Boonville (California)

Boonville is a town in Mendocino County, California, in the Anderson Valley. Boonville has a population of about a thousand people (2020). The small village of Philo, six miles to the west, is a secondary center of activity when visiting the valley. Navarro, further to the west, just outside the valley, is also a possible destination for those interested in the Anderson Valley (this Wikivoyage page covers the entire valley, not just Boonville).

Understand
Boonville is home to winery tasting rooms, shops, and galleries. With its location at one end of the Anderson Valley, it's also the main place to stay if exploring that part of California wine country. It's also on the main east-west route to the town of Mendocino, on the Pacific Coast.

The wine industry is the dominant contributor to the Anderson Valley economy; the valley has its own AVA. Its producers specialize in Alsatian varietals (primarily Riesling and Gewürztraminer), pinot noir, and sparkling wine. (Information about 40 or so wineries is available at avwines.com.)

Boonville is perhaps best known as the source of the Boontling folk language.

Get in
Boonville is on California Highway 128. By car, it's about a two-hour drive north from the Golden Gate Bridge. Most of the trip is on Route 101, a limited access highway, but the last section, on Route 128, does feature some twists and turns.

By bus, the Mendocino Transit Authority provides transportation between Santa Rosa, California, in Sonoma County, and Boonville, via Route 65 to Ukiah, and from there to Boonville via Route 75.

Get around
A car or other personal vehicle is pretty much required to get the most out of the Anderson Valley.

Do

 * The Anderson Valley Brewing Company (see listing below) offers tours and has an 18-hole disc golf course.





Buy




Eat
Because of the small population in the area and the limited number of places for visitors to stay, restaurants are open on limited days and hours. But the food is generally good and the prices are reasonable.

Deli, take-out, and groceries










Regular restaurants








Upscale
These two restaurants offer the valley’s most most upscale dining.





Wine

 * Baxter Winery Tasting Room: Winemaker Phillip Baxter produces first rate single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, and his wife, Claire Baxter, oversees their small tasting room.


 * Breggo Cellars Winery & Tasting Room: sit down, relax and enjoy some wine, take in the views. Time slows down here. Bring your pups and your picnic!


 * Foursight Wines: produced using traditional techniques like wild yeast fermentation and unfiltered bottling


 * Handley Cellars: the $15 per person tasting fee is relatively new. It’s also waived with a three-bottle purchase.) Well known for Pinot Noirs, Handley also produces appealing sparkling wines.


 * Husch Vineyards: tastings are free. Offers wide range of well-priced wines at the rustic tasting room, including a terrific Chenin Blanc,


 * Navarro Vineyards Tasting Room: the tastings are still free here, on the patio or in the garden. Known for Gewürztraminer, the winery produces a range of other wines, too, including Pinot Noir


 * The Wickson has tasting rooms for Drew Family Cellars and Long Meadow Ranch winery, plus a stylish cannabis dispensary, the Bohemian Chemist. Drew Tasting Room: an exceptional Pinot Noir as well as Syrah, Chardonnay, Viognier and Albariño

Hotels
There are fewer than 100 hotel beds in the entire valley.


 * Boonville Hotel


 * Philo Apple Farm, still a working farm, kitchen and collection of tastefully rustic guest cottages in Philo.


 * Indian Creek Inn: Three renovated lodges decorated with artwork by co-owner Elizabeth Ashiku-Orr sit high on a hill overlooking the Goldeneye Confluence Vineyard


 * The Madrones and the Brambles: At this upscale enclave, guest rooms and cottages run $275-350. the valley’s luxury option. Owner Jim Roberts built the Italian-inspired group of buildings as a residence and design business, and in 2011 he turned it into a small inn and restaurant (The Wickson)

Other
RV camping at the Fairgrounds.