For most of this year, the sign on the 1906 tasting room barn along Highway 12 read: "Closed until further notice. Check back in April for updates." Anyone driving between Santa Rosa and Sonoma passed it without much thought, another shuttered storefront in a village people tend to drive through rather than stop in. Kenwood has always played that role in Sonoma Valley's story, the quiet stretch of highway between two more famous stops. This year, that changed twice, and neither time had anything to do with a new restaurant or a ribbon cutting for its own sake. It had to do with who owns the place, and who says so counts.
The Barn Went Dark, Then Somebody Local Turned the Lights Back On
Kenwood Vineyards was founded in 1970 on the site of the old Pagani Brothers winery, a bulk operation that dated back to 1906 and survived Prohibition. For decades it was a local outfit, first under the founding partners and then under Gary Heck, owner of F. Korbel & Bros., who bought full control in 1998. In 2014, Heck sold the winery, brand, inventory, facilities, and four vineyards to the French spirits conglomerate Pernod Ricard for a reported $100 million. That was Pernod Ricard's first still-wine property in California.
Twelve years later, the deal reversed. In April 2026, Pernod Ricard sold Kenwood Vineyards back to a Heck-led entity called Kenwood Winery Land LLC, this time covering the winery, brand, inventory, and 33 acres at the Kenwood estate, about half of it planted to vines. Local reports put the property's value near $4 million, though the total sale price was never disclosed. It is not the same transaction in scope as 2014, but it is the same building, the same barn, and the same family name back on the door.
Heck put it plainly when asked why he'd take this on now, in a market where plenty of wineries are pulling back: "if you believe in Sonoma, in vineyard-driven wines, in authenticity, how could you not do this right now?" The tasting room reopened to the public in mid-May. One detail locals will notice: Pernod Ricard had sold off several of Kenwood's original vineyards over the years, including the Jack London Vineyard, so Heck is now sourcing fruit from Korbel's own 1,000 acres instead. The Kenwood label survives. The dirt underneath it has changed hands more than once.
The Park Next Door Just Out-Voted the Famous One
While the winery was reopening, something else happened a few miles up Adobe Canyon Road that says just as much about how the village is regarded from outside it. In May 2026, the California State Parks Foundation ran its second annual statewide poll asking Californians to vote on their favorite parks across a dozen categories. Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Kenwood won Best California State Park for a Hidden Gem Experience.
That is notable on its own. What makes it worth a second look is who else was on the list. Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, the only other Sonoma County park to appear, earned honorable mentions in three categories: best for hiking, best for day trips, and best for learning about history. Jack London draws the bigger crowds and the bigger name recognition. This year, in this poll, it was the outright category win that went to Kenwood's own backyard park instead.
The Foundation's stated reasons for the choice were the park's "diverse trails, wildflowers, waterfalls, and sweeping ridgelines, along with unique offerings like an onsite observatory and community-led programs." Sugarloaf covers 3,900 acres in the Mayacamas Mountains northeast of the village, with 25 miles of trail winding through oak woodland and chaparral up to the 2,729-foot summit of Bald Mountain, where the view on a clear day stretches to the Bay and, occasionally, the Sierra Nevada. After a wet winter, Sonoma Creek Falls runs a 25-foot drop through moss-covered rock, a detail that shows up in nearly every review of the place written between January and June. The Robert Ferguson Observatory, one of the largest public-viewing facilities of its kind in the western United States, sits inside the park boundary and runs scheduled Star Parties through the year.
Where Kenwood Actually Eats and Drinks
None of this changes the fact that Kenwood remains a village of roughly 1,000 people with a food and drink scene built for people who live there, not for tour buses. Salt & Stone, established in 2017 and purchased by longtime manager Todd L. in March 2024, anchors the dinner and brunch rotation on Sonoma Highway. Palooza Brewery and Gastropub keeps a regular presence on locals' short lists, wood-fired pizza included. VJB Cellars, styled like a Tuscan villa, and Mayo Family Winery's Reserve Room, tucked into an unassuming building overlooking the vineyards and mountains, both function as much as neighborhood living rooms as tasting rooms. For anyone looking for something that has nothing to do with wine, Swede's Feeds remains the village's odd, well-loved fixture for folk art and garden goods, the kind of shop that resists easy categorization and has outlasted several restaurant openings and closings around it.
The Ecology Center Is Quietly Running the Park
Sugarloaf's day-to-day operation belongs to the nonprofit Sonoma Ecology Center, working alongside a volunteer group called Team Sugarloaf. That distinction matters if you've ever wondered why the park feels more cared-for than a typical state property with a skeleton crew. The Ecology Center runs Trail Crew Saturdays, recurring volunteer mornings where locals maintain the same paths that just won a statewide popularity contest. It also runs a monthly Slow Wildflower Journey, a Sunday afternoon series on the accessible Creekside Nature Trail and Meadow Trail built for people using walkers, wheelchairs, or strollers, alongside Forest Bathing Walks led by certified guides. None of this is advertised the way the observatory or the waterfall is. It is the unglamorous maintenance work behind a park that just got recognized for being worth the trip.
The Bell That Marks the Real Start of the Season
If there is a single date on the Kenwood calendar that tells you the year has turned, it is the Harvest Bell Ringing in August, when Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers formally marks the opening of the winegrape harvest. This year's ringing kicks off the group's 201st harvest, a number that puts the winery's twelve-year detour under Pernod Ricard in some perspective. Two hundred and one seasons is a long enough run that ownership changes, even multi-million-dollar ones, are footnotes against the calendar the vines themselves keep. August in Sonoma Valley also brings Sonoma Shakespeare's outdoor season, running classics like Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream, one more reason locals tend to treat this month as the valley's real beginning rather than its midpoint.
What Changed, Actually
Put those pieces next to each other and the shape of the year becomes clear. The winery that gave the village its name spent twelve years under a French spirits conglomerate and came home to a local family this spring. The park that most visitors treat as Jack London's quieter neighbor just out-polled Jack London itself in the category that was actually up for a vote. Neither story required a single new building or a marketing campaign. Both just required someone to notice that Kenwood had been running on its own terms the whole time, underneath the pass-through reputation.
If you already live here, none of this needs to change how you spend a Saturday. Salt & Stone will still be there, the trail crews will still show up on schedule, and the bell will ring in August whether or not anyone outside the valley is paying attention. That's rather the point.
If you're thinking about Kenwood from the outside, whether you're weighing a move into the valley or you're already a neighbor curious what a property here is actually worth in a season like this one, Lauren Berg and Berg Group know this village at ground level, not just from the listing sheet. Reach out when you're ready to talk specifics.
