One of the nicest wine tasting experience. The own Leo took great care of us. They have more white Chenin blanc selection then any other wineries and using the old French style method to make their wines. Really like their cab franc too It's a smaller tasting place in Healdsburg CA but we had a great time with Leo and his staff. Definitely recommend this place as part of your wine tasting trip. Our focus has been in smaller wineries to find the gems. read more

Leo Steen Wines - Front of the tasting room - Wineries Near Me - Healdsburg, California

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Focused wines crafted with precision, and at accessible prices. Winemaker Leo sources fruit from several notable vineyard sites. This tasting room is a must-visit if you're in the area! read more

Leo Steen Wines - three bottles of wine on a table - Wineries Near Me - Healdsburg, California

In all honesty, Leo: you had me at Grenache. Rosé of Grenache, actually. Dry, crisp, and refreshing. Alluring to look at in the glass and tantalizing to taste on the tongue. Clearly, you are so much more than 'the Dane who mastered Californian Chenin Blanc.' It's not that your three different single vineyard versions of Chenin Blanc are not lip smackingly delicious. They are, no question. Or that you're not Danish. You are, obviously. But why should you be pigeonholed in such a fashion when your winemaking talents are so much more expansive than that? There is, of course, the need to avoid overlap with your day job at Stuhlmuller Vineyards, where you produce top notch Alexander Valley Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel. Modern renditions of Californian Chenin Blanc deserve all the critical attention they can get! But seriously: your Dry Creek Valley Grenache (red and rosé)? These are quality quaffers. Don't get me started on your Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Franc, either. Or your cool climate, maritime-influenced Chardonnay. No wonder that Manresa (3 Michelin stars) features your wines. And not just because you are a trained European sommelier and did your time laboring in fine dining trenches on two continents. These are fantastic wines! And should I even tell them about your Cole Ranch AVA dry Riesling? I mean, how much more of it is there left to sell? The Mosel Valley has got nothing on this witch's brew of a wine that is so many things all at once. And the Sonoma Mountain Syrah that was harvested from vineyards so steep you risked falling downslope to pick them? What would be the point? It would be like telling people about Dexter Ahlgren's Bates Ranch Cabernets from the 1990s, more legendary now than real. A wine fit for late night stories but not for reviewing anymore on Yelp. But I should tell them that they can visit your tasting room in Healdsburg, right? By appointment only because your staff is so small. You have kids to tend to and other things on your plate, after all. You can't be available 24/7, nor will your wines end up on Costco shelves. But they can try them at Diavola in Geyserville and Ramen Gaijin in Sebastopol and in fine eating establishments in San Francisco, Sonoma County, NYC, and beyond, if they know how to find them. Or they can just join your wine club. It's not like everybody reads R.H. Drexel's wine blog or listens to the 'Wine for Normal People' podcast. Maybe they should, but that's beside the point, I think. If you make it, they will come. Maybe not today. Maybe not next week. Maybe not on their next Wine Country getaway. You're not an easy person to find. But give it time. They will. Better make a few more cases of Grenache next year, before they show up at your door, thirsty for something novel enough to crack their wine drinking worlds wide, wide open. read more

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We stopped here after grabbing some lunch. We did not have reservations but were immediately greeted and seated. Anu (Not sure of the spelling but she was incredible) and Erin assisted us. The wines were good and not the crazy high prices that you normally see in the area. Their Casa Verde was delicious! We bought several bottles within our group. I highly recommend this location. The ambiance is very nice too. read more

Leo Steen Wines - In the tasting area with My #1 - Wineries Near Me - Healdsburg, California

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For a casual wine taster in Healdsburg, the downtown plaza offers nearly unlimited possibilities. Walk ins welcome, early opening hours on weekends and weekdays, and food pairings designed to compliment the seasonal tasting flight. It's a no brainer. Another sort of tasting room in Healdsburg is reservations only. They are often exclusive, elite-looking sorts of places with high price tags and high octane wines, like Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, Dry Creek Valley old vine Zinfandel, and Alexander Valley Cabernet blends. Expect white glove treatment, but expect to pay accordingly for your time spent amidst the 1%. The third kind of Healdsburg tasting room is harder to find unless you know ahead of time what you are searching for. These are tiny, artisan workshop sort of places where vanguard winemakers experimenting with traditional methods pour vineyard designate wines from the "other" grapes out there, the ones that don't make it to the shelves of CVS. Or they reinterpret the classic Californian wines like Chardonnay, Pinot, Zinfandel, or Cabernet in interesting and intriguing ways. These kinds of tasting rooms require advanced notice and research on your part. Read the online profiles and press links. Keyword search names you do not already know. Get your palate ready. And prepare for something new. The Leo Steen tasting room, located in the old Roma Station wine complex in an attractive, shared space with Hart's Desire, belongs in the third kind - the best kind imo - of urban tasting room. It is the personal project of winemaker Leo H., a trained sommelier who grew up in a Danish hotel and restaurant family before moving to California to sell and later make fine wine. Using limited means but endless amounts of drive and creativity, he produces a small but wonderful array of food-friendly, traditionally made wines sourced exclusively from heritage California vineyards. Grapes come from Sonoma and Mendocino County as well as from Santa Barbara and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Leo Steen made its mark with Chenin Blanc, of which at least three versions are produced annually. Leo also produces astoundingly good Santa Cruz Mountains cool climate Chardonnay and mountain grown Cabernet Franc, both done in styles that evoke the best of Burgundy and the Loire Valley. You can also find some lovely Rhône reds, Grenache and Syrah, and occasional wines like Mendocino County Riesling from the tiny Cole Ranch AVA outside of Ukiah. Because Leo was well versed (since age 12) in the food and hospitality business before he became a winemaker, he is extremely good at interacting with his customers. Not all winemakers of this caliber are so alluringly charming and genuinely charismatic. Leo could have been cast as an extra on Game of Thrones. He is clever, outgoing, and able to articulate his wine-making mission in a way that makes intuitive sense. When he pours your wines, he isn't selling them. He is introducing them to you, the way one might a child or grandchild. If asked, he will show you iPhone pictures of his oak barrels and foudre and the grapes in bins freshly picked for the latest harvest. He will produce glass jars of soil to show you how the vineyards he sources from differ from each other. He will talk about concrete eggs and neutral oak, or about kid's soccer games and local Sonoma County fairs and farming festivals, if you're so inclined. In the end, you'll leave with a fuller appreciation of the wine-making cutting edge. Everything I tried I liked, but the Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc were especially fine. Leo Steen's Dry Creek Valley Grenache may be the best I've ever tried in Sonoma County, and his Chenin Blancs are across the board scrumptious. Because Leo's wines are in high demand at Michelin-starred restaurants and hipster wine bars (including in Denmark), they counter intuitively perhaps are priced well, so that by the glass options under $15 are possible. Leo wants his wines on wine lists rather than hoarded by collectors or reserved exclusively to club members. This translates into 93+ red wines under $50 and superb white wines under $25 that are top values for wines of this outstanding quality. Seriously! It's like Costco, but far, far better. Do yourself a favor on your next wine tasting trip to Healdsburg and the Dry Creek Valley. Set up a tasting ahead of time at Leo Steen. If your tastes are anything like mine, you will not regret it! read more

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Leo has been making wine in California for almost two decades. We first had one of his wines in 2014 when he was a winemaker for another winery near Healdsburg. We were in Chicago at a steak restaurant where we first tasted one of his cabernets loaded with Alexander Valley red fruit and smooth tannins. That's when we were hooked. Joined the wine club as soon as we got back to California and never looked back! He is now focusing his attention to his own wines, which are unique to California as they are done in a more traditional European style that is more balanced, less alcohol, and great by themselves or paired with food. Other's have commented on his Grenache and Chenin Blanc wines. They are delicious and show the characteristics of the grapes that make them unique and truly enjoyable. The Cab Franc is much bigger, but one that I recommend you stock up in your wine closet as it will only get better with time. Leo also makes one-off wine that he will make when an opportunity for grapes present themselves. These include a zinfandel and riesling, which are tremendous values for the quality of wines. Highly recommend. read more

On our last trip to Healdsburg, we stopped by the wine ghetto in the south end of town, and to my surprise found a few new tasting rooms on the block. So we stopped in Leo Steen Wines to have a try and met Josephine who tasted us through their flight offering. Needless to say we were extemely impressed with the wines and Josephine's presentation of them. Leo's Chenin Blanc's were phenomenal, and the Syrah and Grenache were to die for. Leo Steen Wines is a must stop for anyone in the Healdsburg area looking for unique wines with amazing flavor! read more