(Express) - GET a taste of the good life on a gourmet tour of Sonoma Valley wine country. Perching on a wooden fence post with a steaming mug of tea in my hands, I watched the sunrise above the California vineyards.

My early start may have been jet-lag induced, but the rows of autumnal gold and orange leaves glowing through the mist was more than enough to make up for it.

Sonoma Valley may be the lesser known of California’s two major wine regions, with Napa taking much of the attention, but this beautiful county is far more accessible from nearby San Francisco.

It hadn’t taken me long to find a photo-worthy view, just a short hop from my room at the Farmhouse Inn, a collection of buttery yellow barns nestling in a forest.