It read: CEDAR ENZYME BATH.
Most people I know go to spas for massages.
I go for heat.
From left: Salmon Creek Beach, on the Pacific coast north of Bodega Bay; kayaking on the Russian River near Guerneville.Cayce Clifford
His father had taken him to the same baths.
A week of cedar-enzyme baths later, he was cured.
Hearing this, I got even more excited.
From left: Wines from Caleb Leisure Wines; vintner Caleb Leisure at his natural winery in Cloverdale.Cayce Clifford
Take me to the enzymes, I said.
Osmosis, which is the onlyspa in North Americato offer the cedar-enzyme bath, wears its renown quietly.
It makes the airbrushed polish ofNapaand easternSonomafeel like another country.
Webster Marquez displays some of the cheeses he makes at Bohemian Creamery.Cayce Clifford
You’re off the corporate grid."
(I hadn’t stepped into Osmosis all those other times because I was busy babying grapevines.)
The pandemic inspired many to become bakers; I became obsessed with learning to make wine.
A guest room at River’s End, an inn in Jenner.Cayce Clifford
The result is ethereal, moderate-alcohol wine that tastes both elegant and revolutionary.
The result is ethereal, moderate-alcohol wine that tastes both elegant and revolutionary.
West County is not merely cabin country.
Braised beef with cabbage and mashed potatoes at Brot, a German restaurant in Guerneville.Cayce Clifford
Related:These Are the Best Rivers to Float in the U.S.
This extends to the kitchen at the Farmhouse’s Michelin-starred restaurant.
As a somewhat restless person myself, I asked Litke what kept him excited in the Farmhouse kitchen.
From left: The Russian River flows through Guerneville, in northern California’s Sonoma County; “Tucker Taylor of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens.Cayce Clifford
Biting down, my palate filled up with a tart, racy taste of the ocean.
Everything Taylor put in my hand sour gherkins, Malabar spinach looked like it belonged in a fairy tale.
But I have never been on time to anything in West County.
Community pizza night at Raymond’s Bakery, in Cazadero.Cayce Clifford
Perhaps there are greater pleasures in life than having finally made these two things align.
But this is something I love about West County: it makes you grateful for less.
Raymond’s is a roadhouse with barely a road.
From left: The Farmhouse Inn, a beloved boutique property in Forestville; the lounge area at Mine & Farm, a contemporary inn in Guerneville.Cayce Clifford
Maybe this was nothing more than the occasional charm of small-town life, surprising only to city slickers.
I felt the ice in my city heart give way.
Strenuous leisure, it turns out, can have the same effect as a day in a vineyard.
From left: The Hallberg Butterfly Gardens, in Sebastopol; the meditation garden at Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary.Cayce Clifford
“), only intimacy.
By the end of dinner, he had spoken to nearly every guest.
But the real litmus test is what a host is like behind closed doors.
The following morning, I stumbled onto Rangel as he was making breakfast alongside his cooks.
“The guys” Latin Americans all were worried about the pandemic,” he said.
“I wanted them to have comfort when they looked out the window.”
I was up early because Thatcher had offered to take me paddleboarding to the mouth of the river.
As we glided, harbor seals popped up above the waterline, and hundreds of pelicans took flight.
(Among my favorites: duck breast with cherry-habanero compote and cod with herbed pistou and butter beans.)
“What’s next, locusts?”
she said when I chatted with her after another splendid, soulful dinner at Boon.
And yet Luedtke keeps going.
She can’t imagine being elsewhere.
“In Napa, the landscape is the same everywhere,” she said.
You’re part of something bigger here."
In hopes of glimpsing its future, I went to see Matthew Niess of North American Press.
Niess is an apostate.
To plant hybrids that combine the European varietals that dominate California wine with varietals native to North America.
Every year, the land around the gardens shrinks as Gravenstein orchards are converted into more lucrative vineyards.
“The thing about most California vineyards,” he said, “is they’re Europe 2.0.
What does California really look like and taste like?”
Niess believes that hybrids, which are more disease-resistant, may be the way of the future.
“I haven’t sprayed at all,” he said.
There was nothing cloying about the bottles he opened for me.
After a year of aging, his 2020 was just coming online.
I was up early because Thatcher had offered to take me paddleboarding to the mouth of the river.
“But I would’ve regretted never trying.
I want to tell my children I had this dream.
That’s worth it to me even if this doesn’t work out.”
Doubles from $735.
Mine & Farm Inn: An old Guerneville inn transformed into a gem of distinctive design.
doubles from $215.
Doubles from $250.
The on-site shop offers tastings and sells cheese by the pound.
Entrees $18$28.
Brot:Luedtke’s hotspot in Guerneville reinvents the dishes of her German ancestors.
entrees $18$27.
entrees $24$36.
Raymond’s Bakery: All of tiny Cazadero goes to Raymond’s on Fridays for pizza night.
You won’t leave without having made friends.
Leisure’s Cloverdale facility offers tastings by appointment.
Hallberg Butterfly Gardens: This Sebastopol wildlife sanctuary also includes an old-growth Gravenstein apple orchard.
Email matt@northamericanpress.wine.
A version of this story first appeared in the February 2022 issue ofTravel + Leisureunder the headlineRiver of Dreams.
