Woodbridge Winery

Hubby is a wine club member. Nice location, not far off of freeway. Check their website. They have different events throughout the year. We went to an Art Show today. Have been to Chili Cook Off and cat shows in the past.

Don’t judge this brand by its cover! The Woodbridge wine you see in stores or have maybe even tried, is nothing in comparison to the delicious wines they have available directly at the winery and in the tasting room. If you are in the Lodi area, Woodbridge Winery is definitely worth a trip. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, the wines are unique and flavorful, and their pomegranate balsamic vinegar is to die for. My husband loves the salami sticks they have for sale as well. The Lodi/​Woodbridge area may not be as large and impressive seeming as Napa at first glance, but Woodbridge is one of the nicest tasting rooms around and a great overall experience.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed Woodbridge. Part of the fun of visiting Lodi Wine Country is to visit all the small places with wine not available everywhere. It is a bit different to visit Woodbridge Winery who’s wine is distributed worldwide. Their huge industrial location is conveniently located on Woodbridge Road — of course — northeast of Lodi in Acampo.
The facility is located on the historic operations of the Mondavi family dating back several generations. Right near the main entrance is the tasting room and visitor center. You get a standard five-​for-​five, but they offer the winery exclusive options not typically found at your local Safeway. These offerings were very well done and delicious. They teased me with their excellent port after a previous couple left with the last one!
Part of the appeal of Woodbridge is the availability of tours. This is a industrial winery and bottling operation, but most of the basics are identical to the smaller operations — just much bigger. Woodbridge also does contract bottling, so many other Lodi wines pass through these doors. October is peak harvest time, so tours during this month will see lots of action.
Do not let the reputation fool you into passing up Woodbridge. This place can easily get packed and lacks the intimacy and romance of other Lodi places. However, combined with a tour, this winery offers a great experience for everyone.

The tour involved a walk through the facility from receiving to barrels to bottling. Our tour guide was well informed and professional. He made us feel welcome, answered our questions competently and left us with a positive impression of his organization and product. Tasting afterward was also a positive experience. Staff were courteous and friendly.

Not bad. Better than their «gas station» wines. Most wines here are not sold in the stores, much better quality.
The Tanna (a French grape) and chardonnay are particularly good. Must try the Section 29 wines (a reference to the Vollstedt Act).

Nice place, personable service, good wine. I especially liked the dessert wine selection. Not what you would think from such a large producer. The wines they poured in house were all small batch you can only find in the winery, and mostly from Lodi grapes.

What can I say about Woodbridge. Well I especially like them. I Like them so much I joined their wine club. The wine club is cool. I enjoy getting the pairings every quarter. What I especially love about Woodbridge is the Section 29 Syrah. Each time I taste I channel my inner UB40 and start thinking red red wine. The wine is so delicious I tend to over indulge. I am not a collector of wine so I get wine to drink it immediately, and I do! Woodbridge doesn’t have the fancy Napa appeal but the wine is so good, who needs Napa, LOL. There are a lot of events so I highly recommend giving these guys a try.

This place is solid. The wine is good (amazing muscats and port!), staff is friendly, prices are very reasonable and the membership is a good deal. Next time we’ll bring some new friends and take a tour.

My wife and I were in the Lodi region on a day trip and stopped into the Lodi Visitor center and were graciously directed to tasting rooms open mid week, with a cue to hit Woodbridge for there $ 5 tour.
This was somewhat of an unexpected stop due to the fact that few tasting rooms are open mid week, (Wednesday), and the fact I was unaware that The Woodbridge vintners produce small batches of wine in many styles from a myriad of varietals.
We said wine not.
So to pay homage to my dad who loves his Woodbridge, we thought we would stop for a visit and see exactly how a large scale producer operates. Large scale, as in millions of cases a year.
We were greeted immediately, and were asked what kind of wine we like to drink, this is helpful for people to sample the wines they enjoy, not what the winery or tasting room associate wants to push. When in tasting rooms ask for what you like, why should you drink something you find uninviting. Joel was our liason, maybe a bit reserved at first, but warmed up quickly when we had a plethora questions about Woodbridge and their wines. He took us through a journey of good to excellent whites and reds, gladly informing us of the styles, varietals, the Lodi region, and wine making.
This was a perfect time for a break from consumption and a walk seemed in order, so, how about the $ 5 tour! Joel just so happens to be a our guide, perfect. You will visit, crush, press, ferment, mature, bottle and label in about and hour with a knowledgeable guide.
So, all in all, a great experience and we will surely return.
Great midweek tasting room stop, no crowds, free tasting, lots of variety.

Excellent taisting and the gentleman pouring was a wealth of knowledge. It’s not the fancies room arround because it is right at the bottling plant. However the taisting is free and the wine is incredible!

This was my last stop on my Tuesday afternoon of wine tasting. This place is huge and very nice. We were greeted quickly and began our tasting of their different wines. Our attendant Bill was great and really informative about their wine and the wine making process. My favorite here was the Muscat Hamburg. It is so delicious. Of course I couldn’t leave without a bottle. I also couldn’t leave without becoming a part of their Heritage Wine Club. Woodbridge topped off our afternoon and was a great place to visit. They offer tours of their winery for $ 5 so I will certainly come back to take that tour soon. Thanks for a great afternoon Bill!

I may be partial about this winery — BUT — I am fair.
Patiial because I absolutly love this place. Wine tasting, tours of the winery and a REAL knowledgeable staff. You can also buy gifts and assorted apparel. My wife likes the atmosphere. My best buddy likes the wine — all of it! I love the «Toma» cheese too.
Wine time

Love coming here. The wine is excellent and great place for people who love sweet wines. Im a sweet club member so I just get the sweet wines which is cool because a lot of wineries dont do that. Roomie place and a lot of events here to keep people coming back. stop by if your in the area.

The tasting room is small, but that’s fairly typical from what I understand in Lodi. «It’s not Napa!» they say. The gentleman who helped us seemed to be familiar with the wines, but hadn’t worked at the place very long so sometimes his information was a bit lacking. This is the «Magnum Bottom Shelf» line of Mondavi products, but there were some surprisingly decent wines they make specifically to taste on premesis that we picked up for my mother-​in-​law. I doubt we’ll go back, but it was also something we wanted to try!

We took a friend visiting from Europe and he wanted to go to a Lodi winery before going to Napa. We enjoyed the tour and were impressed at the sheer size of it.
My mom ended up getting a membership here which I share with her. We enjoy the wines we get every quarter. You really need to go to the winery to get their quality stuff. The special reserves are what really make them special.
THE MUSCAT HAMBURG 2012… My oh my, it’s pure heaven. I want it in IV form! I’m sad they sold out; I think they said they had only made like 200 cases the first time, but they were working on making more due out any time now. I think I’ll have to buy a few cases for when I get married in a couple years, it’s that tasty!!!

Huge winery. No tour offered. They had some nice dips to try, soap and lotion for sale. The wine is reasonable in price, and pretty much on target for what it is.
The lady that was pouring the wine for us was nice… a bit on the up up side, but nice. We walked away with a couple of bottles, and the whole experience was alright. I’m not raving… it’s not a raver.

Woodbridge is a massive facility, producing millions of cases per year, and it’s amazing to note how many «popular» supermarket brands are made in this very plant. The tasting room is small, but the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about their wines.
The basic wines here are just that, basic and very affordable every-​day bottles, best had with food. The list of wines available for tasting is long, so plan to spend some time here if you want to try them all.
Luckily for us, they do offer a few reserve wines here that are a bit more complex than the standard offerings. We picked up a couple of the Cherokee Station blended red for 12 bucks a bottle

Disclaimer to those who think «cheap» when they think «Woodbridge»: I, too, see Woodbridge wines at Wally World on the bottom shelf for a few bucks a bottle. When we looked at where to go for our wine tasting, this place was the only mass producer I had ever heard of, but we wanted to just go check it out — and I was so glad we did. Woodbridge the winery (under Robert Mondavi) only offers special reserve wines that you won’t find elsewhere. Many of the wines you can taste are ONLY available directly on-​site from the winery — you’ll never see them in Walmart! And they are much better than what you find in the store.
So we really enjoyed our visit, it’s a beautiful facility that you can enjoy spending some time at! There are outside tables (wish we’d brought some lunch with us!) and you can tour the massive facility if you want. We arrived the day before Thanksgiving and it was pretty quiet. There was another group tasting when we arrived, so we waited (it’s a pretty small tasting area so I could see this place getting very busy during a peak day). The pourers are all very educated about wine making and, obvioulsy, the Woodbridge facility in general. We learned a lot about how many grapes they grow, where they grow them, and what the different wine names and tastes are all about, etc.
There were four complimentary tastings, as well as two flights of wine you can purchase ($ 5 for four tastings, or $ 10 for four other tastings, plus a wine glass — I was told these change and are semi-«seasonal»). Considering that I’ve heard rumors that you pay for just about every sip of wine you taste up in Napa Valley, Lodi wineries appear to be a steal. Anyway, we opted to each try the $ 5 flight, plus the complimentary tastings. We loved some of the Section 29 wines they had, and purchased almost a whole case to have shipped home. It’s a cute little gift shop area, with wine jewlery, cheeses, meats, olive oils and spreads and just about anything you could ever want with the «Woodbridge» logo on it, if you’re into that.

This was our first stop during our wine tasting circuit in Lodi. Since this was a Robert Mondavi winery we thought it would be cool to visit this first given how well known Mondavi wines are. So well known… you always see them on cooking shows on PBS as sponsors or have product placements.
When you enter the winery you get the Modavi feel with the RM symbols at the gate and the cultured Modavi look and feel of the architecture of some of the buildings. We go into the wine tasting center and a portion of it is a shop of accessories, books, cheeses and drinks. We got to the tasting counter and we were offered a tasting menu.
One of the three courses was $ 10 to taste a special set of reserve collection wines and you would be able to keep a special wine glass that you would use during tasting if you selected that set.
No, thanks. We went for the free set. From what I recall, we got to taste their port, merlot, moscato. Overall, I found the wines to be either too strong, bitter, or a task to drink.
On the flip side, the cool thing is that they offer a tour of their winery giving a quick glimpse of how their wine starts from the vine to a finished bottled product. Also, they give an in-​depth of how their winery and the Woodbridge brand started.
The lady was pretty good at explaining how the grapes are processed from start to finish. We got to visit and take a peek into their silos where the grapes are fermented after they are processed. Also, they have huge barrel room where they store their wines. Other wineries also rent space since it’s so vast. This is the room to be when it’s hot outside since the room is always left at a cool, constant refreshing temperature. They even have a tree in the front that is used to make corks.
However, the tour left me with the impression at how commercialized Woodbridge’s wines are. During the tour, they made a point that they were looking at screw caps and the advantages of tetra-​paks. My friend calls it as the «Walmart of wines» since they target their wines as «everyday wines at a nice price point.»
Safe to say, it wasn’t drawn to buy any of their wines. I’m sure the wine is pretty good enough for others, but for my palette — it didn’t agree me. Of course, this up to personal preference, but there are other wineries in the area that may be better suited for your liking. Overall, the tour was educational and I would recommend it if you’re in Lodi.

Wow — the crush is happening now! Two million cases of tasty wine being processed! Tour here is informative and fun. Beautiful morning drive from Sacramento. Tasted sparkling wines, my favorite. And came home with one of course! They bottle for many vineyards… so the large variety of labels offers something for everyone.