After 11 years pouring wine inside the historic Hotel Petaluma, Barber Cellars has closed that downtown tasting room for good, folding itself into a new four-in-one collective called Taste Petaluma at 120 Washington Street. The move brings together Barber Cellars, Barber Lee Spirits, Petaluma Cheese Shop and Nightcap Dessert Bar under a single warehouse roof, giving locals one address for wine, craft cocktails, artisan cheese and handmade chocolate.
The consolidation, which launched in July, was driven by the simple math of running multiple businesses in multiple locations, according to Sonoma Magazine. Lorraine and Mike Barber, who began making wine together more than 20 years ago in San Francisco, decided that keeping their growing roster of brands spread across separate storefronts had become unsustainable. Mike Barber told the magazine that having one space that melds everything they create simply made sense.
Barber Cellars itself launched in Suisun City in 2007, initially making wine at a custom-crush facility before the Barbers opened Petaluma's first downtown tasting room inside Hotel Petaluma in 2015. That building carries its own local history: as detailed by the Hotel Petaluma, 855 local residents raised $250,000 to fund its construction, and the hotel opened in April 1924. Consolidating into Taste Petaluma marks the end of that decade-plus run at the landmark address.
A Former Parking Garage Becomes a Tasting Room
The new home for all four concepts sits in a 1910 brick warehouse that once served as the commercial parking garage for the adjacent Hotel Petaluma, according to the National Park Service. That same warehouse already housed Barber Lee Spirits, which Mike Barber co-founded with Aaron Lee in 2017, opening a distillery in the brick building right next door to the hotel. The distillery began with single-malt rye, moonshine and absinthe before later adding heirloom corn bourbon, apple brandy and rum.
Petaluma Cheese Shop had already opened inside the Barber Cellars tasting room before the move, and it now operates as part of the combined space, per the magazine's reporting. Nightcap Dessert Bar, which opened in downtown Petaluma last year, rounds out the foursome. Taste Petaluma describes itself as a collective gathering space for locally made wines and spirits, craft cocktails, cheeses, desserts and handmade chocolates.
What's Actually on the Menu
Wine drinkers can order Sonoma County wines by the glass starting at $16 or opt for flights, with tastings priced at $25. The Barbers farm 10 acres of vines near Petaluma, practicing organic dry-farming without synthetic pesticides or herbicides across steep hillside sites in the Petaluma Gap and on Sonoma Mountain at elevations near 2,000 feet, according to Barber Cellars. Those cool-climate conditions fall within the Petaluma Gap AVA, a 202,476-acre appellation the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau established in December 2017, defined by coastal wind speeds of at least 8 mph, per the Federal Register. One standout bottle, the Barber Cellars 2024 Sonoma Mountain Zinfandel blended with Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet, sells for $45.
On the spirits side, cocktails made with Barber Lee Spirits anchor the menu, with flights starting at $20 and seasonal cocktails priced at $16. Treat Yo' Self, a $16 cocktail, mixes lambanog, lemon, pineapple juice, ginger liqueur and McEvoy Ranch jalapeño olive oil. Barber Lee runs on a grain-to-glass model, with all mashing, fermenting, distilling, barrel-aging and bottling happening under the same roof, according to the Brew Ha Ha Podcast. For those skipping alcohol, Taste Petaluma also offers nonalcoholic cocktails, coffee and tea service.
Cheese, Chocolate and a Neighborhood Vibe
The food menu leans into local collaboration. The Cheese Pull, priced at $22, features a warm wheel of Quinta cheese from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., Della Fattoria bread, Belfare sesame-chili crunch and Zinfandel chocolate sauce, per Sonoma Magazine's rundown of the menu. The Spiced Chocolate Passionfruit Cake, made by Mad Batter Cakery in Santa Rosa and priced at $16, combines chocolate cake, passion fruit filling, cardamom and cayenne. Nightcap Dessert Bar also serves custom dark chocolate truffles from Petaluma artisan producer Mad Chocolates, formulated specifically to complement Barber Lee's Manhattan cocktail.
Taste Petaluma is open 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, with a phone number of 707-971-7107 for reservations or questions. The space carries what the magazine describes as a neighborhood-lounge atmosphere with an industrial-chic edge. Beyond daily tastings, the venue has a track record as a community gathering spot, having hosted an annual deviled egg competition benefiting Petaluma People's Services and a Holiday Food Fair for local producers, according to the same Brew Ha Ha Podcast episode.
Shoppers looking to round out a downtown outing can walk a few minutes to Blanton's Boot and Hat on Petaluma Boulevard, which carries cowboy boots and hats, leather handbags and belts, turquoise jewelry and other western-inspired goods, and even lets customers customize hats with various adornments. The pairing fits into Petaluma's broader draw for visitors: Sonoma County's travel industry generated $2.4 billion in visitor spending and $231 million in state and local tax revenues in 2025, supported by 10.5 million annual visitors, according to Sonoma County Tourism. For the Barbers, folding four brands into one Washington Street warehouse is a bet that the same tourism wave — and plenty of loyal locals — will keep finding their way to the door.
