As others mentioned before, it’s a bottle shop and not tasting room. We did end up tasting some bc of our interest shown to specific wines on the list. It was a nice experience. Purchased 4 bottles of wine.
I was also admiring the Stotzle glasses, which the owner/person assisting offered “at a discount” for $30 per glass, “down from $35 normally”. We bought 4 glasses and paid $129 including tax. Owner -graciously- took out and kept 2 glasses from the 6 pack and wiped the dust from the box so we could carry the 4 glasses home.
Got home and looked this up and the 6 pack totals $63-71 or $90 at most for all 6, making this anywhere from 200-300% markup, from about $10-15 per glass. I kept trying to find it for a higher cost somewhere bc I didn’t want to believe we’d been had quite so badly.
Perhaps my own fault for not doing a quick google search right then and there, and trusting at face value, and perhaps they don’t sell the glasses usually, and I also understand markups, just not quite so drastic in a way that feels incredibly duplicitous.
I see there’s usually a snarky response to negative reviews. I’m not interested in that. I’ve honestly already tried to think of every positive excuse possible because didn’t want to remember that as being duped quite so much that it puts a bad taste on the entire town. Perhaps he knew we were visiting (of course), so it wouldn’t matter. A business owner is also representing the town when it’s a small town.
Edit/addition: thanks for the response and details. It was overall a very positive experience and appreciate the service with the wine. There are a number of similar glasses in the line, but I’m sure this is the correct one because it’s also labeled on the box itself. Trip was otherwise lovely and beautiful town as always, not saying this was a repeated occurrence across town at all, just that it colors the experience a bit. We had to leave already without any time to go back unfortunately, but thanks for offering, just not physically possible. If you do end up verifying this independently, I would appreciate refunding the difference. Happy to pay at cost or at retail.
Edit 2: no follow-up after that, guess I’m SOL.
Meghan
Great bottle shop with local, small batch wine. Came in for one bottle to drink at our campsite and ended up leaving with 4. Sorry, not sorry!
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Richard W
Friendly staff who’d be happy to strike up a conversation with you. Great local wine selection. Try a glass of the Black Kite pinot noir, which would be considered top shelf even outside the local area.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Carmen Izzo
If you want to try some great local wines this is a good start! The shop is small (but so am I). Great vibe if you ask me! Owner had me try some limited production zin and Pinot and I walked away with both.
The bottle listing in his book is extensive and almost entirely local. I don’t think they’re doing flights, but also how does a small business sustain doing flights all the time anyway? I think this place embodies the character of Mendocino: small, quaint, but HIGH QUALITY!
Going back tomorrow in search of Syrah!
Michele Serocki Bluhm
The website advertises wine flights and wines by the glass. We walked through a tourist shop to a small back room. After quite a while a woman came in and told us that they do not offer glasses of wine, only sell bottles of wine; and that if we wanted to buy a bottle of wine it could be opened so that we could drink some on the spot! How do we know we want to buy a bottle of a wine we haven't been able to try? Honestly.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Chris
Menu advertises "flights" and "glasses". You get there and they have self-promoting literature advertising the same thing. It's actually not a wine bar like that at all. It's a place to sit in the back corner of a gift shop. We drove out of our way to come here, thinking we could taste through some of the local producers all in one place. In actuality, they will sell you bottles and let you drink them there. When I asked (tactfully and patiently) about the flyer and said "it says you offer 'flights and glasses' online and even here in store, is that just on certain days, or...?" I was cut of snarkily and told by the lady working there that it's not "her" store, that "she" doesn't own the place and "she" doesn't offer flights or tastings but that I could buy a bottle a drink it there. I guess I should have said "your place of employment" instead of "you"? They also don't offer a restroom, so if you DO pop your own cork, we hope you can keep what might result bottled up. Pass up and go to the local vineyards instead who will assuredly act in a more gracious and congenial manner and skip this snarky bait and switch mercantile!
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 1
Michele J. Serocki Bluhm
The website advertises wine flights and wines by the glass. We walked through a tourist shop to a small back room. After quite a while a woman came in and told us that they do not offer glasses of wine, only sell bottles of wine; and that if we wanted to buy a bottle of wine it could be opened so that we could drink some on the spot! How do we know we want to buy a bottle of a wine we haven't been able to try? Honestly.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Chris Honse
Menu advertises "flights" and "glasses". You get there and they have self-promoting literature advertising the same thing. It's actually not a wine bar like that at all. It's a place to sit in the back corner of a gift shop. We drove out of our way to come here, thinking we could taste through some of the local producers all in one place. In actuality, they will sell you bottles and let you drink them there. When I asked (tactfully and patiently) about the flyer and said "it says you offer 'flights and glasses' online and even here in store, is that just on certain days, or...?" I was cut of snarkily and told by the lady working there that it's not "her" store, that "she" doesn't own the place and "she" doesn't offer flights or tastings but that I could buy a bottle a drink it there. I guess I should have said "your place of employment" instead of "you"? They also don't offer a restroom, so if you DO pop your own cork, we hope you can keep what might result bottled up. Pass up and go to the local vineyards instead who will assuredly act in a more gracious and congenial manner and skip this snarky bait and switch mercantile!
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 1
Amanda Thompson
This is an awesome place! Very friendly and knowledgeable owner. Wine was awesome. Dogs allowed! No bathroom or snacks but there’s places nearby
Ana Mendez
Amazing wines. Knowledgeable staff. Ginger is phenomenal and really knows her stuff. Do not skip this spot
First of all great customer service. They make you feel like family. Wonderful local wine selection.
R C
Great spot to stop and taste, talk and marvel about wine with the owner. Great selection too. We stop by everytime we are in Mendocino or Fort Bragg. Looking forward to our next visit.
bartellj
Top notch wine! The bartender has a great palette. He really introduced us to some fantastic wines in Mendocino County. We learned a lot about the graves that grow in the area. He’s also very entertaining! He’s a local here. He regularly visits all the wineries. It’s located inside a really fun trinket shop where are you can get local merchandise and fun gifts for your family.
Roger Christensen
Great spot to stop and taste, talk and marvel about wine with the owner. Great selection too. We stop by everytime we are in Mendocino or Fort Bragg. Looking forward to our next visit.
D.j. Tullos
They were super nice! The food and wine was amazing!!
As others mentioned before, it’s a bottle shop and not tasting room. We did end up tasting some bc of our interest shown to specific wines on the list. It was a nice experience. Purchased 4 bottles of wine.
I was also admiring the Stotzle glasses, which the owner/person assisting offered “at a discount” for $30 per glass, “down from $35 normally”. We bought 4 glasses and paid $129 including tax. Owner -graciously- took out and kept 2 glasses from the 6 pack and wiped the dust from the box so we could carry the 4 glasses home.
Got home and looked this up and the 6 pack totals $63-71 or $90 at most for all 6, making this anywhere from 200-300% markup, from about $10-15 per glass. I kept trying to find it for a higher cost somewhere bc I didn’t want to believe we’d been had quite so badly.
Perhaps my own fault for not doing a quick google search right then and there, and trusting at face value, and perhaps they don’t sell the glasses usually, and I also understand markups, just not quite so drastic in a way that feels incredibly duplicitous.
I see there’s usually a snarky response to negative reviews. I’m not interested in that. I’ve honestly already tried to think of every positive excuse possible because didn’t want to remember that as being duped quite so much that it puts a bad taste on the entire town. Perhaps he knew we were visiting (of course), so it wouldn’t matter. A business owner is also representing the town when it’s a small town.
Edit/addition: thanks for the response and details. It was overall a very positive experience and appreciate the service with the wine. There are a number of similar glasses in the line, but I’m sure this is the correct one because it’s also labeled on the box itself. Trip was otherwise lovely and beautiful town as always, not saying this was a repeated occurrence across town at all, just that it colors the experience a bit. We had to leave already without any time to go back unfortunately, but thanks for offering, just not physically possible. If you do end up verifying this independently, I would appreciate refunding the difference. Happy to pay at cost or at retail.
Edit 2: no follow-up after that, guess I’m SOL.
Great bottle shop with local, small batch wine. Came in for one bottle to drink at our campsite and ended up leaving with 4. Sorry, not sorry!
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Friendly staff who’d be happy to strike up a conversation with you. Great local wine selection. Try a glass of the Black Kite pinot noir, which would be considered top shelf even outside the local area.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
If you want to try some great local wines this is a good start! The shop is small (but so am I). Great vibe if you ask me! Owner had me try some limited production zin and Pinot and I walked away with both.
The bottle listing in his book is extensive and almost entirely local. I don’t think they’re doing flights, but also how does a small business sustain doing flights all the time anyway? I think this place embodies the character of Mendocino: small, quaint, but HIGH QUALITY!
Going back tomorrow in search of Syrah!
The website advertises wine flights and wines by the glass. We walked through a tourist shop to a small back room. After quite a while a woman came in and told us that they do not offer glasses of wine, only sell bottles of wine; and that if we wanted to buy a bottle of wine it could be opened so that we could drink some on the spot! How do we know we want to buy a bottle of a wine we haven't been able to try? Honestly.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Menu advertises "flights" and "glasses". You get there and they have self-promoting literature advertising the same thing. It's actually not a wine bar like that at all. It's a place to sit in the back corner of a gift shop. We drove out of our way to come here, thinking we could taste through some of the local producers all in one place. In actuality, they will sell you bottles and let you drink them there. When I asked (tactfully and patiently) about the flyer and said "it says you offer 'flights and glasses' online and even here in store, is that just on certain days, or...?" I was cut of snarkily and told by the lady working there that it's not "her" store, that "she" doesn't own the place and "she" doesn't offer flights or tastings but that I could buy a bottle a drink it there. I guess I should have said "your place of employment" instead of "you"? They also don't offer a restroom, so if you DO pop your own cork, we hope you can keep what might result bottled up. Pass up and go to the local vineyards instead who will assuredly act in a more gracious and congenial manner and skip this snarky bait and switch mercantile!
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 1
The website advertises wine flights and wines by the glass. We walked through a tourist shop to a small back room. After quite a while a woman came in and told us that they do not offer glasses of wine, only sell bottles of wine; and that if we wanted to buy a bottle of wine it could be opened so that we could drink some on the spot! How do we know we want to buy a bottle of a wine we haven't been able to try? Honestly.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Menu advertises "flights" and "glasses". You get there and they have self-promoting literature advertising the same thing. It's actually not a wine bar like that at all. It's a place to sit in the back corner of a gift shop. We drove out of our way to come here, thinking we could taste through some of the local producers all in one place. In actuality, they will sell you bottles and let you drink them there. When I asked (tactfully and patiently) about the flyer and said "it says you offer 'flights and glasses' online and even here in store, is that just on certain days, or...?" I was cut of snarkily and told by the lady working there that it's not "her" store, that "she" doesn't own the place and "she" doesn't offer flights or tastings but that I could buy a bottle a drink it there. I guess I should have said "your place of employment" instead of "you"? They also don't offer a restroom, so if you DO pop your own cork, we hope you can keep what might result bottled up. Pass up and go to the local vineyards instead who will assuredly act in a more gracious and congenial manner and skip this snarky bait and switch mercantile!
Atmosphere: 2
Service: 1
This is an awesome place! Very friendly and knowledgeable owner. Wine was awesome. Dogs allowed! No bathroom or snacks but there’s places nearby
Amazing wines. Knowledgeable staff. Ginger is phenomenal and really knows her stuff. Do not skip this spot
Restaurantji Recommends
First of all great customer service. They make you feel like family. Wonderful local wine selection.
Great spot to stop and taste, talk and marvel about wine with the owner. Great selection too. We stop by everytime we are in Mendocino or Fort Bragg. Looking forward to our next visit.
Top notch wine! The bartender has a great palette. He really introduced us to some fantastic wines in Mendocino County. We learned a lot about the graves that grow in the area. He’s also very entertaining! He’s a local here. He regularly visits all the wineries. It’s located inside a really fun trinket shop where are you can get local merchandise and fun gifts for your family.
Great spot to stop and taste, talk and marvel about wine with the owner. Great selection too. We stop by everytime we are in Mendocino or Fort Bragg. Looking forward to our next visit.
They were super nice! The food and wine was amazing!!
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