Ventana Vineyards
Categories: Beer, Wine & Spirits, Wineries [Edit]
2999 Salinas Hwy Ste 1Monterey, CA 93940 (831) 372-7415
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Good for Kids: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
9 Reviews for Ventana Vineyards
Ventana made for a fun stop. The staff was very friendly and told you a lot about their wines and they had some yummy chocolates to go with some of them.
The staff was a bit more enthusiastic about their wines than I was. Nothing really wowed me but nothing was awful either.
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omg, i've lived in the monterey area for over 10 years and have never been to this place. AND it's down the street from where i work. who knew?! =)
any way, grace b. did a wonderful job of finding this spot for us to relax and enjoy some tasty (TASTY) wine. we did start a little late because of two of the girls (lame), but i'm glad that our host was such a nice, laid back (super funny) person.. we didn't feel rushed or anything once we got started.
we didn't taste all of the white wine because we mentioned most of us drink reds, but the 2005 sauvignon blanc and "gold stripe" chardonnay were pretty good. my favorite was the last two that we tasted, the magnus red bordeaux and the muscat d'orange. my little sister bought me a bottle of the magnus and a bag of the cabernat, chocolate covered blueberries (YUM) as a bridal gift.
i think this is a great place to relax, taste some wonderful wines and you might even get a little lesson on the proper way to taste wine (i love richard!).
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I am in love with an older man named Richard. Seriously. I loved him. I was literally about 2 seconds away from asking him to go to dinner with us later that evening. He was charming, friendly and funny and never made us feel stupid about the wine tasting.
I planned a bachelorette party and we started out with a private wine tasting. Unfortunately, 2 of the girls were late (effin' slacker asses) so we got started late. Fortunately, Richard let us hang out and didn't try to push us out of the winery even though we were running late.
Just the wine tasting itself was $12/person, but if you wanted some cheese, crackers and fruit (grapes) it was $15/person. I opted to include the cheese and fruit platters since dinner wasn't until 8. The cheese was delicious.
The wines weren't bad either. I enjoyed them. Maybe a little too much. I got light-headed. haha! It could also be because I had been running around since 5AM to make sure that everything was going to go off without a hitch... And I hadn't eaten anything all day except for a blueberry muffin...
Or maybe I'm just that much of a lightweight. hehe.
Some of the girls bought a bottle of wine and some of those divine chocolate covered blueberries and I think all of the girls enjoyed themselves. We had a group of 6, but it looks like they could accommodate maybe 12 or so in their outdoor tasting area.
Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a better start to our evening. We had a wonderful time and I'd recommend it to anyone.
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A wonderful experience!
The 2005 Gold Stripe Chardonnay---fantastic!
The woman pouring was great, friendly, and knowledgeable (makes me wish I could remember her name). There were several small groups of people there, so the winery was busy, but not overcrowded. The pace was pleasantly slow (lingering, not dragging), and we tasted a wide variety of wines. I applaude Ventana for attempting a Tempranillo wine, but at the moment, their $40 wine does not show as well as many $15 Spanish Tempranillos you can find. Age, or more experience in later vintages, may improve this wine, and it's worth trying.
If you want to visit a winery in Monterey, you can't do better than this one.
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2005 Gewurztraminer (Monterey) Arroyo Seco Estate
2005 Goldstripe Chardonnay (Monterey)
I had my 30th Birthday get-together here. We all sat down, got educated, tasted wine, and then came the appetizers. It was beautiful, and we had it outside.
The staff was wonderful from the first time we visited to make sure that is where we wanted the event. They worked well with my best friend in organizing, pricing, and appetizer ordering. All I cared about was the wine, the beauty, the education, and a relaxing time for my friends and family. And...that's just what we got!
The Monterey/Salinas/Carmel Valley area is a great alternative to the crowded Napa/Sonoma wine tasting experience.
Located within minutes of downtown Monterey, Ventana Vineyards tasting room is quaint. It is housed within an old cottage and has a great patio with tables and a fire pit which completes the whole experience.
The staff is extremely informative and gives you a lot of useful information. For instance, I learned that a majority of wines made in California use grapes from the Monterey area. Also, the climate is absolutely perfect to make Pinots and Chardonnays. The only other place with warm days and cool nights are found is in the Mediterranean.
The wines are a little expensive, but they are worth it! Loved their Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Sauv Blanc.
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A very nice place to do a wine tasting, as they have a wide range of wines and the tasting does cover many of them. Several of their $10-$20 bottles of white wines are pretty good, although I am less impressed by their reds. Be prepared, as the tasting room is rather small so it can get crowded, but otherwise a nice relaxed atmosphere.
This was our favorite stop in the Monterey wine region. The server practically forced us to try about a dozen wines, all the way from their $4 off-brand to $60 bottles. We willingly complied and ended up buying 5 bottles, including the $4 bottle, which was surprisingly good.
Our server was great. Made us feel really comfortable asking dumb questions. The antithesis of a wine snob.
We really liked the wines. Unlike some wineries, they had a real nice variety to choose from. They had a number of their wines on sale. That was also an unexpected bonus.
It is about 5 minutes from downtown Monterey.
There is no charge for the tasting, which was nice.
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