Your guide to visiting Sonoma and supporting local women
Sonoma County is one of the most visited wine destinations in the world. And I get it. The rolling hills, the Pinot Noir, the golden hour that seems to last just a little longer there than anywhere else. If you have not been, you need to go. If you have been, you probably want to go back.
But here's the question I keep asking myself about popular travel destinations, especially ones built around an industry as powerful as wine: when we show up and spend our money, do we actually think about where it's going?
Wine country is not a neutral place economically. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that, like most industries built on land and legacy, has historically put men at the top. That picture is changing. But it changes faster when we choose consciously.
I believe travel is one of the most powerful tools we have for putting our money where our values are. And Sonoma County gives us so many opportunities to do that, if we know where to look.
So here's your guide to experiencing Sonoma in a way that is more meaningful, more personal, and honestly…more interesting. These are the women you should know about before you book your next trip to wine country.
Why It Matters Where You Spend in Wine Country
Before I get to the names, I want to sit with this for a second.
Research shows that when women earn income, they reinvest a disproportionate share of it back into their families and their communities. This is not a feel-good statistic; it's an economic reality that shapes entire communities when we pay attention to it. It is actually the founding principle behind Cherish.
When you choose a woman-owned tasting room over a corporate resort, or a woman-led restaurant over a chain, you are not making a sacrifice. In Sonoma, you are almost always getting a better, more personal, more rooted experience. And your dollars are going somewhere that multiplies their impact.
Do you feel like knowing the women behind an experience makes it more meaningful?
I do. Every single time. What I've learned building trips around this principle is that when you seek out women-owned and women-led businesses in a destination, you also end up with the most interesting stories from your trip. These are not the tourist-facing stops. These are the places the locals love and the industry respects.
Here is who I'd put at the top of your Sonoma itinerary.
The Women Worth Seeking Out in Sonoma County
Doralice Handal | Locals Tasting Room, Geyserville
If you only make one stop in Geyserville, make it Locals.
Doralice co-owns Locals Tasting Room with her father Dick Handal. But her background is what makes this place so different from a standard winery visit. She's been a chef, a caterer, a cheese importer, a cheese shop owner right here in Healdsburg, and a consultant to small food businesses — most of them women-owned. She has spent her career learning food and wine from every possible angle, and it shows in how she's built this room.
Locals is not a single winery's tasting room. It's a curated wine shop and tasting space that champions smaller wine brands sourcing fruit from boutique California vineyards. These are producers making exceptional wine who don't have the name recognition to get in front of you on their own. Doralice has built a room specifically to change that. They also have their own label called Denier-Handal Wines, which is absolutely worth trying.
If you want to understand the range of what California wine can actually be, and you want to support someone who has dedicated her career to lifting up women-owned food businesses along the way, Locals is your stop.
Kelly Comstock Ferris | Comstock Wines, Healdsburg
Kelly started her hospitality career in New York City in 2003. If you know anything about that industry, you know that is not an easy place to learn the ropes. She spent years in that environment before returning to Sonoma County to lead her family's wine operation.
Today Kelly is the General Manager of Comstock Winery in Healdsburg. Twenty years into her career, she has navigated her family's wine business through genuine industry turbulence including the post-pandemic market, wildfire seasons, and a shifting consumer landscape, while also raising two daughters and actively fundraising for local nonprofits. She regularly opens her winery properties to organizations that couldn't otherwise access that kind of beautiful event space. She does it because she can, and that tells you a lot about who she is.
A visit to Comstock is a visit to a family wine business that is genuinely loved by the person running it. That energy comes through in the experience.
Chef Domenica Catelli | Catelli's Restaurant, Geyserville
DC, as her community knows her, has cooked for Lady Gaga. She continues to attract collaborations with celebrities from inside her kitchen. She has built a professional reputation that most chefs work an entire career toward.
And she is completely focused on the pasta in front of you.
Catelli's in Geyserville is a family restaurant built around the Italian-American supper club tradition with homemade pastas, slow-cooked sauces, and locally sourced ingredients. The food is the kind that makes you slow down and actually taste what you're eating. But what I think is worth knowing about DC before you walk in is this: she is a constant donor and volunteer for nonprofits focused on making sure the underserved have food and a voice. She's not writing checks from a distance. She shows up.
When you eat at Catelli's, you are supporting a chef who uses her platform to take care of the community around her. That's a rare thing, and it's worth choosing on purpose.
Brenda Bullington | Stuhlmuller Vineyards, Alexander Valley
There is a specific type of person who makes a wine tasting truly memorable. It has almost nothing to do with the wine itself. It's the person who knows the land, knows the story, and has the rare ability to make everyone in the room feel like the most important guest of the day.
Brenda Bullington is that person at Stuhlmuller Vineyards in the Alexander Valley.
She manages the tasting room and has become one of the most respected fixtures in Sonoma County's wine world. Her colleagues call her "rockstar" staff, which is not an exaggeration. She is also a prolific cook, which means she brings a genuine food sensibility to how she talks about wine. She understands that wine is meant to be paired with something, and that the best pairings tell a story about a place.
If you're going to Alexander Valley and you want an experience that feels personal and unhurried, Stuhlmuller is where to go.
Jade Hufford | Maison Healdsburg
Jade's background is extraordinary and I want to make sure you actually know it before you walk into her wine bar.
She grew up on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona, where her family owned and ran the destination Amigo Cafe. She moved to the Bay Area and built one of the most impressive front-of-house careers in the country — captain at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco (three Michelin stars), leadership at Michael Mina, then service director at SingleThread Farms in Healdsburg, where she helped the restaurant debut with a perfect four-star rating. SingleThread is also three Michelin stars. She has spent her career excelling in the most demanding rooms in the industry.
In 2023, she and her husband Evan and their partner Ryan Knowles opened Maison Healdsburg. A wine bar and retail shop in the heart of Healdsburg with over 40 rotating wines and sakes by the glass, focused on coastal California, Champagne, and Burgundy. It is casual. It is world-class. And the moment you walk in, you feel immediately at home.
That last part is the rarest gift in hospitality. Jade has it.
Maison Healdsburg is the kind of place you don't want to leave. So don't rush it.
Laura Sanfilippo & Tara Heffernon | Lo & Behold, Healdsburg
Lo & Behold is the restaurant I would send a first-time Healdsburg visitor to without hesitation.
Laura and Tara are food-and-beverage industry veterans who, alongside their business partner Chef Sean Kelley, have created a space that feels like it was built by people who have spent a lot of time thinking about what a great restaurant actually feels like to be in. The menu draws on locally sourced ingredients and moves easily between comfort food and celebrated international dishes. Their team comes from some of the best restaurants and bars around the country, and it shows.
But here's the thing that matters to me most about Laura and Tara: they take care of people. Their guests, their staff, their community. They support nonprofits. They are the kind of women who exemplify what it looks like when women own their seat at the table in an industry that has always been happy to let us serve at it instead.
When women like them succeed, it changes what's possible for the women coming up behind them.
How to Travel Sonoma More Intentionally
You don't have to overhaul your entire itinerary to travel this region more meaningfully. Here are a few simple shifts that make a real difference.
Seek out the story before you arrive. Do a quick search on the women behind the businesses you're visiting (and if you don’t know, ask around!). When you know something about who built the place, the whole experience changes. You ask better questions. You notice different things. You leave with more than a wine buzz.
Ask who owns the room you're in. This sounds simple, but most of us never do it. Most tasting room staff are happy to tell you about the history and ownership of the property. The answer might surprise you.
Linger. Women-owned businesses, especially in the wine and food industry, tend to be more personal by nature. Let them be. Don't rush the tasting, the meal, or your experience. Stay for the conversation. That's where the real experiences live.
Spend locally. Skip the large resort gift shop and buy your wine directly from the people who made it. Buy food from the chef who sourced the ingredients. Keep the money in the hands of the people who shaped what makes this region worth visiting.
One More Thing
This October, I'm taking a small group of women to Sonoma specifically to experience this kind of intentional way of traveling. The trip will be four days of glamping in the heart of wine country, visiting each of these women highlighted in this article, tasting their work, and hearing their stories without rushing.
If you want someone to put it all together for you, we have a few spots left.
But even if you go on your own, I hope this list is a useful starting point. Sonoma is a remarkable place. These women are part of why.
About Cherish
Cherish curates custom private trips and women's-only small group journeys built around one mission: support the economic empowerment of women through meaningful travel. Founded by women, for women.
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