Carruth Cellars offers four unique venues for your next event! Looking for a large space? Our Solana Beach winery or our Wine Garden could be the perfect fit! Looking for something more intimate? Check out our Carlsbad tasting room and our original Cellar on Cedros! Private events are best suited for groups greater than 20 people and less than 200 people.
This is the place to go if you want some good valued Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot. I really liked their $20 per couple cheese and wine pairing. The people were very friendly and laid back which really fit this wonderful boutique cozy winery.
Boutique winery. Appointment only but that ensures that they can make time for you to taste in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Very informative and the wines were outstanding. Not inexpensive but not overly pricey either.
Wine Maker Jon Priest and General Manager, is dedicated to inspired winegrowing. His focus is on cultivating grapes in optimal locations with ideal conditions to produce wines of exceptional world-class character. Through his intentional winemaking approach, he aims to express the intrinsic qualities of each varietal while highlighting their unique characteristics and a distinct sense of place.
In 1982, Etude was established in the cool-climate Carneros region with the aim of producing world-class Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir is the most appropriate vehicle with which to study wine growing, precisely because of its demanding nature but also because of its delicacy and transparency. Make no mistake it is a humbling pursuit, but when it’s right, Pinot Noir is a glorious and moving thing. It is in the pursuit of that experience that we all work.
A life-long interest in fine food and artisan craft led, Proprietor and Winemaker, Rick Davis to the wine industry. With graduate work in soil sciences and his first experience as a cellar-hand for Rivendell Winery, a small winery in New Paltz, NY, he quickly learned the trade and excelled to Winemaker. In order to pursue this newfound passion, his move to Sonoma County, CA left him in the perfect place to master winemaking and focus on Pinot Noir.
The gentleman in the tasting room, Scott, was friendly, knowledgeable and just nice to be around making our visit even better. He told us the tasting room have been open only three weeks which was hard to believe given the fabulous design, product displays and sense of organization. Oh dog friendly too!
The brilliant white stucco stands out dramatically against the rugged Mayacamas and Vaca mountain ranges that flank each side of Napa Valley. Mount Saint Helena makes a lovely distant backdrop. The tour is self guided so it's at your own pace and the gondola ride is unique for the area. It's also one of only wineries that's on a hill in the middle of Napa Valley so the views are to die for. My only suggestion would be (if you enjoy wine clubs) to join the wine club before you go. You can get on the gondola for free for up to 4 people and the tour is included as well. That pays for one of your months of wine right there. Then, you get access to the VIP tasting room which is fantastic.
The best part about the tasting room is the staff. I enjoyed someone taking the time to talk to me about what I was drinking. Also, there is an adorable outside patio where you can sit and sip your wine. Plenty of buttery breadsticks and fresh water refreshed our palates between sips. Such an experience helped us to trust our own responses to the wine. Bryanna allowed us to explore the wines without overloading us with facts about the grapes or winemaking process. She responded to our questions with sensitivity and no hint of arrogance. All of us came away from the experience with a heightened awareness of the care with which Elizabeth Spencer wines are sourced and crafted. The reds we tasted were distinctively delicious, each proudly representing its appellation and the winemaker's skill.
Cornerstone/Stepping Stone didn't disappoint and ended up with a fantastic wine tasting experience from start to finish. Its small, but tasteful wine room makes you feel as if you are being welcomed to the vinter's home. Its cozy tables and bar tables offer some fantastic pours with a plethora of wines whether it is syrah, sauvignon blanc, or syrah. However, it is their cabernet that truly shines. Yet everyone's taste is different and while your experience might be different, I certainly think it is worth the experience. The staff are knowledgeable and helpful. They aren't pushy, however they explain the nuances between each wine they have crafted and what sets it apart from other wineries in the area. Prices are rather reasonable with a its higher price Cornerstone wines and its "price friendly" Stepping Stone series. Certainly a great wine room when you are on a tour of Napa!
The winery's portfolio includes the Maboroshi Estate Pinot Noir, Spring Mountain York Creek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and a Los Carneros Chardonnay. Some Pinot Noir grapes are sold to DeLoach for a vineyard-designate bottling. The Maboroshi wines are sold on the website.
