Discover the best Russian River Valley wineries for you!

• Russian River Valley winery map

• Russian River Valley Winery Profiles List

Introduction

The Russian River Valley is a large area of low hills and agriculture influenced by cool coastal breezes and fog. It is perfect for Pinot. Exploring this region involves driving quiet country roads and exploring small towns. If you want to walk instead of drive you have that option in Healdsburg. Healdsburg has a beautiful town plaza in the center with quality shopping and restaurants in the town core. There are also a LOT of tasting rooms, over 20, to keep you busy for days, or even years.

Traveler services are centered in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg with some services in Windsor. Healdsburg is a wonderful small town to hang out in but is more expensive than Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa has a wide range of hotels and restaurants and the downtown has been nicely redeveloped. You can't go wrong staying anywhere in the region.

- Jim Preston

Must See Russian River Valley Wineries - an introduction to the region.

• Russian Hill
  • View!
  • Picnic site - large deck with tables and that view.
• Hook & Ladder
  • Experience - small family-owned working winery with tasting in the barrel room. Laid-back and informal.
• Lynmar
  • Architecture and interior - beautiful post-modern architecture with a light-filled interior. Comfortable seating.
  • Landscaping - outstanding with gardens.
  • Picnic site - picnic in great landscaping.
• Arista
  • Landscaping - you will want this landscaping at home.
  • Picnic sites - wonderful picnic sites among the oaks, boulders, ponds and a little creek. We rate this a Gold Star picnic site!
• C Donatiello
  • Landscaping - WOW! Not just great gardens and water features but the landscaping is designed to smell.
  • Picnic sites - Several great sites near water features and in this terrific landscaping. A Gold Star picnic site!

Off-The-Beaten-Track Russian River Valley Wineries

• Paradise Ridge - What a view of the valley!
• Hartford Family - Beautiful mountain setting, gardens, architecture, and tiny picnic site.
• Marimar - Quiet little valley setting with nice architecture and landscaping.
• Joseph Swan - Quaint little rustic winery that is often overlooked but an old time wine tasting treat.

Romantic Russian River Valley Wineries

A special ambiance for long quiet conversations and enjoying love. Usually we have a secluded outdoor scene in mind. Not easy to select these. There are more but these are probably the best of the best.

• Arista - one of the best romantic landscapes in California wine regions. This tasting room has it all with water features, seclusion, deck seating, views, and outstanding gardens.
• C Donatiello - another of the best romantic landscapes in California wine regions. An aroma garden with water features and a grove by a pond. A nice variety of different environments to enjoy partner + wine.
• Lynmar - tables available in very nice landscaping. Seating in the post-modern design tasting room.
• Hartford - nicely landscaped courtyard out in the hills.
• Russian Hill - nothing secluded but one of the best views in the region from the deck.
• Woodenhead - a good view from the deck. The tasting room feels remote but seating is not secluded.
• Twomey - modern architecture with seating inside and out. Very good view.
• Marimar - wonderful view of the little valley from the patio in front of the tasting room. The tasting room is secluded in the hills although the seating on the patio isn't. Nicely landscaped and a beautiful scene.

Discover Russian River Wineries Video

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Notes

Your tastes change frequently. Do wine ratings, gold medals, etc. really matter?

We have hundreds of winery interview videos in winery profiles. We shoot these at winery events because that is the cheapest way to gather content. It would be nice to go to each tasting room but this gets very expensive quickly. See our Compare Winery Features search engine for which wineries have videos in your target region.

We are adding our Discover California Wine Regions videos to the Recommended Wineries by Region pages.

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