Wineries in Windsor, CA (2026): A Local's Guide to Tasting Near Healdsburg

Windsor is a town of about 27,000 people in Sonoma County, California, on Highway 101 between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, on the eastern side of the Russian River Valley. It has a handful of small wineries within its limits — Bruliam, Wren Hop, our own Domaine de la Rivière, and the producers pouring at Grand Cru Custom Crush — and sits ten minutes from the Westside Road estates of Healdsburg.

We are the Bedrosians, and Windsor is where we pour our wine — so this is less a survey than a list of the places we send friends who come to see us.

Below: where Windsor sits and why it is worth tasting from, which wineries are inside the town in 2026, which are a short drive away, whether Windsor works as a base for a Russian River Valley trip, and how reservations work.

Where is Windsor, and why taste wine there?

Windsor is in central Sonoma County on Highway 101, about eight miles north of Santa Rosa and six miles south of Healdsburg, roughly 65 miles north of San Francisco. It lies on the eastern edge of the Russian River Valley AVA, so its vineyards are fog-cooled Pinot Noir and Chardonnay country, but the town itself is quieter and less expensive to stay in than Healdsburg.

The town grew up around a rail stop and was incorporated in 1992, which makes it one of Sonoma County's younger municipalities even though vines have been farmed here for more than a century. Its center is the Town Green, a planned downtown with restaurants, a summer concert series, and a weekly farmers market, ringed by residential neighborhoods. West of the freeway the streets give way quickly to vineyard: Eastside Road, Windsor Road, Starr Road, and Slusser Road run through some of the most-planted ground in the valley.

For a visitor, the appeal is position. From the Town Green you can reach the Westside Road wineries of Healdsburg in about ten minutes, the Olivet Road producers on the Santa Rosa side in about the same, and the Sonoma Coast beyond Forestville in under an hour. Hotel rates and dinner reservations are easier than in Healdsburg, and the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport sits at the town's southern edge, so some visitors fly directly in.

Which wineries can you visit in Windsor, CA in 2026?

Windsor has fewer tasting rooms than Healdsburg, and the ones worth your time are small: family-run Pinot Noir producers who sit down with you, plus a custom-crush facility where several small brands, ours included, host their tastings. The four below are all within the Windsor postal area. All taste by reservation; confirm current hours before you go.

Bruliam Wines

A small, family-owned producer of single-vineyard Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast sites, with a Windsor tasting room. Bruliam is the kind of producer a Windsor base makes easy to fit in: a short, focused tasting of a few wines rather than a long flight. We like what they do and are glad to have them a few minutes from us. Reservations recommended; confirm current hours.

Wren Hop Vineyards

A boutique Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producer on the western side of Windsor, near the river, with a small tasting room and a limited range of estate and single-vineyard wines. It is appointment-driven and personal in scale, which suits visitors who want to sit down with the people who made the wine rather than move through a counter.

Grand Cru Custom Crush

Not a single winery but a Windsor custom-crush facility on American Way where a number of small Sonoma County producers make their wine and, in several cases, host their tastings. It is useful for visitors because one address gives access to brands that have no tasting room of their own. We are one of the producers hosted there; others rotate, so check who is pouring when you book.

Domaine de la Rivière

This one is us. Our family — Marla and Geoffrey Bedrosian — bought the vineyard in 2011, sold fruit to other producers for a few years while we replanted, and released our first wine in 2017. The vineyard sits in the Middle Reach, the stretch of river between southern Healdsburg and Forestville that growers regard as one of the valley's most storied corridors for Pinot Noir. Vineyard Eleven, our 11 acres of Pinot Noir, was planted in 2016 and 2018 to four clones — Swan, Mt. Eden, Pommard, and Vosne-Romanée — on Goldridge and loam soils, and is where the Heritage Block, Red Barn Block, and Two Forces bottlings come from. Our Chardonnays come from partner sites, the best known of which is Ritchie Vineyard, planted in 1972 to the Old Wente selection and farmed by Kent Ritchie.

Kale Anderson makes the wines with a light hand: native-yeast fermentations and roughly 35 percent new French oak. The critics have been kind — the 2022 Two Forces Pinot Noir took a Double Gold at the San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition (98 points, The Tasting Panel), and the 2021 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay made Robb Report's Top 50 California Chardonnays of the Century — but the tasting itself is unfussy. We host seated tastings for two to eight guests by reservation at Grand Cru Custom Crush, 1200 American Way, daily from 10AM to 5PM. Guests have left us a 5.0 average across 186 Google reviews, which we take as a sign the table is doing its job.

Which wineries are minutes from Windsor?

Some of the best small Pinot Noir producers in the Russian River Valley sit along Westside Road, which begins in Healdsburg and follows the river south toward Windsor — about ten to fifteen minutes from the Town Green. In the other direction, the Santa Rosa side of the valley holds several family-run Chardonnay and Pinot Noir estates, also ten to fifteen minutes away, and Forestville is twenty minutes west.

Healdsburg and Westside Road. Gary Farrell, MacRostie, and Twomey all sit along or just off Westside Road as it follows the river south from Healdsburg. Gary Farrell's hilltop room looks down onto the river and pours single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from across the valley; MacRostie's estate at Thale's Vineyard is a wide, contemporary space built around Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; Twomey is the Duncan family's Pinot Noir label, with a Russian River Valley tasting room on the same road. All are reservation-oriented, so book ahead.

Santa Rosa and Olivet Road. South of Windsor, on the flatter ground toward Sebastopol, Hook & Ladder and Inman Family Wines sit within a few minutes of each other on Olivet Road. Hook & Ladder is the De Loach family's second winery, named for founder Cecil De Loach's years as a San Francisco firefighter, and pours estate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel. Inman Family is Kathleen Inman's organically farmed estate at Olivet Grange Vineyard, best known for Pinot Noir. From Windsor, both are a short drive down Fulton or Olivet Road.

Forestville. Woodenhead Vintners, on River Road above the river at the edge of Forestville, is a small producer of Pinot Noir and Zinfandel with a hillside tasting room. It is about twenty minutes west of Windsor and makes a natural last stop before the coast or a first stop on a Green Valley day.

Is Windsor a good base for a Russian River Valley trip?

Yes, particularly for visitors who prioritize vineyard access over a busy town square. Windsor sits within ten to fifteen minutes of the Westside Road estates, the Olivet Road producers, and Healdsburg's plaza, with more hotel availability and lower rates than Healdsburg itself. The trade-off is fewer walkable tasting rooms and restaurants in the town center.

A practical two-day pattern from Windsor: spend the first day inside the town — two seated tastings at Windsor wineries with lunch on the Town Green in between — and the second day on Westside Road, driving north to Healdsburg for breakfast and then south along the river with two appointments booked. That keeps each day's driving short and leaves an evening free for Healdsburg's restaurants, which are ten minutes away. When friends stay with us, we usually pair a morning at Bruliam or Wren Hop with an afternoon at our table, and save Westside Road for the second day.

• Lodging: chain hotels near the freeway and a handful of inns; more availability than Healdsburg on peak weekends.
• Food: casual restaurants around the Town Green; a Sunday farmers market in season; Healdsburg's dining is a ten-minute drive.
• Getting around: a car is needed for the vineyards; the Sonoma County Airport is at the town's southern edge; the SMART train stops in Windsor.
• Timing: two or three tastings is a full day. Reserve ahead, drink water, and name a driver.

Do Windsor wineries require reservations?

Yes, nearly all of them. The family estates in and around Windsor host seated tastings by appointment, and the Westside Road rooms strongly recommend reserving, especially on Friday through Sunday. A day or two of notice is usually enough outside harvest and holiday weekends. Hours and fees change from year to year, so confirm directly with each winery before you go.

Reservations matter more here than in a walk-in town like Healdsburg's plaza because the Windsor wineries are spread out and mostly seated. A confirmed slot means a table, a host, and a set flight rather than a wait. Groups larger than six or eight should ask ahead; several of the smaller rooms cap party size, and some do not host bus or limousine groups at all. Our own tastings are for two to eight, and we ask for a reservation so someone from the family or our team is there to sit with you.

This guide deliberately omits tasting fees and opening hours for other wineries. Both change often, and a stale number does more harm than none. Check each winery's own site the week of your visit.

Windsor, CA at a glance