New restaurants and tasting room in Napa Valley and Sonoma this summer

A summer visit to Wine Country promises plenty of new places to sip wine and dine.

After two years of waiting, famed San Francisco chef Mourad Lahlou’s Moroccan street food stand is finally open at Napa’s Oxbow Marketplace. Signorello, a Napa winery that burned to the ground in the 2017 wildfires, has just unveiled its new winery and visitor center. Visitors to St. Helena will find two radically different new dining options: a breakfast taco restaurant and a tasting menu restaurant focused on Italian and French cuisine. In downtown Sonoma, Obsidian Wines has a new home inspired by the winery’s volcanic vineyard.

Other additions include an adorable bakery in downtown Napa and a family restaurant serving kimchi quesadillas near the Russian River. A historic railroad depot in Calistoga has been transformed into a chic one-stop shop for food, wine and spirits. Locals are excited that a food truck has reincarnated a popular sandwich shop in Napa.

Chilled wine tasting experiences include a speakeasy of a pair of famous professional wrestling twins, a redwood wine tank, pickleball and a $500 winery tour.

Read on to learn about nine exciting developments in Napa and Sonoma counties. Check out the latest installment here.

Napa Valley’s laid-back, northernmost city has a major new appeal thanks to the completed restoration of its 1868 railroad depot — California’s second-oldest train station — by Jean Charles Boisset. The Wine Country serial entrepreneur, owner of Raymond Vineyards, Oakville Grocery, Buena Vista Winery and numerous other businesses, has created an ambitious, if somewhat overwhelming, tourist destination on the notoriously sleepy town’s Main Street . Anchored by a stunning new distillery, the Calistoga Depot also features a gourmet deli offering a plant-based menu, a wine tasting room, a beer garden, and five antique rail cars offering individual experiences . These include a luxury lounge car serving champagne, oysters and caviar, a Mexican restaurant, a lounge, a chocolatier and a wine and spirits boutique. All that’s missing is one of Calistoga’s iconic hot springs.

1458 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. calistogadepot.com

Believe it or not, Napa’s Shafer Vineyards’ new $500 tasting isn’t the most expensive on the market. That prize probably goes to Heitz Cellar, which offers a $1,000 experience. But for five Benjamins, Shafer’s Hillside Select experience — focused on the winery’s famous bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that sells for more than $300 — begins with champagne and a bite of caviar before a tour of the mountainside vineyards. Shafer Hill in a Polaris vehicle in the open air. Guests will taste the current release of Hillside Select in the vineyard before returning to the cellar for a trio of library vintages dating back 20 years or more.

6154 Silverado Trail, Napa. shafervineyards.com

Glen Ellen is one of Wine Country’s simplest and most affordable regions, and a new tasting experience makes this idyllic slice of Sonoma County even more endearing. You can now taste wines like Zinfandel, Chenin Blanc and Petite Sirah – all reasonably priced, under $50 a bottle – in an old redwood wine tank from Dane Cellars. Nicknamed “the tank” by winemaker and owner Bart Hansen, the 14,000-gallon vessel at the Jack London Village shopping center is more than 160 years old. Inside, it’s minimally decorated for a personal but no-frills experience ($45) tasting wines with Hansen himself.

14300 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen. danecellars.com

Nikki and Brie Garcia – reality TV stars and former WWE wrestlers better known as the Bella Twins – have opened a new tasting room in downtown Napa for their Bonita Bonita wine brand. Wine is the next act for the Garcia twins, as they moved to Napa Valley full-time with their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tasting room is designed like a speakeasy, located on the ground floor of a building and behind a bookcase that is actually a door. The moody interior is decorated with old family photos, French art and antiques, many from Nikki Garcia’s collection. Guests are greeted with a splash of sparkling wine, then sit down to taste four wines made by one of California’s premier winemakers, while French music plays in the background. Tastings ($75) are by appointment, but visitors can also reserve a time slot to sip by the glass or bottle.

1207 Coombs Street, Napa. bonitabonitawine.com

There’s a new reason to plan a day trip to the small and charming town of Freestone, located six miles west of Sevastopol and seven miles from the ocean. Follow breakfast at the popular Wild Flour Bakery and a Japanese-style cedar enzyme bath at Osmosis Day Spa with wine tasting at Jasper House, the new home of Black Kite Cellars. Jasper House, Freestone’s only tasting room, was designed as a luxurious yet ultra-comfortable cabin in the woods. Flights ($45 to $65) of six wines, featuring Black Kite’s Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from the Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley, take place in one of three semi-private nooks or on the terrace among the redwoods during the summer.

12747 El Camino Bodega, Freestone. blackkitecellars.com

Chef Crista Luedtke, a celebrity chef who single-handedly launched a culinary scene in the sleepy Russian River town of Guerneville, has a new restaurant. Luedtke has played a major role in Guerneville’s recent return as a sought-after summer destination: she is fully or partially responsible for the Highlands Resort, the Boon Hotel and its Boon Eat + Drink restaurant, the Big Bottom Market and cocktail bar El Barrio. Her new restaurant, Road Trip, replaces Brot, which she closed last year. Luedtke infuses inspiration from around the world into Road Trip comfort foods like kimchi quesadillas, Mexican street corn salad, and a bacon-wrapped hot dog. It’s a casual, family-friendly spot where road trip-themed films are projected on a wall and adults can sip low-ABV cocktails after a fun day floating down the river.

16218 rue Main, Guerneville. eatatroadtrip.com

A popular farmers’ market vendor has opened a small, glass-walled bakery in downtown Napa. Moulin Bakery is tucked away in a quiet alleyway – the same one that gets notoriously noisy on weekend evenings thanks to wine bar Cadet – and serves coffee alongside a small selection of breads, pastries and pizzas. Master baker Zach Kaylor, who founded Moulin with his wife Chloé, is a former Bouchon Bakery; after obtaining a scholarship from chef Thomas Keller, he completed an internship in a renowned bakery in France. Don’t miss the Moulin’s flaky croissants or the rich chocolate hazelnut stuffed with a thick layer of Nutella and topped with hazelnuts. There’s no seating inside (it’s so small), but a handful of bistro tables are set up outside for those looking for a peaceful time away from the downtown crowds.

1321 First Street, Napa. moulinbakerycoffee.com

A former employee of a legendary Napa sandwich maker has resurrected the classic lunch spot via a new food truck. Vallergas Market, which operated out of a shopping center, closed in 2018 after 71 years in business. But Annie Rangel, who worked in the deli at the beloved family grocer, got permission from the former owners to bring back some of their most popular recipes through her new business, Annie’s Lunch Box. Open Saturdays and Sundays at the corner of Clay and Jefferson streets, Annie’s serves Vallergas’ famous spinach dip and nostalgic sandwiches ($17) like the Yacht Club with smoked turkey or the Vineyard Veggie with spinach dip, hummus and vegetables.

Clay and Jefferson St., Napa. instagram.com/annieslunchbox

The pickleball craze has officially infiltrated Wine Country. Sonoma’s Anaba Wines was the first to jump on the trend — the Pinot Noir-focused winery built a court during its sophisticated renovation in 2019 — and launched a “Serve Then Sip” tasting experience. For $65, which is lower than the average Napa Valley tasting fee, guests enjoy an hour of pickleball play followed by a five-wine tasting flight.

62 Bonneau Road, Sonoma. www.anabawines.com

Contact Jess Lander: [email protected]; Twitter: @jesslander