Sonoma County chef-vintner Dustin Valette, owner of Valette and The Matheson in Healdsburg, California, has been named chef de cuisine for the 26th annual Naples Winter Wine Festival.
Valette, an eight-time participant in the festival, also owns Valette Wines, a small-production label, in collaboration with three other California winemakers. Valette has won the Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence,” among others for his cuisine, wine and restaurant design.
Kelley Bailey, 2026 Chef Committee Chair for the festival, said Valette’s cuisine is “a true representation of wine country, blending bold, dynamic ingredients with strong community ties and collaborations with local farmers and purveyors. We are pleased to recognize his commitment to the success of the auction throughout the years and delighted to welcome him back to the Naples Winter Wine Festival for his ninth time.”
As the festival’s chef de cuisine, he will be honored among the vintners, chefs and featured sommeliers coming from around the country to create a weekend known for its one-of-a-kind wine and culinary experiences. Those names will be announced later by the Naples Children and Education Foundation, the founder of the festival.
The Naples Winter Wine Festival is scheduled for Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at The Ritz-Carlton Tiburón. Its record-breaking 25th anniversary festival in January 2025 raised more than $34 million for children’s needs.
“Having participated in the Naples Winter Wine Festival over the past several years, I have seen firsthand the awe-inspiring impact that it has on the most vulnerable children in the community,” Valette said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
“I am sincerely honored to be selected as the 2026 chef de cuisine, and I look forward to joining some of the finest chefs and vintners in the world for such an important cause.”
Valette’s ties to Sonoma County date back to the 1820s, when his great-grandfather settled in the area and opened bakeries in the buildings where his restaurants stand today. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Valette has more than 25 years of culinary experience, learning under top chefs such as Thomas Keller and Laurent Manrique.
He was executive chef at VOX Restaurant & Wine Lounge in Henderson, Nevada; and Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. In 2015, Valette and his brother, Aaron, made good on a childhood pact to open their own restaurant, Valette, with fine-casual dining that became
a local favorite.
Valette and a business partner opened The Matheson in 2021 in the original location of his great-grandfather’s bakery. The upscale farm-to-table restaurant brings a contemporary approach to micro-seasonal ingredient cooking and works with local farmers, ranchers and artisans.
