Nalle Winery

Nalle's Zinfandels stop at 14 percent. The vines by the parking lot went in the ground in 1927, and the winery sits under six feet of soil and three hundred rosemary bushes.1 4

Why go

Doug Nalle founded the estate in 1984, first as a partnership with Bill Hambrecht under the name Nalle-Hambrecht, and his son Andrew owns and makes the wine now.1 The head-trained vines beside the parking lot are nearly a century old and go into the Henderlong Estate bottling.3 4 The house aim is short: aliveness, aromatic intensity, smooth textures, moderate alcohol and French oak.4

The building is worth looking at. Wiatrak describes it as an above-ground cave, covered in dirt, with three hundred rosemary bushes blooming on top, and the plants keep it cool enough that the winery needs no temperature control at all.1 Mobley measures the soil at six feet deep.3

Order this / avoid

Order: the estate Zinfandel off the 1927 vines. Mobley singles that vineyard out.3
Order: the Zinot Noir if it is open, which is the winery's Pinot and Zinfandel blend.4
Order: with food in mind. Both Chronicle critics land on the same word for these wines.3 1
Avoid: expecting the county's big style. Nothing here goes past 14 percent.1

What locals & experts say

Bryce Wiatrak, San Francisco Chronicle (13 September 2016): Working with a grape that often yields wines that can reach sky-high levels of alcohol, Nalle's Zinfandels never overstep 14 percent. These are wines that whisper — enticing you with their vibrant acidity, yet never sacrificing Zinfandel's signature flamboyant fruitiness.1
Wiatrak again (30 July 2019): Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley houses some of the country's oldest Zinfandel vines, and Nalle makes some of the best, under-the-radar wines from them.2
Esther Mobley, Chronicle Top Sonoma County Wineries 2025: The Nalle Zins — including from its nearly 100-year-old estate vineyard — are still among the most food-friendly examples available.3

Good to know

$35 a head for up to six wines, and for parties of seven or fewer one fee comes off with each bottle bought. Parties of eight and up pay it either way.4
Bring lunch. Mobley says regulars turn up with picnics, and the winery offers complimentary snacks if you ask.3 4
You taste on the back patio behind the living roof, with the vineyard in front of you, and a Nalle usually pours.3
There is a bocce court.3

Verdict

should-visit — Doug Nalle set the ceiling in 1984 and his son Andrew has not moved it, in a valley where the grape goes wherever it likes. Bryce Wiatrak says that buys wines that whisper, carrying their acidity without losing the flamboyant fruit, and Esther Mobley confirms nine years later that they are still among the most food-friendly Zins going. Thirty-five dollars gets up to six wines, and for a party of seven or fewer one fee comes off with every bottle bought. A Nalle usually pours, the regulars turn up with lunch, and there is a bocce court.

Nalle Winery.