The beautiful, incredibly ornate and Victorian/ Baroque style tasting room coupled with the very friendly service makes this a great place to take out-of-towners. Barrel tasting after barrel tasting, we truly learned a lot. The final tasting was complimented by an immaculate tray of cheese, cured meats, and bread/crackers (which, let's say, we definitely needed. . .and loved).
Unlike most wineries where you pick and choose the wines you want to taste, this winery goes down its wine tasting menu for your 6 tastes. The girl at the wine bar was friendly and seemed very knowledgeable about wines in general. She was very generous with the pours.
Tantara was the name of a horse owned by Bill Cates some years ago. After Tantara was retired to pasture, she defied predictions of an imminent demise and lived to a ripe old age. Horses symbolize elegance, grace and power and in Tantara’s case, long life, all of which are qualities Tantara Winery has for their wines.
Hours:
Members online purchase only at this time
Hosted in our elegantly appointed Tasting Room and guided by our Estate Director, you and your guests will discover the unique terroirs of our Estate Vineyards as you savor a selection of six acclaimed single-vineyard wines.
Upon request and weather permitting, guests may also enjoy a scenic walk-through Skyline Vineyard followed by a tour of our Cave Winery. To ensure the intimate nature of your private tasting experience, groups are limited to no more than eight people, and reservations are required.
By-Appointment Tastings: Wednesday-Sunday
Start times at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm
Duration: 60-75 minutes
Tasting fee: $95 per person
Tours: Available upon request
Beautiful vineyard and land. Frey produces organic and biodynamic wines- and is the oldest organic winery in the country. The Frey family, 10 out of 12 children run the vineyard and live on the 90 acres. The wine was tasty. I haven't had a lot of organic wines but I liked the organic Zin and biodynamic Petite Syrah.
Donelan Wines is a journey of quality and passion: for wine, for people, for terroir expressed in a series of Rhone- and Burgundy-inspired Cuvees and Sonoma County single vineyard wines. The Donelan Family of Wines strives to produce pure unadulterated wines that are a pleasure to drink on release and will reward your patience as they age gracefully in your cellar.
Since their first vintage in 1998, Jim and Judy Schultze at Windy Oaks objective has been to produce world-class Pinot Noir that represents their unique vineyard terroir, no compromises, minimal intervention to fully preserve the grape quality achieved in the vineyard.
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.
A classy place to taste the bubbly, sample super-gourmet treats, take a tour, or join a class, J specializes in sparkling wine and has a dazzling showroom for visitors. Check out the gardens, drink in the view, and be ready for plenty of tiny bubbles.
Who would have guessed that a kid from Amherst, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Sciences (Pre-Veterinary) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Italian from the University of Massachusetts, would end up in Santa Barbara County as an up-and-coming winemaker? Benjamin Silver did just that after catching the wine bug in 1993 at a summer job at Chicama Vineyards on Martha’s Vineyard.
