look at Sonoma County, wine writers Richard Paul Hinkle and Dan Berger unearth the stories and histories behind the region's best wineries and their wines. These are tales of people who blend artistry, ancestry, love and respect for Nature, dreams, risk-taking, technology, toil and luck--and then bottle and label it with their own personalities. Photographer Jena-Paul Paireault, who has photographed Franc's most famous wineries, cam to California to capture the spirit of the 94 Sonoma wineries included here and displays them splendidly across the book's pages.