Chris Van Alyea can pinpoint the exact moment he fell in love with wine. Although the owner of Solterra Winery & Kitchen spent his childhood amid the vineyards of Sonoma, it wasn't until after he graduated from college that he tried his first glass of zinfandel. That did it for him. He soon found himself working with a wine distributer, making his own small-batch wine, taking viticulture classes, and singing odes to wine in the moonlight.

Fast-forward 14 years and you'll find that Chris is an established winemaker at a massive two-building winery near the beach. He distills all his experience into every bottle he makes, focusing his palate on the grapes he knows—those harvested in Sonoma, Paso Robles, and Baja Mexico—aged in French oak barrels. These pair great with selections from the winery's kitchen, where chefs translate the organic, all-natural ethos of coastal cooking into fresh takes on Mediterranean favorites.