Sisters With Winemaking and Culinary Backgrounds Create Multidimensional Healdsburg Bubble Bar & Cuvée House
HEALDSBURG, Calif. (August 22, 2023)—Sisters with sensory-driven careers on opposite sides of the country are reuniting to open Healdsburg Bubble Bar & Cuvée House, a sparkling wine-exclusive tasting room and charming vacation rental located one block off the historic Healdsburg Plaza. Healdsburg resident Sarah Quider, who has been making wine in Northern Sonoma County for more than 25 years, is teaming up with her sister, Samantha Tilley, executive chef and owner of Mockingbird Kitchen & Bar in Litchfield, Conn., to follow their long-held dream of owning a business together. Cuvée House will begin accepting reservations on Airbnb this fall, and Healdsburg Bubble Bar is projected to open this winter.
A former athletic fashion designer with a deep passion for cooking, Tilley will move back to Sonoma County this fall to run the business after nearly 12 years at the trendy Mockingbird, while her younger sister, Quider, continues to work as Senior Vice President of Winemaking at Foley Family Wines. The two grew up in Petaluma.
“For years, we’ve talked about starting a winery together, but I already work as a winemaker, so I wanted to do something different,” says Quider, who has worked in Healdsburg since 1995 when she landed her first job at Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery. “We both have this sensory part of our work—her in the kitchen and me in the cellar—so we’ve spent our adult lives talking about food and wine. When this special piece of property became available, it seemed like the perfect place for us to start a family business that combines our passions for wine and hospitality.”
Located inside a circa-1905 Victorian house across from three-Michelin-star SingleThread, the Healdsburg Bubble Bar is situated on the street level of the property, and Cuvée House is behind and above the tasting room. The home boasts classic Queen Anne-style architecture, and both spaces are being reimaged by Myra Hoefer Design of Healdsburg with chic, Parisian-flat flare. The two places also share an address: 134 North Street, Healdsburg, CA 95448. Cuvée House is one of only two homes in the heart of downtown Healdsburg available for short-term vacation rental bookings.
At Healdsburg Bubble Bar, the sisters plan to offer wine tasting by the flight, by the glass and by the bottle, as well as weekly educational wine tastings, a wine club and bottles to-go. Closed on Tuesdays, their petite tasting room will seat 14 people indoors and six outdoors, with service from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Prepared snacks will also be available. The wine list will feature sparkling wines from across the globe, with a special emphasis on small producers and grower Champagne.
“We want to pay homage to France, the birthplace of sparkling wine, with our wine list and our interior design,” says Tilley, who is working on a succession plan at Mockingbird, which will allow her popular East Bantam-area restaurant to live on under new management.
The Cuvée House is light, bright and elegant, blending century-old bones with modern French-inspired design details, from the hardwood floors and the high ceilings’ intricate crown moulding to the mid-century light fixtures and VX-period upholstered armchairs. The home features two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room with a grand bay window, a spacious dining room, and a petite kitchen with a breakfast nook. Because the building is zoned commercial, it’s one of the few properties that’s not an inn or hotel available for nightly rental in downtown Healdsburg, due to strict zoning and conditional use permit approval required. Cuvée House is available for $880 per night with a two-night minimum. Reservations will be accepted on Airbnb this fall.
Tilley will run both businesses, while her sister continues her path as a notable winemaker who has spent her entire career in the Healdsburg area. After working her way up to executive winemaker over 20 years at Ferrari-Carano, Quider joined Foley Family Wines in 2020 when it purchased the Carano family’s wine business. She is currently Senior Vice President of Winemaking for Foley, overseeing the company’s 16 wineries from Washington, Oregon and California.
Even though Quider has never made sparkling wine, it is often her wine of choice outside of work. “I love that it’s lower in alcohol and has a lot of acidity,” Quider says. “I’ve always enjoyed drinking sparkling wine, so I thought to myself, ‘Why not do something I love in my hometown that brings something we currently don’t have? We want to create a different kind of tasting room—a place that combines sparkling wine sharing, educational discovery and celebration in a charming setting.”
About Healdsburg Bubble Bar
Located in the heart of Wine Country’s haute town of Healdsburg, Healdsburg Bubble Bar is a Parisian-chic tasting room welcoming guests to explore sparkling wines from around the globe in the charming setting of a century-old, Queen Anne Victorian home. This multidimensional wine bar, owned by two sisters with careers in winemaking and hospitality, also boasts its own Airbnb, the Cuvée House. Learn more at www.healdsburgbubblebar.com.
