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18 reviews for Amphora Winery
18 reviews in English
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Review from Alex W.
Livonia, MI
4/21/2011
Friendly smaller winery with a lot of personality
We stopped in Amphora as part of our "small wineries only" trip on 4/17/2011 and liked it a lot.
The winery is a part of the "Family Wineries" complex of perhaps a half dozen wineries on Dry Creek Road. Really, you could spend your day just in this complex, and likely will spend a lot of it here whether you plan to or not!
The tasting room is smallish, plenty big enough but not huge. The pourers are very friendly and knowledgeable but not at all pushy, which is great.
We really liked most of the wines as well, they really believe in being able to taste fruit in the wines. Not fruit bombs, just smooth and tasty.
We were lucky enough to meet Rick, the winemaker. He's very friendly and hilarious! He was doing a wine club event, and he let us some chilli verde that he had made along with the cabernet sauvignon. We really are getting inspired to put more effort into pairing wines. Tannins finally make more sense!
We highly recommend you drop in here, and check out the other wineries in the complex. You'll have a blast! -
Review from Denny B.
La Cañada Flintridge, CA
3/11/2012 1 photo
I am a convert. I was sure that I would not like Zinfandels made in the Alexander Valley since I have tried many and they were all too light, acidic and lacking of fruit.
The Amphora 2007 Zinfandel has my vote and now Amphora has my money.
We drank the entire line-up at Amphora tasting room. Some good stuff here, folks.
The Dry Creek wineries produce a wider variety of wines and styles of wines than the traditional PN and Zin crowd along the Russian River. The Dry Creek area of the Alexander Valley is surprisingly good. We prefer it to most of the samples we tried along the Russian River.
The Amphor tasting room location is in the same parking lot as 10 other wineries tasting rooms - right off Dry Creek Road. Stop at this ONE location and you will be able to taste wines from Amphora, Collier Falls, Dashe, Forth, Philip Staley, Peterson, Lago di Merlo, Kokomo, Mietz and Papapietro. Easy peasy. -
Review from Brock L.
Washington, DC
Updated - 2/24/2012
We've stopped by Amphora on each of our previous visits to Sonoma. They always make great wines and we usually pickup several bottles. It seems this time that they are offering a slightly larger selection of wines but producing a smaller volume of each. The quality remains second to none.
Listed in: Sommario di Sonoma
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/3/2010
Amphora is among my top three favorite Dry Creek wineries. It's small (by choice), full of… Read more »
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Review from phil h.
10/15/2007 1 photo
The sign outside said they closed at 4:30pm. I wandered over at 4:15pm after a wonderful tasting at Family Wineries and was rushed through my tasting. I do remember decent wines but pricey.
I should have stayed at Family Wineries.Listed in: One day in Healdsburg...
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Review from Suzanne B.
San Francisco, CA
10/11/2007
Must echo Miriam - this is a very friendly tasting room.
Amphora is part of the larger complex of tasting rooms surrounding a crush pad/warehouse area in Dry Creek that includes PapaPietro and the Family Wines group. The staff was lovely - friendly, willing to take the time to discuss the wines and knowledgeable about all of them. This is definitely some place I will bring others to for both the wine and the staff behind the bar.Listed in: Greater Sonoma Valley
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Review from Lynn S.
San Carlos, CA
4/20/2010
This is our kind of place, and our hands-down favorite for wine tasting in the area. Beginning with the sign over the entrance - "Join our wine club and get a hug", Amphora bursts with personality.
Amy and Bridget bring their friendliness and sense of humor to the tasting room, having fun right along with the guests. The tasting room itself is comfortable and inviting, and not at all pretentious. You are immediately put at ease and made to feel like a long time friend.
Rick, the winemaker, is a hoot. Each time we visit we end up getting loopy with him. He loves wine, and people, and life, and puts his enthusiasm for all of these things into his amazing wines. He's very generous in offering tastings from the barrel and makes sure you find a wine to suit your taste.
In addition to the awesome people, Amphora offers amazing wine. You will not find any wimpy wines here. Rick's wines are big, robust and full of flavor. He specializes in reds, although he does offer a chardonnay that is very tasty. Rick's blends are creative and delicious. In fact, I have never met an Amphora wine that I didn't like (as my wine rack will attest).
Amphora's wines are priced between $26 and $40, with a couple of current releases at $50 and $65. These prices are certainly on the low end for wines in this area.
I highly recommend joining the wine club. You can choose between 3, 6 or 12 bottles shipped to you four times a year. Wine club membership gets you a 20% discount on current releases and access to library and limited production wines, as well as access to terrific exclusive winery events. (As wells as the hug promised by the sign over the door!) If I hadn't already been won over by the people and the wine, the handwritten note we received after joining the wine club would have made me a loyal customer all by itself.
Each Fall, Rick puts on a fun "Only Women Can Touch the Grapes" grape stomp, which is a fundraiser for the Breast Care Center at Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa , CA. It's a fun event but even more, it's a great chance to give back.
We have bought futures here a couple of times and have been very happy with them. It's a great way to get Rick's wine at an even better price, and to get them before they sell out.
What I'm really trying to say here is run, don't walk, to Amphora next time you're in the area. And give Rick, Bridget and Amy a hug from me! Cheers! -
Review from Miriam W.
5/24/2006
Very friendly tasting room staff - they gave us chocolate and taught us why rinsing your glass with water between tastings is a bad idea.
The 2004 Mounts Vineyard Zinfandel is awesome! -
Review from Amanda M.
Los Angeles, CA
11/5/2008
The people here were so friendly it really made the experience that much better! The owner was walking around talking to everyone while the pourer was very informative and welcoming. I went down the list of wines and ended up purchasing a 2006 Pinot Noir it was around $40.
It was a good smooth taste and not too dark. We later used about 1/3 cup to marinade a steak and than drank the rest with our steak dinner....it was sooooooooo good! We will be back. -
Review from Kieran R.
Oakland, CA
1/26/2009
Amphora is a small winery (about 5000 cases a year) in the Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg that produces very high-quality, reasonably priced wines. The staff at the tasting room is always fun, and the owner/winemaker Rick is nearly always there holding court. He's quite a character and is a trip to talk with. This is not a stuffy place at all; definitely old-school Sonoma charm. They tend to attract a bit of a younger crowd in the tasting room compared to some of the other places in the area, and as a result it's a little more festive in the tasting room.
They are perhaps most well known for Petite Sirah and Zinfandel but have a large number of varietals, now including several Pinot Noirs as well as some uncommon ones.
Their wines run, generally, from $20-$40 a bottle before any discounts. That's not at the high end of the Sonoma/Napa range, but it's not cheap. It's not difficult to get discounts by buying a case or more, or joining the wine club. -
Review from Cheryl L.
10/6/2010
I just had my birthday party at Amphora for their annual "Only Women Can Touch the Grapes" fundraiser in early October and couldn't have asked for a better day and way to celebrate. We started with a picnic lunch outside and then my girlfriends and I got to drink delicious wine, stomp on grapes and get dirty up to our knees, all for a good cause. Rick, the owner/winemaker has lost two sisters to breast cancer and hosts this event to raise funds for mammograms for uninsured women. Since starting this event, they've raised more than $50,000 for the cause and I can't wait to come back and support them next year!
Listed in: Wine Country Highlights
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Review from Jeremy M.
San Francisco, CA
11/29/2007
I had the best time at Amphora, the owner was really fun, cool pics of ladies that have crushed grapes in the past on the walls, excellent Petit Syrah, kind of difficult to get to, off the beaten path, so to speak, but loads of fun. Forget Pezzi King, Amphora's where it's at for the true winery experience.
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Review from Roger H.
San Francisco, CA
11/7/2009
I came here about two weeks after crush. The tasting room was filled with fruit flies. It was very overwhelming. I tasted one syrah which was very good but I just couldn't take it, so I left. The lady was very friendly there and I felt bad that she had to work in those conditions. It kind of reminded me of those commercials about starving children in Africa surrounded by flies.
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Review from Leo C.
San Francisco, CA
5/27/2008
One of our favorite reasons to come to wine country. We love Bridget and Rick! The wines are stellar, and the tasting experience is always perfect, even when it's busy. Give the sauvignon blanc a fair chance, and definitely make sure to make it all the way to the petite sirah. Check them out.
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Review from Alured P.
San Francisco, CA
7/19/2008
Very friendly staff, great at answering questions and making the visit enjoyable. Several of the wines are good, including the relatively unoaked Chard, and the Syrah. I wish the prices were a bit lower as I couldn't justify spending $30-40 on many of the bottles [which were often good] given my budget. Still, I don't regret having stopped by here.
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Review from Tiffany C.
Oakland, CA
1/26/2009
If you are looking for a fun (and generous!) tasting, this is the place for you. The service is very personalized, the atmosphere more like a cocktail party than a business, and the wines are consistently excellent...ready for drinking now and certainly yummy if you want to hang onto them for later. Sure, these aren't the cheapest wines, but this is the Dry Creek Valley folks and I think they are priced fairly...this is a small label, not a big corporate establishment. You're supporting the equivalent of a mom and pop shop and getting an excellent wine at that.
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Review from Kelly S.
Oakland, CA
3/30/2010
One of my most favorite places to visit. I've been there twice since Jan and can't wait to go back in May to pick up my next club shipment. The wines are stellar. Rick has an amazing gift to make excellent wine. All wines showcase the fruit and have a silky mouth feel. He's got some great futures in the barrell and is very generous to share with those who are interested and show a little appreciation. Rick is an easy going guy with a witty sense of humor. I highly recommend Amphora!
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Review from James B.
San Marcos, CA
2/28/2011
Spent a couple of hours at Amphora visiting with Rick and Bridget. Great hosts. Their wine is excellent. We went one day and had such a good time we had to come back. We were so impressed with the wine that we joined to wine club and plan on buying some futures. Rick loves what he does and it shows in the quality of his wines. This is a small tasting room but well worth the stop. It is part of a group of wineries but we enjoyed ourselves so much we did not get to the others. This is well worth a stop.
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Review from Lex R.
San Francisco, CA
8/12/2010
amazing wine, great prices, the staff is so much fun. and free barrel tasting for wine club members, huge fan of this place !
