Taste WALT Wines in Napa and Sonoma

WALT Wines is the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay brand of Kathryn Walt Hall, who also founded Hall Wines in the Napa Valley. WALT has two tasting rooms in downtown areas, one near the Sonoma Plaza and another across from Napa’s Oxbow Public Market.

Tasting Walt Wines

WALT Napa Oxbow is a tasting room and tasting bar adorned with artwork from the Hall’s personal collection that sits across from the Oxbow Public Market. Open daily 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (last tasting starts at 5 p.m.), it offers a selection of tastings; reservations are recommended.

The Napa Current Release Tasting ($30) explores a selection of current Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays across Walt’s 1,000 Miles of vineyard sites.

The Napa Root 101 Experience ($85) pairs single-vineyard Pinots with bites from nearby Michelin-starred restaurant, La Toque and chef Ken Frank.

The Napa Wine & Chocolate Pairing ($60) pairs Pinot and chocolate.

WALT Sonoma Plaza is on the northwest corner of the main part of town, also open daily 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (last tasting starts at 5 p.m.) and will accept walk-ins during those hours, though reservations are recommended. 

The Sonoma Current Release Tasting ($30-$40) is a taste of Walt’s most recent Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, spanning its 1,000 Miles of vineyard sites.

The Sonoma Root 101 Experience ($85) is a flight of single-vineyard Pinots paired with seasonal bites.

The Sonoma Wine & Chocolate Pairing ($60) pairs Pinot with chocolate. 

The Wines of WALT

Walt’s 1,000 Miles of Pinot means it makes quite a few vineyard-designates, from Oregon to the Sta. Rita Hills and many places in between.

The 2021 Pinot Noir lineup includes vineyard-designates from Sierra Mar, Bob’s Ranch, Rosella’s Vineyard, La Brisa, Clos Pepe, Blue Jay, Shea Vineyard, The Corners, Brown Ranch and Gap’s Crown.

It also makes an appellation Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir and California Rosé of Pinot Noir from a selection of sites.

The Chardonnay lineup is smaller and includes a Bob’s Ranch and Sangiacomo, as well as an appellation Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

The History of WALT Wines 

Kathryn Walt Hall’s parents, Bob and Dolores Walt, were longtime grapegrowers in Mendocino County, who passed their love of the land to their daughter.

Eventually becoming a lawyer, businesswoman and United States Ambassador to Austria, Hall managed her family vineyard for a decade, from 1982 to 1992.

She and husband Craig Hall opened Hall Rutherford in 1995 and then bought the Bergfeld Winery in 2003 to open Hall St. Helena, with a focus on single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and other limited-production Napa Valley wines. There, the Halls own 500 acres of estate vineyards growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.

In 2010 the Halls bought Roessler, a Sonoma County-based Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producer to expand into those varieties, eventually renaming it for Kathryn’s family. 

The vision for Walt from the start was to make high-quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from vineyard sites along the length of the Pacific Coast, what it calls “1,000 Miles of Pinot.” These include sites from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to Anderson Valley, Sonoma County, Los Carneros and Sta. Rita Hills in California.

Vice President of Winemaking Megan Gunderson oversees the entire HALL, WALT and BACA Wines portfolio, using non-interventionist techniques to best express a sense of place in each of the wines. The grapes are meticulously picked and sorted, and the wines native-yeast fermented and left unfined and unfiltered.

Final Thoughts

WALT Wines offers a lovely portfolio of premier Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from across the West Coast, giving wine lovers a wide range of experiences from its two well-appointed tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma.