Sonoma Los Carneros

John Sweazey founded Anaba in 2006 at the western edge of Carneros, where anabatic winds sweep upward across the vineyards and give the winery its name. It was Northern California's first wind-powered winery; today Katy Wilson, VinePair's 2025 Winemaker of the Year, crafts Rhône and Burgundian wines from estate vineyards.

Anne Moller-Racke founded The Donum Estate in 2001 and ran it nearly two decades before stepping away in 2019 for Blue Farm, her Pinot Noir and Chardonnay project, anchored by the Anne Katherina Vineyard behind her Victorian farmhouse in Carneros. She makes the wines herself from five vineyards across five AVAs.

On a 2021 bike ride near home, Elizabeth and Tucker Stein spotted a 'For Sale' sign on a farm flanked by Los Carneros vineyards. They named it Cassidy Ranch, pairing organic Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Merlot with a working farm: u-pick flowers, pumpkins, a farm shop, and pickleball.

Fred Cline founded it in Contra Costa in 1982 with old-vine Mourvèdre, Zinfandel, and Carignane, then moved to a 350-acre Carneros horse farm in 1989 for Rhône varieties. Now farmed Green String regenerative with sheep and goats. The tasting room sits in an 1850s farmhouse on a former Miwok site.

California's founding house of traditional method sparkling, founded in 1986 by Barcelona's Ferrer family, the name behind Freixenet. They chose Carneros because the fog-swept hills reminded them of Penedès. Four decades later, winemaker Kyle Altomare and the long Spanish-influenced terrace still set the appellation benchmark.

Fred and Nancy Cline opened Jacuzzi in 2007 across the road from Cline Cellars, a tribute to Fred's grandfather Valeriano Jacuzzi, of the Jacuzzi Brothers pump-making family, who taught Fred to farm. The 18,000-square-foot villa is modeled on the family's ancestral home in Casarsa della Delizia, with Italian varietals throughout.

The Larson family has worked this land since 1899: first a dairy farm, then home of the Sonoma Rodeo, and since 1977 a vineyard. Five generations later, Tom Larson runs the winery with Shane Anderson as winemaker. The motto: 'We drink what we can, and sell the rest.'

The first winery travelers reach north from San Francisco, perched above 28 organic acres at southern Sonoma Valley, with Carneros rolling toward San Pablo Bay. Founded in 2011 by Jeff O'Neill, it draws on Durell, Gap's Crown, Hyde, Hudson, and Sangiacomo for restrained Chardonnay and Pinot, made by Joe Nielsen.

Vittorio Sangiacomo signed the deed to a 55-acre Sonoma ranch in 1927. For decades they grew for others, supplying 70-plus wineries who vineyard-designate the Sangiacomo name. In 2016 the third generation launched a label with winemaker James MacPhail. Their El Novillero vineyard in Carneros is among the most studied.

Walter Schug arrived in 1961 carrying the Pinot Noir tradition of the 12th-century Hollenberg vineyard in Assmannshausen, Germany, which his father managed. After building Joseph Phelps' Napa program and creating Insignia, America's first proprietary Bordeaux blend, he founded his own label in 1980 to focus on Pinot Noir. His children carry it forward.

A 200-acre Carneros estate doubling as one of the world's largest accessible private sculpture collections: 60-plus monumental works by Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois, Keith Haring, and Doug Aitken set throughout Regenerative Organic Certified vineyards. Owners Allan and Mei Warburg; winemaker Dan Fishman makes single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from five estate vineyards.

Sam Sebastiani founded Viansa in 1990 with his wife Vicki: a Tuscan-style villa devoted to Italian heritage varieties at Sonoma Valley's southern entrance. The 130-acre estate holds a 97-acre wetland preserve and an Italian marketplace. Since late 2024 it has belonged to Adair Family Wines, with Chris Sebastiani still involved.