VJB Vineyards & Cellars

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With the opening of a new tasting room and marketplace, VJB Vineyards and Cellars has become a top wine and food destination by offering visitors an authentic taste of Italy in the heart of the Sonoma Valley. From the wines to the architecture, the food and the hospitality, everything here is a testament to the Belmonte family’s Italian heritage. Guests will undoubtedly leave here feeling like they’ve experienced that unique culture.

The stunning two-story Italian villa along the Sonoma Highway in Kenwood looks like it was plucked off a Tuscan hillside and is surrounded by nearly two acres of newly planted Montepulciano and Aglianico vines, both Italian varietals that are rarely grown in California.

In the tasting room, guests may sample those wines as well as other Italian varietals such as Tocai Friulano, Primitivo and  VJB’s flagship wine called Dante – a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese – made in the tradition of a Super Tuscan wine. No matter what is on the tasting menu each day, guests can be assured that every wine at VJB is produced with an eye toward New World innovation and Old World sensibility.

VJB produces less than 7,500 cases annually and a large portion of the grapes are grown on the 12 acre estate vineyard nearby. The wines are available exclusively in the tasting room or through membership in their popular wine club, Club Enoteca.

Standout Wines
Sangiovese is one of the best known Italian wines and once you taste VJB’s 2009 Estate Sangiovese, you’ll know why.  This Sonoma Valley grown wine is full of red, ripe fruit flavors and has soft, seductive tannins making it the perfect wine to pair with pasta and red sauce.   VJB also produces less well-known, but equally delicious varietals like the Sicilian grape Nero d’Avola as well as Montepulciano.  The 2009 Estate Montepulciano is a medium-bodied red wine with a baked cherry nose and mellow tannins. Once you taste it, you’ll know why it’s a favorite of Club Enoteca members that sells out in a matter of a few short months

Stay Awhile
In addition to wine tasting, guests will want to spend warm spring and summer days lingering on VJB’s central piazza while enjoying lunch of fresh panini or antipasti from La Cucina or a pizza from the wood-fired oven. For dessert, there’s also an onsite chocolate and gelato shop.  Afterwards, visitors can browse the upstairs art gallery or the marketplace for estate-grown olive oil, owner and Executive Chef Maria Belmonte’s homemade tomato sauces and pestos, plus a wide range of the very best imported Italian pantry items to enjoy at home. On weekends, the daily 1 p.m. performance by the Sonoma Tenors is not to be missed. There truly is no better place to soak up a little bit of Italy in the Sonoma Valley.