The Kenwood Press, a small newspaper that punches above its weight on good, in-depth reporting within Sonoma Valley, has done some great work about the coming of Soho House in Kenwood.

As it writes, “For more than 20 years, the property at Campagna Lane and Highway 12 has been one of Kenwood’s longest-running ‘coming soon’ stories. It has had several names, several owners, multiple public hearings and enough planning documents to fill a wine cellar. Now the project is finally taking shape as Soho Ranch House Sonoma, a private club and country retreat targeted to open in 2027.”

Soho House is a global members’ club founded in 1995 by Nick Jones. It all started with three floors across three interconnecting houses at 40 Greek Street in Soho, London above his restaurant, Café Boheme. At the time Jones told Eater the club was meant to stand apart from the stuffy clubs that were a hallmark of the London social scene and cater to creative types, especially young people working in film and media.

The club says it chooses its members for the “greater community,” stating on its website that “Unlike other members’ clubs, which often focus on wealth and status, we aim to assemble communities of members that have something in common: namely a creative soul.” Local membership fees depend on location and those under 27 get 50% off until they turn 30. Non-members can book rooms and visit Soho restaurants.

Some 20 years later it has 48 locations in 19 countries. In addition to food and lodging, membership includes hundreds of weekly events (2,400 a month across properties), as well as cinemas, gyms, spas and club spaces.

In 2012, investor Ron Burkle bought a majority stake and helped finance international expansion. Burkle is listed still as the owner of Kenwood Ranch LLC, a company affiliated with his investment firm, Yucaipa Companies, remaining the landowner in Sonoma Valley where Soho House will be.

The houses are “designed to be comfortable and characterful, offering a unique yet familiar experience every time,” Soho says about its locations, with “spaces for drinking, dining, relaxing, working and exercising.” The properties also feature more than 8,000 curated works of art.

That initial 1995 house was joined by Soho New York in 2003, Soho House Berlin in 2010 (the first on the European continent), and Soho House West Hollywood and Miami in 2010. There have since been others added in Toronto, Chicago, Istanbul, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Rome, Paris, Mexico City and more. The last to open on the West Coast was in Portland in 2024.

In 2015 it first took its concept to the countryside, opening Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds of England. Coming soon is a 250-acre Soho Farmhouse in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Currently under construction, The Ranch House Sonoma will be its Northern California debut. Or, as the San Francisco Chronicle backhand-complimented, “Soho House… is not opening in the luxurious Napa Valley, or even Healdsburg… instead, (it) is coming to a sleepy, rural stretch of Sonoma Valley.”

Not sure why rural needs to mean sleepy. The location is stunning, just below Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and Bald Mountain and near such excellent local restaurants as Stella, Golden Bear Station, and Glen Ellen Star. It’ll be practically walking distance to wineries like Landmark, St. Francis, En Garde, VJB, and Kenwood Vineyards, recently bought back by Korbel’s Heck family.

Soho House has called the move a first, stating on its website that the property will be “perched at the top of a valley in Sonoma with uninterrupted views of our own vineyards,” and the first to have a ranch house concept.

Back to the Kenwood Press, which details how Sonoma County approved the original development in Kenwood all those years ago for a 50-room inn, spa and restaurant, 10 residential lots, and separate winery permitted to produce up to 10,000 cases annually, a project known as Kenwood Ranch.

That stalled as appeals ran their course, fires hit the area, and so on. Soho House says it will feature 50 cottages and villas, a house kitchen and bar, health and wellness club, and infinity pool with views of the valley.

“The hospitality buildings are clustered within previously approved development areas rather than across the broader ranch,” writes Kenwood Press. “That compact approach could help the project preserve much of the open character that makes the location appealing in the first place.”

The winery part of the property, the paper continues, remains a separate phase with county approvals for a 10,000-case winery, like the original plan, with tasting rooms, a marketplace, production and storage areas, parking, and limited number of annual events, occupying five acres out of the total 17 originally marked for a winery parcel in 2004.

“What remains unconfirmed is whether Soho House will operate the winery, tasting rooms or marketplace,” the Kenwood Press said. “No public announcement reviewed for this article establishes Soho House as the winery operator.”

It’s also worth mentioning that the property does not appear to have vineyards of any kind, so the eventual winery will eventually need grapes.

Changes may come, but it is a remarkable statement that Soho House chose Sonoma County for one of its concepts, let alone a new one. Let’s hope it contributes vitality and community to Sonoma Valley’s already beautiful environs.

Photo By: Soho House