A Radically Intentional Restaurant & Wine Bar with Lauren Feldman and Tanner Walle of Valley Bar & Bottle

Cru | Wine Industry Podcast

Valley Bar & Bottle is a neighborhood restaurant, wine bar, and wine retail establishment that simultaneously reveres and revitalizes Sonoma cuisine and hospitality. Launching as a dinnertime restaurant, Valley will gradually incorporate daytime services.

Valley aims for a sustainable approach to all aspects of its business, from waste-reducing and eliminating practices to radical intentionality behind the economy and environment they will create for their employees. As Sonoma locals, they’re looking for creative ways to support and promote the community. They are dedicated to making sure those that work alongside them are able to live fully in the place they serve.

Lauren Feldman and Tanner Walle, two of the co-founders, manage the small front-of-house team, while co-founders Emma Lipp and Stephanie Reagor helm the back-of-house. The beverage program includes local producers as well as imports, with an emphasis paid to organic & biodynamic agriculture practices. The menu is driven by the availability of seasonal produce and the offerings of local purveyors, and influenced by the team’s travels and personal history.

Lauren was born and raised between Sonoma and Santa Rosa in Sonoma Valley. Her studies took her to Indiana, Italy, and then New York, where she became immersed in the food and wine world. Her professional background is in wine sales and branding with an emphasis on restaurant beverage direction + management, winery hospitality + management, brand development and event production. With over a decade of hospitality and beverage management experience, Lauren has managed restaurants & wine lists from New York (L’Artusi, Anfora, west~bourne), to Nashville (Husk), and back to her native California (Molina, CALA).

In 2010, Lauren returned to Sonoma County to develop a closer connection to wine production, starting with launching the hospitality program at Scribe Winery, where she managed the tasting room and events for 4 years. As a harvest intern at Foradori Winery in 2014, Lauren affirmed her passion for biodynamic practices and natural winemaking. In 2015 she started SurPointe, where—with a focus on like-minded producers—she has launched wine brands, grown restaurant beverage programs, and overseen creative collaborations bridging the divide between wine and hospitality communities nationwide. In 2016 she oversaw the creative development and implementation at Napa newcomer Ashes & Diamonds as Director of Sales and Marketing. That same year she received her WSET Diploma certification.

After juggling many roles and tasks at once, Lauren is eager to bring her varied skills together to build a program and community in Sonoma, the town where she was raised and has again called her home for the past 9 years.

Tanner Walle’s career in hospitality spans over a decade, with rolls as both GM and beverage manager for some of New York City’s most well-known wine establishments. Most notably, under the guide and mentorship of James Beard Award-winning sommelier Paul Grieco, Tanner oversaw operations and hospitality at Terroir wine bars, a quintessential helm for both aspiring and veteran wine professionals alike. There, Tanner would help to craft and pioneer a wine and hospitality program many restaurants and wine bars still model today.

In 2015 he orchestrated the opening of The Riddling Widow, a discrete Champagne bar frequented primarily by winemakers and other industry pros.

Beyond restaurant work, Tanner spent much of his tenure in NYC as a consultant for many large-scale wine and hospitality events, including with NBC, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, PBS and LinkedIn. Tanner would also contribute on panels for NY Champagne Week, Social Media Week and New York Cider Week.

Tanner is excited to bring his New York City expertise and love for hospitality and beverage education to the community of Sonoma.