Pigs & Pinot
Price$$$ event packages
Chef Charlie Palmer's pork-and-Pinot weekend at Appellation Healdsburg. Top Pinot producers, real chef energy.
Why go: Pinot's acidity cuts pork fat the way a good argument cuts noise.
Your Sonoma Chef cheat sheet for Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Windsor, Santa Rosa, Cloverdale, Guerneville, Point Reyes, and northern Sonoma County.
Price is per person for a typical meal, or the posted ticket price for special dinners. Some cards show both.
Gold badge = don't miss it. Start here if your calendar is filling up.
Chef Charlie Palmer's pork-and-Pinot weekend at Appellation Healdsburg. Top Pinot producers, real chef energy.
Three days of cheese: producer tours, the Cheese Crawl at The Barlow Saturday, and the big Sunday Marketplace. In its 20th year. The real thing.
The annual triple IPA pilgrimage. On tap at both pubs for two weeks.
Friday pre-party, Saturday parade, full weekend festival in West County apple country. More community than luxury — and that is entirely the point.
25+ wineries per day, celebrity chefs, live music, and real access to the people growing and making the wine. Three days, 50+ wineries. The food pairings are producer-driven.
Blossoms, bees, and barnyard babies. Two days, dozens of farms open their gates. Spring fields, newborn animals, tastings, workshops, farm stands. All ages. Free registration required.
Forty guests. Five Alexander Valley winemakers. Four courses. The rare dinner where the people who made the wine are pouring it.
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The entire month of April. Complimentary tastings, 10% off wine. No ticket counters.
Vineyard walk, multi-course lunch, double wine pairings. Thirty guests max.
Many breweries, food vendors, Saturday afternoon energy. Good for groups.
Stops at a creamery, oyster farm, meadery, organic veggie farm, and a locavore lunch. Fog, salt air, something raw and briny along the way.
Hosted cheeseboard, farm talk, and a seasonal chef's lunch at The Fork overlooking Tomales Bay. Quiet. No crowds. Better for it.
More working farm than formal festival. Edible plants, flowers, pollinators, and the feel of a place that takes the soil seriously.
Spring into early summer: asparagus, strawberries, snap peas. Show up early. Buy what looks alive.
Weekend 1 (March 20–22): Pigs & Pinot + California Artisan Cheese Festival. Friday in Healdsburg, Saturday Cheese Crawl at The Barlow, Sunday Marketplace at the Fairgrounds. A very full, very good 72 hours.
Weekend 2 (April 24–26): Apple Blossom Festival in Sebastopol + Passport to Dry Creek Valley. Community orchard energy one day, Zinfandel country the next. The contrast is the point.
Weekend 3 (May 2–3): Farm Trails Spring Tour countywide + Sebastopol Farmers Market Sunday. Walk the farms Saturday. Let the market be the debrief.
Chef culture, creamery culture, craft beer, community orchards, farm access, and a lot of very good things to eat.
Genuine food identity: producers, growers, chefs, creameries, spring farms. No generic nightlife. No brochure-tier experiences. The Point Reyes picks stretch into West Marin but they belong here — same ecosystem, same agricultural values.
sonomacounty.com/events · wineroad.com/events · exploretock.com · farmtrails.org/events · thesonomalocal.com · drycreekvalley.org · alexandervalley.org · artisancheesefestival.com · russianriverbrewing.com · appleblossomfest.com · healdsburgwineandfood.com · visitmarin.org · bohemian.com · sebastopolfarmersmarket.org
Always click through before you go. Dates, ticketing, and availability can change.