Staglin Family Vineyard

********************* 1495 **********************
Founded in 1985, Staglin Family Vineyard takes pride in the tradition of family ownership and participation. With an uncompromising commitment to quality, they produce world-​class wines that reflect the distinctive character of this historic Rutherford Bench estate. They farm the vineyard organically, tap in to their solar fields for power and produce the wines in a state of the art underground production facility.
Staglin Family Vineyard opens by appointment only, I was lucky to score a visit. Greeted nicely by Bryan Lipa, with a glass of estate Chardonnay. He told me everything about the family, the winery, and walked me through every wine and a few vintage they produced.
He guided me through the vineyards, and we got to sit outside to taste the remaining wines. It was such a beautiful day, delicious wines, and breathtaking view of the vineyard in the Fall.
— Staglin Family Estate Chardonnay 2014
— Staglin Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
— Staglin Booth Bella Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
— Stagliano Estate Sangiovese 2013
Just a few wines that I’ve tried and truly enjoyed, price range from $ 50-​$ 280 per bottle. If you are a wine collector and lover old world style wines, you got to visit Staglin Family Vineyard. With only fifty-​one acres of vines, all their wines are on the estate, limited production and allocation. The wine is beautiful and easily cellaring for years to come.

Received exceptional service last spring from Greg Gregory. We are big wine buyers and have the top level of club membership and have loved Staglin in the past. President Sherry has reached out with Staglin style hospitality…

Staglin— as good as it gets. The experience is fantastic and the wines are exceptional. From entry to exit, you will love your experience at Staglin. It is one of the more expensive tasting experiences in wine country… but I thought it was worth every dollar. I left with a wine club membership and a few extra bottles – I would definitely recommend it.
For everyone who complains – and mentions in passing they were late – you disrupt any winery’s operations being late. Don’t complain when they treat you as if you did. Do you show up 15 minutes late to your doctor’s appointments and expect to be treated special?

This is an amazing vineyard with friendly staff and good samples. I really enjoyed the tour of the vineyard along with seeing the creativity of the different types of grapes/​varietals grown. The tour of the wine barrels was cool as well. What can I say? Napa is a magical place with magical people and magical wine. I only wish I could go abck sooner.

My family and I planned a trip to Napa and this was at the top of my Brother In Law’s list to visit.
1^st the positives:
When you drive up, the winery is impressive and beautiful
The winery owner stopped by during our «tour» (more on the tour later) and she was very nice and spent some time talking to the group
The wine maker was nice and also spent some time speaking with the group
2^nd the negatives:
Our tour guide, Kaia came off a bit rude and many in the group found her pretentious and condescending
The tour was not much of a tour. You walk through a very small grape grove and then they basically just show you the caves and wine barrels in the caves.
At the price point of the wine, we all expected spectacular but really we felt it fell flat.
The pours were very small, which is fine by us but not for what they were charging
We were15 minutes late because we underestimated the time it would take to get there and we called ahead to let them know and again apologized when we arrived. Kaia seemed very accommodating when we arrived but from there it just went downhill.
My BIL, purchased a wine box with 3 bottles of wine for $ 650 (to store in his library) and had to pay for wine tastings 7 people. We were supposed to have a total of 8 but at the last minute, they were sick and unable to come. As he was paying for the bottles when one of the staff was making a huge deal out of the no show and said they were going to charge him. He couldn’t believe it since our party’s bill was over $ 1000. He fought them on it as he was buying some wine and was intending on paying all of the wine that was tasted. After giving him grief, they said they would not charge him. Unfortunately, they don’t process the charges while you are there so we are waiting to confirm what he was charged for.
My husband and I paid for our own tasting with the belief that it was $ 60 each and we cringed about that because we felt our experience was not worth that. I got a bill yesterday from the winery stating it was $ 60 + tax each. I thought that was insane since I don’t know of any winery that doesn’t already include the tax in their tasting fee. We are very familiar with Napa Valley as we visit 2x-​4x per year. I emailed Becky about it and got what I thought was a sassy response. I then emailed her back letting her know that I would not have even questioned it had our party not had such a poor experience at their winery. Guess what, haven’t heard back from her either.
I am writing this review in hopes that the winery owner and wine maker and anyone from the winery will see what a bad experience we had and try to improve their tour /​tasting and make it more available to more people.
Overall, our family felt this was not worth our time and our money and at this time, would never return and would not recommend anyone go there.
BTW…the tour and tasting is now $ 75pp and I’m sure that doesn’t include the tax. I would say, SAVE your money!

Staglin wines are one of my favorites. It’s not sold in stores in Hawaii, so you will have to be part of their club. The tour is private and is less than two hours. I really enjoyed the tour and the history. We even got to chat with Mr. Staglin himself. I caught him drinking a Diet Coke (I guess he doesn’t drink his wine early in the morning).
It’s really neat to go inside the cave and check out the bottling process. The cave smelled so good. I think it was the mixture of barrels and wine in our hand. While we toured we received a glass of wine while walking around the property.
Strengths:
— Friendly staff
— Views are really nice
— History
— Beautiful landscape
— Cave
Weaknesses:
— Bees!
I recommend making not driving because you will get tipsy, so hire a limo driver.

You pay for what you get — pricer than other wineries, but the wines are excellent, full-​bodied and rich. Family owned and run, committed to the environment. Great tasting experience. Highly recommend.

Watch out for Staglin’s sneaky business practices!
My friend set up a complimentary tasting at Staglin for three of us. Upon leaving I purchased a bottle of wine on my credit card. But several weeks later Staglin sent an invoice that showed the wine purchase but also included a $ 50 tasting fee. They charged my credit card and don’t return calls to discuss the matter.

Date: April 12, 2007
Winery: Staglin Family Vineyards
Winemaker: Luc Morlet
Tasting: Tasting by Appointment
Contact: 707.944.0477
Second visit to this property, located in Rutherford, west of Hwy 29 off Bella Oaks Lane.
The tour/​tasting appointment here will last about 60 – 90 minutes, depending on the group dynamic. Standard cave tour and sit-​down tasting.
2005 Salus Chardonnay
Standard, typical California Chardonnay. Oak bomb with some fruit.
2004 Salus Cabernet Sauvignon
Made up of primary younger vines from the esate vineyard. Large amount of dried fruit aromatics, think those you can buy from Trader Joe’s, raspberries, strawberries, etc. Just a bit too ripe for my taste, one dimensional with lots of cherries. Does not have depth and complexity, especially coming back to the wine after tasting the 2003 Staglin Estate.
2003 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Darker color, much deeper aromatic. Pencil shaving and dark fruits. Meaty, smoky, good weight. Firm tannin, good structure and depth. Solid wine.