Sonoma tasting room serves Pinot Noirs from Oregon to California’s Central Coast.
A 1930s Tudor-style home just north of Sonoma Plaza provides a relaxed setting for visitors enjoying WALT Wines’ highly praised Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Tall canary palms shade part of the property, and a double-trunked redwood tree anchors the welcoming backyard. Kathryn Hall, who owns WALT Wines and the Napa Valley’s HALL St. Helena with her husband, financier Craig Hall, recalls the time she spent at her parents’ Mendocino County vineyard among her happiest childhood memories. Her parents, Dolores and Bob Walt, are the winery’s namesakes.
Minimalist Strategies
Senior winemaker Alison Frichtl Hollister oversees the WALT Pinot Noirs, whose grapes come from as far north as Oregon’s Willamette Valley and as far south as California’s Santa Rita Hills – “1,000 Miles of Pinot,” as the winery bills it. Two Sonoma County subappellations, the Sonoma Coast and Petaluma Gap, as well as the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County, are also represented. The aim for each wine is to express its vineyard, vintage, and varietal, rather than have the winemaker impose a style through aggressive oak aging or other techniques.
Focusing on Nuances
Regardless of the source, all wines undergo similar treatment during fermentation and aging. Because the process is so consistent, tastings focus on the nuances of the soils and climates—the terroir, as wine enthusiasts call it—of various vineyard locations.
Chardonnay, Pinot, and Chocolate
Reservations are recommended for all visits, but walk-ins are welcome for three tastings: the current Chardonnay and Pinot Noir releases, a pairing with artisanal chocolates, and the Michel Foch Champagne Flight of French wines commissioned by Kathryn Hall. Reservations are required for the Root 101 Wine & Food Pairing Experience.
Why go: relaxed setting; “1,000 Miles of Pinots”; Root 101 tasting.
Itinerary
WALT Wines appears in Sonoma Pinot Noir Day Trip.
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This story originally appeared online in 2017; it was most recently updated in 2026.
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