Caraccioli Cellars

Went to caraccioli tonight and I have to say they have some amazing wines! What really sold the experience was are wine pourer Ali. She was extremely knowledgable and made me feel like I was a guest at a friends house! She broke down each wine in tasteful well balanced way. It was outstanding! I highly recommend this amazing wine tasting room with its warm ambiance and awesome staff.

Really cool tasting room and atmosphere. Enjoyed a delicious flight of whites and Champagne of very fine quality. An attentive and knowledgeable staff helped make it a very enjoyable experience, and they had the Giants game on! I will surely be back.

I’ve been back each time I’ve come to Carmel and consistency is key. They always get the job done and it’s a wonderful atmosphere. Next time I hope I get the comfy chairs by the window!

Always always a great experience at this establishment. Cruised by after dinner for a nice flight of 6 wines for $ 20.
The staff is always knowledgable and attentive. I keep this review simple because there’s not much to elaborate on besides– delicious, classy, clean, knowledgable, beautiful scenery, quick service, cordial experience.

Cute little tasting room in downtown Carmel! We dropped in for a bit since we had some extra time until our dinner reservation but most of the shops were closed already. The space is fairly small, with a standard length bar, 2 cushioned chairs at one end, and a bar-​height standing table for 4 in the corner, and it was surprisingly busy on a Saturday evening.
Caraccioli has a wide variety of wines, ranging from sparkling to rose to red. They even had a girl scout cookie pairing! The staff is super bubbly and fun, and pours for the tasting were decently sized. Our favorite was definitely the 2009 Brut Cuvee — so crisp and refreshing, with a lot of citrus fruit flavors.

Beautiful taste of sparkling wine! The only thing missing is cheese. #cleanlightandlong

Good service, great tasting local wine that you won’t find in stores. They also have a good cheese plate to go along with the wine. Staff is very knowledgeable on the product and how the wine is made.

Had some good wine and some tasty cheese. Sat around with some good friends enjoying the surroundings.
Now Ali, the young lady who helped us all was more than pleasant. She had a decent grasp of business without being a snob and pretentious… know what I mean.
Last words… let’s do it again.

A fun, great, classy and cozy wine tasting experience — 4 tries for $ 10 bucks. No rush. Good sparklings.

After a nice walk on the Carmel Beach, my husband & I walked in at Caraccioli on a Saturday afternoon.
We both are Red-​wine lovers. We wanted to try some local wine while visiting Carmel & decided to visit this place as suggested by fellow Unilocalers!
This is a cozy, little, charming tasting room in downtown Carmel. We decided to try all of the available wines including sparkling ones.
They have couple of varieties in Sparkling, Pinot Noir & Chardonnay. These wines are partly aged in steel containers & partly in oak barrels.
I tasted Brut Rosé, 2010 Chardonnay & 2010 Pinot. I am not a fan of White wine, but the 2010 Chardonnay was refreshing & crisp on my pallet. My husband tried Cuvee, 2011 Chardonnay & 2011 Pinot, he liked the 2011 Pinot. 2011 Pinot had fruity, rich flavor.
Both the sparkling wine were crisp & refreshing. I would definitely go back to this tasting room during my Carmel visits.

We were visiting Carmel for the day and we brought our two dogs. After a long morning walk we wanted to stop somewhere for a glass of wine. The place we originally had in mind was not yet open so we settled on Caraccioli instead.
We saddled up to the bar and our dogs loved the cold cement floor; pretty much they just laid down the whole time. We shared a wine tasting and also ordered a meat and cheese plate. I’m usually not a Chardonnay fan but their Chardonnay was excellent to my palate. Theirs is different because it’s partially aged in steel containers (as opposed to being fully aged in oak barrels). The star of the show, though, was the Brut Rose. This is the wine that will keep me coming back here.
We were blown away by both the wine and the level of service. The ladies working there that morning were very knowledgeable and also very sweet to our dogs.

Delicious bubbles — we stop in every time. Love both the rose and the traditional brut. Absolutely love — one of my favorites :)

This place is just amazing. We walked in not sure what to expect, but they totally blew us away with their friendliness and the yummy sparkling wines.
The atmosphere was so lively, energetic, and friendly, that we were really comfortable just sitting down and getting started with our tasting. We tasted 4 wines– my favorite was the brute rose! I totally forget the name of the young blonde lady helping us, but she is a total gem. She ended up having grown up in the same town as me, which was pretty cool! She also told us a lot of stuff to do around the area, and about other local favorites nearby like a purple sand beach and jade hunting.
Overall, I totally loved this place and I cannot wait to go back and try/​buy some more sparking wine!
Would I come back? Yes!

I have always thought the champagne was fantastic then I come to find they were rated number one in the United States!
The brute rose is my favorite! And the staff is fantastic! The ladies at caraccioli are always friendly, polite and a lot of fun so tip well ladies and gentlemen, they deserve it.
Every once in a while they will have special event nights. I went there for bubbles and brew which was a fun pairing of local brewed beer and their champagne. and there was a caviar night not too long ago where they paired caviar with their three different champagnes.
When you’re in Carmel you cannot pass this place up!

I had so much fun trying all the wines. They had a bit of everything… Some were okay and some stood out. Our favorite was their Rosé and I don’t care for Rosé’s (I was surprised). The staff members were so informative and friendly. Thank you for a great time!

Loved this tasting room! Hubby and I purchased a $ 10 — 4 tasting and a $ 15 –6 tasting.
I thought I wasn’t much of a champagne person but their sparkling wines are … Amazing! I was seriously considering buying a $ 125 magnum of the rose! There were 2 Chardonnays in the line up. The first was a bit too acidic with a lemon flavor for my taste, but the second was smooth and delicious. The Pinot noirs were good as well.
Plus, the tasting room staff was so friendly and super sweet to our 2 small pups. I would love to re-​visit this spot for tasting and definitely will remember to get a bottle here for a special occasion.

Stopped in here on vacation because I read in a brochure that they specalize in sparkling wine. Not only do I love all wine, but sparkling wine is perhaps my favorite. Also, I work at a large production, 30 year old sparkling wine producer in central California so I’m always intersted in trying other CA sparkling wines.
First off, the wines here were not overly impressive or memorable and I thought they were very overpriced. There tasting price was reasonable but I was not interested in purchasing any bottles. But the part I was disappointed in the most was the attitude of the employees. Every pour came with an obviously sounding memorized reading of the tasting notes of the wine that I already can read myself on their tasting list. Furthermore, every pour also came with some sort of statement of how their wine is the «best in the U.S.» but I never really heard why they thought their wine was the best or what supposedly made it the best. Once we received our next wine the pourer went on to chat with co-​workers about their boyfriends or to a man we overheard say was the owner’s son who was also drinking while seemingly working.
The whole experience was extremely off-​putting and I felt as though the employees were not completely interested in making a great tasting experience for their customers. The tasting room itself was beautiful and I like the way their tasting options were set up but I do not think I would return. The wine did not impress me and the customer service was lacking.

Such a great tasting room in Carmel! We each got a flight of 6 with 3 bubblies, 1 white, 1 rose, 1 red.
The champagne is made in the traditional French style — it had a lot of rich, bold, crisp flavor. Really enjoyed it! My favorite was actually the non-​bubbly rose. Such a bright flavored rose that is perfect as a refreshing wine to sip during the summertime.
Service was super friendly!

This is my absolute favorite wine room in Carmel. When hubs & I went for a day trip to Big Sur, we decided to stop in Carmel to wine taste on our way home. Of course being the Unilocaler I am, I had to research before we went. My initial search was for wine tasting rooms & decided to look into sparkling wine tasting — they don’t call me «Pop Champagne» for nothin! To my delight, Caraccioli Cellars popped up (no pun intended) with great reviews. *The map location on Unilocal is a bit strange & we found out there are no number addresses for downtown Carmel businesses. This is due to the founding fathers wanting to keep Carmel as a village & not become «citified.» Pretty cool, but can make navigating through the town a tad difficult. Let’s get back to the wine…
Once we found the tasting room it was a charming welcome. Sort of contemporary meets rustic style décor. We were promptly greeted by the tasting room attendants (I’m terrible with names) who were professional, friendly, & provided us a wealth of knowledge about the wine & process of wine making. We were informed that Michel Salgues formally of Roederer Estate is one of their wine makers. Specifically, he uses French methods to create their sparkling wine. Knowing a bit about sparkling I was totally intrigued. He uses the méthode champenoise so Caraccioli sparkling is pretty damn special. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to start the tasting.
I went for the $ 12 for 6 tastings merely because I wanted to try every sparkling wine that I could. I lifted the Riedel flute to my lips & that first taste of Brut Cuvée was sheer magic. I was blown away by the light fruit notes yet very elegant & it wasn’t too dry. Both cuvée’s were exceptional. My next taste was their Brut Rosé (Rosé is my favorite) which is an award winning sparkling — I believe they just won an award for best Rosé in the U.S. The Rosé was the winner of the three for me. It was soft, lightly fruity, & balanced. I truly enjoyed all of their sparkling wines though & would have bought them all if I could.
I then moved on to the Chardonnay, which I typically don’t care for buttery or oaky Chard’s, but theirs were quite nice. I found them to be more on the crisp & bright flavor scale. Last but certainly not least was their Pinot. Another wow factor for me which is saying a lot since I’m more of a robust varietal lover. Beautiful color, fruit forward, & extremely smooth — smooth like buttah. I will say that their wine doesn’t come at a cheap price, but that old saying is correct in this situation: you get what you pay for. I walked away with the Brut Rosé, a bottle of Pinot, & a truly memorable experience.

Such a cute place to try some wine! The girls behind the counter were both friendly and knowledgable.
$ 10 for a 4 wine tasting and $ 12 for a 6. My faves were definitely the cuvées but all of their wine is amazing!