Cardinale Estate — Attraction in Yountville

It was a beautiful tasting room, with a million dollar view, and a weird tasting experience. The wine was okay, but at their price point in the immediate area, you can get far superior wines coupled with outstanding hospitality and class.

The sales tactic felt very much like the "Emperor's New Clothes". Being a "boutique" winery, why would they force you to buy 3 bottles of the same exact wine at the minimum of around $250+ a bottle? Why can't you choose 3 different bottles? Why can't you just buy one if it's such a small production? It doesn't make any sense and seems suspicious. They are just trying to upsell their wines to people who don't know any better and are primed to buy wine.

The wines were also not the focus of the tasting. We always appreciate hearing someone's life story, but our hostess, Anne, couldn't stop talking about herself and her resume. Whenever we could get a word in, we had to ask about the wines. She didn't even explain the food pairing and when we asked she said, "I want you to take your own journey." She also made us feel uncomfortable by telling belittling microaggressive jokes about Filipinos, which my husband and I are, along with both sets of parents who were also at the tasting.

We were told, in a hushed tone, that we should buy a package of bottles otherwise we would have to pay for the wine tasting. Rude. I'd rather pay for the tasting instead of getting ripped off for 3 of the same prosaic bottles. We were complimentarily invited to the winery so she should have never condescendingly whispered that to us in the first place. So unproffesional. I wish we had not accepted the invitation and had spent our time...

A premier wine experience! Cardinale does one thing and they do it extremely well. Their cab blends are full bodied and built to last. The experience was one of the most refined I’ve ever had. No tour, no extra splashes, no special additions, just three vintages of their signature cab blend. The do pair it with an incredible array of cheeses, savory crackers, duck breast!, marinated mushrooms, and a savory “fig cookie.” We wish we hadn’t eaten lunch before hand.

A special experience but not cheap. And the sell their wines in a 3-pack so expect to pay over $1000 to take some home. But, the tasting alone was worth the price of...

Snobs- Stopped by to enjoy a wine tour on our last day in Napa. The place was empty but we were informed by two associates that they were busy and wine tastings were by appointment only. The cost was $100 per person. They said they had a tasting scheduled for the time we were there and the only time they had open for a tasting was was 10;30 am the next day. We hung around outside and took some photos but never saw anyone show up. We went instead to Sterling winery at the top of a hill on a tram ride and had a fantastic tasting experience. Will never return to the snobs...