Mountain View Vintners

We came here last minute on our way to Sacramento ! Saw the awesome reviews on Unilocal and had to make it a pit stop. So happy we did :) Bob is a great host and made us feel very comfortable on our first wine tasting! Every wine has its own unique taste so there is a little something for everyone! We recommend this experience to anyone wanting a nice place to relax and try a great wine selection For A Great deal!

As an aspiring wine snob, I’ve been through Sonoma and Napa county on wine tasting adventures, yet I’ve not had as much fun as I’ve here. Bill & Jared are amazing, warm, and entertaining! Do pls visit this place!

I bought a groupon– wine tasting for two, and fully enjoyed my experience. This is a very mellow but fun place, with live music and entertaining staff. Unlimited pretzels & chocolate, walked away having tried over 12 wines, and with two free bottles. I’ll definitely be back!

We did the entire tasting list. I usually prefer whites, but not this time. The Merlot and Cabs were so lucious! The environment is clean and modern with comfortable stools, chairs, and tables. We were plyed with chocolates during our red tastings… great addition! The pourer was new, but we’ll informed, gracious, and friendly. We had an absolute ball there on a Fri afternoon. THANKS!

The wine is great and the service is FANTASTIC!
Both times I’ve gone, Phil has been an amazing host. Great explanations of the tasting menu and very attentive. He was a ton of fun to talk to and made everyone at the bar laugh the entire time.
Amazing deal for the wine club as well! Highly recommended.

Folks, If you are looking for an excellent place for a wine down glass of wine (or a tasting experience), you gotta check out Mountain View Vintners — I found them on Unilocal when I was in town looking to wine down after a big day of conference meetings — I really enjoyed meeting Jerad and Jeff — and the other guests at the bar – where else can you select music being played in the background, interact socially over a host of fine wines and then join the best wine club I have ever offered by vintners — these guys do it all — with a smile on their face and a big «welcome back» anytime attitude. Love it!

Came in on groupon and was extremely happy! Wine was great, nice size pours for tasting. Staff is super friendly and helpful. Perfect start to a date night

We came here expecting a 30 minute quick tasting. 3 hours later, with much fun stories tastings, etc later– this place is well worth 5 stars. I have more tasty wines than I expected. Jeff is so fun. The wines are good. And the tastings are beyond value.

We were a group of 4 and went to this winery on a Saturday evening. I bought a groupon which included wine tasting for 4 and 4 bottles of wine. I am not a wine person but i really liked their wines. And the staff was really friendly too :) They also had live music.
Finding the place could be a little tough, and parking is on the streets only.

We went to Mountain View Vintners on a Saturday afternoon with a groupon. It included a tasting for two, and 2 bottles of wine. I think it was around 40 bucks? When we called to make our reservation, we were told «make sure you eat; it’s a lot of wine.»
Yes.
Location/​Atmosphere-​4/​5. Some things: Parking is fine. I could see it being a problem if you don’t know how to parallel park on a 5 degree incline in SUV-​sized spaces that have no one in front of you or behind you. There are no kids allowed. It’s a wine tasting room. You are here to drink. Wine. I am somewhat sympathetic, but I agree with the management on this decision. The décor inside is sort of that cheap-​yuppie aesthetic that is open, clean, and impersonal. But you’re not here for the atmosphere, you’re here for the wine. Right?
Service: ⁵⁄₅. Our wine-​tender was a really nice guy named Jared. He refilled our wine, water, crackers, and chocolates generously! He engaged us in conversation as well, and didn’t rush us out (this is important because it is a LOT of wine). Also, this place doesn’t serve food but they have compiled menus from many of the local eateries; you can call to order food and these places will deliver to the tasting room. The staff encourages you to do this! How nice!
Wine: 3.5÷5. It’s a lot of wine. There were 10 wines on the list, and Jared let us taste 2 additional wines. The taste size is generous. The grapes are sourced from all over CA. The wine itself is pretty good. None of these will turn into my «absolute favorite» go-​to bottles, but they were good. We also joined their wine-​club. For $ 30 every 3 months, you get 4 bottles of wine (2 red, 2 white), and you drink for free in their tasting room. That’s $ 7.5 a bottle. A bottle of Yellowtail will cost you that much at Safeway. We thought it was a good deal.
Overall: This was a fun day. I’d do it again!

Staff is nice, wines are ok. I have to only give it one star because parking is horrible and kids are not allowed.

The wine was scrumptious, Jeff was hilarious, friendly, gave heavy-​pours AND let us try items not on the menu. I definitely had a FABULOUS time and the wine was, as Jeff put it, Fumazing. Haha :-) Thanks for a great time & yummy wines!!!

We had such a great time. Bought a groupon for a tasting and two bottles — wines are surprising & interesting and some really tasty ones.
Pinot Grigio– not a normal one, more Italian and you could drink it like water — all I was missing was a pool, sun, and maybe a hot Italian serving it to me ;) I should also note, I normally don’t like Pinot Grigio.
The Pinot noir, cabs, and Merlot were great too — only problem we had was narrowing Downeaster took home. The price point and decent wine — hear me out, not the best wine ever, but interesting and seriously not bad at all — We actually let go of dinner plans, ordered a pizza, had another glass of wine and listened to ballistic missiles (guitar and drum) band which was really reminiscent and relaxing.
The wine club at $ 30 a qtr and 4 bottles each time, free tasting for you and a friend — are u kidding, no brainer. Proud member now :)
So maybe I’m a sucker but any where I can have good wine, environment, music, great service (thanks Jared and Jeff) and it made an unexpected Friday night out of San Fran super fun… I’m a fan!
Great gem and happy we found it:)

Pretty good. :) We ended up joining the wine club which is extremely affordable! And I just got our shipment today in the mail! Fun and easy. They also let us choose our own music which was cool.
I didn’t like the cheese plate because it was one of the ‘pre-​packaged’ ones and was not super fresh,
Other than that I liked it. :)

Wines delish; Jeff is freakin awesome! Jeff took us through his entire flight, which was 12 wines! Every one was delectable in it’s own way. Delectable is Jeff’s favorite adjective, and why shouldn’t it be when his wines are so bombdiggity?! The winery is in my back yard of Morgan Hill, for crying ’ out loud! Jeff Strohm made our experience chill and FUN!!!

I was surprised when my GPS led me and my wife to the place. We were thinking of a wine cellar setting but definitely this is one of my best wine tastings. Jeff was very fun and people can talk to each other unlike some of the more popular places in Napa that are snob. If I just live local I would chill here often. Best of luck guys and hope your service does not change. Don’t get Ford Drunk =)
If you are going, ‘dry hole’ is definitely the best, the other Cab is definitely a buy as well. The place is for fun people. If you’re too uptight, don’t go.

I came here with a Groupon, and was prepared to be blown away based on the reviews here on Unilocal.I’m still a beginner when it comes to wine, trying less expensive wines at home and going to a a couple of tastings in Napa and Sonoma in the past few years. That being said, I couldn’t get over the «college friend’s basement» décor, the cramped and noisy atmosphere, and the close proximity (physically and visually) to every single staff conversation and «storage space» (i.e. the bathroom).
The evening didn’t exactly start out well. Whoever was supposed to open was late, so they piled us into their partner restaurant downstairs and we ended up waiting 30 minutes to go upstairs. When we finally got upstairs, I noticed that everything on the menu was $ 2 more. Why are they charging an extra $ 2 to carry a dish upstairs? We ordered the crab & lobster cakes anyways because we were starving, which tasted more like celery and fried-​ness and thousand island dressing; not even remotely worth it.
They crammed as many people as possible into that tiny basement-​like space, and the entire tasting felt chaotic; the opposite of an ideal tasting experience. The staff seemed overwhelmed and confused, and were not particularly friendly or professional. I never once felt relaxed there, despite how much I had to drink.
They were easily pouring more than ½ a glass with each tasting (there were 11 wines!), which I just couldn’t finish. They were great about refilling our water, but they were so disorganized that they kept skipping wines and filling our glasses without checking in with us about where we were in the tasting. My goal at a tasting is to actually learn something about the wines, their different characteristics, and the process behind making it; not to get wasted.
I also felt like the wine was a bit watered down, as none had any memorable or stand-​out flavors. Looking at my notes now, there were even a few that smelled a bit off or had nasty flavors at the back. I didn’t even want to take home the 2 included bottles, although we ended up with the California Moscato. My boyfriend’s remark, «The best thing I’ve had has been the Whoppers» sums up the wine perfectly. I hit a wall at the 6^th unimpressive wine and really battled through what was left, although I ended up dumping most of it so I was sober enough to drive home. It seems like all anyone there cared about was guzzling booze, including the staff.
MVV seems very confused about what it’s trying to be, and I think they need to take a moment to refocus their vision. There’s nothing wrong with being laid back, but there’s a difference between laid back and sloppy; the low ceiling, extremely cramped tables and chairs, stained carpets, drunk servers, open boxes scattered about were just too much for us. The whole place feels carelessly thrown together and quickly slid towards trashy as the evening progressed. It was definitely not worth the drive up to San Rafael, even with the Groupon.

$ 36 groupon deal for 4 people; 10 extremely generous samples and 1 bottle (your choice from the ones you tasted) to take home. If you count toll fare, that’s only $ 10 a person!
Our «winetender» Bob was super chill, funny, and non-​pretentious. They provide Hershey’s kisses, cheesy bread sticks (the thin salad ones), and malt balls to snack on. Only 1 bathroom but it’s really clean and waits were short.
Not really the kind of wine tasting where they teach you the different notes/​how to swirl/​etc but great for catching up with friends. The live music after 6pm-​ish was also really nice. Dangerously close to Berkeley. We’ll definitely be back!
Lots of good food in the area to stumble tipsy to after your tasting. Wish they provided some outdoor seating for nice sunny days, but I guess that would be hard for the staff to come check on all the time.
Tip: Sit at the bar to get faster refills!

This place really is as good as it gets. We spend a lot of our free time wine testing, and so I’m used to really great wine venues, but this place is something special. First, it’s a great location. Sure, it’s nice to drive out to the back of beyond and taste wines, but this place is right near the mission (Mission San Rafael– which is not open Monday and Tuesday), and smack in the middle of foodie central. There are some great restaurants and a fantastic bakery in the same block as this place.
Now the wine– you get to try 11 wines, and they’re all good, but very different. I found them all pretty drinkable, but loved the Monterey Pinot– so I got that one for my Groupon wine. My friend chose to take home a pinot grigio. The Groupon deal was excellent! 19 bucks for two tastings and two bottles of wine was super. And the pinot noir (Monterey) had a nice smokey edge to it, that I know my single malt scotch loving husband will really enjoy.
So the place has a great location, and very good wines, and on top of that the service just could not be better. The host (Jeff) is charming, and is very knowledgeable. We had to hustle, a little, since I did not want to get caught in rush hour traffic (we started around 1:30pm) — but the next time I visit, and there will be a next time, I plan to take my time!!!
Thank you, Jeff, for a wonderful day.

First. I fully admit that I was wearing my wine-​goggles.
Second. I loved Mountain View Vintners!
My friend and I had a great slurping through four «large pours» each, for a total of $ 5 each (thanks Unilocal deal). The breadsticks and hershey kisses were a great appetizer for the popcorn we chowed down on at the 10 o’clock movie.
I really loved watching people of all ages have an awesome time: a group of dudes in their 60s yukking it up and grubbing on food walked over from the Lighthouse, a 20-​something couple whose chairs inched closer and closer together as their glasses were emptied and refilled time and time again, and a foursome somewhere in the middle, on what looked to be a great a double-​date.