Wineries in Downtown Sonoma with Great Pinot Noir

Sonoma has dozens of countryside wineries accessible by car, many of which are worth the trip. You’ll find Roche Winery’s own production facility and main vineyard in the beautiful Carneros AVA, just a few minutes outside downtown Sonoma.

But if you don’t have a car, you’d prefer not to drive, or you would simply love to soak up the vibe in downtown Sonoma, there’s plenty to occupy you here. And if you’re craving exceptional Pinot Noir, well, you’re absolutely in the right place.

Downtown Sonoma brims with winery tasting rooms (and wine bars) pouring some of the best Pinot Noirs grown in Sonoma County. You could spend an entire afternoon tasting only Pinot here and still barely scratch the surface.

Here’s where to begin: the top wineries in downtown Sonoma for Pinot Noir aficionados. If you’re familiar with our wine offerings, you won’t be surprised to find Roche Winery atop the list, but we encourage you to try a few of our other favorites while you’re in town as well.

Roche Winery (Downtown Sonoma Tasting Room)

Located just off Sonoma Plaza in a cozy 1940s Craftsman house with enough all-weather outdoor seating for 60 guests, Roche Winery’s downtown Sonoma tasting room is a must-visit for Pinot Noir fans. While you’re here, ask about our:

  • 2019 Pinot Noir Carneros, with a nose of black cherry, rhubarb, currant, and sage and flavors of blackberry, brittle, and cooked strawberry

  • 2017 Longford Reserve Pinot Noir, with a nose of black cherry, dried fig, and herbs and flavors of plum, coastal salinity, and cherry pie 

  • 2017 Tipperary Reserve Pinot Noir, with a nose of raspberry, black cherry, and dried strawberry and flavors of dried cherry, plum, and cranberry

  • 2018 Cuvee Genevieve Pinot Noir — though as a tiny lot of just six barrels, don’t be surprised if it’s unavailable when you visit!

If you’d like to branch out beyond Pinot Noir, the expert staff at our downtown Sonoma tasting room can help. Our standard tasting experience features four library wines of your choice; our reserve experience includes four reserve wines (including our reserve Chardonnay, which we humbly submit is among Sonoma’s finest Chardonnays); and we offer custom, group, and private tasting experiences to suit virtually any need.

Where: 122 W Spain St, Sonoma

Hours: Daily, 11am to 6pm

WALT Wines

WALT Wines is known locally (and beyond) for making some of the boldest, most intricate Pinot Noirs in Sonoma. Sourced from choice vineyards along the Pacific Coast, WALT’s Pinots are impossible to characterize — each is its own experience, and you can never be sure what you’ll get when you visit its downtown Sonoma tasting room.

Complicating matters further is the fact that many of WALT’s Pinots are available in very limited quantities. (This is a recurring issue among Sonoma’s top Pinot Noir wineries, unfortunately.) We apologize in advance if our recommendations aren’t available when you visit, but we do suggest you try:

  • The 2020 WALT La Brisa Pinot Noir

  • The 2018 WALT Gap's Crown Pinot Noir

  • The 2018 WALT Clos Pepe Pinot Noir

  • The 2019 WALT The Corners Pinot Noir

  • The 2019 WALT Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir

Where: 380 1st St W, Sonoma

Hours: Daily, 11am to 5pm

Lake Sonoma Winery

Lake Sonoma Winery has just a single Pinot Noir offering in its library as of this writing: the 2021 Lake Sonoma Winery Pinot Noir, sourced from choice vineyards in the Sonoma Coast AVA. With notes of black cherry, blueberry, and warm earth and flavors of fresh cranberry, rhubarb, rosemary, red brick, and oregano, it’s a complex yet delicate experience that will leave you wanting more.

And there is more where it came from. Lake Sonoma Winery is also renowned for its Chardonnays, Zinfandels, and Cabernet Sauvignon — a veritable tour of Sonoma County without leaving the comfort of its intimate tasting room.

Where: 134 Church St, Sonoma

Hours: Thursday through Sunday, 11am to 6pm

Highway 12 Winery

Highway 12 Winery offers a bold, unpretentious tasting experience backed by some darn good wines. Pinot Noir isn’t exactly the star of the show here, but it does make a few appearances in the Highway 12 library. Ask for these by name:

  • The 2020 Highway 12 Pinot Noir, a simply named, easy-drinking offering with notes of strawberry, shiitake, and tanned leather

  • The 2019 Carneros Highway Pinot Noir, a fan favorite of ours as Carneros aficionados and a legitimately good exemplar of our home AVA

  • The 2021 Highway 12 Pinot Noir, a stunning blush with notes of nectar, stone fruit, watermelon, and strawberry that’s perfect for warm afternoons

Where: 27 E Napa St Suite S, Sonoma

Hours: Daily, 10am to 5pm

Sojourn Cellars

Sojourn Cellars’ wine library abounds with excellent Pinot Noir offerings, mainly sourced from the Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley AVAs. There are quite literally too many to drink in one sitting — but as sticklers for comprehensiveness, we’ll list (nearly) all of them here anyway so you can plan accordingly:

  • 2021 Gap’s Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), rated 97 points by International Wine Report

  • 2021 Walala Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), rated 95 points by International Wine Report

  • 2021 Sangiacomo Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), Sojourn’s flagship wine for nearly 20 years and a truly reliable standby

  • 2021 Rodgers Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), rated 95 points by International Wine Report

  • 2021 Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), rated 94 points by International Wine Report

  • 2021 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which Sojourn calls “one of the best values in the Sojourn portfolio”

  • 2021 Reuling Vineyard Pinot Noir, which has “a unique terroir that continues to fascinate us as winemakers” — make of that what you will

  • 2021 Riddle Valley Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast), one of several wines made from “extreme” grapes in particularly windy, cool parts of the Sonoma Coast AVA

  • 2021 Wohler Vineyard Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley), a “blockbuster wine” that’s unusually rich and expressive for a Pinot Noir

Where: 141 E Napa St, Sonoma

Hours: Daily, 10am to 4:30pm

Why Is Pinot Noir So Good in Sonoma Anyway?

In terms of acres planted, Pinot Noir is Sonoma’s second most popular wine grape, behind only Chardonnay. But why?

Simply put, Pinot Noir is a popular choice for Sonoma vineyards and wineries because it’s a crowd favorite. Local and visiting wine enthusiasts love Sonoma-grown Pinot Noir because Sonoma-grown Pinot Noir is really good.

Sonoma’s best Pinot Noirs (arguably) come from one of three AVAs: Carneros, Sonoma Coast, and Russian River Valley. While each is unique in its own way, all have one very important thing in common: a relatively cool and moist microclimate. Pinot Noir grapes thrive in this environment, and while of course that’s not enough to guarantee a great vintage, it establishes a solid foundation on which the master winemakers at Roche and other wineries sourcing Pinot from these AVAs can build.

Roche’s “Tipperary Vineyard” and main production facility lie squarely in the Carneros AVA, so that’s the Sonoma wine region we know best. (In fact, we’re one of its founding wineries.) Located on the flats and hillsides of the lower Sonoma Valley just north of San Pablo Bay, the northernmost projection of San Francisco Bay, Carneros receives regular maritime flows that keep mornings crisp (sometimes downright chilly) and help moderate afternoon temperatures. But compared with coastal AVAs, Carneros’ (sort of) inland location discourages lingering fog, bathing the region’s Pinot vineyards in enough afternoon light to allow the ripening process to work its magic.

The result is evident in Roche Winery’s library and reserve Pinot Noir wines, and in other Carneros wineries’ Pinot offerings as well. At once delicate, complex, and rich, our Pinot proffers dark fruit aromas and finish with notes of warm spice — but really, they must be tasted to be believed.

Cindy L