Glen Ellen

Jack London called this wooded crook of the valley home, and his Beauty Ranch still draws you up under the coast live oaks along Sonoma Creek. Glen Ellen is the quiet middle — less polished than its neighbors, beloved by those who want wine country to feel like a place, not a destination. Taste at Benziger or Loxton, sleep on a veranda that's welcomed guests since 1892, and let the writer's restless valley become your own to roam.