FAQ TASTINGS
The Best Wine & Food Tasting Experience - Period!
Bringing you enjoyment through wine and food is our primary goal.
Tasting wine gives you the chance to develop your own knowledge and culture; a chance to increase your awareness of wine that provides nourishment for your body and spirit; so discovering new wines can be a fun and personally rewarding experience.
Our natural wines are made to delight you with their flavors and work with the foods you like to eat. We don't advertise and we don't sell our wines through brokers, distributors, stores or restaurants. Virtually all our wines are acquired by our wine club members so this is your only chance to taste them.
Our natural wines are made to delight you with their flavors and work with the foods you like to eat. We don't advertise and we don't sell our wines through brokers, distributors, stores or restaurants. Virtually all our wines are acquired by our wine club members so this is your only chance to taste them.
We are all used to drinking wine with meals, usually in a relaxed and convivial setting but developing the art of tasting wine is essential in order to get the most out of your enjoyment of wine.
The good news is that not all tasting sessions are taken as seriously as you might think, and with the fun and frivolity we inject into our tasting sessions the essential elements of tasting become easy to learn and will help you to identify and understand the kinds of wines you enjoy.
The good news is that not all tasting sessions are taken as seriously as you might think, and with the fun and frivolity we inject into our tasting sessions the essential elements of tasting become easy to learn and will help you to identify and understand the kinds of wines you enjoy.
There is an overabundance of advertising as to why you should buy particular wine usually touting high scores from wine competitions or industry pundits or reviews in wine magazines.
None of these broad, consumer-oriented marketing messages have any true value in your personal assessment of a wine.
With your five senses you are fully equipped to evaluate wine on your own by engaging in the process of wine tasting, an act of personal cultural development and one which expresses respect for the wine and the people, place, ideas and tradition which led to the creation of that individual wine.
None of these broad, consumer-oriented marketing messages have any true value in your personal assessment of a wine.
With your five senses you are fully equipped to evaluate wine on your own by engaging in the process of wine tasting, an act of personal cultural development and one which expresses respect for the wine and the people, place, ideas and tradition which led to the creation of that individual wine.
Your feedback is important to us. Conscious and attentive consumers encourage us to develop better wines, of higher quality and healthier, respectful both for the environment and the health of our customers.
We are open for tastings every day from 11 am through 7 pm for tastings by appointment.
- Wine & Cheese Pairings
- Location: 134 Matheson St. Healdsburg
- When: Daily at 11:00 am, 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:30 pm and 5:00 pm.
- Food & Wine Pairings
- Location: 18 Matheson St. Healdsburg
- When: Daily at 12:00 noon, 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm.
- Appointments required for guaranteed seating.
- Late arrivals - table will be held for a maximum of 15 minutes.
- Walk-in appointments and groups subject to available space.
- Please understand - when we say we are full - we are full!
Tasting Room Locations
- The Original ~ 134 Matheson Street, Healdsburg CA 95448 Directions →
- Eighteen & Bill's Cellar ~ 18 Matheson Street, Healdsburg CA 95448 Directions →
Each quarter we develop new recipes, spices and cheese pairings for the wines we select for each tasting flight.
- All tastings are seated and include food service.
- Allow about 90 minutes for your tasting.
- Reservations are subject to cancellation for guests who are more than 15 minutes late.
- We can not permit any outside food or drink to be brought into the tasting room
- Please advise us of any allergies or food preferences you may have when you book your tasting reservation. Our winery chefs can accommodate nut allergies, pescetarian, vegetarian and vegan diets and gluten free restrictions if given advance notice of your requirements.
Healdsburg is the confluence of a series of valleys which stretch out in different directions, each with its own soil structure and micro-climate. Interestingly, these valleys and the bench land that divides them provide ideal growing conditions for various different types of wine grapes.
Russian River Valley with its marine influence gives us the ability to grow Burgundy varietals such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Dry Creek Valley and Sonoma Valley are ideal for the right bank Bordeaux varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Franc while Alexander Valley and Napa Valley favor left bank Bordeaux varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The bench land favors the Rhone varietals such as Syrah and Grenanche.
Best-in-the-world quality fruit of all these varieties can be grown here and all within an hour's drive. It is the most challenging and rewarding place on earth for a winemaker and produces some of the greatest wines for wine lovers.
Russian River Valley with its marine influence gives us the ability to grow Burgundy varietals such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Dry Creek Valley and Sonoma Valley are ideal for the right bank Bordeaux varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Franc while Alexander Valley and Napa Valley favor left bank Bordeaux varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The bench land favors the Rhone varietals such as Syrah and Grenanche.
Best-in-the-world quality fruit of all these varieties can be grown here and all within an hour's drive. It is the most challenging and rewarding place on earth for a winemaker and produces some of the greatest wines for wine lovers.
We love our dogs and your furry friend is welcome — as long as he's a well-behaved registered service dog. Naturally you don’t want someone tripping and falling so we ask that all visiting dogs are kept on a lease with a maximum length of two feet.
Our tasting rooms are designed to provide a taste of our award-winning wines, paired with food samples prepared by our winery culinary staff and presented by our wine educators.
We are legally required to only serve people over 21 years of age so our tasting rooms are places where adults can experience our wines and make a decision to buy them or have them delivered regularly via our wine club.
We have a duty to our customers to maintain an ambiance appropriate to the enjoyment of fine wines and foods.
Our license to serve alcohol is restricted to serving glasses of wine. We are not a bar nor are we a restaurant. We simply cannot cater for impromptu requests for water, soft drinks or food service.
Before starting out, putting all that stuff in the car, rounding up the little tykes, etc., - ask yourself this - "Do you really want to take your kids wine tasting with you?"
If your answer is yes then we welcome your kids — as long as you are willing to supervise your own children and they're well-behaved and respectful of other guests in the tasting room.
Simply call us for an appointment to visit our 18 Matheson Tasting Experience with your kids. Tell us how many and their ages so we can be prepared to make their visit as happy an experience as yours.
We are legally required to only serve people over 21 years of age so our tasting rooms are places where adults can experience our wines and make a decision to buy them or have them delivered regularly via our wine club.
We have a duty to our customers to maintain an ambiance appropriate to the enjoyment of fine wines and foods.
Our license to serve alcohol is restricted to serving glasses of wine. We are not a bar nor are we a restaurant. We simply cannot cater for impromptu requests for water, soft drinks or food service.
Before starting out, putting all that stuff in the car, rounding up the little tykes, etc., - ask yourself this - "Do you really want to take your kids wine tasting with you?"
If your answer is yes then we welcome your kids — as long as you are willing to supervise your own children and they're well-behaved and respectful of other guests in the tasting room.
Simply call us for an appointment to visit our 18 Matheson Tasting Experience with your kids. Tell us how many and their ages so we can be prepared to make their visit as happy an experience as yours.
Our wines are meant to be enjoyed at the table by our club members so we are not focused on producing one "flagship" wine.
We provide the same degree of focus on every single wine from Sauvignon Blanc to Cabernet Sauvignon that's why they all taste like "flagship" wines.
This is a great place to work, just ask any of our people or check us out on Yelp and Trip Advisor. With more than 500 five-star reviews our people are the best!
Here are tips from wine industry journalists on how to best enjoy your wine tasting experience an any winery:
- Wear comfortable clothes and shoes
- Don't wear perfume or cologne
- Turn off your cell phone
- Finish your coffee or food before entering
- Allow your hosts to seat you
- Supervise your children or dogs and keep them with you
- Be open-minded about varietals like Rose or Merlot
- Remove your hand from the glass while wine is being poured
- Wine experts actually like Whites as well as Reds
- If it tastes good go ahead and swallow
- Do buy wine - it keeps a lot of Americans employed
- Refrain from discussing politics, religion or other opinionated topics
- "Industry" means you are 100% employed in a winery
- Be nice - enjoy the experience - its basically free wine
- It's against the law to smoke in or within 20 feet of a tasting room entrance
- Its not good to start a tasting expecting friends to join you "soon"
- Your tasting lineup generally consists of the wines being poured
- Its difficult for two people to share a glass, so don't
- Its not nice to be that loud person who just sounds like a drunk
- Tipping is OK - Buying wine is better
- If you over-consume why expect to be served more
- Wine scores only influence people who can't taste
- Talking about other wineries is impolite to your host
- Refrain from washing your glass with water between wines
- It's not cool to show up at closing time expecting to taste