ladera vineyards

Wow. By far our best experience in the Napa Valley.We managed to get a tasting on our last morning visiting the Napa Valley, and it was great. The scenic drive up the mountain (about 20 minutes from Calistoga) was nice and the winery itself was very picturesque.When we arrived my wife and I were met by Bret, who proceeded to spend the next hour and a half guiding us through tastings of some amazing wine.He and my wife talked golf while we sampled the wines. He really went above and beyond to get to know us and make us feel welcome and we really enjoyed our time talking with him.We bought a bottle of the very good 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and then we were fortunate enough to be able to try the truly delicious 2010 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and bought a bottle to bring home with us.An overall great experience.

I agree with the reviewer who suggests you should make it your first stop. (Definitely do not sip wine before driving up the winding road.) The setting is spectacular, and the wine even better. We love their wines and were delighted to discover that the people and the place are also extraordinary.

Wow. In an area of not enough time to do waaay to many fabulous tours, tastings & sites...Ladera hits a homerun! Howell Mountain reds are in my opinion among the most wonderful around despite what some divided die hard valley experts may argue. Where Ladera takes a step ahead of many tours, actually has little to do with their wines at all. All the tours you might do may exhibit their operation, facility, history, and discussion on their varying vineyard areas around the area, coast, valley etc... And while these are great - truth be told after you've seen a few in a few days, they tours end up kind of running together despite how impressive the wine, views, caves and tours may be. Ladera focuses not only on their wines and a very interesting history of the property, but yesterday we had the pleasure of one of the most impressive entertaining and informative tours/tasting ever that taught us more than I ever even thought about regarding their BARRELS. Wow was it neat!!! A perfectly timed cave tour with tastings that wasn't too long or too brief hit just the right balance. Samantha was a truly a phenomenal tour guide, and I will recommend this experience (barrel tasting cave tour) to everyone I know headed to Napa Valley. She seems like she's just always been there, not to mention the Ladera Reserve cab has been one of my favorites for several years. Call today and fit it in. You will be SO glad you did! You will want to sit outside in their patio area afterwards and enjoy your last tasting along with the landscapes, plentiful lavender, rosemary, Black-eyed Susan's and spectacular scenery!!!Other tidbits:- Some particular hotel guests receive their tastings complimentary, so check with your lodging and/or ask when reserving. - Tastings are comped by joining their club which is absolutely reasonable and has differing amounts of wine to choose from receiving. - It's up the hill quite a ways, so consider hiring a driver and booking another Howell Mountain tasting for that day. (I absolutely recommend the Clif "Elevated" wine and cheese poolside in-vineyard food pairing / tasting which is fairly new, absolutely delicious, and very affordable too. :-)

My fiancee loves Howell Mountain wine, so we made sure to stop here on our most recent trip to the area. While the winery doesn't overlook the Valley, like so many in the area do, it still has beautiful grounds and a gorgeous old stone building as the backdrop. We were seated outside and there was only one other party at the property, so it was like we had the place to ourselves! The wine is excellent and the service is very personable. They offer a tasting of their Pinot Noir from Sonoma here as well, which we loved, so we purchased some of that and their Howell Mountain cab. As this property is somewhat "out of the way" and off of a hilly, windy road, I recommend having a professional drive you. But definitely a great stop in the area!

Howell Mountain fruit makes some nice wines. The grounds are very beautiful and the wines range from bold reds, to a rose that is delightful to their sauvignon blanc. The tasting room crew polite and had a great knowledge base.

Right up there on Howell mountain, beautiful drive but the winery's tasting area itself unfortunately doesn't overlook the valley or anything. Still, it's a pretty little area with a small mini-vineyard specifically for guests to see and taste grapes of different varietals, which is fun. Tasting is outside on the terrace with great details on the wines. Wines are all solid and reasonably priced, especially liked the Cabs. Adorable building apparently originally built in late 1800s by the first owners.Make an appointment. I'd recommend.

I am finding not all but many of the better wines are at these places were the driving is very difficult to do and you NEED to be an above average driver because of the narrow twisting climbing roads of the mountain. I do note they have two routes to the winery and one is better than the other. The way we took up was not for the faint of heart. Yes you come here for the Cabs. Very Good Cabs once you taste past the first cab (the one made for the masses) you will be very impressed.

We recently went on a Tour/Tasting as part of the GEMS of Napa program. The winery is beautiful, the tour guide was very knowledgable and wines excellent (we had charcuterie as well and it was awesome)

had a tour. really nice tour guide, Christina. Rally nice grounds. Love their cabs. Howell mnt cab is the best. ordered 2 cases, again nothing more to say

Once in a while, if you hunt around, you will find a Napa winery whose wine compares favorably with wines costing three times as much. Such a winery is Ladera, in the Howell Mountain AVA. We took the Estate Tour, which is 2 hours long. They actually made it very interesting. The wines were very good throughout. Our menu started with a fine Sauvignon Blanc, progressed to a nice Malbec, and then culminated inside the caves with a seated tasting of 4 Cabernets, including a lovely Howell Mountain Cabernet. The tasting concluded with a cheese pairing. Fabulous setting. Highlight of our tasting day in Napa. They also have a 45 minute simple tasting, but try to work in the longer Estate Tour if you can.