Char Vale Vineyards and Winery — Attraction in California

The wine is solid but the ownership ruined the experience. We visited Char Vale about a month ago and enjoyed nearly all of the wines served. This is rare in my experience. The tasting room host at the tasting was friendly and informative. We liked it enough to join the wine club. At that point most vineyards would wave the two tasting fees, Char Vale did not, but hey it’s pretty good wine and we were assured our membership would cover future tastings for the two of us.

Two weeks later we returned and decided to invite two local friends. The man who had hosted us before seemed to recognize us and welcomed us back. One of the owners introduced herself to us and then seated us. Shortly after seating she brought out a form for our membership, she apparently could not find any record of our membership. This seemed distasteful in front of our friends but again she returned having found out her membership list (I’m assuming paper) was out of date.

We enjoyed the wine and the friendly host (Nick I think), though one of our guests had to leave after the first glass. At the end of the tasting the host came as it was closing time and charged us for the two guest tasting. Though it would have been nice to waive one since he only had a single glass, it was still fair, and we paid and tipped 20%.

Shortly after paying, the owner comes out with another POs machine to charge us again for the tastings. She insists that there is no record of payment, in front of our guest, and asks for payment again. I show her proof of my transaction in my credit card app, and she still seems to insist we pay. After a somewhat heated argument she leaves it with a threat to charge the card on file with the wine club after doing some more research.

To say the least, this is the worst hospitality I have received from a winery ever. We will fulfill our initial wine club order and then never return to this winery again…. I can tell the owners seem to like to respond to these reviews, so I’ll just add, they have our email on file and could have apologized for the misunderstanding at anytime in the week I waited to post...

We recently stayed at the Inn at Occidental that hosted a Valentine's Dinner. They paired the evening with several wines. We started with Rose of Pinot Noir from Char Vale. This Rose was delicious! In talking with other guests and the owners, we said, we were going to stop at Char Vale on the way home to purchase the Rose of Pinot Noir. Not only for us but for a friend that we know loves Rose (we wanted to surprise our friend with this Rose gift). When we arrived Nicholas (manager) greeted us as we stepped out of our car. You could feel his genuine warmth. We went in thinking we were on our way home and just were going to grab the Rose and sample some wine. It turned into great conversation and knowledge from Nicholas about the wines specifically the Rose that we were interested in purchasing. 2 hours later we left not only friends (sharing stories of SF and the Wine Country) but happy to visit a winery that is family run and not just a big business. Loved it so much we walked away after tasting and purchasing several really amazing wines and a ton of knowledge about what we were tasting and buying. We learned a lot about the makeup of the wines that I just called my friend to let her know we picked up the Rose for her and a few for us. We also had the pleasure of meeting Valerie (owner) so nice and down to earth. You can tell the pride she takes in her winery. Nice breath of fresh air. We talked about reserving a space and bringing in our own lunch in the future while we sample and enjoy the view. We also purchased the pinot gris...

Come for the wine, stay for Nick’s stand-up set disguised as a tasting.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have your soul simultaneously soothed by a decent Chardonnay and tickled by a man with the wit of a retired late-night host turned winemaker, Char Vale Winery is your place.

Let’s talk about Nick — part wine whisperer, part human dad joke dispenser, all-around legend. His charm is somewhere between George Clooney and your favorite uncle who maybe had a podcast once. Within five minutes of our tasting, he had us laughing so hard we almost choked on a perfectly crisp sip of not terrible Chardonnay (their words? No. But let’s be real: too many Chards taste like buttery regret. This one did not.)

Nick guided us through the tasting like a comedic sommelier who moonlights as the MC at a wine-themed comedy club.

By the end of our visit, we had bought a couple of bottles. Even thought about getting a bottle of Chardonnay (again, NOT terrible — refreshingly bright, lightly oaked, and zero aftertaste of disappointment).

Bottom line: Come thirsty, leave happy, and maybe a little buzzed — from the wine and the laughter. Char Vale is now my new happy place, and Nick is my spirit guide with a...