Growing Popularity of Wine and Culinary Experiences in Sonoma County

If you’re just passing through Sonoma or only have an hour or two, by all means, pop in at one of the region’s many wineries that don’t require reservations for a quick al fresco glass or tasting flight. Brief though the experience may be, you’ll still remember it for a while to come.

But we understand if you want something more. A growing number of Sonoma visitors crave more involved experiences, like vineyard tours and wine-and-food pairings and immersive farm-to-table meals that — together with the wine — eat and drink like love letters to our beautiful home.

Wine and Culinary Experiences at Roche Winery — What to Expect

At Roche Winery, we go the extra mile to curate special experiences for our guests. Here’s what you can expect if you’d like something truly special when you visit.

Food Pairings Available With All Tasting Experiences

We invite our guests to elevate any wine-tasting experience with hand-selected food platters provided by our local catering partner, Aunt Momo’s. We currently offer three platters and fun seasonal options:

  • Cheese & Charcuterie: A rotating selection of artisan cured charcuterie meats paired with locally sourced gourmet cheeses from Sonoma and surrounding counties, plus rustic bakery crackers and delicious accoutrement like jam, mustard, and olives 

  • Dip & Spread Trio (vegetarian): Tapenade and hummus paired with Aunt Momo’s house-made French onion dip and a rotating assortment of vegetables and hummus 

  • Brie & Fruit (vegetarian): A lively assortment of fresh nuts, fruits,and crudites accompanied by fine French brie and a selection of rustic bakery crackers

  • Seasonal Selections Include:

    • Wine Country Skewers: Fresh vegetable and local cheese skewers drizzled with Roche Estate Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

    • Angler’s Selection: Wild smoked fish with a selection of pickled vegetables, citrus and garnishes.

    • Insalata Plate: Two thinly sliced cured meats plated with fresh arugula, capers, asiago, mustard and Roche Estate Olive Oil.

    • Fresh Spring Rolls: Refreshing, Soft spring rolls (vegetable) accompanied with layered dipping sauces. 

Our well-stocked deli case has a la carte items available for purchase as well. The menu is always changing, but you can expect delicacies and standards like:

  • Bottled still and sparkling water

  • Various artisan cured charcuterie selections from local purveyors

  • Hand-selected local cheeses

  • Fig jam

  • Tapenade

  • Olives

  • Crackers

  • Nonalcoholic refreshments like yerba mate and apple juice 

Vineyard and Winery Tours

For the full Roche Winery experience, reserve a vineyard and winery tour at our main Tipperary Vineyard and production facility in the Sonoma Valley.

On this intimate 90-minute walking tour, you’ll sip a curated selection of library and reserve wines as your expert guide leads you through our 20-acre Tipperary Vineyard. You’ll learn about Roche Winery’s four-decade history of winemaking excellence and the story behind our new production facility, dedicated in 2017.

Next, you’ll walk through the main production facility, learning a bit more about how we craft our wines. You’ll taste the latest vintage straight from the barrel, previewing wines that won’t be available to the general public for months. Your tour concludes with a hand-selected library and production wine tasting — a perfect ending to an unforgettable experience.

Creative Friends and Neighbors — Wine and Food Pairings at Other Sonoma Wineries & Restaurants

If you have time to visit just one winery in Sonoma, we hope it’s Roche Winery. We hope, though, you’ll make time for more than one winery — and for some of the other fine food and drink purveyors that make their home in the region. 

If you do make multiple stops on your next Sonoma excursion and you’re eager for truly memorable wine and culinary experiences, we recommend:

Gundlach Bundschu Winery

“Gun Bun” is one of Sonoma’s oldest wineries. It’s among the most laid-back too, with frequent live outdoor musical performances and a kid-friendly atmosphere. And it has an excellent program for visitors who want something more than a quick outdoor tasting flight before moving on.

Some highlights:

  • Rhinefarm Tasting With Food Pairings: Gundlach Bundschu offers its standard five-wine Rhinefarm flight or seven-wine Reserve flight with hand-selected food pairings that showcase Northern California’s culinary and agricultural diversity.

  • Vineyard and Cave Experience: This experience features a tasting session in Gun Bun’s extensive wine caves followed by a tour of the property’s organic vineyards. It’s similar to our Vineyard and Winery Tour experience, without the stop at the production floor.

  • Pinz Excursion: Load into a vintage Swiss army transport for an off-road voyage across Gundlach Bundschu’s vineyards. You’ll stop occasionally for tastings and stories from across the winery’s century-and-a-half history.

Cline Family Cellars

Our neighbor in Sonoma Valley, Cline Family Cellars is another laid-back Sonoma winery that offers much more than the standard tasting experience. Consider:

  • Pondside Sips & Bites: This is a bottle service experience pairing a wine of your choice with a locally sourced charcuterie board for two or an artisanal picnic basket for four. Enjoy it next to one of Cline’s spring-fed ponds.

  • Sip & Stroll: This is a 30-minute walking tour of the Cline Ranch with a knowledgeable guide eager to reveal the property’s history. Sip hand-selected wines as you walk and pair with a tasting afterward for the full experience.

Cindy L