Taste Alexander Valley

The Alexander Valley Winegrowers tore up the old ticketed-weekend model for 2026: all April, the valley's wineries simply open their doors for complimentary, no-appointment tastings (plus 10% off if you take a bottle home) — a 'Back to Our Roots' reset that drops the biggest barrier to wandering one of Sonoma's warmest, most Cabernet-friendly valleys. Show up at Alexander Valley Vineyards, J. Rickards or ACTA and taste for free; serious students can book the Wine 101 session or the all-women winemaker class at Silver Oak. The month's marquee sit-down is a four-family wine-paired dinner at The Matheson on April 18.

This is the antidote to the tightly scheduled tasting crush. Stretching wall-to-wall down the Russian River between Cloverdale and Healdsburg, Alexander Valley is broad, sun-warmed and famously easy on Cabernet — and the month-long format hands the pacing back to you. String together a lazy afternoon of family-owned estates and old-vine Zinfandel plots, or plant yourself at one table and talk the whole time. No wristbands, no timed entries, no sense that you're being processed — just open cellar doors and the run of a valley that rewards wandering.