Cornerstone Cellars — Restaurant in Yountville

I won’t name the person I spoke with in this review because perhaps he was having an “off” morning and everyone has those. We booked the “complimentary” tasting at 11 am the night before. We immediately realized that we were not going to have the time to make the reservation before we had to leave to go to the airport but there was no option to cancel online. We called in the morning, apologetic and explained the situation, the person I spoke with sounded annoyed but said he’d cancel the reservation. We were then charged $100 for our “complimentary” tasting. I called back to ask why we were charged and the person was incredibly rude (I wish you could have heard his tone) saying I could have called and canceled last night because they were open. I said that we made the reservation at 9pm and were they open then? He then said it was still within the 24 hour cancellation window, he also told me I could have called and left a voice mail, but either way he wasn’t going to reverse the charge. I asked to speak with a tasting room manager and he told me he was the manager, which I highly doubt. They open at 11 am and he said it was ONE time and ONE reservation that someone else could have booked. So he’s telling me the tasting room opens for ONLY one person at 11 and absolutely no one else would be in the salon? You’re telling me you’re charging me for something you wanted to give me FOR FREE? Make it make sense. Again, I call bullshit. I wouldn’t even be writing this review if the person on the phone hadn’t been kind of a jerk from jump- when I called to cancel the reservation initially AND apologized for my mistake. I’m sure the wine is lovely, and the people in town have also been so lovely, but this persons customer service left something to be desired this morning. So if you make an appointment here, just be aware that they make no concessions for honest error. It...

The experience

Cornerstone Cellars' tasting room is tucked into a small alley in downtown Napa, directly across from Oenotri. Hopefully this spares you the confusion we had finding it.

We'd come for the wine and food pairing experience, and once inside, our host explained the idea (we'd be having four carefully composed bites by the neighboring Southern Italian restaurant that complemented four carefully selected wines). But this brief description doesn't really do justice to the enthusiasm, knowledge, and ingenuity of our host. After all, this mini tasting-menu-and-pairing was his idea, and what a fantastic one it is.

The thoughts

I want all my future pairings to come with selected bites of real food, not just cheese and thin meats, because it really did change how they tasted. Wines I would have been disappointed to drink on their own suddenly seemed worth the cash. Between a solid explanation of each wine's background, terroir, and why it went with each dish, I felt like I actually learned something.

Also, we should have gone to Oentori for dinner afterwards, instead of where our reservations were. Ah well,...

I loved this space! Extra star for being extremely pet friendly.

bF and I came on a Friday during the holidays. As we walked in the doors, we were surprised to find a beautiful space with modern tables and a few couches. I love that there's table seating for the wine tasting.

As soon as we walked in, the hostess told us that we could take my furball off the leash so that he can explore and run around. She also gave him lots of love and attention. While he was busy sniffing around the tasting room, bF and I sat down on the comfy couches and began wine tasting. We both had the reserved tasting and enjoyed the cabs the most. We were also offered some bread (which we enjoyed as we were runnin on empty stomaches).

The atmosphere was very relaxing and we were left alone to enjoy wine and conversation by ourselves. The hostess came by peridoically to check on us and to pour us the next glass. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had another tasting appointment so we left after about 40 minutes.

This was one of the most enjoyable tasting experiences we've had and we're definitely looking forward...