Sonoma, CA - Charlie Palmer is working on collecting five hundred different Sonoma County wines for his new Dry Creek Kitchen. The sunny 70 seat dining room and 20 seat terrace overlook a classic town square and are part of his newly opened, 55 room Hotel Healdsburg.

The well known chef-restaurateur adds this tony country address to his collection of top rated spots that include Manhattan’s Aureole, Alva, Astra, The Lennox Room and Metrazur at Grand Central Terminal, as well as his western Aureole (with that famous 40 foot wine Tower) at Mandalay Bay and Charlie Palmer Steak at the Four Seasons, both in Las Vegas. The Lounge at Astra is scheduled to open this winter and an Astra West in California sometime in 2002.

This time the feel is classic Palmer: warm and classic yet completely contemporary. Designed and decorated by Frost Tsuji, whose work includes restaurant Aqua in San Francisco, The Lennox Room in New York and the J. Paul Getty Trust in L.A, the style of the property can almost be described as a sort of Tuscan-Japanese country inn.

“We wanted simplicity, rich materials and a generosity of space,” says designer Wendy Tsuji. “There are a lot of places to gather and meet.”

One such example is the wide and bright second floor hallway that opens onto an interior deck, open to the sky. “There will be meetings, casual lounging and afternoon wine tastings,” adds Palmer.

In fact, good local wine is a lot of what this luxury hotel is all about. With more than sixty wineries within a ten minute drive, Palmer looks to the spirit of the area to enrich and define every visit. Building the cellar has been a major focus. The walk-in wine room is built to hold 2700 bottles.

It hasn’t been as easy as it might seem. Although the desire is to showcase the local, many Sonoma County wines are known to be made for “drinking, not aging,” according to Restaurant manager and Wine Director Troy Kumalaa. “Older wines are hard to come by. But that’s beginning to change. We’ve done a lot of calling and visiting.”

Palmer concurs. Their select sampling of the hard-to-get Williams-Selyem wines comes directly from the private cellars of owners John and Kathe Dyson. Older vintages from Kistler that are rarely seen also come direct from the winery and the subscription-only wines of A. Rafanelli, particularly the highly rated Zinfandel, are poured only by the glass. On the list, bottles are priced from the low $20’s to about $300, with many hovering right around $40. “The wineries have offered us these wonderful bottles at accessible prices, so we pass that opportunity along to guests,” he states.

When asked about his choice of Healdsburg for this ambitious new venture, Palmer is quick to respond, “I’ve always been fascinated by Sonoma County. This is where you find some of the best of what’s raised and grown in America. It’s a real appellation. When you go to Tuscany, you don’t drink Italian wines or eat Italian food. You drink and eat from the immediate region, what’s local. In New York, we conceive a menu then try to find the resources. Here we see what’s in season, and decide what to cook. Along with that you have talented winemakers and a dedicated but very down-to-earth community.”

Along with the restaurant, the property includes a huge living room with a wine bar, a screened porch, a trellis covered arbor, an Event Green, carriage house and full service spa where Palmer will offer a specially conceived, health enhancing menu with wines, of course, to match.

Clark Wolf is a New York based food and restaurant consultant who spends as much time as possible at his cabin in the woods above the Russian River in Sonoma, California.