Montage Healdsburg ★★★★★

Bungalows Loose on 258 Acres of Sonoma Hillside

Drive north out of Healdsburg and the vineyards start to climb. Montage sits up in that fold of the county, on 258 acres of oak grove, hillside and working vine, and the first thing you notice is how little of it is building. The 130 rooms and suites are bungalow style, low and spread through the landscape rather than stacked into a block, linked by paths rather than corridors. EDG handled the interiors and took the modern treehouse idea at its word: live edge wood, panelled ceilings, walls of glass that put the oaks in the room. It reads as a piece of Sonoma that happens to have beds in it.

Why It Works

Two things settled it, and neither is the view. The first is the plan: roughly a third of every guestroom is given over to outdoor living, which turns a wine country stay into something you spend outside rather than admire through a window. The second is that the estate has the depth to hold you for three days without a car. Hazel Hill for dinner, Scout Field Bar and Hudson Springs Bar and Grill for the hours in between, a country store for whatever you forgot, pools, trails through the vines, and a spa raised twenty feet into the canopy.

Why This Location

Healdsburg is the rare wine town that works as a base. Three appellations meet here, Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and the Russian River Valley, so a tasting route can be built in any direction without an hour in the car first. The resort sits above the town on Montage Way, close enough that the plaza and its restaurants are a short drive, far enough that what you hear at night is not traffic. Guests who want structure get it through the property’s wine programme and its winemaker dinners with visiting vintners. Those who want none of it can walk the trails and leave the vineyards to look at themselves.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Pastoral, modern, unhurried

• Rooms: 130 bungalow style rooms and suites, about a third of each given to outdoor living

• Best For: Wine country weekends without a driving plan, couples, travellers who want a resort they never have to leave

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Spa Montage, lifted twenty feet above the terrain so treatments happen at canopy height

• Dining: Hazel Hill, California cooking with a light French touch under executive chef Sergio Howland; Scout Field Bar; Hudson Springs Bar and Grill; the Healdsburg Country Store

• Amenities: Pools, nature trails through the vineyard, outdoor yoga among the vines, animals accepted, fitness centre

• Attractions: Healdsburg plaza, Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley

The Bungalows, and the Third of Each One That Sits Outdoors

The accommodation is single storey and low slung, which on a hillside means most rooms look out over vine rather than over each other. Interiors run to leather, wood and copper, warm materials rather than the pale resort palette. The outdoor share of each room is the detail worth booking on: a terrace sized for real use rather than a token balcony, which in a county with this climate changes how the room is lived in. Suites step up in size rather than in decoration, and animals are accepted, which is uncommon at this level.

Hazel Hill, and the Rest of the Table

Hazel Hill is the anchor, a glass enclosed room raised above the ground where executive chef Sergio Howland gives California cooking a light French turn. Scout Field Bar is the outdoor counterpart and the better call at the end of a tasting afternoon; Hudson Springs Bar and Grill covers the pool. The Healdsburg Country Store handles picnics and the bottle you meant to buy in town. Wine is the through line, with Croix Estate among the labels poured on the property.

How a Day Fills Up Here

Yoga happens outdoors among the vines, which is a better start than a studio. The trails are the underused part of the estate and the quickest way to understand the shape of the land. Afternoons belong to the pools or to a tasting run into Dry Creek. The spa is why many guests stay put: elevated into the trees, with treatments drawn from the land around it. Check in is from four in the afternoon, check out at noon, and one more hour by the water is worth asking for.