Cakebread Cellars

8300 St. Helena Hwy Rutherford, CA 94573    

Website: http://www.cakebread.com/

Cakebread Cellars

Cakebread Cellars seems to be one of the more popular wineries in the Rutherford region of Napa. This is one of the wineries that requires a reservation. Although some wineries are pretty lenient on their reservation policy and take walk-ins, prior reservations are strongly encouraged at Cakebread. I learned my lesson when my friend decided at the spur of the moment that she wanted to visit and we pulled in to see if we could get in without a reservation only to be turned away by one of the employees standing in the parking lot making sure guests don’t get through unless they have a reservation. I made certain to book an advance reservation on my second visit.

Cakebread Cellars is a family owned winery. Jack Cakebread purchased the property from some family friends in 1973 and has owned it since. At the time he purchased the winery he had a dream to someday own a vineyard but had no strategic plans to actually build a winery. The winery started with 157 cases in 1973 and has grown to become an internationally distributed wine company. Today, the winery is very focused on wine and food which seems fitting to the winery’s name. The name Cakebread originated with the family’s ancestors in England who were bakers, primarily of a dense round loaf called a cakebrede. Dolores Cakebread, Jack’s wife, has been leading the charge in the American healthy-eating movement since the 1980s. She has an organic garden on site and runs the American Harvest workshop each September that brings in chefs from all around the U.S. for five days of in-depth learning about food and wine. Cakebread also hosts vintner dinners throughout the year around the U.S. and Canada and conducts on site cooking classes. Details of all of these events are provided on their website.

As we drove into Cakebread, one of the employees stopped us to ask if we had a reservation. We were then directed to drive toward the back. It was September and there were vineyard workers on forklifts moving around large crates of grapes that we needed to drive around as we headed to the parking lot behind the building. The winery itself is a large wooden structure that looks like a modernized farm house.

The garden behind Cakebread

We followed signs that led us along a pathway to the side of the building where we saw a small seating area under some umbrellas and a beautiful garden full of tall sunflowers, plants, fruits, and vegetables. One of things I was most excited by as we headed to our tour and tasting was getting to see all of the workers cleaning out empty crates and being able to walk right up to stacks of crates full of recently harvested grapes. The entrance to where we had to pay for our tour and tasting was in a large fermentation room. There were some tables and cash registers set up in the center of the room between the steel fermentation tanks. We were handed our glasses and informed that our tour would start right outside the doors on the opposite side from where we entered.

Cakebread Culinary Complex

Before getting into the details of our tour, I will preface it by saying that the winery was setting up for a big culinary event at that time. Our tour guide had informed us that the tour was modified a bit so that we weren’t interfering with all of the work going on for the event. The tour started in the courtyard between the winery and on-site culinary center. Since this winery is so focused on food and wine education, they have created their own culinary complex that is another large farm style building at the front of the property. We took a few minutes standing in the courtyard to sample a wine and learn a little about the winery.

Cakebread’s courtyard

The courtyard is very pretty with a small fountain in the center and lots of flowers, bushes, and tall trees outlining the area. At the opposite end from the culinary complex was a patio area with tables and chairs. When our small group was ready to move on, the tour guide led us to an area between the winery and vineyard.  There were several tables set up with a guide and small group at each one. Our guide brought us to our individual table and poured another wine while we stood right beside some rows of vines. At first I was intrigued by getting to do a tasting right beside the vineyard. However, I started to become bored after standing in the same spot for at least 30 minutes while our guide talked about the wines and then went on to discuss his favorite hangout spots in downtown Napa. After sampling four of the wines and listening to our guide drone on about non-wine related topics, we were dropped off at a small gift shop back in the main building. I was disappointed that we did not learn anything about the wine making process, fermentation area, or cellar as mentioned on the website. I found the wines to be good but not exceptional and a bit pricey.

I wouldn’t return to the winery again for the tour. It is unfortunate that they do not allow guests to stop in for a tasting without having to do the tour. Granted, we may not have received the full experience because they were setting up for an event, but I was still expecting something more. If I did decide to return it would be to participate in one of their culinary events.