Petaluma

Sonoma Portworks is the county's port specialist — founded in 1994 by Bill Reading as its only dedicated port house, and since 2025 run by Heringer Estates, who have added their Clarksburg table wines. Tucked into the riverside Foundry Wharf just southeast of downtown, the casual, industrial room pours small-batch California ports, sherry, and grappa. Their motto: drink dessert.

Brooks Note is the northern anchor of the walk, worth the longer stroll up the Boulevard. Founder Garry Brooks, who helped craft Kosta Browne's 2009 Wine of the Year before launching his own label in 2012, makes restrained, elegant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with his wife Joanne — the 'Note' — in a century-old former Studebaker dealership. Seated tastings come with local cheese; some Friday evenings bring live music.

Black Knight is the father-daughter project of Mitch and Lexie Black, pouring small-lot estate sparkling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir from their Bennett Valley vineyard on Taylor Mountain. The stylish little downtown room — with a parklet on the Boulevard — sits in the same 155 complex as Montagne Russe, so the two pair naturally on the walk. Drop-ins welcome, though seating is limited.

Montagne Russe — French for 'roller coaster' — moved from Healdsburg to downtown Petaluma in 2025, bringing owner-winemaker Kevin Bersofsky's small-lot, single-vineyard wines and a record lounge under one roof. Sip Petaluma Gap Chardonnay, Pinot, and Syrah at the quartz bar while flipping through 4,000-plus vinyl records for sale, with live acoustic music on Saturdays. Playful but serious; dogs welcome.

Adobe Road bills itself as the 'Starting Line to Wine Country,' and its tasting room in the Great Petaluma Mill backs it up — small-lot, award-winning wines from Sonoma, Napa, and the Petaluma Gap, poured seven days a week. Founded by Kevin and Debra Buckler, the label carries a motorsports streak (Kevin is a championship racer), from the Apex bottlings to the flagship Cabernets. Flights or by the glass.

Vine & Barrel is part bottle shop, part neighborhood wine bar: owner, sommelier, and wine writer Jason Jenkins stocks 400-plus labels from around the world and pours them by the glass at a small tapas bar in the back. Belly up to a barrel with cheese, charcuterie, and a draft beer. Reasonably priced and refreshingly unpretentious.

Barber Cellars was downtown Petaluma's first tasting room, opened by Mike and Lorraine Barber — winemakers since 2007 — on the Washington Street side of the historic Hotel Petaluma. In 2023 they folded in the Petaluma Cheese Shop, so the estate-grown, single-vineyard wines now come paired with cheese and charcuterie. Unpretentious and family-run, by design.

La Dolce Vita is the south anchor of the walk, tucked into Theater Square, where sisters Sahar and Sudi Gharai pour from a deep, globe-spanning list while classic black-and-white films flicker on the wall behind the bar. Settle into a sofa with a flight, a half-carafe, and a pear-and-bacon pizza. A longtime local favorite for an easy evening.