Come for the Pickleball, Stay for the Wine at Whitehall Lane Winery

Whitehall Lane Winery introduced Sip, Serve, Smash, a pickleball and tasting experience set among the vines with sweeping mountain views, the winery’s single professionally designed court pairs morning play with a guided tasting of Whitehall Lane’s Winery Exclusive Flight, creating a more social, energetic way to experience the valley.

Offered Sunday through Friday for groups of two to six guests, the two-hour experience includes private pickleball from 10AM – 11AM, followed by the tasting and a seasonal cheese pairing from 11AM – 12PM, with optional lunch add-ons available from Oakville Grocery for guests who wish to extend their visit. The experience is $85 per person, available by reservation, and limited to guests 21 and older who must sign a liability waiver before play.

The Leonardini family has a longstanding belief that wine should be enjoyed without formality or barriers to entry. That philosophy has guided Whitehall Lane since 1993, when Tom Leonardini Sr. left a San Francisco career behind, purchased the Rutherford estate, and opened a tasting room with one operating principle: great wine should not require a velvet rope. More than 30 years later, Whitehall Lane Winery remains one of the few wineries in Napa Valley where guests can walk in without an appointment and stay as long as the visit warrants. 

“My father built this winery with an open door, and for more than three decades and two generations we’ve welcomed guests the same way, whether someone planned their visit months ago or pulled into the driveway on a Tuesday afternoon,” said Katie Leonardini, second-generation proprietor and managing member. “That approach has shaped everything here, from how we host people to how we think about wine. ‘Come As You Are’ gives language to something we’ve quietly believed all along, and these new experiences are an exciting way for us to share it with both longtime collectors and guests discovering Whitehall Lane for the first time.”