Chateau St. Jean Winery Reviews

Really an excellent experience! I was there for my 60th birthday (a surprise from my husband) and I had doubts that the experience would be worth the cost. Our tasting was just beautiful. The wines were lovely and the cheese plate was just right. Butch merged a professional tasting experience with a friendly demeanor.
Highly recommend.

Wine was good, but service was a little off putting. When we walked in, we were quickly impressed by the beautiful gardens and we were excited to sit at the shaded picnic tables. However, because we booked the reserve tasting, we were sat at the chateau patio....which honestly was about 6 generic bistro tables on a concrete patio. Totally not worth it for a much less desirable ambiance and more expensive tasting. And to top it off very little information was actually given about the wines, I think the only thing said about the red tasting was what type of reds they were. Overall the grounds are pretty, wine was good, but you get a lot more ambiance and experience at other wineries in the area.

Excellent hospitality and views. Lots of space to roam the grounds. One of my favorites in the area. The price was worth it.

Beautiful vineyard and excellent service. We had 2 people assisting us with our tasting, Jean-Pierre and Karen. The wine itself was outstanding and we ended up buying a bottle of their Pinot Blanc to enjoy in their stunning courtyard. The hospitality was quite sincere - they genuinely wanted to please their guests. You felt right at home here. Highly recommend this as a stop on your Wine Tasting Tours.

We went here for my husband's surprise birthday and did their escape room. The experience was so much fun and really made his birthday memorable! We learned a ton about wine, enjoyed the wine break for the escape room, and we got to meet Margo at the end who spent time talking to us. Absolutely loved this experience and their Chardonnay was the best thing I had our entire trip!!

Beautiful location but had a bit of a corporate feel to the experience. Worth a stop if you are in the area though.

Delicious cheese and wine pairing and picturesque property, nice winery to add to your trip to Sonoma

If you have time, take a leisurely stroll around their beautiful grounds. The staff is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. My boyfriend and I have very different tastes with wine. They were able to let us sample wine that we both loved. Make sure to try the different years of the same wine. It's quite a difference that a few months can make.

friendly staff, I love how they really spent time/effort to enforce the social distance and mask policy to keep everyone safe, we had a great time here

Once the most elegant Winery in all of Napa- a front runner! Still has top flight flights. Smart staff!

Beyond the Beauty of the Winery, there is the most exceptional staff that tirelessly works to ensure that you have an amazing experience. Our group had no reservations but after a short wait we got a the royal treatment. I would recommend visiting this venue above all the rest.

I actually really liked reserve Malbec which I normally do not. Property is is very nice

Wasn t impressed other than with the property. More than half the time I didn t know where our server was. Made for a quick stop in our day with no additional wine purchases.

OK wines, very touristy. Beautiful garden and venue.

Gorgeous location, phenomenol wines, AND superior hospitality. A wonderful place to spend an afternoon, bring a lunch, and purchase a bottle, or two, of fantastic Chateau St. Jean wine!!!

We had a picnic basket booked for 2 people at the Chateau St. Jean but honestly were pretty disappointed by it. The place is pretty, nice gardens, the picturesque view over the garden onto the vineyard though is reserved for club members only.
The idea of booking a picnic basket is so romantic and we came hungry and excited and bought a bottle of sparkling rose with it. The basket contained only the most basic stuff though and every supermarket snack would have been better, in our opinion. The sandwich fixing is focaccia bread, a slice of cheese, tomato, onion and salad. Fresh fruits are two apples. Two apples. We also had two homemade cookies and less than a handful of egg salad and dry, cold chicken. It s fine for a snack basket for 20$, but it s such a rip-off for 80$. While the idea is really cute, I recommend rethinking the value proposition. Either put in enjoyable foods or make it just much much cheaper.

Beautiful property but felt like we were not even there. We were passed off between three different employees during our tasting. None of them seemed very interested in speaking with us, and it wasn t very busy. Once they knew they could not ship to our state they were uninterested. Our final server was midsetence when a new group arrived. She immediately began speaking to them and we did not hear from her again.
I never write reviews. I will not come back to this winery.

Ok wines, over priced, much better facilities than product. Beautiful location though.

My favorite wine out of all of the stops we made between Sonoma and Napa. Wine was amazing and the location was really nice.

Our favorite was the Pino Noir. Worth coming by for a drink.

Must try the reserve tasting room... Their Cing Cepage is amazing. My favorite winery

We had the Sonoma/Napa experience last week. Very beautiful grounds. We did the tour & tasting. It was ok....generic, simple if you will. Some of the wines were refreshing, but I didn't fall in love with any/all of them. I think we tasted 4 different wines and toured some of the grounds.

Our first stop of the day, nice experience with gorgeous gardens, chateau, and very impressive of their recovery from the fire.

We had the tasting with cheesebites. Our guide Butch was very attentive and interesting. He told us a lot about the buildings and the forest fires. The cheese plate was a sufficient size for two people and the wines could be selected individually for each person. The wines were excellent. Especially the Pinot Noir. We recommend!!

Really lovely setting, 2 tasting options in two different rooms. 5 different wines on each tasting flight with the standard tasting costing $15 and the reserve tasting in the chateau building costing $25. The winery produces wines made from crops all over Sanoma County of its some from one Vineyard others being a slight blend as is the trend in the U.S. The wines may not blow you away but they are good with knowledgeable staff and a grant location making this one of the Valley's better all round experiences.

Beautiful Winery, shame we couldn't enjoy their wine this trip but we will back!

Personally love their cabernet sauvignon and Pinot Noir!

Tasting was fun and casual, staff knowledgeable and friendly. Pretty setting with small garden area. Cinq Cepages and Gewurztraminer are awesome.

I feel for Ana. We had a bad time with a rude employee about two years ago. I said I would not come (from TX). When I was three two weeks ago Girlund ( spelling?) treated us well. And now I am a club member! Great reds. But the whites are solid.

I was so disappointed by chateau st. Jean. I have been traveling to Napa and Sonoma for ten years and always want to stop at this winery because the location is beautiful and the wines are good. This time we had a terrible experience and probably will not go back. We decided to do a tasting which they refused to let us split, forcing us to spend more money. We were not allowed to pay for our gift shop items until after the tasting, again hoping we would spend more. The entire tasting felt like a sales pitch but a poorly done one. We were told certain wines weren t as good as others, an odd thing to do when you are serving us the wine. We were told one of the wine clubs was exclusively for doctors and lawyers, mind you no one asked our professions. The man doing our tasting was constantly pushing the wine adding comments like only four cases left which came across as pushy instead of peaking our interest in a rare, almost sold out wine. Additionally we had ordered the cheese board which no one brought and when they finally brought it, it was a sad excuse for a cheese plate with three small cheeses, a few olives and two dried apricots. Overall it was too pushy, the people were rude and the wine wasn t very good.

I am a wedding and event photographer in northern California. I have photographed in more than 100 venues and Chateau St Jean is one of my favorites for its beauty, history, wine, and great staff. If you're considering a wedding in wine country and you want some amazing character, check out Chateau St Jean. I highly recommend them!

After visiting 3 other vineyards in the day, this one felt like a major rip-off. The guy on the patio had zero personality. This was day 2 in Sonoma and the first I've experienced of anyone being snobbish or feeling like the tasting was a rip off. I definitely won't be back. Get ready for multiple sales pitches

Just a little bit are the fires but still in good business Winery in tact Tasting Room intact still good place to visit

Their wine is just OK, but the service has to be approached by a contact center located in Canada, which makes the whole communication process very ineffective.

So before making any payment, think twice if you are really committed to go there, otherwise you are going to spend hours getting your refund.

We had a great experience here and had two tastings of 4 wines each for $15 with the Visa signature card. We loved the pinot noir and bought three bottles. Regret not joining the wine club!

I loved this place! Their wines are superior! Alice took care of us and she make us feel VIP. Thank you for the experience, will definitely come back!

Very simple as wine, ordinary food and very expensive As value for money, too commercial vineyard you can find much better in the area. Only positive point the location and the castles are magnificent.

This is one of my favorite wineries mainly because of how beautiful the grounds are. We did a tasting and the service was amazing. Definitely a favorite

Lovely time. Good tasting-- staff could have been warmer & more friendly, though. Beautiful grounds. Had a fun day with family & older kids. Will return again! Would be nice if you could schedule bocce games in advance, since space is limited.

Great atmosphere, friendly staff, and beautiful venue. Friends who tasted loved the 2012 Merlot. Free tasting with Visa Signature.

My husband and I went to Chateau St. Jean upon the recommendation of two of our friends who were members at the time. Chateau St. Jean has a very large parking lot and s beautiful hedged garden. Although it looks like a big corporate winery, the service and wine exclaim that it isn't. It had outstanding service. We wound up taking the Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir home.

Gorgeous venue. Love the wine. The Cinq Cepages (sp?) is amazing!!!! I read the reviews from other customers who weren't happy with the staff. This hasn't been my experience. The staff were very knowledgeable and seemed to take pride in talking about the wine. I've had tastings in the reserve area and the "common folk" areas and loved both.

Great Winery, outstanding level of service from John who helped us. Extremely knowledgeable and willing to help. Fun to visit and enjoyed the wine!

Beautiful grounds, excellent wine selection, friendly staff, highly recommending!

Really enjoyed the private tasting. Our sommelier, Butch, was fantastic. We would do this again!

We stopped in to the Chateau after a weekend camping at sugarloaf. There was ample parking on a Sunday at noon. The staff was very friendly and inviting. The main tasting room was decorated nicely.

We chose to taste from their reserve menu for $40 each and were seated out on the patio of the chateau. Beautiful views of the grounds and the weather couldn t have been nicer. We ordered a cheese platter and forgot to snap a pic before it was almost gone. Oops.

We chose to sample the reds and were also treated with tastings of their anniversary cab and as an added treat, the 2014 reserve Cabernet. Staff was very friendly and seemed very knowledgeable about the wines.

We tasted our way through the wines fully expecting to love the Cing Cepages, but ended up purchasing the Pinot as we both enjoyed that one the most.

It s a beautiful winery and would be a lovely venue for an outdoor event.

Enjoyed the tasting and bought a case of wine, but we discovered afterwards that we were overcharged for a total of over $120. I called and emailed numerous times to ask for a refund, and each time I was told a refund would be sent - only to receive nothing, with no updates on when I should expect it. It's been nearly a month and I still have not received the money back. Very frustrated with this experience.

A beautiful vineyard and winery in a beautiful setting. However, I would need to see more warmth and welcoming attitude from the staff to give this an extra star. Their wines are excellent though.

Great people. Very enjoyable experience with nice wines on a beautiful property

Beautiful winery with top notch service and wines. Laura is very knowledgeable on their wines and cheeses. If you are in the area please stop by and enjoy their wines and scenery. THE WINERY SURVIVED THE FIRES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

The greeters and people behind the counters were very rude. I used to work at their corporate offices but didn't introduce myself as an employee. They were just starring at us and didn't offer any help. Never going back. Stay away from this place. Their wine is bad as their attitudes.

Group of 6 girls doing a walk in tasting around 1PM on a Saturday. The facility was not crowded and they were able to accomodate us right away.
The grounds were very pretty and we took time between each different tasting and walked around or sat outside to drink instead of standing inside at the bar the entire time - there was no issue anyone had with that.
After our tasting we purchased a bottle of sparkling rose and played Bocce on the grounds which was enjoyable.
The space is pretty and the people were nice - I liked this facility.

A schedule snafu was successfully corrected by Josh. We are on our way to sample some awesome wines.

Gorgeous venue, wine was good. However, all of the staff here was extremely rude. The venue was closing at 5pm for a wedding, but no joke 6 separate staff members kept reminding us to leave and kicked us out 10 minutes before closing. Not how you get returning customers!

Big emphasis on sales pitch. Wines were just ok. Our group all did the reserve tasting, the host only said what the name of the wine was, no additional info. Seemed to only care if we wanted to join the club... nothing else. It was our least favorite of the 5 of the day. I'd recommend trying another place

We returned a $950 wine order the day we received it back in late June of 2016. It is now September and I have not received the funds from the winery. I have send several emails & made several calls, on each call I am told "we are looking into it" and will get back to you. When I ask if I can email the UPS tracking documents showing the wine was returned timely I am told "no". I cannot believe how unprofessional this winery has conducted its business with me. I cancelled my club membership but I am not holding my breath that they can do that simple task.

The garden here is huge and absolutely breath taking-- it reminded me of the gardens you see in Paris. I love the blue vase fountain off to the side, the carts of flowers near the tasting room, the labeling of the different grape and wines along the vineyard, and just overall the whole place. Staff was my favorite of the 10 wineries we encountered, joking with us, and giving us multiple free pours. Definitely enjoyed it here, and the wines were pretty good too! Participants of the Visa Signature program, which gets you 2 or 3 free pours.

We had the best experience here! We did the classic tasting with Alice, and she was so hospitable and kind. She made our Sonoma experience one to remember.

Ok this was the wine that won us all WOW!!!! We went over to the reserved wine area and we were blown away. Geoff helped us out and he was amazing and knew his wine. The team there was so helpful and you could see they enjoyed what they do. Can't wait to go back :-)

The wine was quite good, but the service experience left a lot to be desired. We drove out of our way to come here. When we arrived we upgraded to the tasting table. The view was beautiful and we watched a hawk for quite a while (this is important because it was the only high note of this visit.) when we arrived we had told them we were hungry and they said oh don t worry you ll get a cheese plate. 45 minutes later and that was nowhere in site. We were sat at a table with eight wines and basically left there for a long time. The guy even said he d be back to talk to us about the wine club and that didn t even happen. The table next to us had their cheese plate delivered in less than five minutes. I was disappointed to pay nearly $100 for that experience.

I was pleasantly surprised by this winery, because generally the big name places are impersonal. We paid the extra for the reserve tasting and after our host realized we actually had some wine knowledge, we were treated very well, and even offered off-the-list tastes.

Initially we did a picnic here in July 2020 and the experience was less than satisfactory. It s really nice of the management and staff to listen to our feedback and invited us back to a tasting. I think they can improve their tasting experience by showing us the labels and talk more about the wine, instead of just bringing the glasses out. Overall it s a very lovely property, friendly staff for a laid back time.

We didn't have a very good experience here. We were unhappy with the level of service here and false advertising.

We walked in @10 right when they opened and we we're pretty much the only ones beside one other table. We bought $30 in merch and a tasting. They had two indoor tables and one was set and the other was occupied. When they served us they noted that my husband was having really bad allergies and that we couldn't sit out side. So we sat at the completely unmarked table that was partially set. Then they kicked us out if that table and made us move to share the table with the other group, because they had a group coming in 2 hours later for that table. Our wine tasting wouldn't take anywhere near 2 hours, so it seems silly to force us to move so early.

We also specifically went here because they offered 2 for 1 tasting with a Visa signature card. But they didn't honor that. They said initially that we could get a free "splash" of wine with a tasting, but then when we actually order the tasting, they said the splash was only included in their reserve tasting room which was twice as expensive, and everyone need to participate in the tasting. They would not let us go as a group. They said it would be fine with them if we 'split up.' Really, thanks...

The hospitality is great and they really make you feel like you are welcome.

No seating for the $25 reserve tasting and the wines for $15 are cheap. Their website was done well, but not their wines.

We did a quick tasting here in between other tours. Damen our host was wonderful. He definitely tailored the tasting to what styles or wine we are interested in.

The best thing about this winery are your surroundings. The gardens and buildings are lovely. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had not been treated so rudely by an older employee( Tim or Tom). This was by far the worst tasting experience we had. I don' know if his rudeness was because we showed up 20 minutes before closing, or because we look younger (though we are in our 30's). You should really invest in better client service, especially when you are charging $25 a tasting.

On a scale of 1 to 10 - my recent experience is an ELEVEN ! I luv the 2014 vintage of Cabernet (Sonoma) and had slight issue w/ a couple of bottles. Mr. RUSSELL CRAIGIE, Chateau St. Jean's Hospitality Mgr. stepped up to the plate and provided the utmost in Customer Service. WOW ! This type of service is Hard to find in 2019 - and I am beyond impressed. Should any visit, purchase, etc. @ Chateau St. Jean Winery need some assistance - please reach out to this gentleman before a negative post. I'm sure you'll be most pleased - as I am. Blessings:)

From Japan. The last day of the year was a fun day thanks to this wine. Thank you very much.

Beautiful grounds but unfriendly staff. With so many other fine wineries, why go back?

3 of us visited here on 8/13/20 and we all had a fantastic time! Absolutely stunning surroundings and exceptionally welcoming and knowledgeable staff! I'm traditionally a red wine drinker but found that all of the wines we tried with our tasting were fabulous including the whites! So much so that I even came home with a bottle of Chardonnay and Viognier. Geoff took superb care of us and even went out of his way to find a glass of something our non-wine drinker would like, which she did! I was so impressed by the wines I even decided to become a wine member! Everything was perfect and we appreciated the attention to
detail with our experience as well as the way you have made both safety and enjoyment a priority for your guests. Thank you Chateau St. Jean and Geoff, we look forward to seeing you again! Cheers from MN!

We did a tasting here with Alice. She was incredibly friendly and generous with the tastings. She was also informative and professional, and did a great job showing off this beautiful winery for us. We would highly recommend. The property is spectacular and the wine is delicious.

Beautiful winery in Sonoma. Multiple tasting rooms. We did the reserve tasting. Amazing reds. The grounds were perfect.

We just did a tasting, so we weren't there very long. The man helping us treated us very much as a bartender would so we didn't get a great feel for what kinds of wines we were tasting or what made this vineyard so special.

They saved me one day in their gift shop when I needed a change of attire: $12 for an embroidered cap and t-shirt combo! Also, consider picnicking on their beautifully landscaped grounds, the ideal location for a lazy summer afternoon.

was there yesterday great location great wine. Like the 3 liter magnum Carbernet Sauvignon

Very beautiful grounds with a lovely picnic area with tables - love!

It was closing by the time I got there but the winetender was accommodating. $25 for a flight tasting is kind of pricier. I visited 4 more winery's and $15-20 is what I would pay.

Chateau St Jean Winery is very classy. Great wines, although I really like the whites. Beautiful grounds. A must stop if your wine tasting along Hwy 12 in the Sonoma Valley.

This was the grand finale to our eight winery, three day wine tour. What a fabulous winery! We enjoyed a bites and flights pairing with Rhonda. Rhonda was incredible! She took time to teach us about each of the wines. She listened to our preferences to recommend other wines. There was no pressure to purchase, although we did end up taking home a case. Lovely winery, lovely wine, lovely staff! Highly recommend!!!

I came here back in January 2020 to celebrate my 30th birthday with a handful of my closest friends, and we had a great time. I was able to reserve a private tasting for all 14 members of my group simply by emailing with their team a week before the date. The property is beautiful and our service was top-notch thanks to our host/ server, Eric. My only complaint is that the food offered in the "Bottles & Bites" group tasting was subpar for the price we paid. Other than that we all enjoyed our experience with Chateau St. Jean, and of course the wine!

Nice location but too many rules. Took the premium tasting, but cannot sit, the lady was not friendly. Every thing was ' u can't do that'. Rules. Very dissatisfied.

Beautiful winery.. great wine tasting experience. Spent a few hours here enjoying the wine and beautiful setting.

This place is nice , vines are alright , one Cabernet was excellent and people are friendly . WE found this place empty on Friday evening I guess Sonoma wineries are priced themselves out of the market. Not enough people who are willing ready to spend $ 27 for testing and $700 /year for membership

Butch did an awesome job during our Chef's Table wine and food pairing tasting. Thank you for a wonderful experience!!

A perfect SIP activity. They are offering picnic experiences on property and they are following all of the social distancing rules. I was impressed with how much signage there was. Very clean and enjoyable experience.

I came here back in November and the male employee (bald) was incredibly rude, unprofessional, and yelled at a group of girls for no reason. My friend tripped in her heels
because of the rocky road and he accused us of being drunk. He clearly has some vendetta against women and should be fired for his disgusting behavior.