25 Best Sights in Calistoga, Napa and Sonoma

Owners Mike and Sandy Davis transformed a ramshackle property into a plush winery whose predominantly Bordeaux-style wines live up to the magnificent setting. In fashioning the couple's haute-rustic appointment-only hospitality center, the celebrated Wine Country architect Howard Backen incorporated cedar, walnut, and other woods. In fine weather, many guests sit on the open-air terrace's huge swinging sofas, enjoying broad valley views while tasting Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay whites, with Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Cabs and Cab-heavy blends among the reds. Tastings, by appointment, include small bites.

Founded in 1895 but planted with grapes even before that by San Francisco's free-spirited Lillie Hitchcock Coit, Larkmead was named by her for the meadowlarks that once flitted upvalley. The 115-acre vineyard's diverse soils represent a microcosm of the entire Napa Valley, contributing to the luxuriant complexity of the Merlot-based Firebelle Bordeaux blend and the collector-worthy Solari Cabernet Sauvignon. The intuitive artistry underlying the wines also plays out in the hospitality building’s barn-chic design, the chalk pastels and other works by Kate Solari Baker, whose parents purchased Larkmead in 1948, and the colorful gardens her daughter, Ann, created. Most tastings begin with a brief tour passing by the 3-acre Research Block devoted to alternative grape types and viticultural techniques to cope with climate change, a long-standing concern.

On a Diamond Mountain site the German-born Jacob Schram planted to grapes in the early 1860s, Schramsberg pours its esteemed méthode traditionnelle sparkling wines. Author Robert Louis Stevenson was among Schram's early visitors. After the vintner's death in 1905, the winery closed and fell into disrepair, but in 1965 Jack and Jamie Davies purchased the 200-acre Schramsberg property and began restoring its buildings and caves. Chinese laborers dug some of the latter in the 1870s. In the 1990s, the family set about replanting the vineyard to Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varietals for the Davies Vineyards label's still red wines. Tastings at Schramsberg can include pours of only sparkling wines, only still wines, or a combination of the two. All visits are by appointment.

Tucked into a rock face in the Mayacamas range, this family-run winery established in 1976 occupies a picture-perfect site with rows of vines rising steeply in dramatic tiers. Zinfandel is king—there's even a dry Zin Gris rosé—but Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Bordeaux blend are also in the mix. Visits, all by appointment, usually begin with a short walk up the hillside and a visit to the atmospheric aging caves, parts of which have the same rough-hewn look as they did when Chinese laborers dug them by hand in the late 1880s. Jerry Seps, who started Storybook with his wife, Sigrid, continues to make the wines, these days with their daughter, Colleen, whose husband, Rick, handles marketing and sometimes leads tours.

The sought-after consultant Thomas Rivers Brown oversees the collector-quality Cabernets of this winery on Diamond Mountain's northern slope. The Voir Dire Cabernet Sauvignon (one owner practices law), the luxury brand's layered and silky flagship, comes from the property's oldest vines. Younger plantings produce fruit for the friskier Hawk's Prey Cab and mellifluous Merlot, with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Syrah wines coming from a high-elevation estate in Sonoma County's Moon Mountain District. Tastings, some involving food, are held in a red replica barn with Mt. St. Helena views; Brown and on-site winemaker Andy Jones ply their craft inside a contemporary high-tech facility nearby. Two restored structures, one a schoolhouse, date to the 19th century. Appointments, always required, are best booked a week or more ahead.

If you miss the driveway to Tom and Kerry Eddy's hillside slice of paradise, you'll soon find yourself in Sonoma County—their tree-studded 22-acre property is that far north. Tom, the winemaker, and Kerry, a sommelier and talented sculptor who hosts most tastings, pour their wines by appointment. Except for the estate Kerry's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, the grapes come from sources as near as Calistoga and as far as New Zealand. A 1974 UC Davis graduate, Tom crafts mountain Cabernets with structure and elegance. They're the winery's stars, but he also produces several whites and Malbec, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and other reds. A visit here is enchanting.

A consultant to a dozen wineries, Kirk Venge is an acknowledged master of fruit-forward but balanced Cabernet-heavy Bordeaux-style blends. At his casual ranch-house tasting room, flights that might start with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, or Zinfandel set the stage for the Cabernet Sauvignons. With its views of the estate Bone Ash Vineyard and, west across the valley, Diamond Mountain, the ranch house's porch would make for a magical perch even if Venge's wines weren't treasures themselves. Tastings are by appointment, with same-day visits unlikely.

Fans of this down-home winery's flagship Petite Sirah snap it up so quickly that visitors to the plywood-paneled tasting room have to buy "futures" of wines still aging in barrels. The same holds true for other small-lot wines. Founder Vincent Arroyo replaced a prune orchard with Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon, and later Zinfandel, the winery's top sellers. Later came more acreage and Merlot, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Chardonnay, and other grapes. These days, Vince's daughter, Adrian, and her husband—the current winemaker, Matthew Moye—own and run the appointment-only winery. The presentation here is charmingly old-school.

Known for valley-floor Cabernet Sauvignons, this far-northern Napa Valley winery also produces Merlot and the Maximus Red Feasting Wine, a Cab-heavy red blend nicely priced considering the quality. On the lighter side are a Chardonnay and the Maximus White Feasting Wine blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Muscat. When the weather's pleasant, flights of current-release whites and reds unfold in a garden whose pergola frames vineyard and Calistoga Palisades views. Other tastings, in the living-room-like salon or the winery, highlight the Cabernets. An engaging game here teaches participants about wines' aromas, and there's a blending seminar.

The Napa Valley Vine Trail's St. Helena–Calistoga leg passes through this park's redwoods, Douglas firs, oaks, and madrones. A hiking path beginning near the visitor center loops up a hill to an opening with views encompassing much of the valley. Shorter trails circle a vineyard and lead to historical sites. Before 19th-century American and European settlers arrived, the Indigenous people later known as Wappo lived off this land. You can camp and picnic here, and a pool opens on summer weekends.  Take care on hiking trails; poison oak grows in abundance.

This winery with a contemporary stone, glass, and metal facility across from the Four Seasons resort takes its name from its son (Brian Harlan) and father (Arden Harlan) vintners. Brian, who makes the wines, has early memories of a 19th-century Lake County Zinfandel vineyard his family still farms, but his passion for the grape grew out of wine-related work in the restaurant industry. Wines to look for include Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec. Guests sip these wines and a few others in the tasting room or on an outdoor patio, both with Calistoga Palisades views, enjoying them with small bites or cheeses. The Chef Experience ($$$$)—per the website: "please come hungry!"—is the most popular tasting.

The boundless wit, whimsy, and creativity of the Venetian-born Carlo Marchiori, this gallery's owner-artist, finds expression in paintings, watercolors, ceramics, sculptures, and other artworks. Marchiori often draws on mythology and folktales for his inspiration. A stop at this magical gallery might inspire you to tour Villa Ca' Toga, the artist's Palladian home, a tromp-l'oeil tour de force open May–October for appointment-only Saturday tours.

French-born vintner Jean-Charles Boisset's love affair with Napa Valley history climaxed in 2024 with the debut of a glossy high-ceilinged showcase for his hand-distilled small-batch bourbons, ryes, gin, and brandies. The spirits and the burnt-orange The First Millionaire's Saloon, inside a restored Pullman railcar, acknowledge the legacy of town founder Sam Brannan, who established a distillery here in 1860, eight years before his railroad arrived. In 2023, Boisset launched Casa Obsidiana Tequila with the Beckmann Gonzalez family of Mexico (Jose Cuervo). The joint-venture's premium tequilas age in French oak barrels previously used to make wine. Distilling towers and other equipment provide the backdrop, but all the spirits are made elsewhere.

An astounding medieval-style structure complete with drawbridge and moat, chapel, stables, and secret passageways, the Castello commands Diamond Mountain's lower eastern slope. Some of the 107 rooms contain artist Fabio Sanzogni's replicas of 13th-century frescoes (cheekily signed with his website address), and the dungeon has an iron maiden from Nuremberg, Germany. You must pay for a tour to see most of Dario Sattui's extensive eight-level property, though you'll have access to part of the complex with general admission. Bottlings of note include Sangiovese and other Italian-style wines and Il Barone, a deliberately big Cab. All visits are by appointment.

Set amid a bucolic northern Calistoga landscape, this stately winery whose stone building was erected in 1888 helped establish the Napa Valley's reputation for high-quality wine making. At the pivotal Paris tasting of 1976, the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay took first place, beating out white Burgundies from France and other California Chardonnays, an event immortalized (with liberties taken) in the 2008 movie Bottle Shock. A 21st-century Napa Valley Chardonnay is always part of A Taste of Montelena—current releases that might also include a Riesling, the fine estate Zinfandel, and a Cabernet Sauvignon—or you can opt for the Montelena Estate Collection tasting of Cabernets from several vintages.

The perks of staying at the Four Seasons Napa Valley include the resort's on-site winery and 4.7 acres of vines, but the classy-rustic hospitality center also welcomes nonguests. One goal of consulting winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown is to bring more attention to the Calistoga AVA’s virtues, particularly the appellation's volcanic soils. The supple reds on-site winemaker Jonathan Walden creates from them—the Cabernet Franc from Kenefick Ranch next door and a few single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons among them—prove this mission worthwhile. A talented upvalley chef oversees the wine-and-food pairings. 

Former Disney film and television executive Rich Frank founded his namesake winery in 1992, but the wine-making history here dates to the 19th century—portions of an original 1884 structure, reclad in stone in 1906, remain standing today. Frank Family makes sparkling wines, as did Hanns Kornell on this site for nearly four decades. The high-profile wines, though, are the Carneros Chardonnay and several Cabernet Sauvignons, particularly the RHF and Winston Hill blends. Tastings, some held in the glass-walled vineyard's-edge Miller House hospitality barn, are sit-down affairs.

The grapes at family-owned Jericho Canyon grow on hillsides that slope as much as 55 degrees. The rocky, volcanic soils of this former cattle ranch yield intensely flavored berries that winemaker Nicholas Bleecher, the founders' son, transforms in consultation with blending specialist Michel Rolland into three Cabernet Sauvignons and a few other wines. The nuances of sustainable farming in this challenging environment are among the topics covered during tastings. All visits, customized based on guests' interests, are by appointment.

Two businessmen brothers own this winery that produces collector-quality Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Cabernet Sauvignon on a secluded Knights Valley AVA estate. All the wine production on this site, whose elevation varies from 300 to 900 feet, takes place underground in an ingeniously designed cave. Most visits begin with a UTV side-by-side property tour, passing by dry-farmed, head-trained Chardonnay vines more than three decades old and several Cabernet and other Bordeaux-grape blocks. Although in Sonoma County, the winery bears a Calistoga address; if using GPS, make sure to enter the correct coordinates.

A winery with personality galore, Lola earns critical plaudits for owner-winemaker Seth Cripe's accessible unconventional wines. The Albariño, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Malvasia Bianca, Riesling, and other whites favor acidity and “unripeness,” a succulence two rosés and reds including Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Charbono, and Cabernet Sauvignon also share. All the wines are from single vineyards and 100% one grape type. Cripe, who also runs a lucrative business selling bottarga (fish roe) to fine-dining restaurants, presents his wines at a redbrick 1892 former home a few blocks from the center of town. In good weather, most tastings take place on the tree-shaded back patio.

Redwoods and cedars tower over the downtown garden patio of this under-the-radar producer of Bordeaux-varietal wines. Alison Doran, whose first wine-making gig was as a harvest intern in the 1970s for André Tchelistcheff, the premier California winemaker of his era, extracts rich flavors from grapes grown in Romeo's half-century-old southern Calistoga vineyard. The Napa Valley Cabernet is a bargain for the quality; the Malbec and Petit Verdot are also strong suits, as are the Sauvignon Blanc and Petit Verdot rosé. Musicians perform on summer weekends, when pizza parties also take place.

Walt Disney animator Ben Sharpsteen, who retired to Calistoga, founded this old-school but compelling museum whose centerpiece is a diorama depicting the Calistoga Hot Springs Resort during its 19th-century heyday. A restored cottage from the resort, moved to this site, sits next door to the museum but is entered through it. Other exhibits survey life in Calistoga through the decades and author Robert Louis Stevenson's time here in 1880. 

An aerial gondola whisks guests up a 300-foot hill to a whitewashed Greek Mediterranean–style winery with sweeping Napa Valley views. A self-guided tour allows guests to delve into the wine-making process. Or not. On a sunny day, the valley vistas can be mighty distracting. Sterling, which released its first vintage in 1969, makes waves for its Cabernet Sauvignons, like the top-of-the-line Iridium and another from Diamond Mountain; Chardonnays, a crowd-pleasing Malvasia Blanca, and sparkling wines are among the lighter bottlings. For a more fulfilling visit, choose a tasting of upper-tier wines.

Endurance riders Barry and Jennifer Waitte share their passion for horses and wine at their glam-rustic winery. The 22-acre Sundance Ranch remains a working equestrian facility, but the site also includes a state-of-the-art winery with separate fermenting tanks for grapes from estate vineyards in Yountville, Oakville, and elsewhere. Tamber Bey produces Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay whites, a Rhône-style rosé, and a few Pinot Noirs. The showstoppers are several subtly powerful reds, including the Oakville Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and a Yountville Merlot. The top-selling wine, Rabicano, is a Cabernet Sauvignon-heavy Bordeaux-style blend. Visits require an appointment.

Time-travel back to the days when the Napa Valley "lifestyle" revolved around a family rolling up its collective sleeves to grow grapes, make wines, and present them in a modest setting—these days on a patio between the crush pad and small estate vineyard. The first Tedeschi arrived in the valley in 1919 from Pisa, Italy, and the grandparents of the current winemaker, Mario, and general manager, his amiable brother Emilio, purchased the Calistoga property, then an orchard, in the 1950s. Mario makes the Northbrook red blend from Cabernet and Petite Sirah grown on-site, with fruit for Viognier, Malbec, Petite Sirah, and other wines from Napa Valley sources and beyond. Call for same-day appointments.