Some wineries launch tasting rooms with an avalanche of press releases and a big, flashy ribbon-cutting moment. Others — like Palmer Emmitt and Michael Scorsone — take a more casual *build it, they will come* approach.
This local winemaker duo quietly opened their new outpost at 52 Front St., in that big warehouse-looking building where the Davis Family Vineyards tasting room used to be, late last year. They’re now running tastings for their three small-batch wine brands at the riverfront property seven days a week. The three labels are called Emmitt-Scorsone, Judge Palmer and Domenica Amato. Some of the grapes for their wines come from “30-year-old estate plantings in the rugged hills above West Dry Creek Valley,” according to Sonoma Magazine.
“Be sure to check out the culinary garden overlooking the Russian River,” the magazine writes. “The bucolic space was designed by renowned Healdsburg chef-farmer Mateo Granados. And bring a picnic, too, since outside food is welcome.”
Yes, that’s the same Chef Mateo who used to run the amazing Mexican fusion restaurant near the roundabout for 10 years, where Lo & Behold lives now, before rent spiked and he went into full mobile-catering mode. Mateo served up goat stew and huevos rancheros at a low-key opening party that Emmitt and Scorsone held at their new tasting room a few days before Christmas, according to their Instagram page.
If you want to check out their scene, you can book a tasting at the property for $25 per person — well under the $35 to $40 average tasting price we’re seeing across Sonoma County these days.
Oh and FYI, another indie Healdsburg winery that’s getting a lot of buzz right now, but that doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar tasting room yet, is a similar two-dude brand called Joseph-Jibril. Food & Wine magazine recently put them on a list of the “15 New California Wineries You Need to Know in 2025,” and the famously mysterious wine critic R.H. Drexel named their $30 bottle of “Joseph-Jibril Valdiguié” as his 14th favorite wine of 2024. He described it as “Earl Grey on a foggy winter morning. Violets. Anise breezes.” Such romance!
