Inspiration Vineyards & Winery

Jon taught us a lot and offers an incredible selection of amazing wines. Definitely come visit!

We had such a nice time at Inspiration Vineyards and Winery. This was our first stop up the 101 on a wine tasting adventure, and it was by far our favorite. Jon (the owner) is the sweetest guy, and we ended up chatting with him for about an hour while tasting some incredible wine. I recommend the 2013 Inspiracio White, but there are many to choose from.

Right when we arrived, we received a special greeting from Asia & Toby (wine dogs). Right there alone we knew to expect a great experience. We were also greeted by Jon (the owner). He was in the middle of working in the winery itself. He stopped what he was doing and invited us to the tasting room and immediately started our tasting. He then invited us into the winery and showed us what he was doing and explained the entire process. There is no pretentiousness here… just a gracious and extremely knowledgeable host /​winemaker /​owner. We then proceeded back to the tasting room to complete our tasting. The tasting room is a warm and welcoming environment with a beautiful bar, couches, whimsical artwork and even a pool table. You would never expect this from being in an industrial area. Once you are in the tasting room… it doesn’t matter. After our experience, we went to another winery with a view… and felt like we should be honored that they would pour for us. Not here… at Inspiration Vineyards you feel valued. Not only that, but the wines were excellent. It was hard to choose which ones we wanted to take home with us.

This was a great stop for us and we found it so unexpectedly. We were passing through up to Mendocino, and got sick of the traffic in Santa Rosa and saw a little wine symbol on our GPS nearby. So we decided to take a break, and try it out! And I’m so glad we did! The woman was super helpful and realistic about things, we even won a holiday spice! The wine itself was also fantastic!

Picnic Lunch– great stop and casual atmosphere for enthusiast without the «tude» child friendly family stop. Wines were delicious — my 8 women tour enjoyed and fortified for the long tasting day. Pours were very generous and wine affordable.

This was our first stop on a recent wine tasting/​buying trip. While the tasting room is set in an industrial location, the actual space was cozy and we stayed for an hour, just chatting, learning and sipping the wide variety of wines. Looking forward to breaking open what we bought!

If you want a quick generic wine tasting don’t stop here. If you want to learn about and taste incredible wine, relax on leather couches, maybe shoot some pool or darts than do ABSOLUTELY stop here. Don’t be put off by the industrial area setting. Skip the pretentious wine cave vineyards and instead stop by and have an experience about WINE. From vine to bottle to glass these folks get it.

The service was excellent and very personal. I wasn’t in love with wines, as a whole, but the 2012 inspiracio was a great blend. I purchased it and highly recommend. Also, it didn’t have a typical winery feel as it was in a warehouse so that was different.

I have been a fan since they were in the little yellow cottage, and I just love this place! Great wines, engaging and kind folks. There is always something new to taste.
The urban winery is a great stop as there are many tasting rooms in the complex, and is a wonder start or finishing point on your wine tour!

While all the wines are quite good, the owner takes the entire tasting experience over the top. We spent hours trying Jon’s wine and listening to his journey in becoming a wine maker. Very low key tasting room, wines are excellent.

Great experience, very friendly, good stories about the winery and he got started. Love the dogs, they are very friendly!
It was really great to hear about how his story came about with getting started only a few years ago.
While this tasting room is off the beaten path, it is worth the stop to try the wines as they are very good.
We tasted at least 4 wines, it may have been 5 and we loved all of them.
The tasting room is part of a warehouse where the grapes are stored and made into wine. They were making wine during our tasting, pretty cool.
We tasted 2 white wines and 3 red wines, all were very good and had a nice smooth finish. These types of wines are great with food, we enjoyed a white wine later on with lunch at a restaurant and it was very good and really brought out the flavors of the food and wine.

Winery dogs are a love of mine so it was a treat to be greeted by Toby. It was also nice to speak so in depth with people who have a fever for what they do! It was the 2010 Viognier that truly won me over though. I’m usually one to favor oaked whites but this was done in stainless steel allowing some mild but brilliant notes to shine. I’m sure to keep a few bottles on hand for those times I need to step out of my norm.

You can taste the passion! Great winery, great experience !

This was definitely a nice break from the drunken stupor that barrel weekend so often becomes. Tucked away in the middle of a suburban office complex, it wasn’t necessarily the prettiest place to stroll around, but that at least kept some of the crowds away.
Overall pretty delectable wines. Their barrel Syrah was amazing… I’m stoked to see how that one turns out. The sommeliers were all friendly and totally knew their stuff, but they got crazy pushy with the sales at the end. I think I got asked to join the wine club about 10 times. After the 3^rd time or so it starts getting hard to politely refuse.
Ended up walking out with a bottle of 2008 cab but I’d love to go back and check out their Syrah when it’s released. I just won’t ask too many questions next time…

Tasted here today while enjoying the weekend Barrel testing event. Jon and Toby (the dog) greeted us and signed us in, this was our «home» winery for the weekend. We sampled the barrel wines and the bottled wines. Jon was very knowledgeable and helpful. I liked the Syrah and even though I’m not a chard drinker, his chard was tasty.
Thanks for a great start to the day!
Also, The winemaker and owner of Premonition was there too and his pinot was excellent!

I enjoyed what I tasted at this urban winery. I left with a bottle of viognier. definitely will go on my list of good wineries

We just returned from the annual Barrel Tasting event in Russian River Valley and had a great time visiting wineries throughout the area. Inspiration Winery was one of the highlights of our trip.
Though the event didn’t start until Friday, we stopped by Inspiration on Thursday afternoon and the owner John gave us our own impromptu private tasting of the barrels as well as his finished wines. He was very knowledgeable and happy to answer our questions and talk about each of the wines. We had such a great time that we brought a group of friends back to the winery on Saturday. Although there were varied tastes within the group, most everyone found something they liked and ended up purchasing. We bought a couple Cabs, the Zin, a Pinot and two Chardonnays (different years).
Inspiration is now on our «must visit» list any time we are in Russian River Valley.

I purchased a cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir from Inspiration Vineyards, both of the 2007 vintage. I opened the cab for a fancy dinner party some of my friends threw in which we all cooked recipes out of the Ad Hoc cookbook. I mention this only because it was a truly fantastic meal and the Inspiration cab was still one of the biggest high points. At $ 30, it was a deal.
I opened the pinot noir this weekend and it was also quite good. Nothing too complex. I really enjoyed it, but when I come back I’m going to direct my dollars to the cab.
Very friendly owner with an interesting story about how he came to open the winery. I highly recommend stopping in if you’re around Russian River.

This is one of my favorite wineries in the Russian River wine region — and for good reason… The wines are spectacular, priced at an incredible value and the staff makes you feel right at home. There’s not one of their wines I don’t like, but I’m especially enjoying the 2008 Chardonnay, 2008 Carneros Pinot Noir and 2007 DCV Syrah these days. Also the Viognier is always a favorite. I also hear there are many other new wines in the hopper, including an 09 Pinot from Anderson Valley… created under a 2^nd label, Frati Horn. This Pinot is going to be outstanding, people! (To be released Spring 2011.)
Jon Phillips, winemaker/​owner, is one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met, not to mention very knowledgeable about wines and the industry. He recently moved his tasting room to an industrial warehouse facility on Coffey but had the wherewithall to design a tasting room that makes you feel like you’re in an intimate setting and yet still connected to where the action is. Not only that, the new location allows you to park in one place and visit several other wineries only a few yards away — Carol Shelton and NPA, to name just a few.
I’ve been to Inspiration’s new location a few times since they opened (Sept 2010) and every time I visit their tasting room, I learn something new and exciting about wine. I’m inspired! If interested (which I always am!), Jon will patiently take you through the symphony of his wines — and if you’re lucky, perhaps a barrel sample or 2 — and the process by which he follows.
Jon — as well as everyone on his staff — make you feel like you’re kicking back in a good friend’s living room, chatting about life, while you sip yummy wine. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what it’s all about?

I love Inspiration wines!
I first visited Jon last year at his house/​winery on Olivet. His new tasting room is located at 3360 Coffey Lane, Suite E, Santa Rosa, CA 95 403. I will always like his house though. I tasted in his «garage» which kept all his barrels and equipment. Jon only produces around 1,000 cases a year. He was so sweet and polite. He poured us through the wines and everything I enjoyed. There wasn’t one wine that I poured out. From his Charonnay and Viognier to the Pinot Noir, Zinfandels, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon. After multiple stars in my wine book and some great conversation. I left with multiple bottles to cellar and enjoy.