How we select

LocaleTerroir is an independent editorial guide to Sonoma County. No business pays to be in it, and no business can buy its place, its words or its position on a page.

Restaurants are chosen with the neighbors

The restaurants in LocaleTerroir were chosen in conversation with the people who live and work in Sonoma County: over dinners in neighbors' homes, at the Tuesday farmers market, and now and then at the Thursday tastings at Sonoma's Best. With every conversation, restaurants were added, taken out or confirmed, until the list was final. When a restaurant opens or closes, a few of the neighbors who shaped the list are asked again, and they decide whether it belongs.

Everything else is selected by LocaleTerroir

Wineries, hotels and rentals, transportation, adventures, events and wine walks are selected by LocaleTerroir on editorial merit, researched place by place.

A place appears where you visit it

A winery is listed in the AVA where its tasting room stands. Where its grapes are grown is part of its story, and its card says so.

How we keep every page true

We check each fact against the business's own website first, then established press. When sources disagree, the fact leaves the page and we write about something we can confirm. When a person moves on, the page names the person in that role now. An amenity a place no longer offers comes off its page.

Each business can send its own photographs

Every featured business receives a copy of its published pages. It can send its own photographs, including portraits of the people who run it. Until it does, its pages show images LocaleTerroir creates with AI, labeled as such.

Why a place you love may not be here

LocaleTerroir is curated, not comprehensive. A place that closes leaves the guide. To tell us about a place, write to contact@localeterroir.com.