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Photo: Courtesy of The Donum Estate
Common sense says otherwise, but it’s tempting to believe that the more gorgeous the winery, the more incredible the juice produced there. Of course, grapes don’t know how grand or modest a vineyard they’re growing in, though surely the winemakers working magic across the fields, tanks, and cellars are inspired and informed by their surroundings, both natural and built.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R25ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R45ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeIn Northern California’s Elysian wine country, mainly comprising Napa and Sonoma counties, it’s easy to be wowed when pulling up to an estate surrounded by bountiful rows of vines, graceful trees filtering the sunlight, and tasting rooms that invite an immediate smile. But some properties go beyond “wow” to the magnificent or truly sublime—think architecture by the likes of Herzog & de Meuron and Studio Other Spaces. Here, nine of the most beautiful wineries in Napa and Sonoma that each, for their own special reason, may very well leave their visitors floored—and not only because of their intoxicating varietals.
The Donum Estate
Equal parts terroir-driven, single-vineyard-only wine producer, and monumental sculpture art collection, The Donum Estate is Sonoma’s most jaw-dropping and sensorial vino mecca.
There’s no sip-and-go option here; instead guided tastings are immersive tours through not only the oft-awarded Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs (bearing artwork by Ai Weiwei), paired with seasonal canapés, but also the vast regenerative estate with pieces and commissions from the likes of Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois, El Anatsui, Jaume Plensa, Keith Haring, and, added most recently, a tremendous bronze by Sanford Biggers. Visual stimulation is as much the MO as taste, with the hospitality center originally designed by Matt Hollis then chicly reimagined by David Thulstrup, and a prismatic microclimate-inspired conical tasting pavilion by Olafur Eliasson’s and Sebastian Behmann’s Studio Other Spaces.
24500 Ramal Road, Sonoma; open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; reservation required. thedonumestate.com
The Donum EstatePhoto: Courtesy of The Donum EstateAperture Cellars
Meaning is imbued in the very architecture of Aperture Cellars’ estate, which was imagined by Juancarlos Fernandez of Signum Architecture as a deconstruction of the aperture of a camera lens—a reference to its winemaker founder Jesse Katz’s father, photographer Andy Katz, who brought his son on work projects around the world. The striking vintage galvanized-metal-clad building with 180-degree panoramas of vineyard and mountain has a central oculus skylight, angular rooflines, and walls that splay outward echoing lens blades, with plenty of glass but also hefty mass grounding it. The gallery-like private tasting rooms, with impressive vistas, feature the elder Katz’s photography and are the place to taste the winemaking artist’s latest best of the best of 300-plus lots release, Collage.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2eekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4eekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe12291 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg; open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday; tasting reservations by appointment 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. aperture-cellars.com
Aperture CellarsPhoto: Joe Fletcher PhotographyAshes & Diamonds Winery
It’s impossible to miss Ashes & Diamonds, a Napa winery that’s as fun and funky as anything one could find in a destination that tends to take itself rather seriously. The place is an ode to the circa-1960s California dream, with plenty of references to midcentury modern design, paired with a Palm Springs vibe. Almost entirely white on the exterior, save for a few pops of saturated yellow and green, the winery’s zig-zag roof and porthole windows designed by Barbara Bestor help it stand out as a playful, airy place to sip organic Bordeaux varietals made with a light-touch Burgundian approach.
4130 Howard Lane, Napa; open 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily; reservation highly recommended. ashesdiamonds.com
Ashes & DiamondsPhoto: Mike BatteyChateau Montelena Winery
This storied Calistoga wine destination looks just like what one would expect when they hear the word winery. Its castle-like stone English Gothic structure dates to 1888 and is now covered in ivy for a fairytale take with significant European references. The building, on the National Register of Historic Places, once held one of Napa’s largest wineries, but it closed during Prohibition and, in the ’50s, came under ownership who built Chinese pagodas, gardens, and excavated Jade Lake. The ’70s brought new owners who hid Irish signage throughout and an illustrious bit of its history: Its 1973 Chardonnay won the famous Judgement of Paris, which was depicted in the film Bottle Shock.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2nekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4nekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe1429 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga; open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; reservations encouraged, walk-ins accepted. montelena.com
Chateau MontelenaPhoto: Brandon McGanty Inc.Flowers Vineyards & Winery
Stepping into House of Flowers, the charmingly named hospitality center and tasting destination for Flowers Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg, is like entering a dream home filled with light, texture, clean geometries, and wood both salvaged and bleached cypress. The adaptive reuse project designed by Walker Warner, with interiors by Maca Huneeus Design, brought a 13.5-acre 1970s winery into into a nature-embracing retreat for the sustainable wine label whose famous coastal Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs are unveiled as guests make their way through a series of spaces inside a graphite black inspired by the surrounding redwoods that frame the landscape. The terraced gardens, too, are aspirational, with their contemporary cabanas, native plants, and pizza oven.
4035 Westside Road, Healdsburg; open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Monday; reservation required, with limited walk-ins allowed. flowerswinery.com
Flowers Vineyards & WineryPhoto: Douglas FriedmanArtesa Vineyards & Winery
The design of Artesa borders on land art, its architecture so seamlessly integrated in the earth. It was conceived by Barcelona’s Domingo Triay and built in 1991 with the goal of preserving the dynamic landscape that had so inspired the Raventós Codorníu family who founded it. The visual effect of this minimalist winery burrowed so modishly into the hillside complete with a seamless “roof” of natural grasses is unforgettable, as is the dramatic procession of steps falling down the topography, crossing pools of water along the way. Sleek as it looks outside, the interior experience pays homage to some hallmarks of Spanish handicrafts, including handprinted tiles and filigree.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R30ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R50ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe1345 Henry Road, Napa; open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Sunday; reservations encouraged. artesawinery.com
Artesa Vineyards & WineryPhoto: Courtesy of ArtesaPromontory
Promontory fans like Hailey Bieber, the Kardashians, and LeBron James may not only visit this Napa winery because of its design—by wine country favorites Backen & Backen—since its Cabernet Sauvignon is incredibly highly rated, but it definitely doesn’t hurt. Appropriately for a vino-maker in Oakville, oak is a recurring theme. The wood is from Austria in the all-important barrel room, and a beautiful slab of a felled California oak makes an elegant first impression in the entry, drawing the eye outward toward the trellis and well-framed view, which looks like a painting. There are hardened steel beam nods to the industrial revolution in the gravity-flow winery, which also has a water feature that feeds a reservoir in the lower valley.
1601 Oakville Grade Road, Oakville; open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; appointment required.
PromontoryPhoto: Olaf BeckmannDominus Estate Napa Valley
When it was completed in 1997, Dominus’s closed-to-the-public winery became the first US project of the esteemed Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron. It was appropriately innovating: the first winery to be built with a gabion structure, using local basalt rocks to fill the galvanized cages as walls for a façade that also naturally insulates against extreme temperatures, which helps the wine age. With its low profile, the 333-foot-long, 30-foot-high monolith bleeds into its Napanook vineyard and Mayacamas mountains landscape, making it one of the most beautiful wineries in Napa. It provides a low-key yet wondrously elegant environment for winemaking by French founder and owner Christian Moueix.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R39ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R59ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe2570 Napanook Road, Yountville; not open to the public. dominusestate.com
Dominus Estate Napa ValleyPhoto: Steven RothfeldJordan Vineyard & Winery
A pioneer in wine tourism, this mid-’70s classical Bordeaux château–inspired winery in Healdsburg’s rolling green hills has consistently leveled up its own environs, which sprawl out over 1,200 acres that include lakes and olive groves. Certified sustainable, Jordan’s sunny yellow home base is in the midst of a seven-year enhancement that most recently saw the new lobby bow with panels of Farrow & Ball Light Blue 22 with custom-distressed gold trim and a George V–inspired concierge desk in swirled Ponte Vecchia honed marble with a 17th-century Aubusson tapestry from Paris’ Galerie Jabert. Period pieces sourced by San Francisco interior designer Maria Khouri Haidamus stun throughout, along with exquisite wall coverings and commissioned artwork—see Alice Riehl’s delicate sculpted porcelain flora—that make the entire experience a total pleasure.
1474 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg; open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily; tastings and tours by reservation only. jordanwinery.com
Jordan Vineyard & WineryPhoto: Courtesy of Jordan Vineyard & WineryOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest
