The East Bay's own wine country: Brentwood farm estates, the ancient-vine ground that launched famous labels, and the hidden hillside wineries of Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda pouring under one downtown roof.
Contra Costa County holds one of California wine's great open secrets: ancient own-rooted Mourvedre, Zinfandel and Carignane vines in its sandy eastern soils, the ground where Fred Cline founded his winery in Oakley in 1982 and which still feeds prized old-vine bottlings. Around that heritage, a modern visitor scene has grown in two very different landscapes: Brentwood's farm belt and Lamorinda's residential hills.
Brentwood delivers the walk-in experiences, Bloomfield's downtown First Street room and Hannah Nicole's full vineyard estate on Balfour Road, backed by appointment producers and the Nunn family's nearly 150 years of local farming. Martinez adds Viano Vineyards, a 1920 winery on a nineteenth-century vineyard. Lamorinda works differently: its tiny hillside wineries pour together at Local Vines on Mount Diablo Boulevard, Thal, Meadow View, Deer Hill, Rancho del Hambre and Raisin D'etre, with wines made in the cellar beneath the tasting floor.
It adds up to the Bay Area's most convenient real wine country: evening tasting hours in downtown Lafayette, weekend estates in Brentwood, and drinkable history in every old-vine pour, all without crossing a bridge.
Ancient own-rooted vines above all: the county's historic Mourvedre, Zinfandel and Carignane plantings launched Cline in 1982 and still supply celebrated old-vine bottlings, alongside Brentwood's modern estates.
At Local Vines, 3393 Mount Diablo Boulevard in downtown Lafayette, the shared room where Thal, Meadow View, Deer Hill, Rancho del Hambre and Raisin D'etre all pour, open Thursday through Sunday.
Bloomfield Vineyards' downtown Brentwood room, Hannah Nicole's Balfour Road estate and Local Vines in Lafayette anchor the walk-in options; many other county producers pour by appointment or at events.
Yes: Fred Cline founded the winery in Oakley in 1982 on old-vine fruit before moving to Carneros in 1989; public tasting now happens at the Sonoma estate, while the county keeps the origin story.
All 19 wineries and producers we track across Brentwood, Lamorinda, Martinez and the county farm belt, each with its own Wino Notion page.
Browse all Contra Costa & Lamorinda wineries on the listings page →