Lula Cellars

what a great find. we stayed at Van Zandts cabins in Philo, which i also highly recommend, and started our day with a stop at Lula. Dan Reed greeted us and was open, funny, knowledgeable, and made our tasting wonderful. this is a great example of why we love Sonoma over Napa: great people producing great wines for no other purpose than that they love it. we had so much fun and not only will we join the wine club but we will make this a regular stop. if you believe in karma, then support this winery. They do it right here.

Stopped in with a couple friends close to 6pm on a saturday. They close at 6, but the man and woman running the tasting room were super accommodating and even stayed well past 6 so we could finish/​enjoy our tasting. Casie was great. She poured our wines for us and explained them all very well. Was also cool that they have a dog on staff, that was very sweet and allowed us to pet him/​her and throw the ball for it. As far as the wine, our favorite was the red blend! We will be back again.

David and I have never gone wine tasting and I am glad that Lula Cellars was our first experience! We pull up and walked up to the door and Honey the dog came up and greeted us hello! Instantly, Kaycee (not sure if I spelled that correctly) met us at the door with a glass of wine each! It was the best welcome ever! For $ 5.00 you can try each wine but the fee is waved if you buy something! We bought 2 bottles. Lula’s has a Pinot Noir double gold wine which is the Mendocino Pinot Noir and it is fantastic! David and I have never been wine people but I think we are now! This place is small and very intimate. If you are looking for a winery to stop at off the 128 and you are searching through Unilocal like I did. Take my advice and come here! You won’t regret it!

They are open on the later end, until 6 pm, so this was the last winery of our day.
Dan poured for us. Dan is a self proclaimed pushy salesperson, although all I found him to be pushing was pours of delicious wine and corny jokes. He is quite a comedian, although I think our ability to hold our own threw him (and his scripted jokes) off a bit.
We made new friends, including the pup, and left with bottles of wine. I’d return during a future visit.

This was our first tasting for our day in Anderson Valley. We mostly came here because I liked the variety of their wines and the prices, but also because they are super dog friendly. My husband and I enjoy traveling with our yellow lab, so I was so happy that they have a resident yellow lab in their tasting room. Our boy was able to hang out with us in the tasting room and was provided with water.
This tasting room has no frills. It’s an old tractor shed turned into a tasting room. What they’ve done inside is nice but not fancy. We went in around 11 am on a Saturday morning in November. It was a party of four and the woman that took care of our tasting was so friendly to talk to. I’m not usually a big fan of when the person pouring tries to join our conversations but I was happy to talk to her here!
We loved our experience so much that we joined the wine club and we’re looking forward to our first delivery coming up. We think we’ll even go back to pick it up just to share this place with more friends/​family.

Excellent winery in Anderson Valley. They seem to specialize in local Pinot’s. They had a broad range and all were outstanding. The vibe is low key but high quality and unpretentious. They are extremely dog friendly. Dan was hilarious and welcoming, asking us to bring our dog in and then asking us to let her off leash which was a blast. I stocked up. The setting is beautiful with several shades areas to sit outside. I will stop in every time I am headed to the coast towards Mendocino.

This was the very first winery we visited in the Anderson Valley. Dan Reed greeted us and he was just too funny. He always filled the air with chatter explaining how the company operates and telling us about each wine, there was never any of that awkward silence, as we were the only people in the tasting room at the time. Not only was our customer service experience lovely but the wines were superb with very generous tasting pours. We didn’t want to buy any wines at the very first place we visited and Dan the self proclaimed «pushy salesman» didn’t pressure us at all. He was obviously very proud of the product and knew that it would speak for itself! After trying many more wineries in the valley, Lula still stuck out as our favorite, so of course we had to go back and buy some. They have a range of prices, some for around $ 20 or you could get a more expensive bottle around $ 45. But there was something for everyone. I would particularly recommend the Rose. We were not charged a tasting fee.
All in all, we will be back in to visit and highly recommend this winery to anyone traveling through the Anderson Valley.

This place is great! Jeff (the wine maker) was amazing! You can tell when someone is passionate about what they do, how it’s not just a «job». He was funny and very interesting to talk too. The wine is great! He also recommended some great places for us to go to dinner as well as other wineries to visit.

We had a wonderful time tasting wine and talking to Jeff. He explained the wines in a thorough, easy to understand way for non wine experts. I learned a lot not only about the wines but the industry and the area. Jeff gave great advice for pairings as well.
The $ 5 tasting fee (with generous pours) is waived if you purchase a bottle. I loved all the wines but was most impressed with one of their pinots (sorry! I forgot which so taste them all!)

Wonderful place to visit at the north end of Anderson Valley. This new tasting room has just been open since October1. We visited ¹⁰⁄₁₈.
Dan Reed is one of a kind in the tasting room. Knowledgeable and quite the comedian! Also had the good fortune to finally meet the «Grand Fromage», winemaker Jeff Hansen. Great pinots and the zin is quite tasty as well.
Had lunch on the picnic tables outside. Well worth the visit.

First out of the three wineries my girl an I visited. Great experience wine tasting, loved all the wines we tried. Even though we were young an new to tasting treated us the same as other couples that were there. Probably the best experience I’ve had tasting considering I’m from Sonoma/​Napa county. 5 stars + more. Will always stop by on our way to mendocino from now on!

Made our second trip to the Lula tasting room in greater «downtown» Philo recently. They are still working on getting the permits to open their winery further west along CA 128 but their intimate, well-​done tasting room in Philo is a fun stop. Dan the man behind the tasting bar is great — come prepared to share the blarney with him and the good wine. Their rose of Pinot is a winner, the Zin good, and the three Pinots available were all good, especially the Costa Vineyard, our fav. Make sure to give a little love to «chateauneuf du pup», the tasting room four-​legged helper.

Wow
What a great little winery. The free wine tasting was great but the wines we tasted and purchased were even better.
We were on our way to Mendocino for the weekend and a friend of ours happened to mention there was a great little winery in Philo. Being wine lovers we couldn’t resist.
Dan Reed «keeper of the wine» was not only funny and charming, he was also very knowledgeable of the wines, the wine making process and the area in which the wine is produced. My wife and I drank the generously poured samples he gave us. Dan talked with us and sampled his own wines at the same time.
We purchased some wine and drank a bottle or two while visiting Mendocino. The wines made the get away even better.
If you want great wines, great hospitality and entertainment you have to visit
Lula Winery next time you are in Philo.
Where’s Philo you ask, it’s where Lula Winery is located and well worth the trip…
We’ll be back

One of the joys of wine tasting is finding those gems that no matter who you pour a glass for (red wine drinkers, white wine drinkers, proclaimed beer only drinkers) it seems to be universally accepted. I was lucky to discover Lula through my Uncle and my Father during their never ending search for Pinots.
The 2009 Lula Pinot Noir if you get a chance to taste is phemomenal, and the subsequent years I also consider amazing pinots. Fruit foward and full bodied their pinots can be paired with dinner or drank by themselves. This is not like some of the floral note pinots people may find more common as you move towards Hopland and Sonoma so if that is your cup of tea this may be overwhelming. This is not to say that their other wines are without merit but their pinots are certainly one of the reasons I can’t stay away.
They are a smaller winery so their batches are not large in number and you need to visit their tasting room to grab your bottle when they are available (oh sure they ship but where is the fun in that?)
The other reason I can’t stay away is the gentlemen behind the wine are precious. Dan and Jeff are two of the friendliest, inviting, and charming men. Their passion for their wine pretty much oozes out of them and an afternoon spent on the porch of their tasting room in Philo with them is an afternoon well spent.
I am so excited for their move to their new quarters. As others have said they are finally going to move onto their property with a tasting room over looking thier pond :) I can’t wait!
If you go up to Booneville or are trvaveling to Mendocino/​Fort Bragg this is a must stop!

Our experience was fantastic! Great wine and super friendly! We enjoyed sitting and sharing a glass with the staff. We were referred by a local and grateful for the plug!

Fantastic small production Pinots! Better yet, the owners are the most welcoming in Anderson Valley. Look out Toulouse and Black Kite!

This winery is moving again before July of this year. They are planning on a new facility next to their vines, just up the road, north.
What can one say about a winery that has only one wine for tasting? Success! It will be about a month before the next bottling is available for tasting.
Meanwhile, Dan Reed — Keeper of the Wine is doing his best to entertain and educate potential customers at the current tasting room. He poured ½ a bottle of Pinot Noir for us while we talked about the winery.
If you are lucky enough to visit the tasting room in the last three months that they will be at this location, you might taste their new releases. Tell us how they taste, please.

Free wine tastings. Honestly, I cannot remember how much wine I tasted here. The proprieter kept on pouring and pouring. All good wine too I might add. We actually came here to pick up another friend’s order. Apparently the friend was a well-​regarded customer because we got two bottles of wine for free…
While I cannot promise you free wine here (beyond the tastings perhaps), I can confidently say you will have a great host who will engage you in enjoyable conversation while drinking some quality wine. Definitely recommend visiting if you have a chance.