White Crane Winery

White Crane Winery wasn’t on the barrel tasting program but i ended up here by mistake. it’s easy to misread «wine tasting» for «barrel tasting» whilsr rolling down roads keeping one eye on possible oncoming cars and the other eye on wineries open for tasting
White Crane has no parking lot, just parking in the dirt. smallest of the wineries i’ve visited. was wondering «is there a mistake?» but i proceeded anyways.
tasting room was a little bigger than a shack. small group of people inside, having a great time. gent in charge obviously knew why i was there (i was holding a wine glass in hand)
the gent in charge was cool about it all. he eventually gave me a barrel tasting. it was better than average. the winemeister has character. wine good, will return when i can to properly taste his wines..

SECOND STOP at the livermore valley harvest wine celebration
samples:
cabernet sauvignon — this was an ok red, nothing spectacular, nothing bad, just middle of the road.
chardonnay — since this was the 2^nd pour at this winery, there was already some cab in the glass, so it was hard to taste the crisper notes of this white wine.
perks:
+live music outside
+free shuttle from our car (parked up the street) to the winery
+some vendors selling clothing outside on the lawn
other:
–additional wine tasting inside a small house at the back of the property
–vineyard with grapes also in the rear of the property
–small lawn area by the live band in front of property
–no seats were provided, but guests could bring their own chairs or picnic blankets to sit on

Fantastic atmosphere and even better wine! A group of 8 went wine tasting for our friend’s 30^th birthday and we wished we had just come here and skipped the other 3 wineries. If you are wine tasting in Livermore you are seriously missing out if you don’t come here. It’s small, intimate, beautiful and classy without being pretentious.

Good wines. Friendly folks. What’s not to like?
I recommend you give White Crane a try.

White Crane has a small and rusty tasting room with super friendly environment. Its laid back atmosphere makes it more welcoming. I came to White Crane for barrel tasting and got to taste wine from the barrel which was awesome. The tasting room was quite busy with people in and out and simply enjoying themselves.
The tasting flight is generically $ 5 a flight including both white and red. I especially liked the bubbly as it was refreshing.
If you’re in Livermore area, definitely stop by for a a tasting flight. Cheers!

I enjoy the drive to this rustic outpost. Row and row of vines, rolling hills, beautiful setting. This is one of the many small wineries that makes Livermore AVA a hidden gem.
The tasting room is unpretentious, just a shack that served great wines. For $ 5 you get to taste a flight of white/​red wines. This is very reasonable and on par with other wineries in the area, who charge $ 5, $ 10, and $ 15 flights.
Nick, the proprietor and winemaker was there pouring his wines. Generous hospitality, passionate, and great knowledge, thanks Nick!

This is not one of the better wineries in the area. I have gone twice now and neither trip was anything exceptional. I would pass.

Referring to Lauryn N’s review about being charged for wine you don’t receive and not being able to get a proper cancellation– I have the same problem. We sent an e-​mail to cancel our membership 2÷20÷12. We didn’t hear back, and a month later they charged us for the April release. We went and picked that up (this is April 2012), and informed the people working there that we had sent the cancellation e-​mail, and we wanted off the list. Just in case they didn’t remove us, we called our credit card company and had the card information changed so they couldn’t charge us. This is a card that we NEVER use– this was the only thing that was being charged to it. I checked every month for a year to make sure nothing was charged, and all was well. We just got a call today that White Crane had charged us $ 157.00 in March 2013 A YEAR after we cancelled, and we never received any wine or any e-​mails from them. They do not answer if you call them, nor respond to e-​mail. We are taking care of this issue with the credit card company, and getting rid of the card completely. I have no clue how they got a hold of the new card information, but I do know these people are unsavory and crooked– beware!

I was a member last year and cancelled in August 2012. Since then, I have been charged a total of $ 232 for wine I have not received. I emailed the wine club membership and the winemaker Nick multiple times, called a bunch of times to a phone that no one ever answers, and I even messaged the wine maker Nick on LinkedIn! This place really just has no shame! They are just ripping people off with ridiculously overpriced wine and customer service that is nonexistent! I will be contacting my credit card to handle this since apparently they won’t be doing anything about it… my advice, try out the other nice wineries in Livermore and just skip this one altogether! LAME!

Very good wine. Cool little spot.

I used to go here once a year for the Grape Stomping event and little by little they have managed to not really make it a fun event anymore. I would go with my red Hat chapter and we would always purchse bottles of wine to be ready in two years. Three times I have bought and never recieved a bottle or a phone call or a refund. We would spend that day there and buy over a case of wine and try to enjoy the day, but first time they had a band, catered food, small breakfast, dancing and plenty of tables and Tent. The last time we went it was limited seating, cold food and not so friendly people working. I am not a Wine person but we went for the fun and friends and something different. I guess you should be a WINE person to go to White Crane Winery, because they make you feel like you dont belong if you are not. Too bad. Looks like Nick Nardolillo owes a lot of people more thanjust wine.

I’m going off of their champagne alone from the Unilocal Beerwalk Empire, but it was really delicious. I’d definitely buy more bubbly from this winery if given the choice.

The chardonnay here was so amazing! We hung out here with the owner for a while and got to talk about the wines and property. A very educational yet fun experience.

I rolled there for the Vintners Festival. One Booth setup outside with one Wine to Taste .
Smaller Winery.

I had contacted the winery to see about having our group come there as part of a fundraiser for my childrens school. Nick promptly wrote me back and welcomed us to come visit.
Fast forward to this weekend — I contacted them again to remind them — again a very welcome response — including, «it’s my birthday weekend, we’ll be celebrating all weekend». We entered the winery & sang Nick (not even knowing who he was yet) «Happy Birthday» — he looked absolutely touched! We were totally running short on time (and after the fact wished we had started here — the wine was awesome & the staff & guest were so fun!) We had to speed wine taste & they were so accomodating. I loved all the wines poured — even joined their wine club. Nick invited back in for a free tasting — so we could spend more time.
Thank You so much for your great hospitality!!! We’ll definitely be back :-)

after four days in Tahoe snowboarding, drinking, and not showering (ok, I was the only one that decided not to shower) we were ready to head home. Unfortunately, my car’s GPS decided otherwise and sent us on a bit of a circuitous adventure. Being sheep to robots and their navigation, I followed. When I realized we were in Stockton — I realized that perhaps we should have taken a better route. We improvised and decided to go Livermore to drink more.
We ended up at White Crane — a very tiny tasting room with far too many people than they could accommodate (and surprising for a Sunday late afternoon.) The pourers were friendly and didn’t mind that we were in our snowboarding gear. Their Sparkling Wine was pretty good, me and my two friends each bought 3 bottles. They had a buy two get the third for a dollar deal. Unfortunately, that’s where the worthwhile deals ended. Their other wines were too scarce and their prices reflected just that — however the quality of wines was not proportionate to the prices.
I’m still quite happy about the deal we did get — but honestly, I don’t think this is a place I feel the need to revisit. Also, after our 2.5 hr drive, I desperately needed to use their restroom, which the women apologetically explained was only the outhouse. I didn’t mind that it was an outhouse — but let’s just say snowboard pants with suspenders and a bulky jacket make it significantly more awkward.
Tangent aside, this place felt more about turning a profit than about sharing their wine. I understand that, but I like people’s attempts of guising such things. When we went in, the first thing they said was their tasting was $ 5. Yea, that’s expected… but what about asking how we are or if we had visited before?
Each wine was presented with its price first — then more details about where it was bottled and maybe how it could be paired. I guess it felt like everyone was on commission and not actually passionate about the products. She told us that they have an event for grape stomping (AWESOME!) and that it cost $ 20. I whispered to Corey that it was brilliant that they got people to pay to do the winery’s work — which he repeated to her (jokingly). She responded that it was ok because it was fun. I responded with, «so if you’re having fun, shouldn’t you be paying for our company?» she had enough of a sense of humor to ignore me ;)

White Crane is a small winery, unassuming in Livermore but their wines are delicious.
My all time favorite is Vintage Portuguese Port, very fragrant and refreshing aroma and sweet smooth long finish without the overpowering sugar taste. It’s not a cheap wine to take home. But I’ve had chances where I came late, so we just hung out at their wood crafted backyard until they close while the staff kept coming over and do the pouring. I think I finished half the bottle there for them.
Their Winery 21 label is an economical brand to go for, with a lower price but little quality downgrade. In year end holiday season, we found their Winery 21 bubbly for sale and for $ 11 bucks, we get a nice bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate the new year.

Reading some other reviews of White Crane, I can’t help feel flabbergasted that people would complain about paying 5 bucks to taste the wine here. Seriously people, put that toward a bottle of the Sparkling wine and get the best $ 12 bottle of sparkling you ever had.
Anyway, as you can tell, I’m a fan of their sparkling… the best in Livermore, if you ask me.
Also, I think their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is on par with the best Cabernets I’ve had in Napa, Sonoma, Santa Clara, or Calaveras. The price certainly reflects that, but anybody who likes premium Cabernet will know it’s worth the $ 50 price tag.
The rest of their reds were well crafted and balanced. Their red and white ports are delicious as well.
The tasting room is a small, but I like people who care more about making good wine than building an expansive opulent tasting room. (ahem, Concannon) This is a true family operation, and you can taste the care they put into every bottle of wine they make. Definitely coming back when I’m tasting in Livermore.

They’ve got a quaint little tasting room that makes it almost uncomfortable to shop through as the attendants feel like they’re in your personal space. However, White Crane has one thing on their list that my husband and I adore — and that’s their white port. It’s deliciously sweet with high floral notes and it’s so sad when you realize the bottom of the bottle is eminent. Their other wines are good too — not on the expensive side.
I’m sad to hear that Livermore Wineries are charging for tasting now. Most were free a few years ago. Anyway, I heard that the tasting fee is waived if you purchase a bottle.

Why in the world would I pay an additional $ 5 bucks to taste White Crane wine when I’ve already plunked down $ 50 bucks to go on the Harvest Wine tour??? Seriously, White Crane was the ONLY winery we encountered all day that wanted money to taste during the Liverrmore Harvest Wine Festival.
Are you kidding? You think your wine is THAT good? Sheeesh, buh-​bye.