Chateau St. Jean

Chateau St. Jean is a picturesque winery located along Highway 12 just south of Kenwood in the Sonoma Valley. Beyond a long driveway surrounded by estate vineyards sits the chateau itself, along with a large complex of equally-picturesque buildings housing the winery operations and indoor cellars. After parking in one of the ample on-site lots, you enter the winery through a large gateway offering nice views of a manicured European-style garden, with a path guiding you naturally toward the main hospitality area – a large main tasting room, which sits directly across from the 1920 chateau that was once the Summer home to the Goff family. It’s truly a grand property, and even though we spent over an hour there, I could easily see myself returning again and again and still not being able to take it all in.

The original chateau was built in 1920 as a Summer home for the Goff family, who had a prosperous iron mine in Michigan and lumber operations in the Northwest. Originally planted to white grapes, the vineyards were taken out during prohibition and the land used for walnut and prune orchards for many years. In 1973, the chateau and surrounding  properties were purchased and winery operations restarted as Chateau St. Jean. The gardens and visitor center were opened in 2000, helping Chateau St. Jean become the Sonoma destination it is today.

The main tasting room is housed in the visitor center, along with a charcuterie (French-style delicatessen) offering everything from sandwiches and cheese samplers to wines by the glass, and a large selection of wine-related household goods and gifts for sale. With numerous outdoor seating areas, you could enjoy a memorable wine-country lunch with friends or an impromptu afternoon getaway. Directly across a walled courtyard from the visitor center entrance is the chateau itself, which is home to the reserve tasting room, a large private dining room, an art gallery, and several upstairs rooms (formerly the chateau bedrooms, now used for private group tastings).

Chateau St. Jean offers some great outdoor entertainment options, including a large, walled courtyard garden, styled after the traditional gardens one might find in the Northern Mediterranean. This garden is connected to several walled courtyards, and all are sprinkled with small group seating areas. Off to the side of the main courtyard is a vine-training demonstration garden, showcasing how different types of vines are pruned and trained (depending on the time of year you visit) according to several traditional and modern methods.

Slightly elevated from the valley floor, Chateau St. Jean sits at the edge of the valley at the base of Sugarloaf Ridge, and offers sweeping views of the estate vineyards and Sonoma valley beyond, with ample places to stroll around outside and simply enjoy the scenery. The patio courtyard of the chateau also offers generous outdoor seating, with groups of large patio tables partially shaded by large mature trees and overhead umbrellas, and offering sweeping views of the estate vineyards and the Sonoma Valley beyond.

Chateau St. Jean produces a lot of wines – both in quantity and variety, and though some stood out more than others, they were all tasty, and reflected the single-vineyard focus of the wine-making tradition at Chateau St. Jean. We sampled several of their more popular and moderately-priced wines in the main tasting room before wandering over to the chateau, where we were treated to a sample of their “Cinq Cépages” Cabernet Sauvignon, their flagship offering, and well-deserving of its revered status. Everyone we met at Chateau St. Jean was friendly and accommodating, offering friendly “hellos” and making us feel welcome even outside the designated main hospitality areas. John, our main tasting host, offered some great explanations about the wines he was pouring, and was very knowledgeable about the various vineyards, flavor profiles, and wine-making methods used for each wine.