V. Sattui Winery — Restaurant in Napa Valley AVA

I’m new to the Napa scene.

Prior to making reservations, looked into a few other wineries including the one I've been to with my family. I chose here because I was taking a friend and we just wanted something casual with food options.

Navigating their website and booking my reservation online was easy, direct. Chose Premier Outdoor Tasting with the chocolate upgrade. I feel like I booked a bit too close for comfort. Booked on 6/20 for a tasting on 6/24. Then again, I'm not sure when is the optimal time to visit.

Left Alameda around 10 a.m. for an 11:30 a.m. tasting. I'm a punctual person, so I thought I had given myself enough time to get there on time. Ha ha, of course I'm not going to tell you the multiple alarms I had set and one being that I leave at 9:20 a.m. What I took away from this experience was to give yourself extra time to get to your destination.

Factor in 1) time of day/day of the week 2) events/holidays 3) traffic/accidents 4) construction 5) weather 6) parking

Most of the factors I've listed above played a role in our trip. As we were nearing the winery and with our time crawling close, I tried to call the winery to let them know we were still coming and that we were x minutes away. I didn't get a hold of someone, by then I was just hoping for the best.

Once we got to there, I thought we'd have a difficult time finding a parking spot but as we drove further in, we saw a handful of open spots.

There were a few employees walking around that helped us get to the right place. Stand in this line. Providing directions to the right tasting location.

Beautiful property, weather was perfect for a day out like this but it was a bit chilly for me. I did bring a denim jacket, it did the job but I would have preferred to be warmer.

Arriving at the grove, we were seated after a few minutes. Depending on the time of day, you could get sun and/or shade. Most of the patio furniture have umbrellas which were open due to the trees overhead. With us being cold, we would have welcomed the sun! But it seemed like all the tables were occupied. We made due.

Our salesperson was Josh E. very patient with us, as we were getting sidetracked talking amongst ourselves. We were provided a menu and a checklist(?) of wines we could taste. He brought out our chocolates and let us know if we wanted to know which wine to pair it with.

The whole tasting experience was wonderful. We didn't feel rushed, we took our time (that is, in our allotted time frame). On empty stomachs, we asked for water. Soaked in the views of the vineyard. As yummy as the chocolates were, I don't think I would get the chocolate upgrade next time.

Next, bathrooms! I believe there's two at the main building; one on the main level, and one below. Another by the grove. I've only used the one on the main level. The second time around, my stall ran out of toilet paper. Be wary. I warned the next girl going in. Bring some wipes!

Originally, we were going to leave the property in search of lunch but went to check out the food truck that was available on the weekends. Ordered the tri tip sandwich and truffle fries.

It was going to take about 15 minutes for our food to be ready so we checked out the marketplace. A lot of people and not a lot of room to maneuver around comfortably. Also saw that it was where some of the indoor tastings were taking place. Honestly, I'm glad I chose the outdoor seating.

We brought a picnic blanket and blanket to set up. We got a decent corner spot by a tree and the fence near the railroad tracks. If we hadn’t, we would have had a difficult time finding a spot to enjoy our meal.

Food was okay. I don’t know. Was the food supposed to be served hot or cold?

After cleaning up, we wandered through the grounds, taking photos as we went.

Spent 5-6 hours here, had to make most of our drive right? I would definitely recommend this winery, no matter the occasion and who’s in the party, especially if I had friends or family visiting from...

I have booked in Advance the daily Tour for $30/per adult( this is your basic wine 101 class). We took the first tour in a Saturday morning with a 90+ degree weather. It wasn't pack with people yet at 11:06 am when we arrived, no crowds yet in the picnic grounds but can see them preparing already for the BBQ.Parking was easy at this time of the day. The drive from San Jose to Napa valley took us 2 hours ( left at 9 am), hit some traffic at Oakland but the biggest traffic was when we entered the main road headed to St. Helena were most of the wineries were located, it was bumper to bumper. If you could skip Napa Valley in a weekend,skip it and go on a weekday you would like it more with less crowds. We were like 6-7 min late for the tour.I called 3x to the number enlisted at the reservation email to notify we were late due to traffic, but no one was picking up the phone instead a VM was the only option. Left 2 VM. I got No return call but at 11 am,our tour guide called and asked our whereabouts with no idea that I tried calling. Anyway,he handled it very well and very cordial.We made it almost on time because the group didn't yet start.There were 3 couples in our group( there was a large group who came late and missed the tour to the vineyard).I had some winery tours in the past but not in Napa Valley. The tour would talk about the wineries production of wine,the history of the winery, a quick education regarding wines and the Napa region. We walked through the other tasting rooms towards the back of the winery where the vineyards are. The walking tour does not allow you to walk far and will just show how the grapes are formed etc.Take a lot of pictures since you won't be allowed back outside once the tour is over. The tour guide didn't mentioned that nor offered a few minutes if the group wants to take a couple of pictures since the area was one of the picturesque area in the winery. The best area to have your wine tasting, in my opinion, is Tasting in the Terrace ( 1st came 1st serve basis) since you can sit down , relax and have the actual view of the vineyard and the the fountain and can take pictures /sip wine of an actual "winery"feel.The best part of the tour is the complimentary tasting in the cellar. We had 3 wines to taste in the actual menu and then had +2 other complimentary wine because one in the group is celebrating his birthday and 1 complimentary from the winery total of 5. It was great, not feel rushed, the tour guide was attentive to questions and needs this time.Bring your own Bottled water during the tasting, they don't give you one. By the time the tour was over, crowds have poured in and bathroom lines were long,and parking was crazy. I got a little tipsy and so stayed in the winery and ate lunch. Good thing a lot of seating areas aside from the picnic area to rest. Staff are very friendly and helpful. You won't be able to visit more than 2 wineries ( wineries open at 9 am,but who wants to go at 9 am, I started at 11 am) and have a good time ,plan to visit your top 2 and call it a day. It's fun but tiring in a very hot day and in crowds of tourists like yourself. SUMMARY: Visit 1-2 wineries with a tour or a sit down tour, enjoy the winery and call it a day, don't drive around. For the V.Sattui winery,take the Terrace Tasting or the...

We had a reservation for a party of 5 on 9/15 at 4:30pm - one reservation for a party of 3 and the other under my friends name for a party of 2. We were looking forward to coming to V. Sattui as our last stop for my friends birthday and I am sad to say we’re completely disappointed with the experience. We will never come here again. From the beginning the hostesses took 15 minutes to sit us, and seemed as lost as we were in finding a host to assist us. We followed her as she talked to 2 hosts to figure out who could serve us. The host took 10 minutes to come by and introduce himself. He asked if we would like to upgrade for chocolates and macaroons. We agreed to 3 sets of chocolates and 1 macaroon. I wanted the 3 sets of chocolate’s to be charged on my reservation and we wanted to pay for the macaroon on a separate card. The host left and a second host came by to assist us and said he will be helping with out first glass tasting, he then proceeds to tell us they close at 6 and we need to do the tasting fast. At this did not make the experience great, to be rushed after waiting to be seated and waiting for the host only to be rushed. Why make late reservations if you are going to rush our experience? I then got a confirmation to my email I was charged for 3 macaroons and 1 chocolate. This is not what we asked for. Then once they corrected it, they charged the macaroons and chocolate on the other card that was not on the reservation, this is not what we asked for. At this point, we were already on our third glass. We only received the macaroons and no chocolate. We then had to follow a supervisor to issue a refund to the correct cards to be charged. We tried to explain our situation and what happened. She showed no empathy, did not apologize one time to us about our experience. She tried to shift blame on the host saying it was not relayed to her about the charges. You all work for the same place, it is not the customers problem to deal with the lack of communication between employees. We told her he tried to rush our experience and she said she told him not to. She only comped the macaroons after my friend was concerned the refund would be returned to the wrong card. This took away from the time with our experience. Now we are on our 4th glass, finally received the chocolates. The second host was the one who assisted us the whole experience , the original host never returned. He told us we have to hurry in the beginning, but took forever to come back to our table for each tasting. He could have not said anything and came back after 15 minutes for each. The host finally apologized about the experience at the end. Overall your service sucks here, the chocolates were good, but we will not be recommending this place to anyone due...