An epicurean ground zero nestled between three prime wine-growing regions – Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley – Healdsburg combines small-town charm with big-city smarts. Healdsburg SHED, a steel-andglass warehouse designed to take food back to its roots, houses a homewares market, all-day dining and event space. Owners Doug Lipton and Cindy Daniel still source from dozens of other farms nearby. “Our raison d’être is to support local agriculture,” says Cindy. The couple is passionate about sustainable agriculture, seasonal food and reducing waste (SHED is plastic free) and was the first of only six businesses in Sonoma County to be awarded the Slow Food snail, recognition by the prestigious Italian organisation of a commitment to good, clean and fair food.

This philosophy translates to an elegant, hyper-seasonal menu served in a bustling space that is at once modern and cosy. Housemade pickles, and shrubs and kombucha on tap are regulars, while dishes such as radishes with turmeric shrub butter, an epic cured fish board, and white anchovies on toast with carrot-top pesto change with the seasons.

At the other end of the spectrum, but with a similar dedication to provenance, is three-Michelin-starred SingleThread, recently named ‘One to Watch’ by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. A night at this restaurant with rooms from former Fat Duck chef Kyle Connaughton and his wife, Katina, who grow rare Japanese produce for the 11-course, kaiseki-inspired menu, comes at a price, but is worth the splurge. The affinity for craftsmanship runs from the open kitchen to the luxurious dining room, which is completely handmade, from the door handle at the entrance to the woven screens coded with plant DNA. This exquisite attention to detail continues to the bedrooms, where you’ll find bespoke Japanese paper light shades, binchotan charcoal toothbrushes and in-room dining options that include donabe hotpots for guests staying more than one night.

Family-run Barndiva, another proponent of the farm-to-fork movement, is the perfect lunch spot, offering colourful plates such as goat’s cheese and beetroot salad with mustard flowers and young green pea shoots in their smartly converted barn and garden. Save space for pie and artisan ice cream at Noble Folk, where the hardest decision will be deciding between a slice of strawberry mud pie with Oreo crust or a scoop of Irish chocolate stout ice cream.

Journeyman Meat Co. is a cellar door like no other – a butcher’s shop run by one of Sonoma’s original Italian farming families, the Sagacios, with a small dine-in space for charcuterie boards and tastings of their eponymous wines. Then, head to Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar (perch at the back bar), where the hefty menu of comfort food – including caramelised brussels sprouts, local Dungeness crab and a stand-out ‘cast iron fish and chips’ featuring the catch of the day with spicy mayo and yucca fries – starts with a serious selection of North American oysters. The elevation tasting at Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery takes you from its low-lying vineyards near the Russian River to plots at 120 metres. Tastings at their cellar door perched high above the valley in a glass eyrie come with a cheese pairing and a show of soaring red-tailed hawks. The vineyards grow in diverse climates throughout the valley, and it is this difference that winemaker Theresa Heredia celebrates. “In California you have a lot of places that make a single chardonnay, but we make singlevineyard- designated chardonnays from our various plots, and we lean towards the elegant style of chardonnay, which we call ‘lemony persistence’.”

Crista Luedtke is the unofficial mayor of this sleepy one-street logging town in the Armstrong Redwoods where she is pioneering a new culinary wave. The effusive chef first opened her boutique stay Boon Hotel + Spa in 2008, all refurbed white wooden miner’s cabins around a central saltwater swimming pool, followed by Boon Eat + Drink a year later when she realised her guests had nowhere to eat. After that came cafe-come-general store Big Bottom Market. Her latest project, El Barrio, is a moody tequila and mezcal bar with an all-female team who opened the doors after a research trip to Oaxaca. Proper guacamole with house-made totops (corn chips), braised pork tacos and a selection of Mexican cheeses are the perfect accompaniment to an Espirito Santo – bar manager Zoe Rem’s mouth-puckering rendition of a sour made with tequila blanco, agave syrup and guajillo chilli oil.

The historic Guerneville bank may no longer deal in gold, but the handmade butter-crust pies at modern-day resident Chile Pies Baking Co. are worth their weight in it. Stocked behind the original teller counter, the daily selection might include pear, blueberry and cardamom; strawberry and balsamic rhubarb streusel; or its signature green chile apple pie with cheddar crust and walnut streusel topping. And why stop at a scoop of handmade ice cream on top when you can create your own milkshake blended with your pick of pie? Seaside Metal Oyster Bar may not be part of Crista’s empire, but it is a local favourite for freshly shucked oysters and craft beer. The blue sea-foam paint on the walls and the white marble bar belie its location in the woods, but Seaside’s signature chowder and its charred octopus with black lentils, cippolini and salsa verde are nothing but comfort food when the fog sets in.

Check in to Autocamp, which redefines grown-up glamping with luxuriously restored Airstream trailers in the Sonoma redwoods. There’s a clubhouse where you can stock up on s’mores kits for the outdoor fire pit and wine to sip in the comfort of your trailer.

The town formerly known for housing the region’s airport, brothels, tattoo parlours and not much else is in the midst of a renaissance. Originally built in 1963, mid-century modern motel The Astro is leading the charge, offering a youthful, design-forward alternative to the region’s traditional B&B stays, each room styled with an eclectic mix of vintage art and furniture. With bikes for hire, you can cruise to The Spinster Sisters – the casual eatery from the same team – for an epic brunch of mod-American flavours that spans classics and surprises – think kimchi and bacon devilled eggs, and granola waffles with whipped local butter.

A 15-minute drive out of town takes you to the new Burlow Market District in Sebastopol, a hub for local food, art, craft beer and independent wine labels. Sip the first gamay planted on the Sonoma coast and site-specific syrah at Pax Mahle’s new-school Pax Wines. “Gamay has no pressure on it, it’s a new frontier for California,” says Mahle. Stick on the road less travelled with two Mahle alumni. Scott Schultz’s unconventional Jolie-Laide, which translates to ‘pretty-ugly’, brings forgotten and oddball grapes to the fore in surprising wines with artful bottles whose design changes each year, while Jaimee Motley is a young winemaker producing highly drinkable and elegant natural wines. Head to Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate, where you can check out the work of a top culinary green thumb. Master gardener Tucker Taylor has worked with the best, formerly running the gardens at Thomas Keller’s acclaimed The French Laundry. At Kendall-Jackson, the fruits of Taylor’s labours make it into the cellar-door kitchen each day. When we tour the expansive garden, he is picking baby radishes and oyster leaf (a briney-tasting plant from Scotland) ahead of lunch service.

Russian River Vineyards is one of only two Sonoma vineyards with a cellar door restaurant (the other is Francis Ford Coppola Winery). While the property dates back to the 1890s, a taste for experimental varieties defines fourthgeneration winemaker Gio Balistreri’s style. “I like to do new wines,” he says, referring to his unconventional line-up that includes barbera, gewürztraminer and riesling, which he makes “as close to bone dry as possible”. The result, a dangerously drinkable wine that flows throughout a long lunch in the sunny courtyard. Bed down at Farmhouse Inn, an upscale property that perfectly captures the rural idyll. With vaulted ceilings, open fireplaces and neutral linens, there’s a pared-back luxury to the spacious suites and rooms, plus a hot tub and on-site spa. Another option for pampering is Osmosis Spa in nearby Freestone with forest massage huts and calming zen gardens. Their signature cedar enzyme bath is a novel way to experience fermentation outside of the bottle.

Beltane Ranch is a heritage bed and breakfast that goes back five generations. The gracious Southernstyle house with wrap-around verandahs and white swing chairs was built in 1892 by a New Orleans entrepreneur who was the daughter of slaves. She intended the house to be an agricultural getaway, but it gained notoriety as a place for ‘gentleman’s entertainment’. Today, the property is far less scandalous, growing grapes, olives and heirloom row crops that are served on its menu, and hosting seasonal feasts, such as long-table lunches and hog barbecues in the dreamy garden. American-born Sydney chef Danielle Alvarez recommends tiny restaurant El Molino for some of the best regional Mexican food outside of Mexico. You’ll find it in Boyes Hot Springs, just out of Sonoma town centre.