Reservations are a must! Call a couple of weeks ahead of time, so you get the day and time slot you want. They only have two time slots, either 10am or 2pm. The wine tour and tasting runs about three hours (half tour, half tasting), but it's totally worth it! The winery grounds are gorgeous. Great scenic views. The tour and tasting combo is $40, but it's waived if you buy an equivalent amount of wine. Sweet! Their bottles range from about $25 to $50 depending on what you get.
MENDELSON WINES are hand-crafted gems, produced in small lots in Napa, California, from the finest California vineyards.
Palmina is more than a winery. It is a philosophy, a passion and a strongly held belief that wine is an extension of the plate, a component of a meal and a means to bring people together. Formed by winemaker Steve Clifton in 1995, Palmina is named in honor of Steve’s great friend Paula. Like a grandmother to him, she taught Steve to love cooking, wine and the Italian lifestyle and was a spark in his life. After Paula succumbed to breast cancer, Steve found that her given name on her Italian birth certificate was Palmina, and the winery was thus fittingly named.
Truckee River Winery was established 23 years ago with the vision of sourcing quality grapes, bringing the fruit to Truckee in order to take advantage of the high elevation and cold temperatures to naturally cool the fermentation and slow down the barrel aging process. Thus becoming the highest and coldest winery. Truckee River Winery's focus from the beginning has been to produce handcrafted wines with great structure and finesse. Their award winning Pinot Noir is the winemaker's,Russ Jones, pride and joy.
River Grove Winery produces fine dry estate wine and Sparkling Wine from grapes selected out of a large vineyard. The white wines produced are Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Blanc de Blanc (Chardonnay Sparkling Wine) and soon Sauvignon Blanc will be added. The Red Wines produced are Syrah, Merlot and Sparkling Shiraz. The winery sells direct to consumers or through distributors. All wines released have medals from international tasting competition.
Cardinale Estate is an ultra premium wine estate located off of Highway 29 on top of a small natural hill. This is the site of the old Robert Pepi winery and after selling his Pepi Winery Robert is now running his own boutique label called Eponymous which we have reviewed here. Cardinale is visible from the main highway. The stone building is classy and elegant with great views of the Napa Valley from its hillside location. This is a high end winery specializing in merely one wine each year, a Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition, this location serves as a hub for tasting some of the Jackson Family's high end Napa labels, all of which we have reviewed.
Homewood Winery is more personal and intimate. If you want a less touristy wine experience then you must visit this place. The owner is a 6'7" gentle giant with a warm personality and welcoming manner.
Bell is an incredible winery in Yountville. If you can, book a private tour and tasting where you'll get the full story behind the single clone Cabernets and their winemaker Antony. If you're lucky, Maggie will do your tour. Brace yourself for the Clone 6!
Fetzer Vineyards was founded in 1968 in beautiful Mendocino County by Barney and Kathleen Fetzer. One of the first California wineries to branch out into serious Chardonnay production, Fetzer remains committed to sustainability and environmentally conscious wine production. Dennis Martin oversees all wine-making at Fetzer and is assisted by Charlie Gilmore and Michael Chupp, who are in charge of white wine making and red wine making respectively.
The history of the Bertagna family farming and winemaking began centuries ago in Italy. The Bertagnas have been almond farmers for four generations, a tradition Berton Bertagna continues today. Berton's great grandfather made wine for his friends and family in Italy and continued the practice when he immigrated to Chico through Ellis Island in 1912. While the family continued farming almonds, the art of winemaking skipped two generations before being started again by Berton, through the encouragement of his wife, Carol.
