Things don't change quite as fast in the Sonoma Valley as they do in the neighboring Napa Valley, but change they still do. Check here for updates to the Southern Sonoma chapter of the book, including pertinent news about wineries, restaurants, hotels, and just about anything else that might have changed since the middle of 2005. If you know of any listings that need updating and are not covered here, please contact me using the link above.
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Sonoma's plaza gets tasty |
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Urban tasting rooms are a growing trend in wine country and Sonoma is certainly getting in on the act. In the past year or so, two new tasting rooms have opened right on the plaza, although they didn't make it in to the book due to the vagaries of the long book production and printing process. More such urban winery outposts could be on the way too. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 April 2006 )
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Cafe adds some sun to Sonoma |
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The cozy interior, lush patio, and rather unassuming menu of what used to be the Coffee Garden Cafe on Sonoma Plaza (page 135) has been transformed into something far more in keeping with the wine country's chi-chi aspirations. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 March 2006 )
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Sonoma ducks get new pond |
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In the introduction to the Sonoma Valley section of the book I talk about the poor ducks having to put up with the "fetid green" ponds on Sonoma Plaza (page 110). Well, the good folks at the the Sonoma City Council must have read my damning description (yeah, right) because in March 2006 the city started a six-month renovation of those ponds. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 March 2006 )
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St. Jean drains the ponds |
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In my review of the rather lovely Chateau St. Jean winery near Kenwood (page 120) I mentioned the two ponds in the grounds shaped like two of the Great Lakes. They were pretty much the only reminder of the Michigan roots of the couple that built the property in the 1920s. Well, the winery's corporate owners (bless 'em) decided to drain that little piece of history in favor of a nice slab of concrete. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 March 2006 )
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Argentina comes to Glen Ellen |
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The building has caught fire several times in the past, but that has not stopped a new restaurant, La Estancia Argentine Grill, from opening up shop in the historic water mill building in the Jack London Village near Glen Ellen. Perhaps in tribute to the regular fires they painted the place bright yellow. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 March 2006 )
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The Cellar Cat Cafe, the charming creekside lunch and part-time dinner venue in the Jack London Village just south of Glen Ellen is no more (see page 136). I guess it was inevitable considering no restaurant in recent memory has lasted for long in that space. This Cellar Cat certainly did not have nine lives. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 March 2006 )
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