Review: Montage Healdsburg

To my left, two wild turkeys were running down a grassy hill. To my right, bumble bees were circling a wooden apiary. The night before, I saw a mama deer cross the street, followed swiftly by her two children. 

I later found out from hotel staff that the deer love the merlot grapes at Montage Healdsburg, the wine country escape I was staying at with my own two kiddos (and husband). 

I for one couldn’t blame them. The only way to taste the hotel’s small-batch wine is at the hotel itself. The property’s 15.5 acres of vineyards and resulting Surveyor brand is headed up by winemaker Jesse Katz from Aperture Cellars, an excellent Sonoma label that is offered as a complimentary amenity in every guestroom.

Indeed, the Montage’s sense of place is what sets the hotel — which opened in 2021 — apart from most of the other high-end accommodations in the area. While only 10 minutes from downtown Healdsburg, the property’s 258 well-preserved acres envelop guests in the spoils of wine country, which is apparent from the beginning of a visit here. 

After turning off the main drag, a long entrance via Montage Drive awes with endless oak trees and rolling vineyards that set the scene for what’s to come.

During my family’s stay, we received a warm welcome at the lobby by staff and resident Canine Ambassador, Beau, before we were whisked away through vineyards by golf cart, the main means of getting from Point A to Point B. The thrill of the ride set off a cascade of glee: giggles from my 3-year-old daughter sitting on my lap; a gummy, squinty-eyed grin from my 8-month-old son; and some blissed-out chuckles from my husband sipping, and spilling, his glass of red wine.

130 Bungalow-Style Guestrooms

The design here is environmentally sensitive, with building exteriors made up of dark wood and walls of glass. The low-lying lobby-restaurant complex, the two pools and poolside eatery, the spa and the accommodations all blend into the landscape. And the resort’s 130 bungalows are dotted around the oak trees, which resulted in my daughter excitedly deeming them “treehouses.”

A lot of hotels claim to bring the outdoors in, but Montage Healdsburg takes it literally — one-third of our 1,228-square foot suite was outside. We had an outdoor shower at one end of the suite, while the other end featured floor-to-ceiling glass doors that opened to a terrace, complete with a dining table and a full lounge area with a firepit. 

The finishes throughout the room were natural pieces full of character, from the custom wood headboard for our super-comfortable bed to the chunky sandstone backdrop for the freestanding tub big enough to fit our family of four.

An oak wood sliding door divided our suite into two large private spaces that easily acted as separate bedrooms, which is rarely the case. (Our bungalow housed a one-bedroom suite, as well as two single rooms, which would have allowed for a very comfortable multigenerational group trip.)

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Our family was also happy to see that the L-shaped sofa in the living room turned into one of the most comfortable sofa beds we have found on our travels, while also retaining a whole double-sided arm for comfy couch snuggles on one side and seating for our in-room breakfast feasts of brioche French toast, cheesy French omelets and ricotta-avocado toast on the other.  

The suite included one-and-a-half bathrooms, with the oversized main bathroom offering separate spaces for a double sink, a toilet, a bath, a shower and an outdoor shower (which was separated from the bathroom by a floor-to-ceiling glass door), allowing lots of natural light to stream in while maintaining privacy. 

The room was outfitted in earthy wine-country colors — tans, browns and burgundy — with pops of leather, a calming backdrop that even my toddler’s Daniel Tiger figurines strewn about the floor could not disturb. 

Our room attendant, Angel, noticed the toys and my daughter’s crayons and printed out Daniel Tiger coloring sheets for her. This gesture made such an impression that my kiddo — younger than the merlot vines at the hotel — recalled it over breakfast a month later.

The Restaurants  

While it’s easy to spend all day relaxing in the rooms, other itinerary highlights include long lunches and dinners, plenty of pool time and treatments at the 11,500-square-foot Spa Montage.

For meals, there is Hazel Hill restaurant and, next door, Scout Field Bar, both within a few feet from the lobby. There is some overlap in the menus here, and a similar indoor/outdoor vibe, with both venues serving delicious “terroir-to-table” fare, wonderful cocktails and wine (including a tasting flight of the released Surveyor bottles: rose, cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc, with paired bites at Scout Field Bar) and beautiful vineyard views. 

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The signature restaurant, Hazel Hill, offers an extensive France-meets-California menu ideal for a leisurely, coursed-out meal. We savored the summer season’s starters, with my favorite being the heirloom tomatoes, stone fruit, stracciatella and torn sourdough, while my husband loved the summer beans and wax pepper prepared with dill vinaigrette and lemon cucumber. 

And my husband and I inhaled our entrees —a wagyu strip loin with hen of the woods mushrooms and sauteed spinach he wouldn’t stop raving about, and a Moroccan-inspired dish of the underutilized amaranth grain, served with tomato, eggplant and generous orbs of harissa that tied everything together.

During our next night at Scout Field Bar, we enjoyed the various outdoor seating types for a more casual meal that allowed me and my husband to take turns walking the kids around the grounds when we weren’t all feasting on a cheese board, crudites and our entrees, including a sunny corn cavatelli dish that was as beautiful as it was tasty.

The Spa and the Pools

While my kids napped, I treated myself to the enhanced version of a siesta: a Sonoma Blend Massage at Spa Montage Healdsburg, executed precisely to my liking and providing me a heaping dose of rejuvenation that one needs as a parent traveling with two of her own wild turkeys. 

The scented steam room was also the ideal antidote to the dry heat during our visit. Those visiting during more mild temperatures will love the included property activities, such as archery, yoga and electric bikes.

To beat the heat, we looked no further than the family pool. I arrived after my husband and kids and found my baby wearing just a diaper and a blissed-out smirk, while my daughter had made herself at home on a new friend’s lounge chair, even taking her quesadilla and guacamole from Hudson Springs Bar and Grill along to share. (I had to lure her back to me with homemade watermelon and peach popsicles — she promptly took her treat and headed back to her friend.)

Indeed, my kids are at the age where a pool, good food, comfortable sleeping arrangements and wild animals do a lot of heavy lifting, but I also appreciated the resort’s partnership with Uppababy, which allowed for us to borrow a pack-and-play and jogger stroller for our stay, as well as the Montage Merits badge program, which gifts kids collectable badges for accomplishing fun tasks around town and the property.

There’s no doubt that Montage Healdsburg had the necessary ingredients for a wonderful family trip, and that it could also easily please couples and a group of friends or family. Everyone can appreciate the mix of activities, the wellness offerings, the great eats and the exclusive wine offerings that are available without ever leaving the property. 

As for me, I hope I can return to try the hotel’s first batch of merlot — if the resident deer family ever learns to share.