Just opened or recently spiffed up, these tasting rooms are worth toasting. Check our handy guide for where to visit and what to drink.
MacRostie Estate House, Healdsburg
It’s been two decades since Steve MacRostie founded his 20-acre winery and vineyards in the Russian River Valley, specializing in Pinot Noir, like the yummy 2011 Twin Hill Ranch line. Now, we can taste that wine on-site, with the opening of a tasting room called the Estate House. The experience is luxury, set in a contemporary hilltop mansion decorated in grained woods, leathers, glass walls, and a Pottery Barn chic décor accented with the hallmark MacRostie’s Scottish thistle motif.
4605 Westside Road
Dutton-Goldfield Winery, Sebastopol
The newly remodeled tasting room beckons with an intriguing new way to savor those sips. Beast & Pinot is a seated adventure romping through four limited-production, single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines, partnered with local artisan charcuterie made from four different animals: duck, rabbit, pig, and cow. Make your reservations at least 24 hours in advance, since this special stuff, like the coveted 2012 Devil’s Gulch Vineyard Pinot Noir, and pig and rabbit from the renowned Devil’s Gulch Ranch in Marin County.
3100 Gravenstein Hwy N.
Davis Estates, Calistoga
The wine labels have interesting names – Windmill Valley Vineyards (named for a real windmill which pumps water to the grapes in the hot months), and Hungry Blonde (guesses welcome). The tasting room is equally stylish, set in an historic barn, artfully renovated by celebrity architect Howard Backen and surrounded by fire pit patios, restored antique tractors and a set of caves. For as expensive looking as the place is, it’s family owned, producing artisan signatures like the Hungry Blonde Viognier and Windmill Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.
4060 Silverado Trail
Mayacamas Vineyards, Napa
It must have taken some pretty hard digging to carve the original, now historic stone winery into the side of a dormant volcano crater on Mount Veeder way back in 1889. After 125 years, the estate need some updating, certainly, so it has just been renovated and recently reopened with a whole new variety of experiences like a sport utility vehicle romp across the winery’s 465 acres. Finish up in the tasting room with sips of standouts like the 2009 Mayacamas Merlot.
155 Lokoya Road
Silver Trident Winery, Yountville
Do you enjoy shopping for luxury goods while sipping your 2014 Apollo’s Folly Rosé of Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast? The Tuscan-style stone building just opened downtown, set like a luxury home with an elegantly appointed living room, dining room and library. As you relax on the Ralph Lauren Home couches, and set your wine glass on the Ralph Lauren Home tables, plan your list – the space doubles as a store, so you can buy the furniture and lighting, too.
6495 Washington Street
Jigar Wines, Forestville/Healdsburg
Guests have long enjoyed the rustic, wood trimmed tasting room in Forestville, and now, there’s a more upscale option, in a private tasting in the Jigar cellar at the winery facility on Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg. In an up-close-and-personal bonus, the by-appointment affairs are often led by the owners, Jigar and Stephanie Patel, amid the barrels, for an intimate exploration of wines like the 2013 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel.
6615 Front Street, Forestville / 4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg
Dry Creek Vineyard , Healdsburg
This longtime favorite destination offers even more incentive to visit now, with its new bocce court and vineyard walk trail. It’s pretty posh, too, with the private Bocce in the Vineyard experience available by reservation for two hours for up to 12 adults. The cost is dear at $150, but this is pampered play, including linen-draped umbrella-capped tables, a bottle of chilled Chenin Blanc or Fumé Blanc and a personal concierge to prepare extras like a cheese plate to go with that stellar 2010 Sonoma County Meritage.
3770 Lambert Bridge Road
