When it comes to Northern California wine country, Napa Valley is synonymous with cabernet sauvignon. Sonoma County, by contrast, is better known for everything from pinot noir to zinfandel. Yet plenty of Sonoma producers make exceptional, cellar-worthy cabernets that rival their Napa neighbors. These are the producers worth a trip.
Northern Sonoma
Merriam
Family-owned and dog-friendly, Merriam sits in the Russian River Valley. Will Weese makes several cabs from sites that include its Windacre Vineyard (where cool morning fog gives way to warm, sunny afternoons) and the rugged, high-elevation Rockpile AVA above Lake Sonoma. Merriam prioritizes a healthy ecosystem, with a water-reclamation pond, owl boxes and honeybees.
The wines have a smooth finish and are just as rewarding now as after a few years in the cellar. Walk-ins are welcome at the hilltop tasting room. For the full experience, book the single-vineyard tasting and winery tour, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at the property and barrel samples alongside a seated tasting.
Vérité
Vérité’s La Joie may well be Sonoma’s best-known cabernet. Pierre Seillan crafts the blend from micro-vineyards on the western slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains, across Alexander Valley, Knights Valley and Chalk Hill. The wine is powerful and highly concentrated, yet impeccably balanced.
Founded in 1998 by late vintner Jess Jackson, Vérité offers a library tasting of older vintages of its three flagship blends. It’s an illuminating look at how site, time and a winemaker’s vision can come together in the glass. The Bordeaux-inspired property centers on a pristine, abbey-like barrel room.
Jordan Vineyard & Winery
When Tom and Sally Jordan founded Jordan Vineyard & Winery in 1972, they created an elegant, Bordeaux-style cabernet influenced by the great estates of France. Today, winemaker Maggie Kruse carries that legacy forward with a graceful, silky red. Warm growing conditions and diverse vineyard sites lend depth and complexity while preserving freshness. These are food-friendly wines, which you can see for yourself, since every Jordan tasting includes culinary pairings.
You’ll love the winery tour and tasting. It begins on the terrace with a chardonnay toast and views over the gardens and vineyards. The experience continues through the chateau, including the oak tank room and the grand library, before a seated tasting in the cellar, with bites prepared by chef Jesse Mallgren. A recent menu paired the 2020 cabernet with tender duck confit and the 2022 with French onion soup fondue.
Mascarin
Father-daughter duo Ed and Mia Mascarin oversee their namesake winery, a small-lot, sustainable operation known for single-vineyard wines, with a charming tasting room in Dry Creek Valley, just outside Healdsburg. The cabernet fruit comes from Moon Mountain, an AVA prized for its iron-rich soils, old vines and high elevation.
Matt Taylor, the winemaker, takes a patient approach, letting the grapes hang until late October before an extended 25-day fermentation, then aging the wine in a New French oak barrel with minimal intervention. The result is structured and refined, with fruit-forward, earthy notes.
Book an appointment to taste the cabernet alongside Mascarin’s other wines, surrounded by the property’s trees and garden. Note that the current release is labeled under 32 Winds, the winery’s other brand.
Where to stay in Northern Sonoma
These four wineries are clustered in northern Sonoma County. The area’s most luxurious base is Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Montage Healdsburg, where bungalows nestle among heritage oaks with spacious balconies and sophisticated interiors.
Southern Sonoma
Stone Edge Farm
La Maison, Stone Edge Farm’s June 2026-opened tasting room, sits moments away from downtown Sonoma. The late Mac McQuown, who founded the winery with his wife, Leslie, in 2004, sought out distinctive vineyard sites and farmed them organically, letting the land speak for itself.
His legacy shows in the glass, especially in the 2018 Founder’s Signature cabernet sauvignon. Winemaker Alejandro Zimman made it from the top three barrels of Silver Cloud Vineyard fruit, grown on Moon Mountain. It’s a deep, compelling red. Stone Edge has produced cabernet since its first vintage 20-plus years ago. Guests can taste it and other pours at La Maison’s Library Tasting.
The team also runs Enclos, a fine-dining restaurant near the plaza that showcases produce grown at the farm.
Repris
Perched on Moon Mountain, Repris is a stunning property with clear-day views of San Francisco. Its terraced vineyards spread across ancient volcanic soil like a patchwork quilt, and walking among them feels like wandering through a quaint European village.
Tastings, made by reservation, begin with an open-air tour through the vines and the property’s natural rock caves. This is followed by a seated tasting of estate-grown wines. With the 2023 vintage, proprietor Jim Momtazee’s team returns to the brand’s original mission: a singular expression of the site. The cabernet is 98% cab with a touch of cabernet Franc, aged 21 months mostly in new French oak. Dense and polished with a rustic edge, it’s built to age 15 years or more.
B. Wise Vineyards
Though Brion Wise is best known for Brion, his Napa label specializing in single-vineyard cabernet, his earlier Sonoma venture, B. Wise, has tasting rooms in Kenwood and on Moon Mountain. The lineup there ranges from Wisdom, an entry-level young-vine bottling, to an estate cabernet blended from the property’s finest blocks.
The Kenwood lounge is welcoming and eclectic, feeling more like a fun aunt’s house than a traditional winery. Wise’s wife, interior designer Ronda West Wise, constantly refreshes the colorful furniture and abstract artwork.
Up on the mountain, tastings take place in a vintage lodge and in a cave lined with tunnels and underground hospitality rooms. The cave and lodge visit require a reservation, but the Kenwood lounge accepts walk-ins.
Kamen Estate Wines
When screenwriter Robert Kamen sold his first screenplay in 1980, he used the proceeds to buy 280 acres of rugged hillside on what is now Moon Mountain. Kamen, who went on to write The Karate Kid, released his first cabernet in 1999.
Kamen Estate has an acclaimed team (including viticulturist Phil Coturri and winemaker Mark Herold) that releases sought-after reds. Kashmir, its top cabernet, is a must for collectors building out their cellars. Wine lovers can taste these labels and others — the Premier Flight, for example, features library and limited-production bottlings — at the brand’s bar in downtown Sonoma. The 2021 release is smooth, round and luscious — a showstopper that drinks well now and will only improve with time.
Where to stay in Southern Sonoma
For easy access to these southern Sonoma Valley wineries, book a room at Four-Star MacArthur Place & Spa. The former family estate and working ranch has a timeless feel, with flower-filled grounds, a delightful pool and the Forbes Travel Guide Recommended Layla restaurant. It’s a relaxing, restorative place to stay.
