This newcommer is going places with their 2007 chardonnay with 94+ points. All the wines are fantastic. the outside patio with tables and chairs is a great place to sample wine, with your refill needs attended to by very attentive and knowledgable host Holly Boekenoogen.I highly reccommend this wine, and tasting room.NO SNOBINESS HERE!!!
great variety of wine tastings for your money. server was very nice and knew a lot about Boekenoogen wines.
Very good wine and friendly proprietors. The village is often sunny when it's foggy and or cold by the coast.
Popped in here on a late Sunday afternoon. NIce friendly atmosphere. Split a tasting flight as it was not long before closing. Nice wines. knowledgeable staff with a sense of humor :)
Nice server, great wine. Some hotels give you coupon for free tasting
We enjoyed tasting a variety of whites and reds at the tasting room of this family owned winery. The vineyards are in the Santa Lucia Highlands and the tasting room in the Carmel Valley. Very nice Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Being able to discuss how the fields are irrigated and managed and how the varieties were selected at their vineyards added to our experience. They also recommended a great lunch spot (Cafe Rustica) which made for a nice afternoon of tasting and food.
Come for the wine. The winery is actually in Santa Lucia Highlands on the Salinas side of the coastal range, with the tasting room in Carmel Valley Village (near Bernardus). The vineyards are on what was originally a family cattle ranch, started in the mid-1800s. The cattle ranch moved to Carmel Valley, to make room for the vines on one of the best spots for Pinots and Chardonnays on the planet. Together with Bernardus, Talbott, and Georis, worth the trip from Carmel and Monterey (about 20 minutes from Carmel).
Carmel Valley is predominantly Burgundian so when I saw the Viognier on the tasting list, I was excited to try. Wanting to skip the Chardonnays, I asked to taste the Viognier, but the pourer recommended tasting it last because it is their "biggest" wine (?) I could maybe understand how a Viognier could stand up to a light Pinot Noir, but they had Syrahs and even a Petite Sirah, which they poured before finally allowing us to taste the Viognier. The wine was good, but it's hard to know for sure since my palate was shot after the Petite Sirah. The Viognier was decidedly not bigger than the reds they poured, but I'm sure the staff has been trained to serve the wines in this order so I am thinking that serving the reds first is to mask something undesirable in the Viognier. The server was a little brash and too much of a salesman for my tastes. They have a nice patio area, but we were not inclined to stay long.
We visited Boekenoogen on a tip from strangers we'd chatted with over a wine tasting in Amador County. When they found out we were headed toward the Monterey Peninsula, they said, "Don't miss this one!" and spelled out the name so we would be sure to find it. We were welcomed by Candace and John onto the warmly inviting tasting room in the crossroads of Carmel Valley's village. They knew so much about the wines we were tasting, about their vineyard and vinification practices, and about wines in general that there wasn't a question that went unanswered. Being from Oregon's pinot noir country and fans of Burgundy's great pinots, we were unprepared to be so impressed by the depth, fruit, and balance of the pinot noirs they are producing nearby, and their Santa Lucia Highlands syrah was a dead ringer for the wines of Vacqueyras that we seek out when we want a heavier red. Although we came in expecting to pay the nominal $5 tasting fee and leave empty handed, our cellar now has half a case of Carmel wines that we will mete out for very special occasions over the next ten years.
We did a tasting here one Sunday with a group of friends. We were able to sit on the patio and enjoy our tasting. We packed a picnic and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The wine was superb as was the service. The man who poured our tasting was very informative about the wines. This has been one of our favorite tastings in the valley.