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5 Hidden Gem Wineries to Visit in Sonoma County

If you’ve ever planned a trip to California wine country, you quickly realize there are hundreds of wineries across Sonoma and Napa. Among those hundreds of wineries are handfuls of popular, well-known wineries that everyone likes to visit. They typically offer 360-degree vineyard views at a beautifully designed estate house with many guests tasting simultaneously. There’s nothing wrong with those wineries (they’re iconic names in our community and make great wine!), but between them and the total number of wineries, the hidden gems fall through the cracks.

What are hidden gem wineries and why visit them?

When we say hidden gem, we mean wineries that fly under the radar because they’re smaller, off the beaten path, or in unexpected locations. Take us at Donelan Wines for example. We have an estate vineyard (Obsidian) and we source our fruit from several vineyards across Sonoma County, but our winery is located in a Santa Rosa business park. We love our winery. It’s the perfect size and spot for us, but we’d be lying if we said we get tons of tasting room guests.

 

It’s industrial, small, easy to miss, and for many tourists, not the grand picturesque California wine-tasting scene they’re looking for — but our wine is second to none, our hospitality is top tier, and because we’re a working winery you’re likely to meet Winemaker David Milner or Cellar Master Maya. The small size of our winery and team is actually what allows us to give guests special, undivided attention.

 

In summary, by visiting hidden gem wineries you’re gaining a really special experience: a private and personalized tasting of fantastic small-batch wines, the chance to meet the Winemaker or even see wine being made, and oftentimes, you’re supporting a small family business over a larger corporate operation. If you like the sound of this type of tasting experience, then you’re in the right place. Here’s our list of 5 hidden gem wineries to visit in Sonoma County.

Bedrock Wine Co. – Sonoma

First on our list is Bedrock Wine Co. In 2007, founder and winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson was making wine using a rigged chicken coop in a friend’s backyard. Eventually, alongside his best friend Chris Cottrell, Morgan’s operation became the winery it is today.

    

Bedrock has a passion for old California vineyards, planted a century ago by the original winemaking pioneers. Bedrock preserves and rehabilitates these old vine sites and makes wine from them, often interesting and unique varietals that we don’t see very often in today’s times. We have immense respect for Bedrock’s love of the convergence between terroir, farming, and history. The Bedrock team is small with an array of vineyards in their portfolio. One of them, which they call Bedrock Vineyard, was founded in the 1800s by General William Tecumseh Sherman and General Joseph Hooker. In a full circle moment in 2017, Bedrock partnered with Sonoma’s historical society to begin hosting tastings in the General Joseph Hooker House in downtown Sonoma Square. You’ll get to experience diverse wines made from historic California vines in a place also rich with history.

 

Scherrer Winery – Sebastopol

Scherrer is the epitome of a hidden gem winery. Owner/Winemaker Fred Scherrer’s story began in the 1970s when, in his own words, “due to a normal teenage interest in alcoholic beverages, my family allowed me to make some wine from the family vineyard and beer at home (under adult supervision, of course).”

     

Fred went on to work for a couple of wineries before starting the Scherrer label in 1991. Fred is mostly a one-man show in the vineyard and winery, while his wife runs the administrative side of the business. Scherrer Winery is a small farm in Sebastopol producing a stellar range of Cabernet, Chardonnay, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Pinot.

They don’t have a tasting room or a staff, so reservations have to be made in advance with Fred, and the winery is literally off the beaten path — there is a downloadable map on their website to help you find it. If you want a one-on-one, down-to-earth winery experience, email or call the Scherrers to set up a tasting.

 

Meadowcroft Wines – Sonoma

Meadowcroft Wines is a fun and fresh winery offering a wide range of varietals like Cabernet, Pinot Noir, red blends, Albarino, Sauvignon Blanc, sparkling wines, and more. Their goal is to make Sonoma wines with a European touch and they offer tastings all week.

    

Meadowcroft’s tasting room is located in Cornerstone Sonoma, a must-visit if you’re driving through Sonoma. It’s a roadside marketplace and venue with Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Folktable, Meadowcroft Wines tasting room, boutique shopping, live music, local events, and beautiful gardens. We highly recommend stopping in for a bite of food, a flight at Meadowcroft, and the relaxing wine country atmosphere.

 

Tongue Dancer Wines – Healdsburg

While Tongue Dancer Wines is not a widely known winery, owner and winemaker James MacPhail is a well-known figure in Sonoma. He started MacPhail Family Wines in the early 2000s, scoring extremely high with his Pinots. He sold the label, worked with other wineries, recently bought the family label back, and has smaller wine projects, one of them being Tongue Dancer Wines in Healdsburg.

Tongue Dancer produces Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and a Rosé, all small production bottlings from Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast vineyards. The wines are made with a focus on mouthfeel, a quality of wine described with words like texture, supple, bold, round, firm, or a long finish. Tongue Dancer has limited tasting availability (all of these small, hidden gem wineries do) by reservation only. You’ll get to taste right in their working winery in a “private, sit-down, educational, and intimate” experience. Visiting Tongue Dancer is a super cool chance to experience the passion project of an influential Sonoma winemaker.

 

Adobe Road Winery – Petaluma

Adobe Road Winery was started by Kevin Buckler in 2002 at the peak of his very successful career in race car driving. As a competitive guy used to striving for perfection, it’s no surprise that Buckler sources top-tier and iconic California vineyards, like Beckstoffer for their Cabernet. With Winemaker Garrett Martin at the helm, Adobe Road produces artisanal wines from both Napa and Sonoma, ranging from Pinot, Chardonnay, and Syrah to Petit Verdot, Zinfandel, Malbec, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and plenty of blends.

Adobe Road Winery is located in the heart of Sonoma County, in downtown Petaluma’s historic River Mill. They offer a diverse wine-tasting experience in a cozy urban setting with live music on most days. Petaluma is a great town to spend a few hours shopping, stop into a beer garden, get lunch, and head over to Adobe Road for a flight of their award-winning wines.

 

Visit Sonoma’s Hidden Gem Wineries

We hope on your next visit to Sonoma, you book a tasting with some of the lesser-known hidden gem wineries. Whether you’re looking for a boutique tasting room around shops and cafes or a small working winery that’s still a best-kept secret, they will be special experiences you’ll always remember and probably revisit. Take the road less traveled in Sonoma and you might discover your new favorite winery!

 

Visit Santa Rosa

Don’t forget to add our Signature Tasting Experience to your trip itinerary! We’re consistently ranked one of the best Santa Rosa wineries and we would love to host you. Our Sales & Hospitality Manager Chris will take you on a tour of the winery and guide you through a flight of our award-winning Sonoma Syrahs, Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, and maybe a few special pours of our highly allocated bottles. Come see us and find out why our guests say Donelan was their favorite stop on their trip through Sonoma.

Unlike every other place, where you get tiny pours from already opened bottles (of unknown age), Chris was very generous with fresh bottles. He even had some well-aged wines he shared with us. His expertise on winemaking and the whole process (grape sorting was literally going on in the room behind us!!) was really informative and helpful. All in all, this was the finest and most relaxing tasting experience of my life.”