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.

On the southwest corner of the plaza is the Charles Creek Vineyard tasting room, the public face of a fairly new winery that produces about 12,000 cases of predominantly Chardonnay (for which it is best known) and Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards across Sonoma County.

Across the way on the east side of the plaza, a few doors down from Ye-Olde Ledson Hotel, is a tiny outpost of the Mayo Family Winery, which also has a tasting room at the winery itself up the valley near Glen Ellen and yet another tasting room (The Reserve Room, for sampling food and wine pairings) up-valley in Kenwood. As if that's not enough, Mayo wines can also be tasted at another of the winery's second Reserve Room in Healdsburg. It's getting close to chain-winery status.   

Still going strong back in Sonoma, despite the winery recently changing ownership, is the Castle Vineyards tasting room just off the plaza on W. Spain Street (see page 116). Sonoma Enoteca wine bar/shop/tasting room is also still open on the south side of the plaza, though it's still not my cup of tea as far as wine tasting experiences go.

Sonoma is finally following the cities of Napa, Healdsburg (and, lately, Windsor just south of Santa Rosa) into the realm of wine tasting destinations. Judging by the number of empty storefronts on the Sonoma Plaza in early 2006, more such tasting rooms could be on the way.