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Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery
Rating Details »
8761 Dry Creek Rd
Healdsburg, CA 95448
(707) 433-6700
Healdsburg, CA 95448
(707) 433-6700
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
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68 reviews for Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery
Right next to Dutcher Crossing, this vineyard is amazing.
As much as I love the wine at Dutcher, Ferrari-Carano is in a class of it's own. Very good reds, if you enjoy bold flavors, this is the place to come.
The scenary is amazing, a walk through their gardens and the back drop of the vine valley with take your breathe away. Self described disneyworld of wineries, this place absolutely has everything.
Secret of this place, don't settle for the wine tasting in the store, go down to the basement and get the good stuff, it's $5 more for the tasting but it's well worth it for wine fans.
**They offer delicious chocolate covered blueberries with dessert wine tasting- we bought a bottle of Eldorado Noir (my favorite) - Alice
This was our second visit on our wine tour. This winery is one of the most beautiful wineries in Sonoma! flawless manicured gardens. Just for the grounds itself, it's well worth seeing. see attached photos.
The positives: the gift shop, great place to take pictures, some of the wines you can purchase in your local supermarket. The best tasting wine was the Siena-Sonoma County.
The negatives: The staff is little pretentious.
We hit this place on Passport weekend - The grounds are gorgeous. The winery is really stunning in it's architecture and beauty. They had food at nearly every turn - then they started us off with tasting...Meh...
really - this is not my favorite wine at all - I liked none of them. They are okay - don't get me wrong ... if someone served me a glass I would accept it and drink it... but would never consider buying it.
Great place to take out of town guests as they can certainly find this wine in BevMo and most wine merchants and most likely on a restaurant wine list. Always good to recognize a drinkable wine.
My friend had tickets for an event where they poured wines and paired them with food. I love their Fume Blanc so I was very excited to go. I'm sure the tickets were expensive but I didn't ask how much. We had such a good time. The service was great and not snooty at all. I liked the wines as well. I do think some of the wines were way over priced for what they were.
This winery is very luxurious, so much, that it is over the top. On top of that it's expensive and very busy. It's very Napa-like. They do offer good wines but are probably overpriced. That's for you to decide.
Having done a lot of touring in both Sonoma and Napa, I have to say this immaculately maintained winery is one of the most stunning. The grounds are wonderful and the walk through the garden is quite lovely Definitely worth a stop.
Why only three stars? Talk about snotty employees...this place takes the cake. There are separate tasting rooms for the regular wines vs the reserves (which is not that unusual for wineries that have commercial offerings vs privately available ones) but the woman in the $5 tasting room was a total snob. I'm really put off by service employees who make stupid assumptions based on how you're dressed or how you look.
Ferrari-Carano has lovely wines but the snobby staff I can do without.
We visited this winery last Monday. The grounds look like something out of a movie set. There is a huge bronze boar on the walkway leading up to the tasting room. I never did find out why, but it's pretty cool.
The place was packed when we were there. They make you pay for your tasting up front, which is the third time I have now encountered this. I find it annoying to have to pay twice if I want to buy wine. They tell you to hold on to your receipt, and if you buy wine, they will credit the $5 back to you. Ok, whatever, this better be worth it....
We tried a few wines, and some were nice. We got two bottles of the Siena, and one of the Fume Blanc, which we did not taste, but already know we like. My Dad loves this winery, and always buys the Fume Blanc by the case, so I've participated in drinking several bottles of the stuff. I'll have to tell him I went there finally.
We skipped the reserve tasting. It was crowded and seemed too much trouble to have to go downstairs to do it. Also, I prefer to find good wine at more reasonable prices, and although I'm sure most of their better wines are on the reserve tasting, I don't want to pay for them anyway. Who knows, if wineries would just do the one tasting and put a couple of the better wines in there, more people may taste them, and they might sell more...I will rarely go for the higher priced second tasting. I think it's kind of pompous and overblown for a winery to have two tasting levels...
What a beautiful winery! The grounds are as wonderful as the wines! My group enjoyed a walk through Ferrari-Carano's gardens before we went to the tasting room. I enjoyed some of their wines...and the most amazing wine of all...their dessert Muscat wine :D I definitely left with two bottles of it.
This place is a great addition to any wine tour...You have to actually walk around on the property in order to appreciate how beautiful and amazing this place is!
My god this place is lovely..... the beautiful landscapes and the well kept gardens seem to enhance the wine tasting experience.... alas the wines were just okay... I went down to the reserve tasting area for a couple of reds... tried the malbec which was a tad strong for my tastes and the pinot noir which was excellent.... the area on the ground floor has the regular wines and the chardonnay and pinot grigio here are really good... you should come here and bring your camera.... oh I almost forgot... don't forget to buy a bottle of Fume blanc!!
PS - get the alexander valley chardonnay, mild and sweet yet strong enough to get you cruuuuuunk!!
The landscape on this property is unreal, almost fairytale like and amazingly enough they do not allow weddings... wonder why? Anyway my boyfriend and I went down in the cellar to have our wine tasting. The upstairs tasting is $5 and down in the cellar is $15 (better wines). I probably looked like paparazzi because my camera was flashing so many times, the décor and bar looked incredible. The $15 gives you 4 tastings, we had 2 whites and reds all were pretty delicious; ended up with a non-filtered white that was polished off later that night.
Oh and don't forget to rub the boars nose on the way in through entrance for a little luck.
You MUST do the reserve tasting downstairs. I know, I know....its $15 instead of $5, but totally worth it! You get to taste 5 wines and if you are savvy (like my date and me) you will each try different ones so you get to taste 10!
Our wine pourer was knowledgable, friendly and didn't mind educating us here and there. Overall a great experience - I would go back for sure.
Absolutely one of the most beautiful wineries I have visited so far. The grounds and views are stunning. For your wine tasting venture you could either taste in the main room for $5 or (if you have a group of 6 or more) taste in the private reserve are down below for $15 each. We didnt have the best experience in the main room since the woman who helped us was a bit snooty. My reviews on the wine doesnt get any better either...it was mediocre at best.
The best thing about this place is the grounds for sure...the small private garden was beautiful as well.
Beautiful grounds and yummy wine!
Can I blame Ferrari Carano for being a successful wine-producer? Answer: yes. From the palatial chateau to the manicured gardens to the huge barrel cellar, It's clear that they either make a bunch of money, or this is a huge tax write-off. Judged by the availability of their wines at every Safeway, I'd say it's the former.
Why does that bother me, you ask? Well, how much wine do you have to make to keep them on the shelves of Safeway stores from here to Honolulu? Answer: a shit load. Now why would I want to taste a glass of Chardonnay that was from a lot of 100,000 cases? I don't actually know how much they really produce, but I'm imagining it must be a lot.
In all fairness, they do make reserve and selected vineyard wines that you can't find at Safeway, but that fact stays with me as I taste their average wines. Something is definitely lost in such a large operation. Just go to any number of smaller family-operated wineries around the general vicinity, and you can usually see how smaller is better.
The segregated tasting bothers me. So, you can taste pretty normal wines in the main tasting room, which is loaded with more gaudy souvenirs than wine, or you can pay extra to taste their reserve wines in the bar downstairs. So basically, to taste wine of similar quality to what you see at most other smaller wineries, you have to pay a bunch more. Je n'aime pas.
I think wine-tasters should stop here for a minute and look at the grounds, maybe take a few pics, but actually tasting their wine is up to you. I would say skip it and save your palate, sobriety, and your checkbook for something more exciting. And hey, if you really want to check out what they're all about, just hit up your local Safeway. That way you won't have to deal with their tasting room attendants and their undeserved sense of superiority.
Ferrari-Carano is very beautiful but it lacks the charm that a lot of the other Russian River area wineries have. It definitely feels like a mass produced wine. The cellar was nice to walk through but it was just a very uptight feel to it.....
I feel like it's worth visiting to see the grounds but the wine may not wow you.
Prettiest winery formal gardens in Sonoma County.
Snooty employees in the winery tasting areas.
Most of the wines are just so-so. Bottle prices too high for the mass produced, generic flavored wines.
So let me just say, the estate is beautiful, perfectly landscaped and just amazing to take in. Now, for the staff - RUDE, RUDE, AND RUDE ! We went tasting here last summer and could not get anyone to give us the time of day. We were a group of six, ranging from late twenties to mid thirties - very interested in tasting and more importantly, buying.
However we had to flag someone down to help us at the tasting bar, though she has looked directly at as more than a couple of times. And when we asked to move on to the next varietal she clearly did not want to pour or help us in the least bit. I did enjoy their wine but I will NEVER buy from them since the whole experience was just so pretentious. Don't bother going here when there are an abundance of wineries just as beautiful and actually helpful.
My first job out of college was in Ferrari-Carano's tasting room, so I may have a certain bias. That being said, I now work as a wine critic and I'm still going back to visit FC.
I think the place just gets better and better.
The garden is amazing, especially during tulip season, (I think they have at least a dozen gardeners on staff). And the winery is worth a visit just for the shopping. They have beautiful home decor items as well as some fun clothing, gourmet foods, etc.
Of course, most people come for the wine and they won't be disappointed. The winery now has two different winemakers, one for reds and one for whites so that each bottling gets individual attention. Although they've expanded past their original boutique size, the winery still makes those really well-crafted, boutique kind of wines. Pricey, but very good.
I admit the winery can come off as snobbish at times, it depends on how busy they are, who you're with (a bunch of drunk roudy people trying to ride a sculpture), how you're acting (loud and just generally inebriated), and when you go (read note down below). I know all that stuff shouldn't matter but it doesn't change the fact that the staff get snobby. Lately knowing all that I can just let it roll off my back when I go.
Some of the staff are pretentious so avoid them if you can. Most of the staff is helpful from what I've seen.
To note, I usually avoid the big tour weekends, you know, the ones where you get a ticket and visit lots of wineries ... that seems to be when the staff here get riled up or overworked or whatever.
I do know from experience not to bother much with the initial free tastings. I just make a bee-line to the downstairs basement. I will however occasionally find a good bottle upstairs, it's just that I ALWAYS find a bottle or two that I feel like I can't live without downstairs. Just know that it's quite pricey, at least I always feel it's a bit overpriced, but I would suspect that is because they are pricing for the ambiance as well.
Hopefully you can ignore the pretentiousness you may encounter here because otherwise you may be missing out on some really good wine (if you know where to look --- downstairs).
Price is definitely an issue here...I knew it would be as I walked through the immaculately manicured gardens, past the fat bulldog bronze, and into the bustling gift shop. By bustling, I mean "making money." By money, I mean "platinum cards." Not usually my scene.
Since we were at the end of the day, and sharing a tasting, we decided on the reserve tasting. Down the stairs to the dimly lit basement, where we encountered our first stumbler of the trip. He asked where the stairs started and proceeded to run into the wall. Ok.
The clientele definitely did not match the scenery. I think a bus load of crass, drunken businessmen had just disembarked, because the tasting room, while beautiful in every way, was annoyingly loud. It was more like a frat party than a wine-tasting.
Our pourer was helpful, knowledgeable, but a little cold. Though, I would be too if I had to deal with the guys behind me. What earns Ferrari-Carano the extra star is the chardonnay they pour down there in the basement. Not the silver-label you can buy at Bev-Mo, this was only sold onsite, and it was phenomenal. Nutty, figgy, caramelly, and creamy, like a scoop of praline ice-cream on a summer day. It transformed in my mouth, and each sip was a new discovery. A-Maz-Ing.
I'd make the drive again to get this bottle.
I was disappointed with Ferrari-Carano. The staff were inattentive and snotty. This was the ONLY place that we experienced this during our trip. The gardens were stunning, and for that reason I give this 2 stars. We were unimpressed with the wines and disappointed that even though they have gorgeous grounds,most of them are just for looks... You cannot walk to the front of the building, or beyond the railing in the back.
Beautiful gardens, but that's about it.
If you would rather be in Napa and have an over-commercialized, artificial ambience and experience, this is the place to go.
Yeah, DOUBLE MEH, but nothing bad at all. The grounds are nice and all, but not in a different or interesting way. The place feels like a resort, if you were in a resort in New Jersey. It's a cross between Olive Garden and the Belaggio, only with better wines than the former and lesser wines than the latter.
The upstairs scene is mostly a gift shop with a tasting counter pouring their entry-level supermarket wines. Nothing great here, their fume blanc is very serviceable and a go-to if I'm headed to a summer party or bbq and can't hit a better wine store and am forced to shop at Vons/Ralphs.
The downstairs scene is more upscale, and where they pour their reserve wines. Less meh, but hilariously priced (we bought a bottle of one of their reserve chardonnays to be nice, and it was good, but not great and certainly not worth the price). The tasting room pourer was much cooler than the awful lady upstairs, and that alone was worth the price of admission.
I'm not going to say skip it, because if you're reading this you probably won't as it's an icon in Sonoma, but save your money and just show up and stroll the grounds and skip the tasting.
I tagged along with some friends who wanted to taste their wines. The estate is beautiful if you're into vast amts of land and gardens. It's not for everyone. The wine tasting area is also a gift shop. I took a quick sip of my friend's F-C 2005 Zinfandel and really liked it, so I bought a bottle to take home.
In a gated section is a quaint garden with lots of plants and flowers, a pond and gazebo area to rest. Just a very tranquil place. If you're into Italian architecture, then the winery is worth a visit for you.
I recommend that you pay a little more and go downstairs for the tastings. Here you will find my new love, the dessert wine. All I can say is that it is heaven. The aroma is amazing, the taste is delectable, and I want more!!
Less importantly, but equally nice, is the atmosphere. It is very classy and exudes the charm of a classic estate. The staff is friendly and happily answered all our questions and thankfully poured me more of the lovely dessert wine.... Where did I put that bottle we bought? I'm thirsty.
This is such a beautiful place with a beautiful view of the vineyards. They have put a lot of care into their well manicured gardens. They have an upstairs tasting room and a downstairs tasting room and we had been recommended to go downstairs which was closed unfortunately as we arrived a bit late.
The staff were not helpful and extremely inattentive. Having already been to quite a few wineries on the same day , this was a such a disappointment. Some of the wines were good and some not so. But we were put off with the attitude of the lady serving us. After pouring the first glass of wine. She disappeared to talk to her colleague while we waited . We had to finally get her attention which seemed to annoy her. One of the glasses had some red wine in it and she poured white wine in it . For a person working in a winery , this is totally unacceptable , don't they know they should not mix wines..?????. The person in our group who she served it to was not happy as he was looking forward to tasting that particular red wine and asked her for fresh tasting of the wine as he was not going to drink a mixed wine. She seemed to think this was unreasonable and got further irritated as it would require her to open a new bottle.
Never heading back there for their upstairs wine tasting, have heard the staff downstairs are much better.
i enjoy their wine. i can't wait till my next club shipment rolls in!!
Good news, they have a wonderful estate and gardens to go see and enjoy. Bad news, the wine is not that special. High tasting fees, and special higher reserve fees. Just too commercial for my taste, and like it is the big and fancy place at the end of the road.
Owners came from Las Vegas, and the atmoshphere reflects it.
Go see the gardens, and then leave as there are so many other wineries with great tasting wines in the Dry Creek Valley.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/13/2006
Go for the gardens, not the wine! The architecture of the winery and the gardens are simply… Read more »
Hit this toured the end of our 1st day in wine country. What I great place the end the day. The grounds are beautiful we had a lovely walk throw some of them and even met a local bike rider rest in a gazebo who gave us a scoop on local things.
For the Vineyard its self the staff was a little stiff but the wine was lovely. I especially liked the muscat we ended with. I will plan on going here again if I return to the area.
Came here on a recommendation from a host at another wineries tasting (crazy huh?) and fell in love with the grounds. It felt like we had stepped back into Tuscany!
The wines were good and we did both the regular tasting and the reserve tastings. While not over friendly, the staff was friendly enough and we thought the wines were actually quite good, especially the sweeter muscat based wines.
All in all we loved the winery and would go back there to visit again but we wish more of the grounds were open to the public as it would be fun to explore and take some great pictures.
My new favorite Sonoma winery! And hopefully they like me too!
Nothing like showing up with your clan and serenading the House wine-pourer with your group's signature musician to make a foggy day turn bright!
So unfortunate though that this beautiful palace is zoned for agricultural-use only making their limited permits to host and entertain parties limited to their member's only club... I guess that just means that I'll have to wait to receive my invitation!
The grounds are very beautiful, and romantic but may be a bit high market for some. If you are looking for rustic grounds to sit awhile and look at grapes, this isn't the place for that.
The fume blanc is solid as is the rose but I was underwhelmed by the other wines they had. It wasn't that they were bad or anything like that just I think for the price they were charging there are better ones out there. I have had better Zin for much less, and have had cheap Argentinian Torrontes wines that have the same flavor profile as their Muscato but are richer in texture at half to quarter the price.
If you have at least 2-3 people and are comming for the grounds and want a crisp wine for later skip the tasting and just buy the bottle of the fume blanc you'll be better off price wise.
Our tastings came free with our bed and breakfast (see my review of Old Crocker Inn) and so we decided to check it out. Worth checking out for the grounds alone if your BnB has a free pass in the lobby but not worth paying the tasting fee IMHO. Some wines are cheap and the rest are pricy, they didn't have any middle ground wine (other than the fume) worth drinking.
Glad we went, but it wasn't our favorite. Unlike at Sterling, the reserve room did not impress us - don't waste your money as the tasting is more expensive. We liked the regular tasting better. The place was crowded, hard to get a spot at the bar to taste. Wine was okay, we ended up buying a couple bottles (Cab, Siena, & Reserve Chardonnay). The grounds are really nice though - but if you're going to go to a big crowded winery, Sterling is so much better.
They charge for tasting in Dry Creek (which is becoming more common but still irks me) and I always got this faintly snobby vibe.
Lovely gardens - worth a visit - but the wine fee keeps me out of the tasting room now.
Go for the gardens and enjoy a stroll through the grounds... its so beautiful. It feels like you are in another world. Oh and yes, the wine is good too. Don't forget to bring your camera!!
I call dibs on getting married here.
The gardens are so absolutely gorgeous and the building that houses the tasting room is sophisticated and wonderful. Their wines weren't my favorite of all the vineyards, but they had some unique wine-infused treats.
The gardens around this winery make it one of the most beautiful in California. The grounds were in near perfect condition when we visited and we were blown away by the location. Be sure to visit the gardens to the side of the main path. There are gates at either end you can open to enter the garden.
There was a $10 tasting fee and my wife and I were able to split a taste and get enough to taste the wines. Overall the wines were very good. Our favorites were the 2003 Reserve Chardonnay, and the two dessert wines, Eldorado Gold and Eldorado Noir. The Eldorado Gold was our overall favorite with honey, grapefruit and apricot in the nose and apricot and peach on the palate. It was a well balanced, enjoyable dessert wine.
I subtract one star for charging a tasting fee, otherwise it would be a five star location.
I really enjoyed their beautiful gardens and the grand atmosphere of the exterior of this grand, mansion-like beauty. The white wines are interesting, but I recommend definitely checking out the lower floor to the basement, which has a nice view of some of their collections (behind a cage) and some really tasty wines. The tastings at the basement, which has more reds, as well as sweeter wines, definitely brings it up a level. Real funny and cool pourers, too.
The "normal" wines have gone down in quality in recent years, IMHO, but the reserve wines downstairs are still quite solid. I like how the tasting room downstairs is right next to the actual wine cellar where the huge amount of casks are stored. Haha, it's funny that it's caged in with iron bars... not sure if we're the ones getting caged in, or the wines...
Their zin, like the rest of the Dry Creek Valley, is quite good. The rest, are usually well crafted, but not as good as some of my other favorites in the area.
The estate is simply gorgeous, and enormous. Reminds me a little of Hearst castle. They have a warehouse-like building, that looks like it's for weddings, and looks perfect for it. A buddy of mine was aiming to have his wedding here, but he got married in Taiwan instead. They also have this little garden with lots of little benches and hidden areas to make out with your honey ;)
My friends and I had a great experience at Ferrari Carano, we went 2 weeks after their remodel so we were fortunate to experience the larger reserve area downstairs.
The reserve area is pricey- ranges $15-$20 flight (refunded for $80 in purchase)... the pinot grigio and the eldorado noir (dessert) stood out to me the most. The pinot grigio was perfect for summer and a great deal at $17/$18 a bottle! The eldorado noir ($25 for a teeny bottle but trust me it's outstanding) was my favourite, though, and is ready to be enjoyed now but can hold it's flavour for at least 3 years according to our Reserve Host. And speaking of reserve host, it's a shame the other couple experienced poor customer service... funny, I felt the same snottiness that day at a different winery but that's for a different review ... because we didn't encounter that in the least. Our host was very patient with my many questions and gave my friends and I a lot of attention.
Upstairs is much more reasonable at $5/flight, the 2004 (was it 04 or 05, I can't remember) cabs are delicious .. my friend swears by the chardonnay, but it's too acidic for me and hurts my throat. The fume blanc is also very good.
