Deerfield Ranch Winery

Deerfield Ranch Winery is the most dramatically caved and library-focused wine estate in the Sonoma Valley. Robert and PJ Rex — who have been farming their Kenwood Highway 12 property since 1982 — commissioned a 13,000-square-foot underground aging cave that has become the most distinctive and architecturally remarkable tasting space on the entire Sonoma Valley wine trail.

The cave houses an extraordinary 200-bottle wine library representing every vintage Deerfield Ranch has produced — an accumulation that allows the Rex family to conduct library vertical tastings across decades of Sonoma Valley winemaking history. The program focuses on small-lot Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the proprietary Sylar blends (combining Syrah and Merlot in an unusual pairing that the Rex family has developed over decades of careful farming experimentation).

The appointment-only cave tasting — conducted deep underground in the most atmospheric and temperature-controlled setting available in the Sonoma Valley — is genuinely unlike any other Sonoma County wine experience. For visitors who have explored the Highway 12 corridor's more prominent estates and want to discover what the Kenwood benchland's most committed small producers achieve, Deerfield Ranch is the essential undiscovered gem.