My wife and I , and another couple will be spending several days in Healdsburg in late October and are looking for both winery and restaurant recommendations. This is not our first trip to CA winery country (having stayed several times in Sonoma and Napa), but this is our first time staying in Healdsburg. I have read the Sonoma thread and have already reached out to a few Berserkers already. We like most varietals, especially Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Sauvignon Blanc, but are open to anything new. We generally like small boutique wineries where we get to spend time with the winemaker, and out in the vineyards if possible.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Some recent visits…
Porter Creek – Pinot (3 or 4), Chard (2), Syrah, Carignane, Zinfandel, Viogner (1 of each) – really old vines on the carignane, great people
Limerick Lane – Zin and Syrah
Harvest Moon – some great zin and a lot of other odd lots mixed in, including a sparkling gewurz
Not sure about walking through the vineyards in all of them, but pretty small operations and very knowledgeable/hands on.
Not out in the vineyards and not Chard, Pinot, or SB, but my top recommendation in the area is the Idlewild tasting room just off the plaza in Healdsburg. Outstanding wines from Italian grape varieties and a memorable and educational tasting experience.
Others in the area that I’d recommend include Papapietro Perry, Unti, and Quivira (all a few miles from Healdsburg in Dry Creek Valley) and Holdredge in the southeast part of town. Again, probably not so much vineyard walking at those places but very good wines. Should be able to taste with John Holdredge if he’s around, might be tougher to meet the winemakers at the other places but worth a try.
Needless to say, late October may be problematic in terms of timing for many winemakers as it may still be the tail end of crush for them.
Jeff,
I second the Idlewild recommendation. Outstanding.
If you want a Michelin Three Star experience, spending a lot of time and a lot of money, I’d definitely recommend Single Thread Farms Restaurant, right across the street from Idlewild. Don’t do them sequentially; trust me on that one. After a tasting at Idlewild followed by dinner at Single Thread, someone might have stepped on my fingers as I tried to walk home. If you go to Singlethread, get the reserve wine pairing. Really expensive, but hey, you only live once. I mentioned it here.
Have fun!
Warren
Unti is a great stop. And Ridge has a tasting room just a stone’s throw from Healdsburg. A little corporate but it’s Ridge so the wines are great.
Valette and Chalkboard for dinner. When we were there in April Fred Dame was dining with a big group at Valette. Chef Dustin is very talented.
I love the breakfast pizza at Downtown Bakery & Creamery.
MacRostie would be worth considering for a tasting.
Dry Creek General Store for a quick lunch while out tasting.
Unti, Acorn, and/or Dutcher Crossing (great Chard IMO)
On the Healdsburg square I’d recommend Barndiva for a nice dinner and the Hartford Court tasting room for some great Chards and Pinot and Zin.
A little bit of a drive at 45min (although we stayed in Healdsburg as well so entirely doable), my wife and I really enjoyed our time and the wines (Pinot & Chard) at Donum Estate. Maybe 90min tasting/tour, requires an appointment and you will have a walk & drive through the vineyards to see the owners incredible contemporary art/sculpture collection mixed throughout the vines. Quite something to behold.
Also not far from Healdsburg, I enjoyed Lynmar Estate for PN & Chard, nice grounds too. Copain also not too far.
For food, I’ll second Valette and Single Thread in a heartbeat. Campo Fina is a fun casual lunch on the back patio or drinks prior to dinner elsewhere. Flying Goat for coffee 
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Highly recommend Guiso Latin Fusion, quaint little place with very good food
These are great and helpful topics. These questions come up often enough that it might be worth a pinned Napa thread like Brian’s Sonoma thread. Maybe even a subforum for area-specific travels for winos!
If you like a small production Pinot, make sure to check out cartograph. The owners are so lovely and the tasting room is very inviting. I think Reeve does a great job with their tastings and makes a fantastic Riesling (apt necessary) another good Pinot and Chardonnay spot would be Gary farrel, also need an apt. Unti is also a favorite. You can try emailing anthill farms also, they will make time for an apt also, wonderful Pinot.
Food: Valette is a must! Brass rabbit is also excellent, order every pasta dish. For brunch barndiva is a must. Flying goat for coffee every morning.
Another vote for Ridge. For Sonoma more generally, we enjoyed Occidental and Littorai - both have tours around the facilities and/or vineyards.
+1 for Cartograph. Serena, Alan and team are wonderful.
Another suggestion if you want to get outside pinot, etc. and enjoy Italian varietals, definitely check out DaVero Farms and Winery just outside of downtown.
We try to go to Healdsburg every year - primarily for Dry Creek Valley Zins and RRV Pinot and Chardonnay. I would add Benovia, Arista and Williams Selyem to the suggestions above. Cheers!
For the Dry Creek Valley, I’d recommend Zichichi for their zins (their Old Vine Zin comes from vines over 50+ yrs old) and Dutchers Crossing for their fantastic Chardonnay’s.
I have dined at Single Thread twice and am in complete agreement with the points made. While I found the atmosphere a bit too serious, the food was terrific, the wine list a treasure trove and the staff on top of the service side.
I didn’t see Barn Diva mentioned in the above posts. I’ve dined there at least half a dozen times and place it in the top tier in Healdsburg, below Single Thread but a great place to have lunch or dinner. Have your meal at an outside table in the garden if available, an even more delightful experience.
Ate at Valette two nights in a row on a visit a few weeks ago, you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.
Our SingleThread experience on the other hand wasn’t as amazing as some others have described here… a couple of the dishes were so-so and went back to the kitchen unfinished, and while service, atmosphere, etc. where all great, I probably wouldn’t go back. My experience might have been influenced by a bunch of Michelin dining a few weeks earlier in new york including atera, marea, batard and cash mono which I used as a comparison point.
RE: Tasting rooms, I second Limerick Lane & Lynmar recommendation. Flowers winery is 7 minutes outside town and well worthwhile as well (we were there on the 4th or 5th day it was open). In town, LaFolette just opened a tasting room and had some great Pinot’s, and drop by Rockpile if you want some big high-scoring zin’s.
Pop into Roadhouse to taste and listen to vintage stereo gear. last time we were there, we listened to a nice vintage Pacific Stereo complete Concept system. Hell, take a record to play!
Van is the man in the tasting room and he is pretty great.