Here’s the easiest (and closest) wine tour through the Valley of the Moom:
Take Highway 12 east towards Sonoma. Your first stop will be in Kenwood, about 15 minutes outside of Santa Rosa, where Tom ran the Kenwood Foot Race 10K on the 4th of July (he took 14 minutes off his personal best–yeah Tom!). The race is “the oldest, most prestigious road race in Sonoma County, a 4th of July tradition for 37 years… follow[ing] scenic rural roads in the heart of the Wine Country…. a challenging loop with rolling hills.”
Our two favorite tasting experiences there are Kenwood Vineyards (the tasting, which 
always includes good table reds, is still in the barn like it has been for about 30 years!) and Chateau St. Jean (long known for its whites, and sporting a lovely garden, an expensive deli, and a nice shop). Chateau St. Jean is part of a number of wineries that were started in the 1970s by unlikely vintners who held day jobs as doctors and dentists, experienced success in various wine competitions, then sold to the highest corporate bidder.
Onward to Glen Ellen, to Benzinger Family Winery. Here, the kids can take a tram ride (in general, there’s not a whole lot for kids to do on wine tours!). Notable for the fact that the family still runs the place; some Benzinger offspring or in-law is probably pouring your taste of wine. And while the wine gets mixed reviews, Glen Ellen makes for an enjoyable stop–especially if you have time to go up to Jack London State Historic Park, and take an easy walk up to the ill-fated Wolf House (it burned to its stone skeleton just before moving day!). London wrote Call of the Wild and White Fang, and was known not only as a writer but as an adventurer and socialist. There’s a great little museum there, housed in “The House of Happy Walls,” where London’s widow lived after his death.
Near Glen Ellen, you’ll pass Beltane Ranch, where we got married, and also the home (look for the small white house with the large arched window) of the late M.F.K. Fisher, the food writer (a New York Times critic wrote, “Her food writing read like love stories”).
The full tour takes you on into Sonoma, where there are several wineries to choose from, including historic ones like Buena Vista and Sebastiani. Usually, it’s enough to just visit the town itself and its beautiful central square, complete with duck pond, play structures, and surrounding shops and food opportunities. Try Sonoma Cheese factory for lots and lots of free tastings (mostly variations of Sonoma Jack), or Basque Boulangerie (great breads, sandwiches and salads). Grab something to eat, then sit in the green and cool park. There are a couple of great ice cream stops as well, plus fine dining like The Girl in the Fig. Our favorite store: The Sign of the Bear kitchenware. You can also visit the Sonoma mission and look inside historic buildings.
Problem with any wine tour these days: most wineries now charge for limited tastings! You can share a glass, of course, or you can try to find lists online of who pours for free (there was recently such a list in one of the newspapers we read, and we’ll keep looking for it!). Let us know what you find and we’ll post it here.
