We first discovered the town of Windsor when we sought out a restaurant that used to be there, called Mirepoix. It was quite good in its day, but as with many businesses, their dreams of expansion led to its closing. As far as we could tell, there was no particular reason to return to this little village without that restaurant being there.
That doesn’t apply to the wineries in the geographic area designated as Windsor. As with the rest of Sonoma County, the towns incorporate huge swaths of land surrounding a market town, such as Sebastopol, Santa Rosa or Healdsburg. The town leaders have painted the houses in pastel colors giving the downtown area an Americana charm or a Universal Studios glitz, depending on your tastes. As mentioned, there are no renowned restaurants, no hotels except some motels along the Route 101 highway. Windsor seems to be a place that you pass through on your way to somewhere else.
Photo courtesy of Sonoma County Tourism
Except if you happen to be there on a Sunday morning or a Thursday evening in growing season. Then on the Town Green in the middle of Windsor you’ll find an extensive farmers market. We had stopped one Sunday for some breakfast before wine tasting and wound up spending several enjoyable hours there instead. When you’re in California Wine Country, you always need to be aware that there are many farmers who grow crops other than grapes. And the same natural forces that foster fabulous grapes do the same for melons, squash, peppers, peaches, apples, strawberries…
This is the Windsor Certified Farmers Market. We have no idea who has certified it nor for what. It is as close to a French marché as anything we’ve seen in the United States. And much as at those marchés, there are numerous artisans with stands at the Windsor market. You’ll find cheeses, home-made pickles, beeswax candles, macramé, hanging glass amulets…all the hippy-dippy stuff you’d expect at a California market.
A Summer Night on the Green in Windsor. (Note the painted buildings in the background.) Photo courtesy of windsorfarmersmarket.com.
There’s usually a musical stage at the Sunday markets and from the end of May through Labor Day there are Summer Nights on the Green concerts during the Thursday markets. The latter are mostly rock, country and Latin which may or may not appeal to you.
We can almost hear you thinking. “I’ve got a great farmers market at home. I don’t need to go to Wine Country for this.” Now, there’s something to be said for the superiority of California fruit but we’re sure that your local farmers raise delicious produce as well. That’s not the reason to go to the Windsor Certified Farmers Market. This is your chance to rub shoulders with the local populace, many of whom are the same people who raise and harvest the grapes and make the wine that you did come to Wine Country for. In keeping with the same spirit that failed to support a fancy French restaurant, this market is intended to attract the neighbors, not the tourists.
An important reason to travel for wine tasting is that you learn about more than what comes in the bottle. You learn about the whole culture that produced that wine, very much including the people and their customs. That’s true in France, Spain, Italy and the US as well. So take a little time when you’re in Sonoma County and come to Windsor to meet the folks.