On Hwy-101, 20 miles North of Santa Rosa. With scores of beautifully restored century-old homes and a lovely Spanish-style plaza, Healdsburg makes a desirable short-term base before continuing north or winding coast-wards to pick up Hwy-1. It also provides a genuine taste of the Wine Country that requires neither a detour off Hwy-101 nor doing battle with the crowds that pack the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. 

A dozen or so wineries lie in and around Healdsburg; one of the best is handily placed in the town center: Clos du Bois, whose award-winning vintages can be tasted – and, of course, purchased –  tours are around $35 (www.closdubois.com). Elsewhere, the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society (www.healdsburgmuseum.org), 221 Matheson Street, stocks the usual historical bits and pieces and describes the wine-making process (something better discovered on a winery tour). However, anyone who prefers reading about wine to actually drinking it, will be at home inside the Sonoma County Wine Library, corner of Center and Piper streets, which holds more than 3,000 wine books available for browsing or for loan with a temporary library membership card (www.sonomalibrary.org/locations/sonoma-county-wine-library)

Detour – HKG Estates Winery

Drive five miles south from Healdsburg to the HKG Estates Winery, 6050 Westside Road, sited on a hillside above the Russian River and partly housed in a 1905 stone hop-drying barn. Try the wine and then enjoy a leisurely picnic beside the adjoining Griffin Vineyard – dating from 1880, it is one of California’s oldest vineyards.