Charge for Tasting: Yes
Winery Tours: Yes, reserve in advance
Wine Price: Very Expensive
Schramsberg's tasting and tour is one of my favorite Napa Valley experiences. From the gardens surrounding Jacob Schram's nineteenth century home to the whimsical frog statue in the pond outside the tasting room, the grounds are lovely. Inside, the tour takes you inside caves hand-dug by Chinese laborers. Depending on the season, you will get to see different processes. Perhaps you'll find someone "riddling" the bottles to move the spent yeast into their necks, or catch a glimpse of the bottling process.
Review
Wine Quality: Consistently rated 90 points and above by Wine Spectator magazine and winners of numerous gold medals. Their top products often match or beat the best the French champagne-makers have to offer.
Tourist Experience: Excellent. Tour guides are enthusiastic, and the hand-dug caves are very interesting. Whether your taste their products in the caves or in the small, intimate tasting room, you're in for a treat.
Reserve early. Schramsberg can only accommodate a limited number of people per day on their tours.
If they're pouring their reserve or special cuvees, taste them at your own risk. You may never be able to enjoy less-expensive sparkling wines again.
Schramsberg is one of Napa's oldest wineries, founded in 1862 by German immigrant Jacob Schram. Robert Louis Stevenson visited here in 1880, and wrote a chapter about it in his Silverado Squatters. Now owned by the Davis family, Schramsberg produces California's best sparkling wine.
Getting to Schramsberg
1400 Schramsberg Road
Calistoga CA 94515
(707) 942-2414
