Ledson Winery Review

Beautiful location except the mansion is a let down not being historical and located next to a prison is a bit of a drawback.

Gorgeous property, nicest staff, cute little shops for snacks accompany the wines. Overall great experience.

Very broad wine selection, very knowledgeable staff, exellent Pinot Noir. Leaned how to do "seasoning" of a glass. A visit is a must.

Inconceivably standoffish. When my family of four went in for a bottle of wine and food from their deli, we were quickly shoo'ed outside where we were brought our substandard and woefully disappointing lunch.

Beautiful property and great wines. Especially like the "Amy's vinegar " Zinfandel. Smooth and complex

Beautiful winery, loved all their wines. Warning that they don't allow outside food on the property, as they have a deli inside.

We own a wine row, been club members for 20 years, awesome experience every single time. Thanks Brendon!

Excellent winery, exceptional sommelier. Very interesting information shared.

Excellent wine selection, beautiful grounds. Highly recommending!

Because of the covid restrictions everything was done outside, however the landscaping is impeccable and the picnic area (in the back) is very relaxing and pleasant. Highly recommend the Russian River Sauvignon Blanc , the Sonoma Valley Estate Ancient Vine Zinfandel and the Julia s Vineyard reserve Pinot Noir.
Charcuterie plate was a nice addition to the wine tasting.
All around wonderful experience

Amazing place, wonderful, knowledgeable sommeliers! Great wines!

Although the winery was beautiful and the mansion was beautiful... the wine tasting experience was not impressive... the bartender was friendly and cool but the bartender had no clue about wines! He didn t know jack. It was so boring and snooty. Pours were not generous. It will cost you $20 for regular and $30 for reserve. Super pricey for a mediocre wine tasting. The mansion was super nicely decorated for the holidays. They don t waive any wine tasting fees even if you spend over hundreds of dollars!! So weird and stingy.

The wine was great, Glynn was even better! I love the old school wine tasting experience with a hilarious and entertaining host. Reminds me of what it was like when I first starting coming to Napa...You really made the whole day, thanks Glynn!!

Absolutely wonderful experience! They were able to accommodate me with a day-of reservation which was difficult to find at many other places I called because of COVID-19. So glad I ended up here! The grounds and castle were stunning, as were the wines! The server was very attentive and knowledgable. Wish I had started my trip at this winery because I would've spent a lot more time there than I did because I arrived towards the end of the day. My favorite wine, by far, was the Late Harvest Zinfandel! I ended up ordering a bottle of the Late Harvest Zinfandel and the Sonoma Valley Sauvignon Blanc to be shipped home, I can't wait for them to arrive! I will definitely come back next time I am visiting the area!

Overall-- The ground are beautiful, but if you're only in town for a little while, I would skip this place and go to one of the many other wineries in the region (a few I'd recommend in the area: Kunde, Chateau St. Jean, St. Francis, Kenwood Winery, Imagery).
PROS:
-You don't need an appointment for wine tasting
-The grounds are stunning and the family history is interesting to learn about
CONS
-imo the wines here don't quite match up to the quality of other wineries in the area, even at the same price points.
-The staff were very salesy and pushing the club membership on us the whole tasting, and were snappy when we decided not to join. imo this is very unprofessional for a wine tasting, and is definitely not a common tactic-- wineries typically let the wine do the talking

Great wines! Stunning place to do your wine tasting!

I been super excited to visit Ledson but was let down by the customer service that my boyfriend and I received. The guy behind the counter (Older guy with long hair) could care less about us or our experience. I felt as he thought he doesn't have to do his job and give us the service because we are both young (22) and assuming we don't know anything about wine. However, my boyfriend is in the industry so we go wine tasting a lot and we've never had the worse experience like this. All he did was pour us the wine (sloppy the way he poured it too) and left to talk to the other customers. He was not friendly, he completely ignored my boyfriend when he was asking questions. After the other guests left, he ''forgot about us'' and went on his phone and left us to another testing room person. Luckily she was super nice, friendly and treated us equally as other customers. Just because we are young and is in the industry does not mean they have to treat us bad. The wine was pretty good and the view was amazing but we wont be going back.

Worth the drive in beautiful location . The wine tasty was fine . I'd come back for the experience.

Loved this place! The grounds are absolutely stunning. We arrived without a reservation around 3:15-3:30 on a Saturday and they were able to fit us in within 10 minutes.
We were in a tasting room with 2 other groups - we were a group of 6. Our hostess Ana was wonderful! She joked around with our group and was very hospitable. We loved the tasting and she also took a few photos for us while we tasted.
Once the tasting ended we purchased a bottle of wine and 1/2 our group went outside on the grounds and the other stayed inside near a fireplace. We stayed until the vineyard was closed and they never once asked us to leave or were pushy. I really appreciated that.
Thank you!

What a great day! We were greeted, upon our arrival, by a very enthusiastic manager, Nicole, who was so welcoming and friendly that we knew we had stopped into the right place!

Nicole shared some history and knowledge about Ledson Winery and gave us some suggestions about how to best spend our time there. She started us out by showing us around and then escorting us to a nearby tasting room, plush with rich wood panelling and views out the windows of manicured gardens.

Once we settled in at the wine bar, Nicole left us in the good hands of Lorenzo. Lorenzo is more an educator than a tour guide. We were delighted at how much we learned about each of the wines we tried, and the foods that they would be best paired. He shared a side-by-side tasting of two cabernets with us that really emphasized the nuances of the wines. We ended up gaining a better appreciation of the subtleties of the wines. We'll take one of each, please!

Though we had arrived near 3:15 in the afternoon, we never felt rushed. The tasting ran its course in a relaxed way that demonstrated to us that we were valued as visitors. It turned out to be the highlight of our locals' wine country weekend day trip getaway.

With Lorenzo's guidance, we found several wines to take home. That made our whole trip a success! We look forward to our next visit, and a quiet afternoon sipping wine, garden-side.

I came here with a group of girls last year for a bachelorette party. We were winery hoping and got here kind of late, near closing. The very nice workers at the winery saw the bachelorette sash the bride to be was wearing and allowed us to buy bottles of wine and some snacks. We sat outside at one of the many picnic tables.

The wine was great.. I'm usually not a white wine drinker, only reds, but their Sauvignon Blanc impressed me. They have a huge selection of wines and for a very fair price.

The winery was extremely beautiful!! It looks like a chateau/mansion!! The sun was setting and it was very picturesque. Also, there's plenty of parking so very stress free.

Highly recommend.

I have been a wine club member at Lesson for 12 years. I joined because I believe they have the overall best wines in Sonoma County. Whites, Syrahs, Merlots, Shiraz, Cabs, and Zinfandels, which are my favorites, dinners, barrel tasting, member events, 3 wine bars, one members only bar and private group tasting. Oh the castle is a must see

Love Ledson! As a Napa Valley chauffeur hard to find a more exotic and beautiful setting at the base of the mountains!
Nicole , Ana and the other staff members help make it a memorable experience! The castle type setting is still embraced by the Sonoma laid-back vibes!
The beautiful picnic grounds amidst steel oak trees, makes time melt away!
Keep up the great work Ledson staff! Looking forward to the next time we cross paths!

This is a lovely place, but wine tasting was a bit pricey.

Excellent winery. Beautiful grounds and helpful, friendly staff. Wines are excellent as well. Dog friendly

The castle grounds were the best part of our experience. The wines were unremarkable, okay but wouldn't say great. The service was worse, our bartender was neither friendly nor very helpful. Disappointing since this came recommended.

I had a wonderful experience at this winery. I went with a club member on a busy day and service was pleasant. Amazing and award-winning wines. Their chardonnay and dessert wines are superb! I got myself a bottle. Bottles are roughly $30+. I had a taste of their olive oils and their basil olive oil was delicious. I bought two bottles. This place is also great for picnics. Beautiful landscaping.

Best experience I ve ever had. Amazing wine, Beautiful property, incredible service, great food. I even decided to become a club member because there wasn t one wine I didn t like. Memories I will never forget! Thank you Pablo and Dante!!

Some of the best red wines in Sonoma valley. The Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is a solid choice. Really knowledgeable staff on wine tastings. Wonderful grounds and deli. I highly recommend this as a stop in Sonoma.

There were pieces of glass in our tasting. They still charged us $30 for the tasting. The wines were average at best.

The staff are incredibly friendly, and provide good customer service. Try the 2012 Merlot. Really good.

Decent place, need to reserve before you go at this moment for wine tasting. But even the outside is beautiful.

Beautiful property and wonderful red wine! Not a white wine fan. I would definitely recommend this place. Plus there are food options!! Olives are good!

European-style castle The beautiful winery in Sanoma Village is very popular, even if you don't drink it, it is worth visiting. Although it is only a private brand, there are a lot of wines. Among them, Point Noir and Zinfandel are the smoothest wines we have tried in Ledson, and the corned beef and light meals in the gift department are also delicious!

Beautiful opulent house and lovely gardens to wander around. There is a huge gourmet deli and an adjoining store that sells wine, snacks and lots of great gift ideas.

Been here several times with out-of-towners to show them one of the most impressive estates in Sonoma County; the architecture is unparalleled.

Skimpy on their wine. Made no suggestions. Wanted to hurry us to help others. Won't go back.

Place was absolutely incredible. Dante was one of the best servers we ve had in Sonoma. Would love to come back

I visited this place on a Sunday around noon. I didn't see many staffs welcoming the visitors. Maybe I had to make a prior reservation. By the way the estate, especially the mansion, was very beautiful and well maintained.

Beautiful place, super helpful staff, great prices on retiring vintages.

One of our favorites that we visited in Sonoma. Wines were excellent and service was great. There isn't any space to sit outside or do anything like that, that's my only reason for knocking it down 1 star.

Beautiful setting. Nice enough staff but when we are going to spend more than $800 on a case & they don't wave the tasting fee, there is a problem. The quality of their wines was well exceeded by their prices. Pretty poor experience.

Very beautiful wineyard, kids friendly, lots of different places where to do the tasting, staff was very friendly. Wine was not what we preferred personally in terms of taste. Still highly recommend!

Great wines and house and grounds are most majestic in Sonoma!

Long time visitor. Great wines. Pricey but good quality and value.

This vineyard is beautiful and has ABSOLUTELY AMAZING wines!!!
We worked with Dante, who asked a bunch of questions about our taste preferences and guided us to surprises we didn't even know we'd love!
Of ALL the wineries we've visited around the country, this was the BEST wine tasting experience we've ever had!

I liked the environment, the building and the vineyard. It s a nice place, peaceful and quiet. A good place to have wine.

A premier winery in Sonoma, California, you must visit to truly appreciate the ambiance, extraordinary wines and incredible staff.

Just left Ledson after another fantastic visit. We have been waiting for years to come back since becoming members and visit what we feel is one of the best wineries around. It did not disappoint. Thanks Tom for a wonderful time and all the great info at our tasting.
Ryan & Amy

Beautiful property. Wine was very nice, camt buy in stores or restaurants. Brendan who was our wine tasting host was excellent.

Beautiful establishment. Lorenzo was nice, helpful, and informative. The rest of the staff was sketchy and standoff-ish. I wouldn t recommend. I felt they didn t care about me and just wanted business and money out of me.

Wonderful location, great wines, amazing food, top notch service! Must go again!

Ledson Winery and Vineyards was amazing! I had decided to hold a very special private event with tasting amongst friends. We sat for a tasting within the Veranda room, which had a beautiful view of the outdoors. The castle itself is breath taking with all the flowers/roses lining up the entrance. The staff was very pleasant and accommodating. They had put together a menu tailored towards our preferences. Highly recommend when you're in Sonoma :).

Gorgeous property, wine is good but not excellent, love the deli and shop, good service.

Truly a great experience. Love the wine and the scenery

A friend who is an employee invited me, but he and I had not coordinated on timing so he was not available for us. The person we had was friendly in his recommendations of our next wines to try, however did not read his audience (three progressive gay men all of whom have spent a fair amount of time in France) very well. He was Francophobic: if there was an opportunity to point out how something would be "illegal" in France he pointed it out and took pride in it. If there was an opportunity to suggest something should remind us of "American freedom" he did.

Of the six wines we had a few were tasty, however none of them was stellar. Almost none of them warranted the price per bottle. The $15 tasting fee isn't waived upon purchase, and purchases are not cheap. This venue would make a gorgeous setting for a wedding, and its size (with at least three tasting bars) easily accommodates large groups. The size, however, is detrimental when looking for a particular open bottle for tasting, thus calling the other tasting bars.

Ledson Winery makes 86 different wines, and it showed in the tasting. Cutting down to a few wines with a little more focus on each could potentially greatly make them all much better. Although there is no distribution of Ledson wines, there is quite the production. I prefer smaller wineries with smaller tasting rooms and staff that are personable without trying to prove anything about themselves, their wineries, California, or the United States.

Amazing place. Cabernet and Vongior were to for for. Joined the Wine Club because of their very limited casing and releases.

Nestled among 20-acres of estate vineyards, surrounded by picnic grounds with scattered ancient Oaks, emerges an architectural showpiece that was designed and built by fifth generation Sonoma County farmer and winemaker, Steve Ledson. Ledson Winery is known to locals and visitors throughout the world as The Castle. It has become a destination estate with plenty of options to make your wine country experience unforgettable. Ledson consistently produces highly coveted, small lot wines that showcase the absolute best that Sonoma County has to offer. Ledson is one of the oldest farming families in the valley with over 150 years of tradition. Approximately 90% of their wine is produced from estate grown grapes from meticulously farmed vineyards resulting in a superior wine portfolio where guests will inevitably find a wine that delights their palates. One of the few wineries to feature a Gourmet Marketplace with a variety of local cheeses, sandwiches, olive oils and gift items offers the perfect destination for a wine country picnic. A visit to the Ledson Castle will certainly be the highlight of your trip.

Nestled among 20-acres of estate vineyards, surrounded by picnic grounds with scattered ancient Oaks, emerges an architectural showpiece that was designed and built by fifth generation Sonoma County farmer and winemaker, Steve Ledson. Ledson Winery is known to locals and visitors throughout the world as The Castle. It has become a destination estate with plenty of options to make your wine country experience unforgettable. Ledson consistently produces highly coveted, small lot wines that showcase the absolute best that Sonoma County has to offer. Ledson is one of the oldest farming families in the valley with over 150 years of tradition. Approximately 90% of their wine is produced from estate grown grapes from meticulously farmed vineyards resulting in a superior wine portfolio where guests will inevitably find a wine that delights their palates. One of the few wineries to feature a Gourmet Marketplace with a variety of local cheeses, sandwiches, olive oils and gift items offers the perfect destination for a wine country picnic. A visit to the Ledson Castle will certainly be the highlight of your trip

Great wines, some of the best pinots in the Sonoma valley. Their castle is unbelievable!

Bill gave us an amazing experience even with the pg&e blackout! Well worth the trip!

The wine tasting was somewhat skimpy and my bartender wasn't that nice. The BLT sandwich was solid and they do have some tasty wines at OK prices. It's nice to have a small picnic in the back.

I love this winery! They have the best Sauvignon Blanc....I could taste it now.

A good place,my husband and I spend a nice time there.but I didn t take pictures of the castle and wine. I really like their yard which is very clean and quite,and I take some pictures there.

Very impressed with the great estate and the wonderful staff that welcomed us! The tasting room is quite busy but the staff showed us around the beautiful home. It was a lovely experience to see this opulent and gorgeous building! It was a fantastic home.

Tried the Ledson Zinfandel for lunch and it was so delicious!

Opulent mansion serves as the tasting "room". Server Stephanie was very personable and professional, which made our experience much more memorable than that at the other winery we had visited earlier in the day.

Needs to hire people (ideally adults) that care for the service and experience that is being provided.

Great place to sit and enjoy an afternoon with some delicious wine!

I want to thank Brendon and the entire staff for our fantastic afternoon at Ledson. It was a crazy weather day. Wind, rain... Covid. We were treated like family and provided a variety of superlative tasty wines. You guys ROCK! Thank you.

Happened upon this beautiful place and couldn't drive by. A gorgeous estate and several private tasting rooms within the mansion makes this a fun experience. Nice to have small snack and sandwiches at Check out. We enjoyed the wines esp the cab

Mediocre wines in a big empty house. Great outdoor views though.

Beautiful building and environment. I wouldn't recommend private wine tasting, it's better to be surrounded by other wine lovers!

We became wine members after the first sip of Chardonnay. Love all of the varietals but the Chardonnay stands out. Christina signed us up and we ve already been back with a large group. We tasted in the reserve room with Tom and he was so knowledgeable and willing to teach our friends about the art of wine making, they couldn t stop talking about it!! It was such a monumental day that none of us will forget. Thank you Ledson Team.

Never had a worse experience in eight different trips to Sonoma. My wife and I visit often from bourbon country. It's beautiful property, and we were excited to try the wine as well. However, we just didn't get that far. The woman behind the tasting bar yesterday couldn't care less about us or our experience. Her exact words when we asked about the tastings were "you have this side and that side, then turned her back and walked away." So we did too. Respect yourself and visit a place that welcomes you with open arms when you walk in, this isn't that place.

My husband and I went to the California Wine Country to celebrate our anniversary and being members of the Ledson Wine club we arranged to visit for a private tasting. We were ushered to the Bride's room where a beautiful table was set and tremendous wines were ready for us to enjoy. When we explained that we were from the East coast and that friends were joining us in a few days to celebrate their anniversary, an additional private tasting was set up and when we returned we had a lovely table again and totally different wines to taste. 3 cases were sent home to us and we will enjoy these and more as they come to us throughout the year. Ledson Wines are our absolute favorites!

Beautiful grounds. Wine is great but surprising they don t include tasting in the wine purchase when you buy a case that total $700+

the Vivino App has the Sonoma County Cepage average price at $31.00, the wine club charge is $68.80?

We did a graduation dinner at Ledson and it was better that what I expected. Not many places can do that. The food was awesome paired with incredible wine. The staff made everything seamless. If you are having a special event this is the place you want to have it at. It's reasonable and you will be immensely pleased. Thanks so much to the staff and everyone involved for making this moment so very special for us.

Best winery! Great wines and great guess service. A must if out of town and a fav spot for this local.

Average winery and very pretentious. Building not that old and smelled musty. Pushy sommelier who wanted to sell us a wine club membership. Wine simply not that good and why a club? Bathrooms outside and we got locked out of main building. Rude sommelier didn't care. Pass on this one. Suprised they are in business. Lorenzo not good at his job and very deceptive in pushing a wine club when all we wanted were a few bottles.