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- Hours:
Mon, Thu 12 pm - 5 pm
Fri-Sun 12 pm - 6 pm
- Price Range:
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$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Christine E. said: "We really enjoy these wines... some so reasonably priced so you don't worry about indulging on a weeknight once in a while. That would be their Gecko Malbec label for me. If there is goat cheese involved, it must be the MFC Primitivo.…" read more »
24 reviews for Brian Carter Cellars
24 reviews in English
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Review from Kyla C.
Seattle, WA
10/23/2011
Love the wines here! It's all blends but they do a really good job and the people working the tasting room are very knowledgeable. Try the Oriana or the Byzance, both my faves!
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Review from K.Allen E.
Lynnwood, WA
6/9/2011
One to stop at! Brian Carter has a good lineup with some great wines. Some nice daily drinkers as well as some great ones to cellar. Although I will say the service can be lacking at times. The deck is nice, the tasting room is decent, and the staff can be good....
Pricepoints are fair for the overall lineup. -
Review from George C.
Seattle, WA
1/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
Tasty blends!!!
The Abracadabra red was awesome and reasonably priced
The staff was very friendly
I will be back soon! -
Review from JoAnna L.
7/8/2011
Our group happened upon this winery by chance after lunch and we all had a great time. We were seated promptly out on the patio (nearly 15 of us) and our servers were awesome. We got 6 wine tastings for $10 and their specialty here is wine combinations(all delicious). We got to hang outside and enjoy the beautiful day without feeling rushed. Also, when we paid at the end of our time, I bought the salted caramels at the cashier for about $6 and THEY WERE DELICIOUS! I need more! Would go back again very soon.
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Review from Konrad H.
Austin, TX
7/28/2011
Great wines. Pity the website does not make it clear that they are sold out of Port. One of the few wineries in Woodinville that makes Port but only available around November as he sells out quick. Other places to find port in Woodinville are Kestrel, Tefft, Zerba and Cougar Crest. Bernard Griffin is not in Woodinville but they do have a reserve port.
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Review from Peter A.
9/7/2009
Who is Brian Carter? Brian Carter is most well know for this. . . . Brian Carter mixed this into the wine to give it that taste. . . . Is he some L. Ron Hubbard-esq person? I was afraid the pourer was going to make me wear black adidas and drink "the drink" before Hale-Bopp passed overhead again.
Well, beside the pourer's strange way of talking about Brian Carter and the expensive tasting ($8), the wine was good. I walked out with a bottle of Tuttorosso and a funny story to tell all my friends.Listed in: Peter's 2009 Winery Tour
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Review from Heather C.
Seattle, WA
12/31/2010
Aside from the high tasting fees at BCC we were disappointed by the mediocre service, and the bottles we purchased. The lady who did our pouring seemed annoyed that we stopped by, as though we were interrupting something more important. I asked for the premium tasting for my guests and I but apparently she did not hear me and began pouring glasses from the other tasting menu.
The wines we tasted were good so we bought a few bottles to bring home. When we opened the bottle that was our favorite at the tasting we were very disappointed. Even after giving the wine time to breath the wine did not have the clean bright color and finish that we had in the tasting room possessed. Furthermore, it seemed turbid and was filled with a lot of flaky sediment. I will not be going back or purchasing more wine from Brian Carter Cellars. -
Review from Angelina L.
Lynnwood, WA
5/18/2010
Bryan Carter was the last stop on our impromptu tour and it finished off just right.
Tastings are $8 and refundable if you purchase a bottle of wine. Well, that wasn't an issue, we walked out with bottles of wine and a really unique hand blown glass bottle to hold olive oil or such.
They have a cute little yellow building right in the middle of wine country.
For the wine, I'm ok with it. It seems, as they were telling us about their wines, that they are trying to fashion themselves after different regions throughout the world (mostly European). Hmm, ok. I guess.
In the end, it's a place to go if touring with people who are new to touring the Woodinville wineries, but don't know if it'd be high up on my list to revisit and revisit.Listed in: Wineries - Woodinville
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Review from Veronica S.
Seattle, WA
3/17/2008
First of all: thank you, Carly, for the tip!
I adore this place! After the ho-hum experience at Novelty Hill/Januik, Norm's warm demeanors made me forget all about the chilly wet day outside. He was so much fun to talk to, and forthcoming with great info and stories. All the other employees were very nice, too. It's a small shop and got a bit crowded at one point, but everyone was chatting, laughing and having a good time.
The Oriana was great. I'm not normally a white wine person, but the aroma was amazing. I left with a bottle of Byzance, Abracadabra and a great mood, and I will definitely be bringing friends back.
P.S. The tasting fee is waived with purchase. -
Review from Amanda Y.
2/3/2009
I like wine. Admittedly I have a problem, if I go tasting, I should really just refer to it as going "wine buying," because I really do more of that then I do tasting.
I was in the neighborhood dropping off something to a friend, so I dropped by to see the lovely Carly L and drop off a delicious cupcake to her. Not in any major hurry she offered to give me a few pulls off the bottle, I mean... to try a few wines. So I did.
I'm not a red, I'm a white. Often they're just too bitter for me, I like something smoother, more sweet. Well I tried a few reds and actually would drink a few of the reds found here. All of Brian's wines are blends, so you don't get those really absolute tastes you do at some wineries. They taste just like they sound, blends, nice smoothness that goes right down the throat and into the belly.
Aside from the lovely Carly, the other employees are super sweet, offered me a yummy chocolate (they're on the counter, buy some, YUM! I don't even like chocolate!) and on a nice sunny day, I can imagine sitting outside sipping a nice glass of wine and just relaxing.
Love Brian Carter. And yes, I did buy a bottle ;) -
Review from Nicki W.
Mountlake Terrace, WA
4/21/2009
So I can't believe I haven't written a review for BCC yet and I'm a wineclub member for goodness sake! Not to mention one of the huge bonuses to visiting this winery is if you're lucky enough to be hosted by the infamous wine princess, Carly L.!
Anyway, before I met Carly through Yelp, a good wino friend of mine turned me on to Brian Carter wines. We stopped by the quaint little shop after being flagged over by a friendly gentleman. Not only is this the tasting room, they also offer all things wine with bottle openers, bottle packaging for sending, wine infused chocolates and you can even purchase the beautiful bottle artwork! We tasted and paroused and I instantly became a fan of the complex yet smooth red blends so I joined the club. These wines are created to pair with food and truly that is when you enjoy their full potential.
Since then I've come back for a wine release party for their Temperanillo blend named Corrida. They had wonderful cheeses, spanish almonds and sausage layed out, all of which paired beautifully with this devine spanish influenced wine. In fact we just had a bottle to help us celebrate our anniversary with tapas at Bilbao last night! It was fabulous!
As a wineclub member you benefit with free tastings, 16 bottles a year in 4 shipments at a 15% saving. You also get in on small production wines such as the Corrida, Currently, in addition the the Corrida, I have a few bottles of Tutteroso, a Tuscan red blend that I'm looking forward to having with a great pasta dinner in the future. I'm saving a bottle of Solesce, a bordeaux blend to let age for another several years for a real treat! However to be honest, the hardest part is trying to save a bottle of this potion to enjoy later!
Another huge plus is that this is a dog friendly establishment! Whats better than bringing the dog out for the day while drinking a little vino?Listed in: Hi my name is Nicki and I am a…, Fido Friendly
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Review from Katie C.
8/18/2008 1 Check-in Here
This is one of my favorite wineries now. The tasting room and shop is a small place, but really nice. The people were really friendly here too. The tastes here are extremely generous! I also love the fact they don't charge you up-front for the tasting fee- they waive the fee if you buy anything over $24, which means I'll always buy something. ;) The wines were really great- especially the last one, Solesce, WOW yummmm. I would have bought that one, but I'm not quite ready to throw down $60 on a bottle of wine just yet. ;) The fact that the tasting of it was nearly half a glass was also AWESOME. They're really generous here! We bought some red, and a bottle of their one white blend (Oriana) which was really good.
So to sum it up- really nice wine, really friendly place, I'll definitely be back. -
Review from Nobbi L.
8/16/2009
As an avid wine drinker and member of several wine clubs in ad around SF, I was excited when I heard an online community get-together in In SEA was planning visits to two wineries. Never having ventured out of the city while up here, I was excited. The two private tastings had been arranged by a local. This was our second winery stop. What a disappointment.
Our group was seated on the patio. The hostess rather than sharing info about the wines would "quiz" us. "What is the most common varietal of grape in Italy?" After several people answered "Sangiovese", she praised us with "Good guess, but not exactly." We were then informed that it was "Chianti." My remark that Chianti was a type of wine, not grape, fell on deaf ears. The tasting continued with such silly things as wanting a highfive when someone guessed at the answer she wanted.
The wines were ok, the talk canned.
I enjoyed some of the blends enough to purchase a mixed case, so I went inside to ask. Would the tasting fee of $15 be refunded if I made a purchase. No, but I could get 10% off. Great, what would be the case discount then. That's 10% also (not in addition).
So let me get this straight. I get 10% off whether I buy one or 12 bottles and still have to pay the $15. I paid the tasting fee but did not buy any wine.
Having to pay for wine tasting is a pet peeve of mine. I do understand that it is not uncommon for college kids to wanna get drunk on the wine routes. So I get the usefulness of a "refundable" tasting fee. But if I'm a buying customer, I don't expect to pay for tasting at a winery.
I'll never return to this place again. There are many other places around that actually have customer friendly service and honest information rather than charging for playing jeopardy with wrong answers! -
Review from Marc A.
10/30/2010 1 Check-in Here
Love the tasting room and the help (Renee) was such a treat. Skip the bar and grab a high top table so you can spread out. Be sure to try both tasting menus so you can taste the single grape varieties as well as the blends. Enjoy!
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Review from Thad W.
Seattle, WA
9/6/2007
Brian Carter Cellars is a fun place to enjoy and discover new wine.
Located south of downtown Woodinville, Brian Carter Cellars maintains a temporary tasting room near the construction site that will become Woodinville Village. This new residential/retail/wine community will be home to four boutique wineries, with Brian Carter opening a brand new facility sometime in late 2008.
Their tasting room offers outdoor seating and plenty of room inside at the tasting bar. The place was busy when I arrived, with folks seated at all of the outdoor tables, clearly enjoying the beautiful weather with their wine. The tasting room was well staffed with several servers taking care of everyone at the bar and on the patio. There is a $8 tasting fee, refundable with wine purchase. Besides wine, you can buy and adorn yourself with all kinds of branded clothing and caps. Bread, crackers and water was also available at no charge.
Having yet to experience the wines under Brian Carter's label, I was eager to taste and learn more about his winery. As such, I had the good fortune of being served by Karen at the tasting bar. She not only provided great service, but was eager to answer my questions about the who, what and where of this new winery. From my conversation with Karen, I learned more about Brian's background and his winemaking style. As their tagline states, Brian Carter Cellars' focus is on blending and they do it well as evidenced by the one white and four red wines I sampled on this Saturday.
It was fun tasting each wine and hearing Karen describe where the grapes where sourced and how it was made. These were some of the more interesting wines I tasted on my day out in Woodinville Wine Country. Granted, I am partial to blends, but Brian's style of crafting low alcohol, food friendly wines make me an immediate fan. Complementing Karen's insights were the useful tasting notes, which were on one sheet detailing each wine's blend, vineyards and other data.
Similar to my experience at Novelty Hill-Januik, I was impressed with Karen's modest approach in describing each wine. Although they list points on their tasting notes, I don't recall her mentioning scores, reviews or awards during our conversation. She and others working there appear to just let the wine speak for itself, which is a good thing. There is nothing that needs to get in the way of experiencing Brian Carter's wines. And I look forward to doing this again next year in their brand new winery at Woodinville Village. -
Review from Elizabeth A.
Phoenix, AZ
4/2/2009
Although a great and easy location to get to (unlike some others), this was just okay in my opinion.
My BF and I decided to make this a 'must stop' location on our recent trip to Seattle based on the reviews on Yelp. However, after trying some other wineries, I wasn't super impressed.
The service was kind of manic with so many different people pouring and I did think the wines were pretty good. Most annoying though was that there is an $8 tasting fee for 4 wines that is waved if you buy a bottle of wine. I actually spent more on other products besides wine (specialized salts etc) and they still charged me for 2 tastings.
All in all, not terrible, but I would check out some of the others before I stopped here.Listed in: Fun Places in Sea-Town
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Review from Lisa E.
Portland, OR
3/23/2010
After leaving the very crowded Chateau Ste Michelle, we went to Brian Carter Cellars and had a much better experience! It was a smaller tasting room but it wasn't so crazy crowded . The experience was very pleasant.
The first pourer was very knowledgeable and generous with the tasting. The second one that took over for him was VERY stringy though. Tad disappointing.
I liked a few of the wines we tasted and bought a bottle to take home. -
Review from Gavin N.
3/25/2008 2 photos
This was the last winery we visited last Saturday on our visit to Woodinville. As far as the outside, it was quite unimpressive. Just kind of like a little shack, and inside a tiny wine bar, a couple things to buy on the side, and one bathroom. The office clearly connected behind the wine bar. Definitely a smaller operation vineyard.
Anyway our wine wench was extremely friendly, our wine tasting was 4 pours for $8, but given they had some left over she poured us all an extra glass to try out another wine they serve called Abracadabra. Apparently it's some wine that the winemaker decides to use a random barrel and/or grapes available each year..making the taste something unexpected each year. An interesting concept, and I believe it was $15-20 for the bottle...so not bad.
Of the wines I tasted, I wasn't really a fan of any of them. Nothing horrible, but nothing stood out that made me want to buy any particular bottle except for Abracadabra just for fun. Anyway 4 stars for the extra pour.
~G -
Review from Carly L.
Updated - 7/13/2008
OK, I know it's yet another update, but it's now official: I am a Brian Carter employee! I will be in the tasting room. Hope to see you there.
Listed in: Wine Much?
2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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6/24/2008
HOLY BALLS. Ok, I love Brian Carter wine and most people that know me, know this. I went to the… Read more »
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Review from Steve B.
Bellevue, WA
9/7/2009
I want to put this succinctly because I don't want to waste a bunch of verbiage on a winemaker I don't think deserves it: In My Humble Opinion, as wine-industry person and someone who, in an average year, tastes somewhere between 1000 and 2500 wines, Brian Carter is a self-aggrandizing, very modestly-talented, over-hyped winery. Nobbi's story is not at all shocking, coming from this winery, where an employee would "correct" her guest's factual assertion that Italy's predominant grape is Sangiovese by saying "Chianti", a wine which is, by Italian law, composed primarily of Sangiovese. Mr. Carter encourages the idea that he's a Big Shot Winemaker and always has. He ran Washington Hills Cellars, Apex, and several other second-tier wineries and released his first self-titled wine in '97, while I was at Esquin Wine Merchants. It was called "Solesce" and retailed at what was, for the time, the highest price ever set for a new Washington wine, $52. And the wine was a mess, IMO.
These are wines for people who don't know a lot about wine. Their flavor profiles are predictable and straightforward, the cutesy names given to them are, I'll admit, effective marketing ploys that spice up what are, in reality, fairly pedestrian wines, and the prices, while far more realistic than the silly Solesce, can be beaten comatose in the Washington marketplace, IF you care enough to taste around in more places than just a small handful of wineries. (They can be beaten without leaving Woodinville, for that matter.)
Brian Carter Cellars, is, IMHO, a premium winery-wannabe; a company about its owner's ongoing desire to be a "celebrity winemaker". He succeeds at it only because a lot of people go to wineries ready to accept whatever they're told about the wines and wine in general. I PROMISE YOU, if you ask any ten people who are devoted wine lovers to name the top five winemakers in Washington, you won't hear the name Brian Carter once. If you decide to taste more broadly and be more discriminating, you quickly find that what you mostly find at winery tasting rooms...is a lot of marketing.Listed in: Woodinville Winery Rankings
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Review from Bill M.
Canfield, OH
5/9/2008
Keeping it simple (like this winery store front), the wines were good and the service was friendly and knowledgeable. I bought a bottle of Abracadabra to take back to Ohio. This place is worth a stop when stomping through the wineries in this area.
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Review from J T.
San Diego, CA
7/9/2008
Red wine drinker? Stop immediately and taste here. I even liked the white wine they offer. And by the way, this place is not about the amenities of the tasting facility - it is about the wine this guy knows how to make!
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Review from amy m.
Chicago, IL
9/29/2008
Yay! This place rocks! I wish they made more of the L'Etalon because when I wanted to buy another couple bottles, I found out that they are sold out. Too bad! Overall great little winery, and great staff!
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Review from Martin B.
Seattle, WA
6/6/2009
Expensive tasting, small pours and mediocre wine. But the worst part was Gregg. He made inappropriate comments about Asians and Indians. Racist with bad service. I do not recommend!
