August Briggs

4 stars for being in a cute storefront on the Main Street of charming Calistoga and for being unpretentious. We tasted 4 wines and the $ 10 fee was waived since we stayed at the nearby Calistoga Inn. We didn’t really care for any of the wines enough to buy any, but enjoyed the experience anyway. They also allow you to split a tasting.

Matt was super helpful and informative. He was charismatic and made everyone feel very welcome. If you «ask nicely», you can get away with a lot of things we shouldn’t mention here on Unilocal.We had a great experience and ended up buying their pinot meunier. #goodstuff The wines were not so expensive that you’d break the bank too!

If you want a more welcoming, casual wine tasting experience, August Briggs is the place to go. This place is quite small but charming. The workers are willing to answer your questions regardless of how ridiculous they may be. They spread appointment times to give you enough time during your tasting. During each pour the worker talking about the history behind each bottle. One of the employees turned owner was present and spoke about her passion for the wines.
They give you a tasting menu and allow each person in the party to pick their own wine to try. My party came in with our passports and we were able to book an appointment 30 minutes prior.
I have to say, my favorite wine was the chardonnay. I’m slowly trying to build up my wine palette to become accustomed to the bolder red wines but I’m not quite there yet. The chardonnay was fruity but it wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. The worker even poured me another splash!

Ohhhh man I don’t even know where to start. We came to Napa not knowing shit, (bunch of John Snows :).) the first place we checked out based on recommendations was the castle. They sold us this passport thing (only offered in the winter) which got us free wine tasting at almost every winery in Calistoga. We tried almost all of them and on the last day we finally got to August Briggs. Now I like to think I know a little thing or two about wine and I showed up to all the wineries with my hat and jersey on and you could tell all the Soms looked at me a bit differently. Long story short at August Briggs not only the wine was the best but the conversation and the treatment were also the best. He gave us recommendations of which other wineries to check out for next time and we ended up getting two bottles from the winery. The monte Rossi cab and the zin are two you must try in my opinion. If your in Napa and you don’t stop at this winery then you might as well not have gone to Napa at all.

I recently visited August Briggs and really enjoyed the experience. They have a small tasting room on Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga and a very nice staff. The organization is employee-​owned and they have been in business for over 20 years. They are very serious about their wine and have some really excellent choices. Because they but their grapes from other growers, they have some interesting and different varietals. I started with a 2012 Leveroni Vineyard Chardonnay that was very tasty. The vineyard is located just south of Sonoma Town Square on Leveroni Road.
Next I tasted a Pinot Noir flight from Dijon Clones grown in the Green Island Vineyard in South Napa Valley. The 2011 was excellent and had an old world taste to it. The 2012 was nice, but the 2013 was superb. Though young it is very good and very fruity.
Next I tasted the 2012 Napa Valley «Wishes» which is a red blend. This wine is different every year and this particular version consisted of equal parts Charbono, Petite Syrah, Syrah, and Zinfandel. I really loved this wine and strongly recommend it.
I finished with the 2011 Two Moon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very solid and smooth Cabernet from the Dry Creek Appellation in Sonoma County.
Business during my visit was steady and those visiting were serious wine people. I appreciated the thoroughness and education provided by my host. If you are in Calistoga, make a point to stop in.

We have been members here since 2004 and love every wine they make! There are very few wineries where you can say every bottle they make is good but this is one of them! Super friendly owners, great location right on The Main Street in Calistoga. Petit Verdot and the Charbobo are both fantastic!

CHARBONO wine … First time trying this type of wine and it’s amazing … My absolute favorite … Enjoy …

Fantastic winery! I am so bad with names, but the lady who was assisting with the tasting was extemely helpful and friendly. I hope to be back!

Small family run winery –we enjoyed the wine here!

Meghan was fantastic!!! She taught us so much about the wines… she really knew her stuff, and we all enjoyed the experience so much more because of her!

A true gem! How could we not stop by this place considering we have the same last name?! We visited the tasting room last summer during a family reunion trip and were lucky enough to visit when they did a southbay event as well. Matt and his staff are so welcoming and you can tell they love what they do. The Chardonnay is our favorite, but the reds are delicious too!

My husband and I got free wine tasting to August Briggs from our Groupon staying at the Inn across the street. I have to say we really enjoyed the wines here. The Pinot and Syrah were very good and priced very reasonably. The girl working there was very friendly and very helpful she even gave us a couple of tips for around town and the area as well as a little history on the wines of calistoga and napa. We had a blast and could have stayed their tasting all night long. We will be back here for sure!

Second location on my wine tasting journey!
The tasting room is a small shop in the downtown area of the city. Not at a winery.
The staff was very friendly and nice. The wine was very tasty. I enjoyed myself. It is a great stop if this is on your route,

A must stop on our trips to wine country! Their wine club is amazing too! They are always very accommodating and friendly which makes you relax.
The wines speak for themselves, some of the best Pinot noirs around. They also do a great Syrah.

I was really looking forward to visiting August Briggs based on the location, Unilocal reviews and more inexpensive tastings around this area. Four of us had a groupon for Calistoga Inn and here. Four were just paying the tasting fee directly. The minute we walked in they were obviously surprised to see us and were visibly put off that we didn’t have a reservation. This place is one of many on this strip in Calistoga, people walking up and down the street doing tastings was happening everywhere — we didn’t make reservations for the place before it, nor any of the places we visited after it, never was an issue till August Briggs. And the kicker: This place was completely EMPTY. They let us know they were waiting for someone, so we offered to come back later at a better time; at that point they backtracked and said it would be no problem. I could have let this go, even though it was awkward for all, because they were going to accommodate us, however it got worse. We did different tastings, $ 5 and $ 10 for four tastings, and the woman’s attitude was just off, we were a bother to her, no way around it. It’s like being on a date with someone who is looking over your shoulder the entire time!
Also, some of the pours were less than a sip, it was strange, she was distracted maybe? No idea, but I don’t know how you could pour LESS into a glass. I can’t even tell you if I liked the wines because I was so uncomfortable and really, will less than a sip in my glass it was really hard to know. I think they felt they could treat us this way due to having a groupon. How can you offer your business in a groupon deal, make customers feel uncomfortable when it’s used? That’s unfortunate, but exactly how they made me feel.
We didn’t linger and when we left, the place was still completely empty.

Definitely not a flashy tasting room, but AB has a perfect location right on Lincoln, friendly staff who take the time to explain the story of the winery, the wine and where the grapes are sourced and really tasty Syrahs and Cabs at really great price points. Enjoyed that they had a non-​buttery chard, since I’ve pretty much sworn off most non-​french Chardonnays.
We had ridden bikes there from our resort and were super impressed to find them willing to drive our wine over to our hotel for us later that night when we mentioned we’d have to pick it up tomorrow. So sweet of them.
You won’t be sorry if you stop here! :)

John didn’t have any sweet wines for me but he did have full-​bodied wines for Nancy. John recommends I check out Moldonado, his neighbor who has sweet wines. He also has lots of free coupons for tastings at Twomey, Louis M Martini, Cliff Family Winery, Pina Napa Valley, and Envy Wines. By the way, John has an excellent sense of humor.

I’ve been here twice now and can solidly say that I’m not entirely sure I would go again.
The first time was with a groupon and we had great service, the wine was good. We bought a bottle of Chardonnay — definitely worth a visit for. I’m not normally a Chardonnay person but this was pretty close to perfect.
The prices were alright, could be a little lower, since the tasting fee is fairly high for the quantity of wines available to taste. Its not some place I would recommend to others, but I wouldn’t object to going there if someone else really wanted to.

I took my customer from Korea here as I brought him a bottle when I visited him in Korea years ago. He loved the petite Syrah so he wanted to visit this winery during his time here. I was a little disappointed that August sold his winery but it is still open as an employee owned company. He used to have a beautiful winery that I enjoyed when I was in his wine club and now it is just a smaller wine tasting store on the main street in Calistoga. We tried the various cabs and petite Syrah’s and we liked the 2010 over the 2009 petite Syrah. I bought him 6 bottles of the 2010 which needed some time to age but still better than the 2009. They were nice enough to give us some free Styrofoam containers so my customer could take them back on the plane with him.

I think August Briggs is true to old school Napa Valley. It’s not very commercial. The tasting room is small, with just a handful of very knowledgeable people pouring. The tasting is free (yes FREE!!!) and they don’t pressure you to get anything after you taste. The guy pouring for us was very laid back and engaging. He knew a lot about the wines, grape varieties, and area.
The wines are quite good, though priced in the 30+ range. Though I don’t normally pay that much for wine unless it makes my tastebuds dance like Michael Flatley, I was willing to because of the excellent service, solid wines and friendly staff. (See my review of Frank Family for a good contrast and to understand why I was willing to pay)
The only thing that would prevent me from going there every time I visit the valley is that it’s all the way up in Calistoga.