Dutton-Goldfield Winery

This winery is great. It’s always been a marvelous experience and Andrew is a rock star at talking us through the wines. I’m not a Chardonnay fan yet theirs are palatable to me and their pinots are excellent.

I enjoyed the excellent cheese and wine flight and much to my surprise, I came home with a bottle of the amazing 2013 Morelli Lane Zinfandel ($ 50), a wine I usually don’t care for, and the unusual but delicious and delightful, newly released 2015 Shop Block Pinot Blanc. ($ 30)

We enjoyed an extensive tasting with cheese pairings at Dutton Goldfield. We had the chance to meet the winemaker, Dan Goldfield. These are very small batch exquisite wines and they were extremely well presented by Nicole. This is a winery that truly take pride in their offerings. The gewurztraminer was light, fresh and floral. The pinots were all interesting and varied. An easy stop next to Red Car and worth reserving in advance.

Higher-​end wines (mostly pinots and chardonnays). Nice tasting room just off the highway. But they are becoming slightly less boutique-​like these days. Their main-​line pinot is now available at the local Costco for $ 29.95. If you like lighter style (lower alcohol content) pinots — this place just might scratch your wine-​itch. Friendly and knowledgeable staff.

We would have bought multiple bottles if the service was better. They seemed to frown upon their customers– they said «if you would have come earlier we would have served you more»…wine tasting is a service based industry, it’s too bad that they were lacking in the service space.

This place as indeed a «hidden gem» to me. I was very impressed by the customer service, the tasting room, and more importantly, the delicious wines. The only wine that didn’t go well with me was the Syrah but their other wines were really good. I highly recommend it and I hope others will consider this place.

Staff not very energetic or friendly. Wine was not memorable. Tasting room itself is nice and outdoor seating is a plus.

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Dutton Goldfield tasting room is in Russian River Valley. A fifth-​generation farmer, Steve grew up with a love of driving tractors, and without any doubt about his future career. His father, Warren Dutton, had begun growing grapes in the western reaches of Russian River Valley in the mid-​1960s, at a time when most people thought the area was too cool to grow fruit for quality still wine. Steve started working with his father when he was five years old, and joined Dutton Ranch full-​time in 1987. Today, along with his mother and brother, he manages the family business, which has grown from its original 35-​acre home shop vineyard to over 80 separate vineyards comprising more than 1,000 acres throughout western Russian River Valley.
Dan entered the University of California at Davis, graduating with an M.S. in Enology in 1986. He gained knowledge on the job with stints at Robert Mondavi Winery and Schramsberg as well as winemaking in Portugal for two years. He found his passion in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, first as the winemaker at the Burgundian-​focused La Crema Winery, and then at Hartford Court, which was created under his direction. Dan’s appreciation for the beauty of the extraordinary landscape around our home is reflected in his winemaking.
Together, they founded Dutton-​Goldfiled in 1998. Their wines are very reasonable. Price ranges from $ 28 to $ 72. Many of their Pinot Noir sells out just after its release. They also produce 2 rare varietals: 2013 Chileno Valley Vineyard Riesling and 2014 Green Valley Vineyard Gewürztraminer which are both very nice.
They famous for their Pinot Noir, especially the Fox Den and the Dutton Ranch Vineyard. 2013 Rued Vineyard Chardonnay is another delicious wine that makes for pairing fantastic with food.
Service was fantastic. They also offer vineyard visit, by appointment only.

Graceless.
Awkward.
The wines are decent enough, tasting room is lovely enough, staff friendly enough.
Do yourself a favor: Go next door to Red Car and call it a day. They are AWESOME!
Having taught wine and cheese classes for 7 years I know enough to not need to be patronized.
Having worked for Jackson Family Wines, Chalone Wine Group and Diageo I know the sort of training it takes to enable your tasting room staff to follow through with all the hard work being done back in production. And this staff just didn’t have the finesse necessary to close the deal.
I was in the mood to join a few wine clubs and they did not reel me in smoothly enough.
As it was I bought 24 bottles for the advertised free shipping but was charged for shipping anyway (I elected to take 6 bottles with me just in case we wanted to picnic later).
They did not offer industry discount and told me that reciprocity was a big deal for them. I assured them that all the properties in my portfolio offered 33% industry. I was offered a 15% out-​of-​town discount instead. After a bit of uncouth bickering amongst the staff they finally offered me the standard 33% industry discount.
No where else have I been treated like I was trying to «get over» on someone, especially not when dropping $ 900 on wine. Distasteful.
I’ll give away the wine I bought as gifts so I don’t ingest any of that bad juju myself.

Went here today with a couple friends as we were exploring the area. Had a lovely educated tasting with Nicole — a bubbly darling Australian gal. They had some very very lovely wines. We particularly liked a couple of their Pinot’s. It’s a crisp clean tasting room along Hwy 166 with a lovely outdoor area where it appears they do seated tastings too. High recommended and thanks Nicole!

fantastic cheese pairing with the wines. amazing pinots, and solid white wine. would absolutely return. they set up the veranda for my 40^th birthday and it was super fun. just hang out for 2 hours with no rush. perfect escape from the commercial places.

This is one of our favorite wineries. Pinot Noir is the main focus but they also make excellent Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Zinfandel, and Syrah. You will find knowledgeable and friendly staff pouring wines in this inviting tasting room. We are always recommending this winery to others.
Look for the upcoming events too. We have enjoyed the Food and Wine pairing seminar. There are also Winemaker Dinners, music events etc.

We were recommended to Dutton-​Goldfield by our concierge, and given VIP passes. We walked in and were the only group in there to start. We got a the standard fare off the tasting menu before another group walked in. The wines were pretty good. Not the best, but pretty good.
The person behind the bar was a bit gruff, pouring wines without much explanation of where, when, etc. Then she went «off the menu» as she said she likes to do. Our group and the other got a taste of the pinot blanc she had. When a third group walked in, they also got the pinot blanc.
We decided, at that point, not to buy. But we were also keeping it on our list. When we started to leave, she picked up our VIP passes and said these are only good if we buy something. Let’s get this straight… if anyone buys anything there, the tastings are complimentary. In other words, they meant nothing.
Our concierge called to clarify after. Apparently, the VIP passes allow for several special wines not usually offered, but not comp tastings. That would be fine… if it was true. First of all, it’s impossible in a tasting room with multiple groups to do that (I’ve worked in several tasting rooms). You can’t pour something for one group without offering it for another. Second, we only got one «special» wine. After talking with our concierge, she isn’t recommending DG anymore.
We bought a bottle because it was less expensive than paying for the tastings, and the wine wasn’t terrible. But we immediately removed Dutton-​Goldfield from consideration of buying a case or more.
Wine is about the experience as much as the quality. They failed. Our family spent a lot of money in Napa and Sonoma in an annual wine buying trip. Next trip, we will not return to DG. And we will not recommend. Frankly, we regret getting the bottle we did. Money wasn’t an issue. We were cajoled into buying wine. If she had been up front about what the passes meant, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

The first stop on our annual tasting trip and as it turned out, the best tasting of the trip. Dave Hewitt is as good as it gets as a tasting Room Manager. Tasted the entire family of pinots and had a great gewürztraminer as well. Freestone Hill was my personal favorite pinot.
Can’t go wrong here. Great wine, great host. Met Dan Greenfield, the winemaker, and learned a few things about his style and pinot in general. A great start to the trip.

The wines are solid. We tasted 2012 Angel Camp Vineyard Pinot (Anderson Valley), 3 Stars (of 5); the 2013 Emerald Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir (Green Valley), 2.5 stars, 2012 Azaya Ranch Vineyard, 3.5 stars; pinot Blanc, 4 stars; 2012 Rued Vineyard Chard, Rich and smooth 4 of 5 stars.
The down side: there were only 3 servers and everyone coming in after us, got started and served tastings before we did. We had extended times between each tasting. Our hostess/​server spent a lot of time with others explaining the wines. Definitely felt like a second class citizen here, which is unfortunate as the wine shows promise.

Wines are above average 3.5 for the price point. Service from staff was excellent! Very friendly and informative and poured us two extra wines not on list… price of tasting was $ 15
Wines:
Riesling is dry and a decent for this varietal but not a fan.
1^st «extra» wine offered was the Chardonnay (10 months in oak but the acidity smoothed out the oak) very unique chard and I did like it 3.5 star
2012 Dutton Ranch Pinot — not bad but not smooth enough for me 3 star
2011 Freestone — again 3 star… too acidic for my taste… and at $ 72/​bottle, no
2012 Emerald Ridge Pinot (from Green Valley of RR Valey) –now this is good! Smooth tannins but by far better than the first two pinots that were highly rated by wine enthusiast (⁹²⁄₉₅ respectively)…at $ 58 I would by far prefer this wine of all their offerings …4 star but would not buy at that price point
2012 Azaya Ranch Pinot (Marin) 2^nd offered not on list (nice of them) — lot of jam/fruit…good 3.5star
Spectrum Red Blend — pretty good blend of 2011 and 2012 multiple varietals. I would drink it if poured but would not buy it.
It was worth the $ 15 tasting fee. But overall A-​Ok for the price point

Dutton-​Goldfield is one of the best pinot noir producers in California. Their chardonnays are also superlative. Their wines are from growers in the Russian River area, so although rich and concentrated, they also have a bit of elegance that some pinots from the hotter parts of wine country lack.
The place is easy to find. It’s a big green warehouse, just off of the Gravenstein Highway (Rte 116) on the east side.
The tasting room is basically a room in a warehouse. Sorry, folks, Dutton-​Goldfield is about the wine. If you want to sit in a million dollar boutique and sip mediocre wine, there’s no shortage of that stuff in this part of the world (hint: drive over to Napa).
The staff at Dutton-​Goldfield are fantastic. Extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and down-​to-​earth. I stop at this place every single time I’m in California, and I like seeing the familiar faces – people who actually recognize me, too!
I’m a fan of this tasting room, and an even bigger fan of the wine.

Stopped by Dutton-​Goldfield Winery at the recommendation of 2 other wineries we had visited earlier that day…& we had been specifically advised to seek out their Gewürztraminer
Another winery had given us a coupon for a free DG «reserve» tasting & we tried to use it but were told that «reserve» didn’t mean what we thought it did & we were allocated their «regular» lineup. The nice girl helping us looked embarrassed since she had played up the «reserve» list — but the guy working there made her change the coupon — boo on you!
Recommendation that maybe you should not publish coupons if you don’t intend to honor them? Just saying…
Well, we told her to forget the coupon b/​c we really wanted to taste the reserves & good thing for them b/​c we ended up getting more than a few bottles that day & surpassed their «Buy $X.xx and get the tasting fee waived»…so why start us out w/​such a bad 1^st impression?
The 2 ladies working that day were really friendly & laid back & had a genuine enthusiasm for their wines — which made us excited about them too
They shared how Dutton-​Goldfield has vineyards all around wine country & it was cool to taste the different flavor tones from the different parts of the area — even micro-​climates have a huge effect
Ended up w/​that «recommended» bottle of the Gewürztraminer, and a bunch of Pinots. Thanks for the fun time!

Enjoyed a tasting at Dutton-​Goldfield as our second stop during our Wine Cube tour. I did the classic tasting, while my husband did the larger one.
We came to try the Pinot & Chards, but trying hard to stick to our «one bottle per winery» rule, we ended up with a great bottle of 2009 Cherry Ridge Syrah. The Pinots weren’t bad by any means — just felt that we’d had other Pinots that trip at lower price points that we liked better.
The tasting room is comfortable — the staff was friendly — and they gave us some recommendations for dinner that night.
Not one of my «must dos» for the area, but definitely a very good stop.

David was kind and fun and helpful.
Although several people have commented on my knack for wine comprehension, I feel insecure in tasting rooms sometimes. I don’t know why and I’m getting over it. Here, I felt at home after about one minute.
I purchased Fox Den Pinot Noir, and I look forward to drinking it and returning to the area as soon as possible, that I might taste at this winery again.
Equally cool, David referred my friend and I to our next stop …