This is our most favorite winery EVER!!! Love love John Caldwell he’s one of a kind!🍷 We’re back... read more
This is our most favorite winery EVER!!! Love love John Caldwell he’s one of a kind!🍷 We’re back... read more
Unfortunately is was a rainy day so we didn't get photos outside, but this was our favorite winery... read more
This was our first stop in Napa and we arrived on a beautiful sunny day to a warm welcome from John Caldwell who delighted in taking the mickey out of us and our shiny red Mustang convertible!
Bryan Toy led our tasting and the laid-back, chatty approach was a great introduction to the region. I learned a bit about wine but mainly I just had a lovely time! The cave is beautiful and it was nice to be offered cheese and biscuits to go with the wine.
Other members of staff we encountered were friendly too.
The tasting costs $65 and they don't refund this on purchase but I'd say that the experience was worth it and there is no pressure to buy - although it's hard to resist!
I'm really glad this was our first winery experience and the style is different to others we visited which made it a great option.
The stories of John the smuggler are legendary. His wines are becoming so as well. We had the opportunity to visit his property, taste some amazing wines in his cave, and hear the stories from the legend himself. I loved Rocket Science and all of the others. We bought a bunch.
If you can arrange it...you have to go.
My husband & I were blown away by our wine tasting experience at Caldwell Winery in early July. It was truly a pleasure meeting and being served some amazing wine by the owner himself, John Caldwell. The tasting took place in a gorgeous dome-shaped room built into the walls of the wine cave. Over the course of almost two hours, John opened bottle after bottle of his delicious wine for us and one other couple to sample. In addition to the wine, we were served a variety of tasty cheeses, crackers, nuts, as well as many interesting and entertaining stories from the Napa legend himself. Unfortunately, after this off-the-chart experience, almost every winery we visited after Caldwell paled in comparision. Because of this, I would not recommend doing Caldwell as the first winery of the day and, for heaven’s sake, not the first winery of your Napa trip! It will be downhill from there! The experience is not without a cost however; $65pp tasting fee (not waived for wine purchases) and the average price of the wines we purchased was $70 per bottle. Was it worth it? Absolutely!! A visit to Caldwell will stay in our memories long after the others have faded away. Unfortunately, we missed the view due to fog. Nevertheless, it was our favorite stop in Napa and one we would highly recommend to others.
Struggling to put words around the experience at Caldwell with Brian and JFC, himself.
There's definitely nothing like it. Tons of fun and some of the best wine we've ever had.
We will definitely be back.
We visited 7 wineries this week and the Calwell tasting was top notch. First of all, the owner, Mr. Caldwell, was a charming hoot. Personable and irreverent. Very entertaining. Our tasting was lead by the only Master Cooper in North America. Fascinating. The wine were typically good, but we were able to tast bottle after bottle after bottle. We even got to taste private (non-Caldwell) wine being made on site by a third partt - out of the barrel. Before bottling. Lots of delicious cheese and breadsticks and water. Really entertaining and educational and a great value.
Brian gave us our first cave tour ever and it was our 5 winery of the day. Let me tell you the service was amazing beyond our expectations. We visited over 11 wineries and this by far was our favorite. They have the whole package from private tasting(1 on1), with amazing wine( The best we had) and awesome views. See if they will let you taste the Platinum they have its a cab and its delicous.