Fenton Herriott Vineyards

We really love the atmosphere at Fenton Herriott. Debbie, the wine pourer extraordinaire, takes great care of us. She is the best. I enjoy sweeter wines, and she always has one for me to try. My husband likes the zins. We also love to meet friends there. We take a picnic, have some wine, and play bocce. What a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

Helene was a real joy… highly recommend this winery… so much fun!!! And wonderful wines.

Had such an amazing time at Herriott Vineyards! Free tasting and bought a bottle of their Merlot which was delicious. Hung out on their gazebo and picnic area with the cool fall breeze. Peaceful and relaxing. Definitely would recommend stopping by. Friendly staff and a laid back atmosphere.

This place seemed a little bougie once we got inside. It was crowded inside and we never got a chance to sidle up to taste anything. This was our first stop on Apple Hill, and we decided to forego the wait and continue on down the trail. So glad we did, we scored at Smokey Ridge, Rainbow Orchards, and Boa Vista much better. Boa Vista had the apple wines I wanted to taste anyway. I didn’t see those on the menu at Fenton Herriott’s.

Had a great time here for my birthday! Brian was very friendly and informative. I really enjoyed all the information he share about the wine. They have some really unique wines here that were really good! I also bought some handmade Dancing Cherry chocolate which was delicious. They have a beautiful picnic area also. I would definitely recommend visiting this winery.

This was our last stop on our Apple Hill trip. Pulled up and scenery looked beautiful. Tasting room was a bit full when we arrived but almost immediately we were greeted and given glasses. After that we were pretty much ignored because the lady that had been helping us was busy doing other things. She started cleaning glasses, doing her hair, making bagel bites. All these things were more important than helping customers. The other employee there apparently could only help one couple at a time because she completely ignored us also.
There was also unattended children running in and out of the tasting room. One boy shoved himself in between my friend and I to grab some crackers almost knocking our wine over in the process. No one said anything so I guess this a normal thing here.
On top of all that, I was not entirely impressed with the wine. I’m not much of a wine person myself. I have just recently gotten into wine but I almost always find a wine that I like. When I go wine tasting, I usually buy one to two bottles depending. Even my friend who loves basically all wines had trouble drinking these. Needless to say I walked out of there empty handed.
This last winery of the day was pretty disappointing. The lack of professionalism was astonishing especially when compared to the two wineries we went to before this. Next time this winery is definitely a skip.

Took a ride to Placeville in July and stopped by this winery on a recommendation of a friend. I tried several of their reds and ended up buying a case which consisted of Cabernet, Tempranillos, Shiraz, and a varietal called Jakeway. All four wines were excellent and will buy more in the future.

Just love this place! Terrific location, great wine, delightful staff… Very family-​friendly, too. And they have a bird’s nest by the bathroom window…

Their tasting room is simple and homey, but they they have a few good reds and a good port-​style wine. I don’t usually gravitate toward the Barbera, but their’s is quite good that I ended-​up going home with two bottles and a bottle of the late harvest. Their wine club offers a pretty good deal with a reasonable commitment, so I signed up. I hope their upcoming releases make me want to keep my membership.

Not recommended! The gal pouring informed us that Eldorado County has about 85 wineries now. I wouldn’t waste your time here. The wines were borderline undrinkable! They should solely specialize in sweet ports. That’s one thing they do well. (To be fair, possibly the Chardonnay too — they were sold out) Purchased a bottle of Chocolate Cherry Ruby Syrah. Star for a small staff making it happen our there in a competitive market and one for the CC sweetness. Otherwise, not worth standing around the small space filled with the smell of garlic, waiting for sips of wine that are way off the mark. Cheers!

My sister and I drove past here as we were touring Apple Hill. We decided to stop in and check it out. It is a cute little tasting room with very friendly and engaging staff. The other patrons even knew the lady’s name who was assisting everyone and seemed to be repeat customers. In addition to the obvious purpose of the tasting room, they had a lot of cute items for sale (ie napkins, clothes, glasses, etc.). There is also a nice sitting area outside with a boccie pit, tables and chairs.
The tasting is complimentary and has about 10 – 12 wines on it. Who can hate on that?! We only had time to taste about half. They were good, but not great. That being said, I am not a huge wine buff.
If you are ever in the area, I would recommend stopping in for a taste and a visit.

Apple hill wine region may just be my new favorite place to taste. With most vineyards offering comp tastings, the friendliest staff, sweet wines and that un-​Napa feel, it’s easy to fall in love – hard and fast. I think I began to fall in love last fall when I visited for apple picking season and discovered the wineries in the process…
As I learned on my Unilocal field trip to Rock Wall winery in Alameda, there’s no such thing as «good wine,» its your personal taste. Fenton Herriott quite suited my tastes as their unique almond-​y Chardonnay and the almost burbon-​y Zin sent my taste buds on a unique trip! I also enjoyed the barbera and both white and red ports.
But really five stars to this small, community oriented winery for not only taking us in for a last minute tasting (seriously, four minutes to five and they were waving us to come in) but welcoming boyfriend and I with open arms. There was no rushing through the pours and we got to try everything on the menu.
Debbie, our terrific hostess, gave us tips about where to crash and where to munch and even invited us to stay for their weekly bocce ball league! I warned them fair and square I kind of stink at bocce – I learned this in Paris when the old men outside my apartment kept trying to no avail to teach me how to play petanque. Everyone was so fun and just kept it cool. Although, with glass pours and cold bottles, it’s hard to not enjoy a friday evening of Bocce ball.
In addition, there were some amazing chefs who whipped up some incredible creations for the accompanying potluck feast. Debbie said there were going to be some pick up games on the weekends in the future. I’d definitely consider coming back up for one of the pick up bocce Saturdays!
If you make it up to Apple hill or even Sac (hey it’s only a 30 minute drive!) I’d put Fenton Herriott on the list to check out.

Prices were good, but not too many AMAZING wines. My favorites were the ’08 Syrah and the ’08 Petite Sirah, oh and can’t forget the ’09 Tempranillo! I didn’t care of any of the others though. BUT they offer a great tasting of about 13 wines for FREE!

Fenton sits atop a hill overlooking the rolling apple hill region. The winery has decent outdoor grounds for a picnic. The reds are very interesting here. They are hit or miss, and vary greatly by the year. This winery is only a few years old and seems to lack the consistency of experienced wineries… The service is very friendly and welcoming. Over time, much like good wine, I think this winery will age well and get better.

We love Fenton Herriott Vineyards. We attended a Luau there recently and the food was delicious, the ambiance grand and professional Hawaiian dancers were so much fun to watch. The winemaker, Guy, really knows how to develop the flavors of his wines as each one was excellent! Also, they welcomed children and dogs. It was a wonderful evening.

Really sweet people but the wine… geez…they didnt seem to get anything right. Was here for a Barrel Tasting this past weekend and the best part was the French Onion soup!
Really pretty atmosphere and nice intimate size to the winery but I couldnt find anything bottled or barreled that really hit the right notes! :-(

I do love free wine so Fenton Herriot did deliver on that point. Then again, almost every winery in the area offers free tastings. When we arrived, it was clear that the winery was understaffed. In fact, there was one person pouring for over a dozen people. She was also the cashier and it became apparent very quickly that it was too much for one person to handle. The tasting room is going through what looks like an expansion and it looks terrible. It’s half finished, half painted, and only half-​decent.
Given the number of wineries in the area, this one is probably not worth a visit.

My friends and I were on a wine tasting trip a couple Sundays ago. We wanted to try out a winery we hadn’t been to before and thought this looked promising.
It wasn’t that crowded in the regular tasting room however the lady serving us kept forgetting what she had just poured and basically ignored us if she wasn’t accidentally pouring the same thing into our glasses. It didn’t take too long to figure out that she couldn’t focus because she was somewhat inebriated. At one point my sister saw her move to the back part of the tasting bar (where she thought perhaps nobody could see her?) where she quickly downed half a glass of wine. To share a few sips of wine with people in the tasting room is one thing, to down glassfuls is another.
Now as to the tasting: the three of us have very different palettes and unfortunately none of us were all that impressed with the wines that we tasted. Honestly, we didn’t stay to taste them all because we were completely put off by the woman behind the counter. I wouldn’t mind stopping by here another time to give it another go, but with the 5 – 6 favorites me and my friends have in that area, I’m not sure this will happen.

Fenton is a special place. You will notice thier wines are very fruit forward with intense jam flavors, much more than other local vineyards. The wine maker really knows his craft and most wines are super small batch (150 cases or less). If you are looking for a yuppie wine tasting experience go somewhere else, but if you want wines that stand cork and foil above than the others and are well priced this is the place! Fenton tries to impress you with what’s in the bottle not outside. The staff is also first class!

While out cruising Camino for apple orchards in late September, we stumbled across the Fenton Herriott winery with it’s new-​as-​of-​last-​year tasting room.
They make wine in smallish quantities, but the quality of those wines is most impressive!
They were pouring two different Sangiovese wines the day we were there. One was the El Dorado with a big flavor, and the Fair Play was softer, lighter, but still had quite rich flavors. They were both wonderful and I couldn’t decide which I liked better.
So, we got one of each.
Their tasting room is friendly and cozy. This really isn’t the place for the limousine-​driven wine tour. It’s a small family place that makes you feel like you’ve stumbled upon someplace special that everyone else doesn’t know about.
Tasting room hours: 11 to 5pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays