Simi’s courtyard and historic winery

16275 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, CA 95448

Website: https://www.simiwinery.com/

I would classify Simi’s tasting room as a casual hang-out place, even though the winery has lots of history.  The historic winery and tasting room is in downtown Healdsburg.   Given the location, parking can be a bit of a challenge at a busy time of day because you have to park on the street.  However, the winery itself is in a picturesque setting off the road.  Right outside of the tasting room is a stone walkway leading down into a courtyard that is surrounded by redwoods.  There’s a fountain in the center, and the 140 year-old historic stone winery is in back of the courtyard.  Today Simi is part of Constellation Brands.  Just like the other Constellation Brands wineries in Napa and Sonoma, a benefit of joining one of their wine clubs is that you can get free tastings at all the sister wineries. 

This winery dates back to 1876 when the first wine was made from Sonoma County grapes.  Giuseppe and Pietro Simi from Tuscany founded the winery.  They set off for California looking for gold and ended up making wine instead.  They had been making wine in the same stone cellar since 1890.  Unfortunately both brothers died suddenly in 1904 leaving the winery to Giuseppe’s daughter Isabelle.  Isabelle maintained the winery through the Prohibition years.  She made an intelligent decision to cellar the wine until Prohibition ended and wound up with 500,000 cases ready to sell after repeal.  Isabelle continued with the winery until her retirement in 1970.  She has the distinction of starting the first retail “tasting room” out of a 25,000 gallon cask in front of the winery’s stone cellars.  After Isabelle’s retirement, the winery changed hands until Constellation Brands (formerly Canandaigua Brands Inc.) acquired them in 1999.  The new hospitality center opened its doors in 1990. 

Simi Tasting Room

The exterior of the tasting room is made all of stone and shaped like an octagon.  There’s a terrace that wraps around the side.  The winery offers walk-in tastings or wine cellar tours.  They also have food for purchase created by an on site chef.  All of the stone continues on the inside of the tasting room.  This tasting room is spacious with a wood table and some bookshelves covered with items for purchase.  There’s a fireplace to the right of the entrance, and the tasting bar is directly across from it.  This place has the longest tasting bar I’ve seen in any tasting room and can accommodate a big crowd.  Since this winery hosts weddings and other events, I’m sure they have big crowds to tend with fairly often.  Luckily it wasn’t overly busy when I visited.  There is a wide selection of wines from Russian River, Alexander, and Dry Creek valleys.  I sampled the Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Malbec, and an 1876 Cuvée made from a blend of Gewürztraminer and Muscat.  They were all pleasant wines.  My recommendation if you are visiting on a nice day is to grab a glass and head outside to the terrace.

Simi’s Terrace