This Is the No. 1 Wine Region in the U.S.—and It’s Not Napa

When most people think of California wine country, Napa likely pops to mind first. But just about 20 miles southeast, you’ll find rolling hills and a rustic oasis where friendly vintners at family-owned wineries pour flavorful, top-quality varietals at reasonable prices—and with fewer crowds.

Each year, USA Today asks a panel of experts to pick their best wine-producing regions, “considering the collections of wineries and vineyards within each region, as well as the climates and terroirs that lend themselves to distinctive flavors.” Readers then vote to pick the winner. In 2025, the top spot in the country went to Northern California’s Suisun Valley.

Only eight miles long by three miles wide, the small wine region established its AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 1982, just one year after Napa Valley. It’s only one-tenth the size of its famous neighbor, yet the diversity in tasting rooms is impressive. You can travel from a blue Victorian house to gorgeous gardens, a vintage gas station-turned-tasting room, and even an award-winning modern architectural masterpiece all within minutes.

Locals, myself included, have always known Suisun Valley is an underrated wine destination. One reason for the recent USA Today accolade might be the addition of world-renowned Caymus-Suisun. The Wagner family, who founded Caymus Vineyards in Napa’s Rutherford in 1972, opened Caymus-Suisun in 2022, putting the valley into the national spotlight as a home for excellent wines.

The tasting room’s award-winning architecture—designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, who also designed Pixar Animation Studios—features gorgeous floor-to-ceiling glass walls and 30-foot-wide sliding doors. While sipping their signature Grand Durif, you’ll feel like you’re sitting among the valley’s vines and fruit trees.

While Caymus might have put this wine region on the map, the story of Suisun Valley’s wine country stretches back much further. Wooden Valley Winery, Suisun Valley’s oldest operating winery, opened after Prohibition in 1933.

“Wooden Valley Winery is everybody’s winery, meaning there is something for everybody, and everyone is welcome,” says Ron Lanza, whose family has owned the winery for three generations.

According to Lanza, the attraction of Suisun Valley is that it’s “monetarily accessible and also physically accessible.” Tasting fees aren’t as expensive as they are in more well-known wine regions. Plus, Suisun Valley is easy to reach—it’s only five minutes from I-80. And accessibility extends to its people, too. In Suisun Valley wineries, it’s common to see owners pouring samples and mingling with guests.

Nearly every winery in Suisun Valley is family-owned, and because of this, “when you visit, you’re supporting a family, not a corporation,” Lanza says.

Inside Wooden Valley Winery’s spacious tasting room or outside at picnic tables with vineyard views, you can try anything from dry to sweet and heavy to light. Popular choices are the sauvignon blanc and the Exit Forty One, a petite sirah and cabernet sauvignon blend named after the freeway exit to Suisun Valley.

Over the decades, more wineries followed, likely because the region has the ideal climate for great wine.

The word “Suisun” means “where the west wind blows” in the area’s Indigenous Patwin language. The region’s breeze, combined with warm days and cool nights, slows the grape ripening process and allows the grapes to retain their freshness on the vine.

The balance lets winemakers create “big, bold, rich reds” and “extraordinary aromatic white wines,” according to Lisa, a second-generation farmer and owner of Tolenas Winery.

Tolenas is a good starting point for a day of wine tasting in Suisun Valley. Here, you can taste local varietals and snack on a charcuterie cone under the shade of a giant walnut tree and scattered red umbrellas.

More Suisun Valley stops should include the beautiful blue Victorian house at Vezér Family Vineyard. They’ve self-proclaimed Suisun Valley as the “Petite Sirah Capital of the World,” and they have a sign at the entrance to prove it. Bally Keal Estate, a sustainably minded Irish-owned winery, has an on-site vintage car museum, an 11-hole putting green, and, in addition to estate-grown and bottled wines, beer and spirit tastings. At Mangels Vineyards, winemaker Gina Richmond is growing her great-grandfather’s legacy, who immigrated from Italy to Suisun Valley in the 1890s. And at the Suisun Valley Filling Station, a vintage gas station-themed tasting room, you get a kick of nostalgia while sipping local wines and craft beer.

Perhaps one of the most unique Suisun Valley tasting rooms is at the famous candy maker, Jelly Belly. Here, you can sample six local Suisun Valley wines paired with chocolate made in-house.

Aside from wine tasting, Village 360 (also home to BRV Winery) has a coffee shop, a restaurant serving seasonal selections and wood-fired pizzas, and a wellness studio. At Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company, you can taste freshly milled olive oils, tour the property, and enjoy a farm-to-table meal, complete with gelato drizzled with olive oil. To stretch your legs, the 600-acre Rockville Hills Regional Park and the neighboring 1,500-acre Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park offer stunning scenery for hiking and picnicking.

Now that Suisun Valley is getting the recognition it deserves, what surprises first-time visitors most is “that it’s even here,” Lisa says. “It’s so easy to get to, but you feel like you’re worlds away.”

So, take exit 41 and linger a while in the number-one wine region in the country. There’s plenty to explore.