Meadowcroft Wines

If you and your fur buddy have only a day or two to spend in large and diverse Sonoma County, it’s wise to pick a region (such as the Alexander, Dry Creek or Russian River valleys) and stick to it. But you won’t have to spend all your time driving country roads. Sonoma’s urban areas also offer ample opportunities to taste, often within walking distance of restaurants and shopping.

In Santa Rosa, for example, Vintners Square is a fast-expanding “urban wine village” with three tasting rooms, a craft brewery, shops, restaurants and lots of dog-friendly patios. At nearby Cornerstone Sonoma, site of Sunset magazine’s new demonstration gardens and outdoor test kitchen, you can wine-taste at two venues between exploring a variety of home-and-garden shops. more »

Anyone who loves gardens will be hearing a lot very soon about Sunset magazine making Cornerstone Sonoma, a garden and retail complex on Highway 121 near the junction with Highway 116, the site of its new demonstration gardens and outdoor test kitchen. The magazine in 2009 named the existing gardens, which feature 20-plus walk-through installations updated by visiting landscape artists, one of the Top 10 gardens in the West. The New York Times has also praised the inspirational plantings visited by more than 100,000 people each year.

But DogTrekkers don’t have to wait for Sunset to enjoy the gardens or the complex of shops surrounding them. more »