There’s a special feeling about road-tripping California’s Highway 128, heading west until you meet the sea. The highway slices through a swath of Northern California, beginning in Winters where it skirts wheat fields, a vineyard and orchards before climbing into hilly, oak-studded grasslands and chaparral. In less than an hour, the landscape changes to lush Napa Valley vineyards before heading over the Mayacamas mountain range, dropping down into Mendocino County and soon to the fog-shrouded Pacific coast.
I like to think of the multiple wineries, inns and restaurants along the way as modern stagecoach or wagon stops, comforting and fueling travelers as they pass through lands that still retain some of the region’s original wildness.
A Yolo beginning
Start your westward journey in Yolo County, perhaps with a stop at Winters’ family-owned Berryessa Gap Vineyards, one of only a few in the Winters Highlands AVA. Taste your way through the Rhone and Spanish varietals at the tasting room, which shares patio space with the stellar Berryessa Brewing, owned by the same family. On weekends, there’s a food truck and live music.
Then follow Highway 128 as it takes you past vineyards, following Putah Creek, a premier trout fishing stream, to the base of Monticello Dam. Built in 1957, the dam submerged forever its namesake, the small town of Monticello.
California’s Highway 128 winds past Lake Berryessa as it makes its way from Winters toward St. Helena, Healdsburg and eventually the coast. (Getty Images)
As the road winds upward past the dam, stunning views of Lake Berryessa come into view, along with the Markley Cove boat launch — Berryessa is noted for its champion bass fishing — and my first suggested food stop, the quirky Turtle Rock Bar and Café. Known for its egg rolls ($4.50), this little eatery escaped the devasting Hennessey Fire of 2020, for which I am grateful. It would have been impossible to re-create the patina the years have given this place, not to mention the masses of dollar bills dangling from the ceiling.
Lake Berryessa and the Markley Cove Resort are popular spots for anglers. (Craig Lee Photo)
Over the dam to Napa
Yolo county gives way to Napa wine country now, starting with the Somerston vineyards that stretch into the valley and hills on the vast Priest Ranch estate. You can reserve a tour and tasting here or visit the downtown Yountville tasting room for sips. Or head down the road to historic Nichelini Winery, which offers wine tasting, picnic areas among the oaks and a bocce court.
More than 400 other Napa wineries wait just ahead, as highway 128 merges with the Silverado Trail then heads west toward Rutherford and St. Helena, where it assumes an old-school moniker — Main Street — for a bit.
St. Helena’s Main Street and its shops, restaurants and tasting rooms are irresistible. Pull over and go explore, stopping first at Gott’s Roadside for a burger ($11-$17). This is the OG Gott’s, a roadside stop that first opened in 1949 as Taylor’s Refresher. It took on the Gott’s moniker in 1999, when Joel and Duncan Gott took over the property.
You’ll find the oldest continually operating winery in Napa Valley, Beringer Brothers, nearby. Established in 1876, it was the first California winery to offer tours and tastings after Prohibition.
Westward to Sonoma
As you roll westward, Highway 128 soon starts to climb the Mayacamas Mountains, the terrain wilder now. The Sonoma County landscape is dotted with small farms and scattered cattle ranches before giving way to Knight’s Valley and soon, the Alexander Valley, home of such notable wineries as Alexander Valley Vineyards and Soda Rock.
As you roll westward, Highway 128 climbs the Mayacamas Mountains before descending into Sonoma’s winegrowing regions, such as the Alexander Valley. (Craig Lee Photo)
The remains of Soda Rock’s historic building still stand, a reminder of the destruction wrought by the 2019 Kincade Fire. Today, tasting visitors are welcomed in the Barn on the same property.
Traveling on through the valley, I can sense the Russian River in the distance — and soon, Geyserville, where Diavalo Pizzeria and Salumeria serves up some of the best Italian food to be found anywhere. The menu covers all the usual suspects, from wood-fired pizzas to housemade pastas, as well as my favorite, Italian-style tripe. With its excellent wine list and full bar and an outdoor patio, Diavalo will make you feel like you’re lunching in Naples.
In Geyserville, the Diavalo Pizzeria and Salumeria serves up wood-fired pizzas, housemade pasta and other Italian fare. (Craig Lee Photo)
Toward the Mendocino coast
From here, the road joins Highway 101 briefly, before it diverges in Cloverdale to head for Mendocino, climbing 1,000 feet to crest the Yorkville Highlands before dropping into Anderson Valley and Boonville. Before you even reach the town proper, you’ll be tempted by the Pennyroyal Farm for wine and goat cheese tasting on one side of the road and on the other, Foursight Winery, where visitors can wander between the rows of lavender plants with a glass of wine.
At the heart of the small town is Johnny Schmitt’s Boonville Hotel and Restaurant, an ideal spot to spend the night. Family matriarch Sally Schmitt was the creative force behind the famous French Laundry restaurant, which she sold to an earnest young chef, Thomas Keller, in 1994. Her grandson, Perry Hoffman, is the talent behind the Boonville Hotel’s restaurant. He earned his first Michelin star at age 25, then helmed the rise of Healdsburg’s acclaimed, but now shuttered Shed.
Sundays are paella night at the Boonville Hotel and Restaurant in Mendocino County. (Courtesy Jim Schrupp)
The hotel’s understated California-style guest rooms offer comfort and ease. And the restaurant’s courtyard will remind you of what you might find in Italy or Southern France – discreet and stylish in its simplicity with a large open woodfire where the kitchen staff cooks a four-course paella dinner on Sundays through November.
Whether you spend the night there or at one of the other nearby options, such as The Madrones or Anderson Valley Inn in Philo, the road trip continues at a leisurely pace following a wine trail that includes Scharffenberger Cellars, Navarro Vineyards and Lula Cellars.
Stop first, though at Gowan’s Cider Orchard, established in 1876, just up the road in Philo. You’ll find more than a hundred acres of heritage apple trees here, including some dating back to the last century, and an open-air stand where you can taste cider while relaxing at the
tables and benches set among the trees or wander at will.
Roederer Estate is just down the road, with a bucolic view of vineyards, fields and forest from its tasting room, which offers a Nosh menu of tasty bites ranging from goat cheese and honey croutons to Tsar Nicoulai Caviar to nibble along with a flight of sparking wine.
Related Articles
California’s fall color: Where to go leaf-peeping in the Golden State
Looking for the best trails to hike in California? Hit these scenic spots, experts say
Gas prices plummet in California over past three months
He saw his daughter fall from Half Dome. He says safety changes could prevent more tragedies
To the sea
Back on the road, the valley narrows, and the highway, heavily wooded now with redwood trees, follows the Navarro River. There are plenty of pull-outs if you want to have a wander into the woods and do some forest bathing, breathing deeply of the moist, earthy air. The woods soon open up to a vista of the Pacific Ocean and its crashing waves, where Highway 128 meets Highway 1 near Albion.
It may be the end of Highway 128, but my road trip continues a few more miles north on
Highway 1 to reach my final destination – an inn on a bluff overlooking the ocean. You’ll have several choices, too, including the SCP Mendocino Coast Lodge, formerly the Albion Inn, a collection of cottages perched on the edge of the cliffs. Most have fireplaces, some have decks or patios — and the inn’s restaurant offers ocean views and local seafood.
Further north stands the grande dame of the coast, the Little River Inn, gleaming white above a grassy lawn. The family-run inn opened in 1939, and the innkeeper today, Cally Dym, represents the family’s fifth generation. Rooms look toward the ocean, there’s a full restaurant and the cozy Whale Watch Bar is decorated with vintage photographs illustrating the history of the inn and the area.
It’s the perfect spot to enjoy a glass of local wine at the end of the road.
If You Go
Yolo County wineries: Find maps and details on Yolo wineries, including Berryessa Gap Vineyards, at www.yolocountywines.com.
Turtle Rock Bar and Cafe: Open daily at 2000 Capell Valley Road, Napa; 707-966-2246.
Napa County wineries: Find maps and details on Napa area wineries, including Somerston, Nichelini, Beringer and more, at www.visitnapavalley.com/wineries/
Gott’s Roadside: Open daily at 933 Main St., St. Helena; www.gotts.com.
Sonoma wineries: Find details on Sonoma wineries, including Alexander Valley Vineyards and Soda Rock, at https://sonomawine.com/.
Diavola Pizzeria: Open daily at 21021 Geyserville Ave., Geyserville; www.diavolapizzeria.com.
Pennyroyal Farm: Open daily at 14930 Highway 128, Boonville; www.pennyroyalfarm.com.
Anderson Valley wineries: Find maps, addresses and details for wineries along Highway 128, including Foursight, Lula, Roederer and more, at https://avwines.com/.
Boonville Hotel: 14050 Highway 128, Boonville; www.boonvillehotel.com
Gowan’s Cider: 6320 Highway 128, Philo; www.gowansheirloomcider.com
SCP Mendocino Coast Lodge: 3790 Highway 1, Albion; https://scphotel.com
Little River Inn: 7901 Highway 1, Little Rive; rwww.littleriverinn.com
For more travel coverage in the Bay Area and beyond, follow us on Flipboard.
