Chef Dustin Valette’s Sonoma County roots run deep. He and his family live in the same Victorian farmhouse where his French great-grandfather, Honoré Valette, resided in the 1930s. He hangs homemade charcuterie, made from local heritage breed pork, in the cellar and hosts barrel tastings with winemaker friends. His most recent restaurant, The Matheson, occupies the same building in Healdsburg where Honoré once operated a French-inspired bakery. There, Dustin crafts micro-seasonal, modern wine country cuisine, drawing on a deep bench of local ingredients from artisanal California cheeses to foraged mushrooms to in-season fruit grown just down the road.
Dustin grew up playing and picking grapes in his uncle’s Alexander Valley vineyard. At 17, he left the state’s wine country to work and travel, ultimately enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America in New York’s Hudson Valley. After graduating, he cooked his way through Michelin-starred kitchens, including Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro in Napa Valley and now-closed Aqua in San Francisco, where he met his wife.
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Courtesy M Woolsey
Dustin Valette chef
The Michelin-caliber Sonoma chef crafts food-friendly wines in partnership with four celebrated California winemakers. Naples is the only place beyond Dustin’s restaurants and wine club where you can get the bottles.
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Photography by Brian Tietz
He returned to Healdsburg in 2008 to assume the role of executive chef at Charlie Palmer’s award-winning, hyper-local Dry Creek Kitchen, where he formed relationships with local growers and began working with winemakers on signature pairings for his cuisine. “I traveled the world, and I realized Sonoma County has some of the best pinot noir and chardonnay,” Dustin says.“It became my dream to not only have a restaurant but also to have a wine brand. I wanted to intertwine the two and tell this story of harmony, balance—how wine enhances a meal and how much a meal enhances a wine—they’re completely synergistic.”
He started making wine in his garage with juice from local growers and quickly realized that, although he was a skilled chef, he was only an ‘okay’ winemaker. One evening, Dustin was chatting with fourth-generation grape grower Bob Cabral. The winemaker had just left Russian River Valley winery Williams Selyem to start his own label, and Dustin joked it would be great if Bob could make wine for him. “If you cook for me,” Bob responded.
That conversation was the spark for Valette Wines, a small-production label in collaboration with four winemakers, who are masters of specific varietals: Bob Cabral (pinot noir and rosé), Jesse Katz (cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc), and Tom Rochioli and David Ramey (both chardonnay). “As a chef, I don’t work with just one person; I work with specialists in their field—the best ranchers and best farmers,” Dustin says. “When it came to making wine, I wanted to do the same thing. I wanted to work with the best.”
Together, the four bring more than a century of winemaking experience and numerous accolades into the cellar. Bob (“The Godfather of pinot noir,” as Dustin dubs him) was the first North American vintner to achieve a perfect, 100-point score from Wine Enthusiast for his 2007 Litton Estate Pinot Noir. Jesse set the record for most expensive wine bottle ever sold at charity auction when a 6-liter methuselah of his 2019 Glass Slipper Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon went for a cool $1 million at a 2021 paddle raise. Last year, Jesse’s 2021 Valette Cabernet Sauvignon received a 100-point rating from Wine Spectator—a milestone that Dustin celebrated with a wine dinner at The Matheson. The full-bodied red is bold and ripe, with aromas of cassis and peppercorn and a beautiful balance of tannins and acidity on the long finish. “We’re making wine that’s a shared vision with chefs,” Dustin explains. When winemakers and chefs work together, the wine becomes an extension of the food.
Courtesy Valette Wines
Photography by Brian Tietz
Courtesy Valette Wines
Courtesy af&co.
Courtesy Valette Wines
Courtesy af&co
Courtesy Valette Wines
Photography Brian Tietz
Valette Wines produces a mere 2,500 cases a year with a focus on single vineyards and highly acclaimed sites, like Bush Crispo in Sonoma’s cool-climate Russian River Valley. When Valette Wines debuted in 2016, the only way to sip the wines was at The Matheson or Dustin’s Michelin-rated namesake restaurant, Valette, which celebrates 10 years of infusing French technique into bright California cuisine this year. “I always had this belief that the best way to sample our wine was coming out to Healdsburg and drinking it with our food,” he says. Two years ago, Valette Wines debuted a membership wine club, extending the label’s reach while maintaining its ties to Sonoma cuisine through recipes and seasonings designed to pair with bottles.
Last fall, Valette Wines made its debut outside California with a dinner at Seventh South Craft Food + Drink in Naples. Dustin has been coming to the area for nearly a decade as a Naples Winter Wine Festival celebrity chef, and local restaurateurs have long been waiting to add his full-bodied cabernet, pinot noir bursting with notes of ripe cherry, and vibrant, minerality-forward chardonnay to their wine lists. “We’re big believers in helping out and giving back to those in need, especially when it comes to children and education,” Dustin says.
Naples marks the only place outside of Sonoma where the wines are available. Along with Seventh South (which is soon to reopen at Seventh South Waterfront in the Bayshore Arts District), you’ll find Valette Wines at Nosh on Naples Bay, The Continental, The French Brasserie, Chez Boët and The Cave Bistro & Wine Bar. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’ve never worked with anyone doing something like this,” says sommelier Sophie Crawford, the owner of Wines By Sophie, the first distributor to carry Dustin’s wines in Florida. “It’s the winning combination since he’s getting access to amazing fruit and working with renowned winemakers who know how to get the most out of the grape.”
Photography by Matt Rice
dustin valette chef
Valette Wines are exclusively sold locally at select locations in Collier County (in addition to Chef Dustin's California restaurants and wine club). See the complete list below:
Restaurants
The French @thefrenchnaples
The Continental @continentalnaples
Chez Böet @chez_boet
Seven South Waterfront @seventh.south
The Capital Grille @thecapitalgrille
Naples Fine Wine @naples.finewine
The Cave Bistro & Wine Bar @thecavebistro
Nosh On The Bay @noshonnaplesbay
Country Clubs
Twin Eagles
Grey Oaks
Collier Reserve
Bay Colony Beach Club
Courtesy Valette Wines
valette wines winery
Valette Wines debuted outside California last fall with a dinner in Naples. The lineup includes pinot noir, brut rosé, sauvignon blanc and a Wine Spectator 100-point cabernet sauvignon.