A Foodie Tour of Healdsburg, CA

Hello fellow travelers! I just got back from wine country in California and I had a great time. I’m excited to tell you all about it… so strap in and get ready!

If you’re a food fanatic, you’re probably just as enthralled with the farm-to-table and organic food movements as I am. As I’ve learned, not only is organic, local food better for your health and the planet, but it definitely tastes much better as well. Lucky for us, there’s a huge farm-to-table and organic wine movement going on in Healdsburg, California.

In case you haven’t heard about Healdsburg, here’s the low-down; it’s a beautiful town in the heart of Sonoma’s wine country. It’s at the exact point where three of the best wine regions in the world intersect. The area is championing the switch over from chemical fertilizers and pesticides to natural, clean and sustainable farming practices like organic and, better yet, biodynamic farming.

Healdsburg is a health-conscious foodie’s dream.

Think garden-to-table: many restaurants have their own backyard gardens where they grown organic produce. Think bicycle and hiking tours that take you through solar-powered biodynamic wineries. Think spas, relaxation and fair-trade shopping in a luxurious, eco-friendly and hyper-charming town center.

Follow me on this visual tour for four great reasons to visit Healdsburg for your next vacation:

Boutique Luxury Eco-Hotels

Healdsburg has two sister boutique hotels — Hotel Healdsburg and H2 Hotel — that are right in the middle of town. They’re both eco-friendly, LEED certified hotels with their own organic farm-to-table restaurants (Dry Creek Kitchen, PizZando and Spoonbar). The hotels were both constructed using recycled material and salvaged lumber. The hotel’s green roof promotes biodiversity and filters airborne pollutants from rainwater, protecting water quality for threatened Steelhead Trout in Foss Creek.

There are 19 tasting rooms within a few minutes via bicycle

Make sure to check out the spa at Hotel Healdsburg. They use mostly natural locally-made products, and their treatments are focused on ‘igniting the body’s own healing abilities’. I was also stoked to find out that they have a two great hot tubs — one indoor, one outdoor — plus a fabulous 60-foot swimming pool (both heated by the solar panels on the roof of the hotel, naturally!) They also have a spacious couples treatment room featuring a private soaking tub (but I prefer the outdoor hot tub), and massage tables with heated padding.

Try the Lavender Peppermint Restorative Massage and the From the Farm Stress Relieving Facial.

Biodynamic Winery Tours

Sonoma County, of which Healdsburg is in the center, was voted by TripAdvisor as the best wine country in the world, second only to Tuscany. Arriving here you can see why. Not only is it the epicenter of California winemaking, but there are many organic and biodynamic wineries in Sonoma county and Healdsburg. Too many to mention in one article. Here’s my personal favorite (of the ones I’ve seen). Read on to enjoy this tour with me!

I arrived at Quivira via a Wine Country Bikes organic vineyard bicycle tour. They do private or group rides, and they’re a 100% must-do when in the area. They can do specialized tours — I recommend their tour of only organic and biodynamic wineries, hosted by a very knowledgeable organic farmer (and excellent cyclist), Taylor Lapman. Not only will you get a lot of exercise (don’t worry – the bikes have a ton of gears to keep it as easy or hard as you’d like), but you’ll get a totally different perspective of the area via bicycle rather than via car. That, and the picnic-table lunch they set up for us was to-die-for. Seriously.

I challenged them to come up with a vegan meal for us, and what I got was maybe the best sandwich I’ve ever had, and pastries that were so yummy that I actually stuffed more in my bike and took them home as a snack for later. The lunch came from Oakville Grocery, which is yet another hippie-chic shop in Healdsburg that would be a good place to pick up snacks for your road trip, picnic or before your flight home.

If you’re not familiar with biodynamic winemaking, it’s the most intensive, sustainable and responsible method of farming. It requires constant attention and a perfect balance between animal, plant, soil and climate. Unlike ‘sustainable’, which is a loosely used term, organic and biodynamic wines are certified and must meet certain regulations. The result is a healthier, better tasting wine — and a vineyard that will remain fruitful for centuries to come. Personally, I only drink organic and, preferably, biodynamic wines. Quivira’s selection was very impressive. I ordered several bottles and had them shipped back to NYC. They were that good.

Quivira is a leader in biodynamic farming.

Quivira restored the creek that runs through not only their own property, but a lot of Sonoma, in an effort to help endangered Steelhead and Coho fish. Not only did they turn their property and the creek into an official wildlife safe harbor, but they convinced other landowners to switch to sustainable farming practices.

Farm-to-Table Restaurants

The food in Healdsburg is world-class, and most restaurants pride themselves on shopping from local, organic farms, or growing their own produce. To boot, pretty much all of the restaurants in town have a lot of creative vegetarian and vegan options.

Dinner at Spoonbar, in the H2 Hotel, rivaled the best meals I’ve had in New York City and Paris. Seriously. We told the waitress that we didn’t want to eat anything that came from an animal. We got no complaints. What their fabulous woman chef, Casey Van Voorhis, cooked for us, shocked us. You’d never guess that the recipes had been modified, they were so delicious.

Our waitress, who was excellent, suggested we pair the seasonal dishes she served us with a fantastic biodynamic wine from a local winery called Medlock Ames. She explained that the winery is carbon-neutral, and gave us the curious backstory behind how their tasting room used to be a super-seedy biker bar. It ended up being one of the best meals I can remember having — ever. The sophisticated dishes were Michelin-star quality. Really. And I’m picky!

If you’re looking for a restaurant with a more home-cooked feel, try Italian restaurant Campo Fina. The Italian owner, Ari Rosen, cooks from the heart. The menu at Campo Fina was inspired by his childhood in Tuscany. Many of the recipes are his family and friend’s ‘secret’ recipes — and each dish has its own sentimental story attached to it. As per usual in Healdsburg, all the produce is from farms within a five mile radius of the restaurant, and biodynamic wine options abound. They even bake their own bread. In the back garden is a bocci ball court, stone oven, ample seating, and string lights. It’s allllmost as charming as its owner. 😉

In the mood for Mexican? Or how about a mezcal, tequila or reserve anejo tasting? Mateo’s Cocina Latina has a fantastic grilled tempeh dish that the chef’s bestie (the drummer from the band The Killers) convinced him to make. The dish is called “Alive & Healing Sonoma County Tempeh” caramelized with seasonal vegetables, pumpkin seed and bell pepper sauce. Follow it up with one of about a hundred versions of mexican liquors they have on hand. It’s a can’t-miss and, of course, made with all local, seasonal and organic ingredients. In fact, chef Mateo gave us a tour of his organic garden in the back of the restaurant. He’s thought of everything — he even planted bushes to keep the bees happy!

Eco-Shopping

Healdsburg’s downtown is filled with great shopping and art galleries, and it’s all within a two minute walk. My favorite foodie shop is called SHED. It’s filled with not only fresh produce, flowers, gourmet treats and a wonderful cafe (their fresh juices and smoothies are to-die-for delicious!), but also tons of wonderful books, cooking and gardening products, and gifts. They also have an upstairs area where they do classes, workshops, tastings and other foodie events. As if all that wasn’t enough, they have an outdoor patio surrounded by their own organic vegetable and herb gardens. Basically, it’s foodie heaven.

My favorite non-foodie shop in Healdsburg is called One World. It’s an eclectic shop owned by a friendly and interesting woman named Annette, and they sell 100% fair-trade and artisan-made products. They also have a great selection of books, including a few of my favorites, like Half the Sky (a fantastic read on women’s rights) and Unlikely Friendships (about interspecies animal besties).

There is what feels like a limitless list of activities and tours to go on in Healdsburg, so you’ll never be wondering what to do — other than in the ‘it’s so hard to decide from all these options’ kinda way. So the next time you feel like you need a long weekend (or a week) away, think of Healdsburg, California. It’s the perfect place to have a healthy, active, and relaxing vacation.