If you're searching for a lower-key place to enjoy Northern California wine country, look no further than Cloverdale. With a population of around 11,000, it's small, but offers visitors a big taste of the region. Situated just west of California's breathtaking river valley in Sonoma County, the Russian River, in the Alexander Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA), Cloverdale's claim to fame is its wineries, including the remote Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak AVA, a subregion that straddles Sonoma and Mendocino counties. With all that wine comes plenty of food, of course — brunch, barbecue, burgers, Italian, Asian, and more — in the city's restaurants.
Cloverdale is also home to fairs and festivals, such as the Cloverdale Citrus Fair. Launched in 1892, the longtime celebration bills itself as the "Home of the First Fair in the State of California." In spring 2025, the Citrus Fair hosted its first Spring Market, and in the summer, the annual Clover FoodFest and Fourth of July Street Faire. Other events include the Latino Heritage Festival (September), Día de los Muertos (October), and the Holiday Craft Faire (November). The Citrus Fair was also the original home of what is now the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, one of the nation's largest.
Getting to Cloverdale is easy. It's right off U.S. Highway 101, about 30 minutes from Charles M. Schultz-Sonoma County Airport and just shy of two hours from San Francisco International Airport. If you enjoy train travel, the SMART train — a train network between San Francisco and Santa Rosa — will bring you from the city to Sonoma County Airport, where you can rent a car. Cloverdale is also about 20 minutes north of the town of Healdsburg, home to Montage Healdsburg, California's wine country resort with cliffside suites and vineyard views.
Sip and savor at Cloverdale's world-class wineries
While in Cloverdale, plan to treat yourself to some of northern Sonoma County's finest wines — and allow a few days to taste around town. Blue Rock Vineyard, whose 100-acre property dates to 1880, offers estate-grown Bordeaux-style varieties like cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, and petit verdot — along with olive oil pressed from trees, some over 140 years old. BobDog Wines and its Sky Pine Vineyards sit at 2,000 feet in elevation — billed "the highest winery in Sonoma County" — and the only one in the Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak AVA. Tastings and tours are by appointment only, so book ahead of time.
Founded in 2005, family-owned J. Rickards Winery farms 60 acres of estate vineyards planted to cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot, petit verdot, petite sirah, and zinfandel. It hosts events including wine and food pairings, vineyard walks and tours — and you can even learn to harvest grapes and bottle your own wine. William Gordon Winery is an ultra-small producer of wine and olive oil, farming only 10 acres of grapes, including five acres of cabernet sauvignon and three acres of petite sirah, plus 200 olive trees. Private tastings with vintner and owner William (Bill) Gregory Pesonen require advance reservations.
Award-winning Kelley & Young Wines is another winery experience not to be missed. Its portfolio includes sauvignon blanc, two Bordeaux-blend rosés, malbec, and zinfandel, and rare late-harvest wines. The tasting room offers flights, wines by the glass, and special events.
The winery also operates a bed-and-breakfast, the Kelley & Young Wine Garden Inn, set in a turn-of-the-century Queen Anne Victorian.
Dining in Cloverdale
For such a small city, Cloverdale offers a wide variety of places to eat and drink. Start your day at Plank Coffee, which serves coffee and espresso, plus smoothies, tea, bagels, biscuits, sandwiches, and more — to stay or to go. You can also buy bags of beans or enroll in a coffee delivery subscription. Add Moe's Eagle's Nest Deli to your breakfast and lunch list; it serves breakfast sandwiches, burgers, soups, and daily specials. For barbecued and grilled meats and seafood, stop by Hamburger Ranch & Bar-B-Que, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Customer favorites include brisket, burgers, chicken, pork, ribs, as well as comfort food sides such as fries and macaroni and cheese.
If you're craving Italian, head to Piacére Ristorante Italiano. Open since 2020, Piacére has a full menu of appetizers, pastas, and hearty dishes made with beef, chicken, pork, seafood, and veal. For Asian fare, Tian Yuen Restaurant offers dishes inspired by China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The "beet" goes on at The Beet Restaurant & Wine Shop, where guests enjoy brunch, lunch, and dinner specials like crêpes, huevos rancheros, eggs Benedict, clams with white wine and locally made pasta, swordfish, scallops, and more — along with occasional winemaker-hosted dinners and dance parties.