As more proof to those who don’t believe I have a great job… We arrived at the boutique MacArthur Place hotel in Sonoma, California, just in time to discover that the hotel was also hosting the annual Wine Country Martini Festival. A dozen or so of the top restaurant and hotel bars from the area were competing to see who had the best of the best. And of course, all of the attendees (which now included ourselves and our clients along for the fam trip) had to taste every one and cast their vote, not only for the best overall, but for several sub-categories like “best use of olive”.

The winner…well, I know that as a proto-journalist I should have gotten all of that information on the spot. For some reason I didn’t (or couldn’t). After the festival, our small group was treated to what must have been an excellent meal in a private room of the hotel’s restaurant. The details are a bit unclear. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

The two-story Victorian house dominating the current property was built in the 1850s on what was then the 300-acre Burris estate. Burris also founded Sonoma Valley Bank, conducting business out of the home’s corner library on the first floor.  Five generations of the Burris family occupied the property until 1971 when Howard and Jane Good purchased it enhanced the gardens and maintained the estate for 26 years when in 1997, Suzanne Brangham contracted with the Goods to create a luxurious country inn. The property has been reborn as a 64-room hotel with a state-of-the-art conference facility, restaurant, lush plantings, mature trees, rose gardens, a pool and spa sanctuary, a fish pond, water fountains and more than 30 original sculptures.

Ms. Brangham apparently has trouble doing nothing. Besides her success with MacArthur Place, she also has restored General M.G. Vallejo's daughter's home, a historic landmark in Sonoma, and turned it into The General's Daughter, one of the most popular and respected restaurants in the Valley, opened Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary School housed in a 12,000 square foot rammed earth building she designed, and wrote a book about her real estate career called “Housewise”, which earned her an appearance on Oprah. I’m glad there are people around like Suzanne who do things.

After departing the hotel on Saturday morning, the group caravanned over to the Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen where we were hospitably greeted by their special event staff and given a tour of what must be one of the most beautiful winery properties in the Sonoma Valley.

Groups that choose to have an event at Benziger have several great options for dining; from a great 27,000 square foot wine cave with 1,600 square feet of banquet space to a beautiful oak-tree shaded outdoor patio that seats up to 200. Arriving guests can also get a terrific tractor-pulled tram tour of the estate’s biodynamic vineyards before settling in for a tasting.

One other thing about the Benzigers… They are really nice people and have done more than just about anyone else to advance the cause of bio-dynamic farming in the vineyards of northern California. So for that reason alone you should consider their estate for an event. J

Our group then moved on to Hotel Healdsburg where we would enjoy a truly fantastic dinner provided by the chefs at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen. The food, the service, and of course the company we were keeping made it not just a meal, but a “dining experience”. (In other words, it was really good).

My favorite way to describe the 55-room Hotel Healdsburg is to call it “agro-urban chic”.  I mean, we were in the boutique and restaurant filled Sonoma Wine Country tourist town of Healdsburg (the locals joke that there are a dozen places to buy scented candles in town, but you have to leave town to buy underwear), and there are literally 65 wineries within a ten-minute drive of the hotel, but with it’s ultra-modern design, hand-woven Tibetan rugs, pecan hard-wood floors, and some of the most comfortable beds you’ll ever sleep in, the hotel would be a natural in SoHo . The rooms are big, the service attentive, there is 2500 square feet of meeting space, and a great little spa. And yes, it is part of my job to test out the spa. It passed the test.

The award-winning hotel is the brainchild of Merritt Sher. co-founder and principal of Terranomics International Investors a development and urban consulting firm (now called Metrovation). I’ve actually had the good fortune of meeting with Merritt and working with him on a consulting basis and I have to say he is a super nice guy as well as being really smart. And that is not just a plug so I can get future consulting work on his next project- but hey, Merritt, if you’re reading this…

(Ahem) Anyway, he has played a key role in the creation of some of America's most successful commercial real estate projects, including Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. and served as a real estate consultant for such retailers as The Gap, where he arranged the firm's acquisition of Banana Republic. So I guess you could say he is a mover and shaker (as in “one of those guys”, whose vision has left us a really cool hotel. Never one to stop, he is also developing a sister hotel in Healdsburg called h2, a 36-room boutique hotel one block from the original HH. Completion date is set for the summer of 2010 and I’ll probably have more on that as it progresses. Did anyone say FAM Trip?

MacArthur Place

·      64 spacious guest rooms and suites

·      Saddles Steak House

·      7412 square feet of meeting space

·      Beautiful outdoor gardens

·      A full service Spa with individually designed treatment rooms

Hotel Healdsburg

·      55 spacious guest rooms including six magnificent suites

·      The Dry Creek Kitchen, creation of acclaimed Chef Charlie Palmer

·      2500 square feet of meeting space accommodating groups up to 50

·      Beautiful outdoor gardens and lawns for dinners up to 150

·      The Spa, offering the finest in beauty and body treatments

·      All of the attractions of the Sonoma Wine Country