Viansa Winery & Marketplace

Viansa Winery & Marketplace
25200 Arnold Dr. (HWY 121)
Sonoma, CA 95476
Phone: 707-935-2710

Less than an hour north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in Sonoma County you will find Viansa Winery & Italian Market Place perched up on a hill. The name Viansa stands for Vicki and Sam Sebastiani and the winery’s tagline is A Taste of Tuscany in Sonoma Valley.

This wonderful winery overlooking its own vineyards and wetlands (look for the Ducks Unlimited labeled bottles of Viansa Riserva Anatra Bianco and Rosso commemorating the Viansa Wetlands) that Viansa preserved has great character, beautiful grounds, excellent wine, and fantastic food outside at the Viansa Tuscan Grill. A perfect place for a wedding or a business meeting this is also the perfect place for just relaxing outside with you and yours.


Ours goals while there for the first time were to have some lunch, taste some wine, and enjoy some great sunshine. Or maybe it was more like, taste some wine, have some lunch, taste some more wine… By the end of our first visit, we had eaten a fantastic lunch outside, tasted some great wines, and joined the wine club – heck, besides visiting the winery and joining the club, there is no other way to get the wines of Viansa Winery & Italian Market Place.

On our first visit, my lunch was a Tuscan sirloin steak and Holly’s meal was a tangerine marinated chicken; both with pasta salad and a warm round Italian bread loaf. They were outstanding. Prices were reasonable too. The chicken meal was $9.95 and if I remember correctly the Tuscan sirloin checked in at $11.95. In addition, they have a Portobello mushroom and usually a special of the day/weekend, all cooked on the outdoor grill.

Ginger Crosby is the Paninoteca Manager – or to us, she’s in charge of the great food – inside at the counter, outside at the grill, and at the gelato & sorbet stand for warmer months. What a wonderful woman, full of energy and enthusiasm – this confirmed again on our second trip to the winery months later than the first.

Well, on our first visit Holly and I moved from the table outside where we had lunch overlooking the vineyards inside to have some wine with Erik Almquist – one of the wine pourers of the day. We moved swiftly from the 1999 Vintage Chardonnay to the 1999 Cento per Cento Chardonnay (100% Chardonnay with a fruity taste and buttery finish) to the special edition 1998 Samuele Cabernet Franc, in honor of Sam’s grandfather, Samuele, and finally to the 1998 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. As a result, we bought bottles of all and joined the Tuscan Club, a wine club where you can take advantage of receiving wines from Viansa as well as gourmet food products from Vicki Sebastiani.

For the second trip, which occurred 5 months after the first, my father and his girlfriend joined Holly and me. Again we enjoyed a wonderful lunch put on by Ginger and group and tasted more great wines. Definitely buy some of the ’00 Viansa Arneis…if you like Arneis… An added touch to this visit was the live outdoor music in the background – just the right speed; just the right volume. If you are a Tuscan Club member or become one before you visit by signing up online, call ahead and arrange for a private tasting in the Enoteca.

As Tuscan Club members that is one of the features we can all enjoy. However, even without the benefits of private tastings and great wine and food delivered to your house on a monthly basis, Viansa is a must see winery. I recommend making it a lunch stop. I recommend you not only stop at Viansa but also look at their special events, tastings, trips, and so on before you stop by. This winery is full of surprises.

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