V. Sattui Winery

V. Sattui Winery is a large winery that has an expansive picnic area, a deli and cheese shop, picturesque buildings reminiscent of Europe in the 1800s (built in 1985), a wine cellar and cave and a large tasting room with gift shop.  We’ve often driven by there and seen many people at their picnic grounds having lunch or snacks. During the summer or on weekends it often looks very busy. Despite living in Napa and having toured wineries here since 1973, this was the first visit to V. Sattui.  We went there on a rainy Wednesday in February, about as off-season as it gets.  There were still quite a few people there but no lines.

We walked around taking photos of the buildings and scenes and then went down to their cellar area where they had a small museum, large wine barrels and people who were at tables eating lunch.  (It had been raining intermittently.) The tasting room is in a different one-story building where there is a gift shop and a deli where you can order sandwiches or purchase one of the many gourmet cheeses they have.  The tasting room itself is the largest we have seen in Napa Valley.

There were fifty wines available for tasting on the list and we only tasted six of them, so it is difficult to generalize about the wines. The ones we tried included the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, the 2010 Pinot Noir Sattui Family, the Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Mt. Veeder, the Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Morisoll Vineyard, the 2009 Syrah and the 2008 Zinfandel, Gilsson Russian River at $37.  They were mostly rather light and inoffensive wines that were okay but not particularly interesting.  The one exception was a good Zinfandel, the 2008 Gilsson which we liked enough to purchase and can certainly recommend.  If you are serious about wines, you might like to try this Zin.  It is a fruit forward, jammy zin that is well balanced.

If you are looking for a winery with a deli, picnic area, cellar and museum, that offers some interesting photo opportunities, then you will probably want to visit V. Sattui, especially if it is off-season or during a time when it is not crowded. The wines themselves are worth sampling.  We did not try any deli items but they looked tasty.

V. Sattui Winery

1111 White Ln
Saint Helena, CA 94574
(707) 963-7774

Date of visit: 2/29/2012