This is by far one of the best outdoor event venues in town. Several of our family members and…read morefriends have rented the Schrammsberg estate, including us, and it has been a wonderful experience every time. The owners are kind and easy to talk to, and the space is absolutely stunning, especially during golden hour (we have gotten the best photos there) ! I highly recommend this beautiful property to anyone looking to party outdoors, or just have an awesome photoshoot.

Beautiful venue! We had our wedding here in October and it was stunning. The property is so well…read moremaintained. We are so happy with how everything turned out.

Castello Vista Estate is a unique & fabulous new venue in the foothills of Grass Valley. I've been…read moreworking in the wedding & event industry as a DJ for over 15 years. I've worked at over a hundred venues all over California....and this place is special. It has beautiful skyline picturesque views for Ceremony & enjoying Cocktail hour. Then moving into the awesome new barn structure for Dinner & Dancing. This space is fully temperature controlled, with huge barn-style doors that open up to the skyline views. There are many floor-plan options. The owner, James is extremely accommodating to vendor's ideas & client's needs. He is so easy & communicative to work with (which is not always the case with other venues haha). The venue rental also comes with a Bridal suite for the Wedding Party to get ready in. If you're looking for a place that has a mix of classy, luxury-feel with that upscale country vibe....THIS IS IT!

This venue exceeded every expectation we had for our wedding day. From our very first tour we were…read moreblown away by how stunning the place was. The owner, Jim, was absolutely incredible. He was professional, attentive, and genuinely invested in making sure every detail was perfect. Our guests couldn't stop complimenting how stunning the venue was. If you are looking for a venue that combines beauty, professionalism, and amazing service this is truly the place. We cannot recommend it enough.

What a great find . Was visiting town and happened upon this little gem. Server was amazing…read more----full of information. . And I opted for a flight ----very good and reasonable at $20. But better yet ...free if buying two or more bottles . So I did! She seated me outside and lit the table top fire . It was a delightful time. I'll be back.

Beautiful drive over to Nevada City, California today for some wine tasting and browsing around the…read moretown. Very quaint and friendly people here. Our tasting was made special by Paula, pours were generous, charcuterie board enough for the three of us, Wines were excellent! Indoors or outdoors seating available, Loved the heating at the table, just a little chill in the air, beautiful setting. Bought some gifts and wine and look forward to our next trip back!

We really enjoyed it. It was very low key, relaxing atmosphere. The food and music were great!read more

If you're looking for a breathtaking escape, look no further than Naggiar Vineyards. The drive in…read moreis an experience all its own, winding through stunning landscapes filled with grazing buffalo, cattle, and horses before reaching the vines. They offer a fantastic variety--every bottle we've tried has been well-made, perfectly balanced, and packed with flavor. Highly recommend! Thank you Naggiar Winery. Follow me on Instagram - @thecannyadventurist for a deeper dive into my reviews.

A beautiful family owned winery! We arrived right at 11am on Saturday. It looks like you're pulling…read moreup to another house in the neighborhood, until you walk to the back. It was a beautiful day in March and we sat outside and enjoyed the sun and great tasting wine. The owner/wine maker and his family were kind and helpful. The wine was delicious! Highly recommend!

I had a lovely afternoon on my first visit to Montoliva. I was the guest of a member and was…read moregreeted warmly and made to feel at home from the moment we arrived. The staff are gracious and attentive and Mark is an engaging, if loquacious, host who is obviously passionate about wine and winemaking. The views alone are worth a visit. The wine is made from locally grown Italian grapes--but Mark will explain all that over a taste.

Had we known about the hotel ahead of time, it would've been a better stay…read more The hotel is not a bad place, at all. It's full of history and class. It's clean and central to many locations in town. The chief complaints I have are these: 1. The walls of the hotel are paper-thin. You can hear *everything* going on outside your door and the rooms next to yours. 2. There are no TVs in any of the rooms. For #1, nothing to be done about it but go in forewarned. For #2, not knowing that was totally our fault. The TV situation is listed on their website. But TVs are such a standard item, who thinks to look for that note..? :P Now. The best part of our hotel stay was Ulina. She was the front desk rep when we got there. She was extremely friendly and very helpful in getting us settled in. She went above and beyond her duties to make sure our 2 night stay (that turned into a 1 night stay due to job issue) was stress free and comfortable. If you stay here in the future, ask for Unlina, you will not be disappointed. :)

The ambiance was wonderful, definitely recommend going during the holidays. You can't beat the…read moreromantic lighting, striking decor, and Christmas vibes! The main dining room only has three or four tables, so I recommend calling ahead for a reservation. The shareable plates and desserts were delightful, but there were some issues with the mains: Brussel sprouts had an incredible glaze, a perfectly balanced dish. Salmon bowl was okay... kimchi and seaweed salad were excellent but the salmon tasted like the pre-marinated cuts from any chain grocery store. Large plate, I could only eat about half. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare! The portion, however, was very small. Chicken pot pie was frightful, I wish I would've taken a photo of it. Presentation was... deconstructed to say the least. It looked like a slop of filling plopped on a plate with ~half of a biscuit in the middle of the mess. A dissatisfying disappointment, especially for a $40 dish. The desserts were wonderful! Rating four stars instead of five due to the menu being an overpriced for the overall quality of the main courses. You're definitely paying to eat at a beautiful historic hotel, not for the quality of the food.

Double Oak makes some phenomenal wines at affordable prices. They could easily charge double for…read moretheir product based on how they compare with other wineries in the area. They are an example for what wine drinking should be--Simple, inexpensive and local with a complex and delicious taste. Their Zin is superb and their cabernet and merlot are smooth and a great everyday wines. The $10-$15 prices range for their bottles makes it even better. Before even seeing the prices I was sold on their wines. I buy from them every year at the Auburn Wine fest and you can find their wines at Raleys and Total Wine. I have not made it to their tasting room yet but look forward to checking it out. The only thing I would ding them for is their label. People judge wines by their labels and theirs is boring. A graphic artist could really design something cool for them.

This is one of North San Juan Ridge's true gems! If you are a wine afficianado you will not want…read moreto miss visiting Double Oak for a tasting. The owners, Bob & Ginny, are kind and informative, and it feels like you are a guest when drinking in their delicious wines and generosity. Especially on a hot summer day, coming into their cool and welcoming tasting room feels like an oasis. There is also some local artwork displayed, and they have a friendly dog to greet you. My favorite is their Zinfandels, but the Chardonnay and Rose are also amazing.

Wow, first off we were visiting Oregon House for the second time, excited to check out hiking…read moretrails and local wineries. However when we researched this winery it said "Open" to the public & till 9pm. Also had a phone number that no one answered. So we decided to drive over and check it out ourselves. A Irish lady at a booth, was rude at first then said would you like a card to her ex husband "John" whom I guess pours and "owns" the wine. We left and came back a second time. She was talking about the "local" wineries are private or you have to have an appointment!? Phone numbers do not work. And the only place to "taste" the wine is Clover Cafe? Very odd and not normal coming from the Bay Area/Napa. "Renaissance wine" what's up with that wine? And that vineyard? Weird vibes and the lady at the gate when protecting this vineyard told me to go to Clover Cafe and made us seem like we couldn't afford the wine at their "private" winery! Seems like a cult and the town. She said something about the "Fellowship" I saw a bunch of white people in hatch back cars driving in and out and realized a lot of them were locals. Very odd that this winery is only opened by appointment to the locals and there hasn't been a review of this establishment for 6-7 years. Everything is named after Greek Gods of Apollo. Which also seemed odd. Somethings not right about this place.

Distinctive. It is not always a word that springs to mind when tasting wine. Or visiting yet…read moreanother California tasting room, for that matter. All too often, the wines offered to visitors start to look and taste the same, as do the facilities and even the vineyards where the grapes are grown. Big, rich, and extracted. Ripe, lush, and decadent. Robert Mondavi's oak-soaked legacy lives on, in Napa Valley, and beyond. Not so at Renaissance. Your wine palate here will be reborn. Your senses will be heightened. You will see things differently. The usual "wine words" will not activate automatically in your brain. Your sensory wine tasting memories will search in vain for something similar with which to compare, to judge, to rank, to rate. In the end, you will give up trying to put this place in its proper wine country box, because, as you suddenly realize, that box does not even exist. You decide to reboot your system. You clear your mental cache of past tasting experiences. You clean the slate. You turn the page. You open up your mind wider perhaps than ever before. You choose to forget what a wine is supposed to taste like. You banish Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator from your overly cluttered and anxious mind. You willfully ignore what you were told to expect about this place in the Chronicle. You elect to begin again, like a child learning to read, by picking up an old book on your grandfather's shelf, opening its beautifully embossed, leather bound cover, and turning to page one. The first thing you will notice is that you are almost alone out here. The grounds are quiet and restful with a Zenlike calm emanating from the golden hillsides and green forests. The tour buses, bachelorette parties, and stretch limos are nowhere to be found. The wines are well aged, bottled in a previous century from a time when other people now retired and out of the spotlight commanded the White House or looked out at you from your television screen. A Cabernet Sauvignon 20 years old is not uncommon here. A 15 year old Bordeaux style red blend seems like an upstart teenager. A 10 year old Syrah is barely out of its diapers and is just starting to walk about on two legs like a young child. The grounds are filled with unseen mystery lurking behind the stately rows of palms and vineyard terraces on the hills where hundreds of acres of grapes once thrived. You know that this is a special place, but you are not exactly sure why. The wines in your glass suggest elegance, complexity, precision, passion, resilience, legacy, and strength. They speak of past lives and untold hours of human endeavor. They tell tales. They reflect the soils surrounding you and speak of the people who made them. They taste good, too. They are not merely of the mind, but also of heart and soul. "Wine country" wineries come and go. Ownership changes hands. Founders die, families fall apart, and corporations move in. Tasting rooms get remodeled to appeal to the tastes of millennial consumers using a new algorithm created by a Silicon Valley start up. Cult wines from coveted vineyards and accoladed AVAs that are bathed in new French oak and dialed in to precise alcohol levels are released. High scores and prestigious awards are bestowed. And yet, Renaissance wines endure. In myth. In memory. In the mouths of those who sip and savor them, one glass and bottle at a time. You will never be more present than at the very moment when the crumbling cork is removed, the bottle is gently tipped, and the contents starts to fill your glass. You stop to inhale. You pause. You lift the glass to your lips. You clear your mind. You close your eyes. And you taste as if you had never done this sort of thing before. Veritas in vino written with words you do not yet fully comprehend. But you continue to hope that, one day, probably when you least expect it, you will.