Cakebread Cellars — Attraction in Yountville

What a poor experience. We were treated like we didn't matter. When we arrived I found out it was a $15 tasting fee and asked the person at the front desk if there was a better tasting we could do. Cakebread was my wife's favorite wine so I wanted the best experience possible and was willing to spend a lot more money. The response from the guy at the front: "What, are our wines not good enough for you?". That really threw me because it wasn't a joke - he was deadpan and snobby. He didn't listen when I politely rephrased to ask if there was a more expensive tasting with more rare wines. He literally turned away while I was talking and ignored me. Then he said "Here's a white" and poured a tiny pour without any introduction. We thought it was just something to sip until our tasting began - nope - it was the first wine on the list. No intro, no smile, nothing. We didn't even know what it was. We got to the tasting and the staff member said "we have five wines for you today" and we were surprised. We said we thought there were six, she looked at us like we were dumb and said "you just had one of them". What? Four of the other people in our tour were also surprised because they had been treated similarly to us. It wasn't just us, everyone was having the same experience. The pours were extremely light and we were not allowed to revisit any wines. When we asked if we could, we were told "No, we don't do that". The whole tasting had the vibe of "hurry up and get out, we don't need you, you need us, quit asking questions and be thankful we're pouring you a half oz".

Here's the thing Cakebread: We - your customers - have what you need... money. You were such a huge disapointment to my wife that you won't be getting any more money from us. Your brand is now associated with disapointment. You made my wife sad because you treated her like she didn't matter. You were her favorite wine. She'd been looking forward to a tasting at your facility for months and you totally let her down. When I think of your label I now think of the disappointment in my wife's eyes. I hope the actual Cakebreads read this and make a real change to how the staff treats the customers. When staff treats customers poorly, it's a manifestation of a systemic morale problem and not an easy fix. I hope you still care enough to fix it. You just lost two long-time devoted customers. When people ask us how our trip to Napa was we'll be answering that it was great EXCEPT for our huge disapointment in Cakebread.

Two stars because the wine was good as expected but overall we left with a sour taste that will...

Yes, the family name is Cakebread! I remember the first time I heard about the winery, probably around 1995 or 1996 and I overheard some teachers at Franklin High School in Stockton talking about Chardonnay and that it was a good wine, but it was no Cakebread. I think I remember the teachers but I will not mention their names here in a public forum. But both were highly respected teachers and wine aficionados.

I have always wanted to try their wine but in the early years their entry level wines were pretty much out of my budget (teacher budget).

Long story short, we finally made this visit a reality and it was overwhelming in the sense that this wine has been on my radar pre-millenium.

It was everything I expected and more! Our guest experience host Kathy was exceptional. She was welcoming and knowledgeable and just salt of the earth in kindness. You can tell about a person in the first few minutes and you can tell she had such respect for people in general. She even had some nice takes on the younger generation of wine fans and their motives, but I'll leave that one right there!

We ended up with 2 bottles of Cabernet and 2 bottles of Chardonnay. I would say that the Chardonnay program is next level and their concrete eggs are absolutely stunning! I could spend all day in that room. If they needed a janitor for that room I would sign up, payment in wine of course.

Thank you Kathy for making our visit fun, relaxing, and just a wonderful memory for us almost retired teachers (mostly tired these days).

If you want a Napa experience that feels high end without all the stuffy Napa stuff, Cakebread...

Woah, what an experience! This is the best wine tour experience I’ve ever had in my life, much recommended. Napa has always been our favorite place for wine tasting and this time I chose cakebread cellars for the sustainable wine tour tasting experience for my wife’s birthday. To start with, we were greeted well and had a smooth checkin experience. Our host Dean was amazing, it was a lot of fun listening to him, he really made our experience even better by giving us so much information. The tour lasted for about 1.5 hours. We walked through vineyards and learnt the difference in wine making for red and whites. We also got to see where wine is kept after the juice is extracted from grapes and got to taste fresh grapes from the vineyard. During this experience, we got to try their reserve collection of wines that doesn’t get distributed elsewhere. A little expensive as it costs 75$ per person but was totally worth. I wish they could offer some discount when you buy anything from there after the tour especially coz you pay 75$ for the experience, that’s just my two cents. We also bought a bottle of their 2022 reserve collection sauv blanc, loved all the wines served during our tasting. If you are a wine enthusiast wanting to know how the wine gets into a bottle from the vineyard grape, this is for you, I’d surely...