Sonoma Wineries with Restaurants

When exploring different wine regions abroad, it’s not uncommon to visit a winery that also has a restaurant where you can eat lunch or dinner after your tasting. This is less common in the United States, but wineries like King Estate in Oregon and Wente in Livermore Valley, California, are well-known for their restaurant counterparts. Sadly, Napa Valley has no winery restaurants (since the closure of étoile at Domaine Chandon in 2014), but there are a few Sonoma wineries with restaurants, plus a handful that offer a comparable food and wine experience (seated with multiple courses from a full-time chef). Here’s where you can wine and dine restaurant-style in Sonoma County.

If you’re looking for something a little lighter or more casual, check out our guide to the best Sonoma wineries with a wine and food pairing.

Sonoma Wineries with Restaurants (Updated June 26, 2020)

Francis Ford Coppola Winery

One could spend a whole day in Alexander Valley at Francis Ford Coppola Winery, for it has so much more than a tasting room. There’s also a pool with cabanas that books up during the summer months, a movie gallery, bocce courts and one of the only official winery restaurants in California wine country: Rustic. The restaurant serves up some of Francis Ford Coppola’s favorite recipes, drawing inspiration from Italy—neapolitan pizzas are their specialty —and all over the globe. Try the New Orleans-style muffuletta sandwich or if you’re really hungry, the Moroccan Marrakesh lamb dish. Wine may have brought you here, but at Rustic, the cocktails reign supreme. The Navy Grog, for instance, is one of Coppola’s favorite tropical drinks, featuring lime juice, grapefruit, honey and three types of rum. Diners can eat inside the dining room or on a nice day, the outdoor terrace that overlooks the gorgeous Alexander Valley. On Tuesdays, Rustic offers A Tavola, a casual, off-menu dining experience where the chef brings out a variety of dishes to your table to share. Currently, the restaurant is only able to accommodate up to four people per dining reservation. Please call directly to book your table.

Jordan Winery

Old World winemaking emphasizes the importance of pairing wine with food and Jordan has carried on that tradition in Healdsburg since its founding in 1976. The winery completed a major and modern remodel of their 18th century French-inspired formal dining room in 2019, but unfortunately, all prix fixe dinners in the Jordan dining room have been canceled due to COVID-19 safety precautions. The upside is that the Jordan chef has transformed the winery’s oak-shaded terrace into a French-inspired bistro with restaurant service. In addition to a multi-course Paris on the Terrace lunch, offered twice a day five days a week, Jordan Winery also offers a restaurant-style seated picnic lunch after a four-mile Vineyard Hike adventure, available four days a week. Learn more on their website.

J Vineyards

The elegant J Bubble Room at sparkling house J Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg can easily be mistaken for a restaurant. It not only has the look, complete with a hostess stand, bar, individual tables and a serving staff, but it acts like one too. With five seatings a day, the Bubble Room hosts a five-course tasting menu with wine pairings, expertly prepared by Executive Chef Carl Shelton. Sourcing from local farmers, the menu changes seasonally (roughly every six weeks), but may feature dishes like scallops with cauliflower romanesco or Liberty duck. Although temporarily unavailable due to COVID-19 health and safety reasons, the J Bubble Room is said to reopen soon. Visit their tasting room for reservation-only and seated tastings with artisan cheese pairings. Learn more on their website.

St. Francis Winery

St. Francis’ Food & Wine Pairing is legendary throughout Sonoma County and has amazingly been named the top restaurant in all of America by OpenTable.com multiple times—quite an honor for a place that isn’t even an official restaurant. Executive Chef Trevor Eliason (formerly of Napa Valley icons French Laundry, Bouchon and Press Restaurant) prepares five seasonal dishes to pair with five wines that cover multiple grape varietals, like a Dungeness crab lumpia with chardonnay or crispy pork shank with old vine zinfandel. He also oversees the winery’s two-acre vegetable and herb garden, where many of the ingredients are pulled from. The experience takes place in a formal dining room off the back terrace, overlooking a lawn and vineyard. Available Thursday-Monday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. $85/$68 wine club members. Reservations and face coverings required on property. 

Kendall-Jackson

Known for their four acres of sensory gardens—there are seven parcels total and several of them grow a wide range of produce tended to by master culinary gardener Tucker Taylor—it’s no surprise that Kendall-Jackson has a robust Wine & Food Pairing that can totally take the place of lunch. Diners are seated at a private table and just like a restaurant, a server brings out each of the four dishes course-by-course with a wine pairing to match. Executive Chef Justin Wangler changes the menu seasonally, but past dishes have included Liberty duck sausage with mushrooms and ham hock and pumpkin soup. The meal always ends with a French delicacy, canelés de Bordeaux, for dessert. If you prefer to dine al fresco, get tickets to Kendall-Jackson’s epic Farm-to-Table Dinner Series, hosted amongst the gardens on several dates each summer. Reservations required with a maximum of six guests. Reserve your table on OpenTable or call directly.

Russian River Vineyards

Russian River Vineyards, situated on a farm and winery that dates back to the 1890s, was once the first Sonoma winery with a restaurant, but  now offers a scaled down, food and wine pairing experience (a flight of four wines with four bites). Or, if you’re looking for a beautiful space to picnic, the winery is now offering bottle service on the Lower Crush Pad with a minimum order of one bottle of wine. All experiences are enjoyed outside in their magical wine garden, surrounded by redwoods and vineyard views. Reservations are strongly recommended and face masks must be worn when not seated. Wine and food orders will be taken via order form available at your table.