The best winery! Make sure to come here to try unique zinfandels . You can tell this little oasis…read moreis going to be good from the moment you step into the tasting room. It's so nice to have a personal tasting experience with the actual owner himself. Each bottle has its own story. The tastes are different, but all are amazing!! Would 10/10 recommend coming here again. Also if you purchase a bottle of wine the tasting is *free* which is lovely compared to similar tastings for $50.

Nice quiet stop along Dry Creek Road where we were greeted by the owner and winemaker…read more Michael Talty is a wealth of knowledge and is more than willing to share it. I learned what a field blend is. We both enjoyed the wines and bought a fair amount. I think they will benefit from a few years of aging. As others have mentioned, if you need a break from some of the more commercial, busier tasting rooms, this is a nice stop.

A West Dry Creek Road outside of Healdsburg true gem of a winery. Appointment only as this is a…read moresmall production family winery. You will be happy to have spoken with Jerry and his family for the pleasure of experiencing their craft as growers and winemakers. Enter the gate through the vineyard and make your way to the wine cave for an amazingly fun wine drinking (aka tasting) event. Jerry (owner/grower/winemaker/story teller/historian) will engage you with his stories and knowledge about his vineyard and vintages. Note the two distinctive hillside vineyards (Red and Brown aptly named) of Syrah planted. Beautiful! After a brief and fun back lesson on the soil and volcanic history of this teroir...enter the cave for a tour de force of wine enjoyment. Syrah and a touch of Viognier are the focus...Open yourself to these varietals and be enamored to their delicious calling. This is a true wine country experience...not your typical tasting room employee laden tales from a script...Enjoy the passion and hard work that take you to a wine journey led by Jerry a true gem himself. Cheers!

Experienced a love of crafting wine with a vision of Italy. Bring some bread and you'll get a taste…read moreof olive oil from their 100+ on site trees. There's nothing like hanging out in a wine cave with the owner, his pups and daughter with a glass of tasty 2014 Syrah... and don't forget the bread

I love this winery!…read more I came here for my birthday. I had read some write ups on their wine and found them online. Such a hidden gem. Can't believe they haven't been reviewed yet!!! Before we even visited, we joined their email blasts on their website. We ended up ordering about 8 bottles before even tasting their stuff. We visited them back in August with a larger group of 9. I had emailed them and set up the tasting. It was great for our schedule for us to taste at 9:30!!!! Earlier then most wineries open up. Sarah met our group to pour us 4 wines. She ended up pouring us 6 (one of which we had ordered blindly.) The tasting was in their warehouse. It was little different than all the other wineries we visited that weekend. Sarah even warned us that it was at the end of harvest and their might be a lot of commotion during our tasting... which I'm all about!!!! I love seeing wineries in action, you know, really getting the feel of what the wine world is all about! It ended up not being too crazy but it was a unique tasting compared to all the other tastings we had that weekend. Their wines are great!!! My hubby and I have continued to ordered wines from them! We also attended a pick up party in December. They had some new, old and library wines they were pouring as well as some brick oven pizza from a local pizzaria. We will continue to order from them and visit them every time we are in the area!!! Be sure to email them a get a private tasting!!! :) Also, not sure if it's company policy, but we had our dog with us and they were ok with him!! :) Always a plus in my book!!

Carlisle was recommended to us by our friends from their previous visit. So we came here while…read morevisiting the area. Our appt was around 2pm, and it was already pretty hot out. I have a very hard time tasting reds when it's almost 100 degrees out and not in an air conditioned tasting room. We stood in the barrel room to taste our flight. While Sarah was very sweet and nice, the wines were not hitting my palate very well. Although she pulled them from their cool, air conditioned office, they sat on the barrels for a bit and tasted a little warm to me. Their petite syrah was not my favorite. We did buy a few bottels of the 15 Syrah. They do make a good Zin, again the 15 was better than the 14 in my opinion. I think our tasting would have been better if it was in a cooler room, or maybe winter.

G&C Lurton Trinite Estate is a true hidden gem tucked away in the hills of the Chalk Hill AVA. This…read morewine experience far exceeded our expectations! Pascal, our host, took us on a vineyard tour of their beautiful property while he shared all about their wines and history. Our wine tasting also came with a delicious charcuterie board, which we all loved! We loved all of the wines and Pascal really made this experience extra special. It was a memorable and unforgettable experience and was the highlight of all the places we went wine tasting by everyone in our group. We purchased several of our favorites to cherish throughout the year.

Simply...A wine country experience like no other! A greeting from Pascal as you prepare for a walk…read morethrough the vineyards, on to the crush pad and tank room, tasting various vintages directly out of the oak barrels to an incredibly tasty selection of charcuterie and fresh baguette. Did we wind up in France? Lol...So much fun and a learning experience! These big reds with an elegant French touch are easy on the palate and great paired with food. Magnifique! Tchin Tchin!

Fantastic experience at Amphora!…read more Picture-perfect high 70 degree weather toward the end of July, and my wife and I were the only people there to enjoy the wine and time with the gentleman there. (It wasn't Rick, and we were both so sure that we couldn't forget his name ... that we forgot his name, sorry.) It was our first tasting of the day, so I like to think we got a pretty clear picture of the true high quality of the wine. They poured some smaller varietals that not many wineries have anywhere that were fun to try, and they are definitely generous overall with the number of wines they taste. The mystery wine is a fun idea as well. The wines are priced much lower than they could be in my humble opinion - it seems like expensive bottles are becoming the norm for everything these days, so this was a very pleasant surprise. I'd love if they stay where they are price-wise, but they are so good that they deserve any success coming to them, so I'm not hesitant to share. :-) We connected really well with the gentleman there, and talked about all kinds of stuff in addition to wine. He was very generous with his time, and showed us the amphorae inside as well. It's my idea of a perfect tasting - reasonably priced, fun environment, very knowledgeable and friendly people, and not rushed or crowded. If you only visit the big popular places, you're definitely missing out - try Amphora to see how the other side can be.

We came to Amphora winery as part of our tour through Napa/Sonoma. We didn't know much about this…read moreplace, but we were curious to try this wine which is made differently than any other winery in California. I've never heard of what an Amphora was before. Our tasting expert took his time to explain the whole process to us. We didn't really walk much into the barrel area itself , just a bit while he was explaining the process. They have a great variety of wines. Unfortunately I didn't really like most of them. they all taste it very young, but there were a few that were OK. We did end up buying a bottle just to support them and also because he took such good care of us. it is a very interesting process. Don't get me wrong their wine may be spectacular to others, as wine it is so subjective and really you like what you like so definitely try it out and decide for yourself. I'm just not knowledgeable enough and taste is most important to me, and I didn't find any of them to taste particularly to what I like. It is still a pretty cool place. A great experience and a very interesting process.

What a happy accident! We thought we had a tasting reservation somewhere else but turned out to be…read morejust a pickup reservation and they were already overbooked so we had an hour and a half to kill before our next tasting reservation. We pulled into the little shopping center in Kenwood and saw an open door with a tasting room that looked like they could handle an unannounced pair of visitors. The other couple that was just finishing up told us to come check them out because (in their words) it was "totally worth it". They weren't joking! We literally walked out with a bottle of everything we tasted. All their wines are single varietal which adds a challenge for any wine maker. Everything was fantastic. They were so good, I signed up for their wine club 10 minutes after we walked out the door. I almost don't want to post this because I would love them to stay a hidden secret but I just can't keep it to myself. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

An attempt was made to visit Fathia Wines tasting room on the 4th of July weekend. Amidst the…read morepandemic, we understood that 99% of the places were reservation only, so we called ahead and spoke to Pedro to make a reservation. Although due to a miscommunication we were unable to try the wine that day Pedro went above and beyond anything I could ever imagine to fix the experience. I know a lot of places claim to put their customer experience first and to care about their customers but never (AND I TRULY MEAN NEVER) in my life have I experienced such care and kindness to resolve an issue. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Pedro, for your kindness and the unbelievable followthrough. We did get to try the Moscato and the Rose and I must say the wine is so delicious! Hit the spot with my dessert wine craving! I can't wait to make the trip back to try all the other things your taste room has to offer! In the meantime, I hope your family stays healthy and safe.

Love this winery!! TBH I look for great wines that have an angle on them where I can fanagle a…read morediscount through quantity, through trade (industry) through any means necessary when the wines are Great!! These wines are upper echelon- Exceptional classification!! Awesome family run business- Tripp is Posh Spice as a smart hilarious guy, knowledgeable, friendly, entertaining and class. Class isn't usually said about us entertaining types. He's the one I first spoke to and had the pleasure of tasting through several of their beautiful portfolio with- I had Paul W and family with me. We all had a great time. Then I took on the roll of sporty spice (something catalyzed by recent advertising took me down this road - and to be fair, covid has been brutal on everyone that's half as extroverted as I am!). I recommended to several of my clients and friends that will pay for quality. There aren't any discounts here - no Trader Hoes / GrossOutlet disco buys. The Quality is Phenomenal - Excellent- Exquisite!! I Love Excellent Syrah - Donelan Family and Outstanding winemaker, David Milner, make a bakers dozen of different terroir or vineyard driven Syrahs. Also, Grenache, Viognier, Chardonnay and Pinots! Makes perfect sense for the Dynamic Sonoma Wine Country. If you'll pay for great wine - and I would jump on the wagon before they're catapulted into Cult status. Mind you these don't cost what Screaming Eagle cost or Cote Rotie in the Rhône region in France cost (another great Syrah region) They're akin in Quality but fortunately have not priced themselves outside of what real people can pay. I only know a few people paying more than 150 for a wine. I think Sporty Spice was always on the practical (read cheap) side. Unless some nice guy wants to step in and buy some of the good stuff to enjoy. I review wines on Vivino wine app and sometimes for wine competitions and you will find everything with Donelan name in the 94 to 100 Ratings. Epic!! And BTW which spice is Winemaker extraordinaire? Baby Spice. Lol. Yeah, I do need to get out more - with Mask & Gloves. Worth reaching out for - Call for an appointment- a very accommodating wine group.

We loved our tasting at Donelan Family Wines. James was a great host and we got to taste a wide…read morevariety of amazing wines. We walked out with quite a few bottles to take home and enjoy. We also got to meet the owner while we were there tasting, which was fun because it's always nice to meet the person behind the wine and the vision. A few weeks after returning home we were very surprised to receive a handwritten note in the mail from Joe Donelan, along with a customized Donelan wine bottle opener. We will definitely be back, their wines and customer service is top notch!

We had an amazing wine experience with Nicole at Optima Winery! This winery is located in beautiful…read moreDry Creek Valley and is perched up on top of a hill overlooking the valley. It's tucked away and is a true hidden gem! This was my first time visiting the winery, although was drawn there after previously enjoying an indredible Zinfandel and Knight's Valley Cabernet Sauvingnon from Optima! Ever since I tried their wines, I knew that I needed to visit and I'm so glad that we did! We enjoyed a flight of wines and we absolutely loved all of their wines! There were two other couples that joined soon after we did and we enjoyed great conversation and laughs all while sipping amazing wines! Nicole was really knowledgeable and we loved the whole experience and the wines! We purchased several bottles of our favorite wines to enjoy at a later date. We highly recommend checking them out if you are in the Dry Creek Valley area!

Some excellent wines at Optima. Nicole lead an excellent tasting experience. Some of the best…read morewine on our trip. Planning on joining the wine club. The only one after visiting 12 wineries.