Kenwood
Kenwood is the upper-valley village between Glen Ellen and Santa Rosa where the Mayacamas mountains close in on Highway 12 and the wineries get older — Kunde, Kenwood, Chateau St. Jean, St. Francis. The town itself is a single block of post office, café, and a couple of tasting rooms, surrounded by ranch land and vineyards. What Kenwood offers that the larger towns don't is silence. The cell signal drops in places. Deer cross the road at dusk. The valley narrows.
The Kenwood Inn & Spa is the principal hospitality address — an Italianate villa compound of stone, courtyards, and a renowned spa, set back from the highway behind olive trees. A handful of smaller inns and vacation rentals fill out the village. Guests here are usually on day three or four of a longer Sonoma trip, looking to slow the tempo down before heading home. The wineries are minutes away. The dinner reservations are in Glen Ellen or Santa Rosa. Kenwood is for the in-between.
