Sequoia Grove Winery
8338 Saint Helena Hwy, Napa, CA 94558
Website: http://www.sequoiagrove.com/
Sequoia Grove gets its name from the towering trees surrounding the winery. The winery is not actually situated in a Sequoia grove. It’s located in Rutherford off of Highway 29, but there are a few Sequoia trees that tower over the winery. My husband and I passed between two Sequoias as we entered the doors to the tasting room.
Sequoia Grove Tasting Room
The tasting room looks like a mountain lodge made of all natural wood. The tasting bar is carved from a single piece of wood. Two large wooden casks called puncheons flank each side of the entryway. Each puncheon was made in France and assembled at the winery. A skylight provides natural light to the tasting room. It was created after a Sequoia tree fell on the roof during a lighting storm. The skylight came in very handy while I was visiting because there was an unexpected power outage but the natural light allowed us to continue our tasting.
Large puncheons in the Sequoia Grove tasting room
Behind the tasting bar, the wall is covered by a large wooden rack filled with bottles of wine, and on the top shelf are displayed the largest wine bottles I have ever seen. The centerpiece is a super-sized bottle called a Goliath that is equivalent to 36 bottles of wine. It is impressive to see.
I greatly enjoyed my time at Sequoia Grove. Despite the fact that we walked in during a power outage, our server was very gracious. After pouring a couple of wines for us and listening to how we described them, she realized that we knew a little about wine and offered to do a blind tasting for us. It was the first time I did a blind tasting and I had a fun time trying to guess each type of wine. She even poured us a few extra wines that weren’t listed on the tasting menu and then told us we didn’t have to pay for the tasting. This is definitely a place that I plan to return to because of the friendly staff and laid back atmosphere. The wines were also very good.