Skinner Vineyards

We are consistently impressed by the quality of wine and amazing customer service Skinner delivers. We had the pleasure of talking with Stephanie while tasting today and her knowledge and passion for the wine and region is inspiring. Thanks for the fabulous experience Skinner! Looking forward to joining you again soon

Five stars for the views, the hilltop patio, and the overall experience. Very nice higher-​end wines. Lots of Rhones. If I had to pick one place in the area to sit and spend an hour and enjoy a bottle — this would be it. On a nice day you cannot find a more pleasant environment to sip Fair Play wines!

This review is for their Gold wine club membership.
If you like Skinner wine I would recommend one of the smaller wine club options and not the Gold. Skinner makes promises that they just cannot deliver and as a wine club member, you will come last to walk-​ins even with a private tasting reserved a month in advance.
Skinner Vineyards left our group disappointed on our last visit. Two of my friends are Gold wine club members and decided to take us for one of their private tastings that come with their membership. I was with them when they first decided to become wine club members and a private tasting in the barrel room was one of the selling points.
When the reservations were made, we were told that they no longer did the barrel room tastings but they would reserve us a table by the waterfall and have someone serve us outside on their members only patio. We thought that was great since it was a nice day and Skinner has a beautiful view.
When we arrived, to the tasting room, they gave us our glasses to carry downstairs and told us to pull together any two tables we wanted… There was a party seated downstairs by the waterfall already so we took two other tables, pulled them together ourselves and sat down.
We received three tastes of wine when we were down on the patio and then our wine pourer just never came back. A member from our group walked back up the stairs to see what was going on and they said they thought someone else was helping us… I don’t know who they thought was helping us because all three of the wine pourers were standing behind the bar together…
In the end we decided to all walk upstairs and finish our tasting in the tasting room because we knew that downstairs was just not going to happen…
We were ignored and our glasses sat empty for most of our visit.
I would not recommend the Skinner wine club membership unless the only thing you want is a discount on Skinner wine. Skinner did not deliver on the perks that come with their wine club and now my two friends are reconsidering their Gold club memberships.

If you are a Grenache or a Mourvedre fan you have to try this winery.
I think the only drawback is they can’t make enough of it, now that they have received a number of accolades.
It pays to be a member here in the Club, as you get some special privileges. Some have found this unacceptable. Hey policy is policy. The proprietors set the standards for their property.
One of the coolest parts of this vineyard and winery is how beautiful for the eyes it truly is.
Amazing investments that have clearly paid off.

I’ve got to roll out all five stars for Skinner. At first, my party was a little perturbed we had to pay a tasting fee, since many of the wineries in the area do not charge this. However, so many things make up for this.
The view. Can we please talk about the view? Panoramic as far as the eye can see. We were even able to spot one snow-​topped mountain in the Sierras.
The history. Skinner has been around the area making wine since the 1800s. I would say this accounts for the hefty price tag on some of these. Well, that and…
The quality. I have yet to find another winery in this county that has Rhone and Mourvedre varietals. Wow! Their Zinfandel and «Dry Diggings (Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre blend, I believe.) were also superb.
The setting. We loved the outdoor patio area, which is large enough to incorporate several large parties. Ours, and a few others were comfortably seated outside. You can enjoy the tasting room, but you can also be waited on outdoors, as long as you exercise patience. Staff were training a new guy, but he worked really hard trying to make sure everyone had their glasses filled.
The deals. You get the tasting fee waved AND a free glass if you buy a bottle. The staff definitely work with you here. They proved that customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to them, and we will definitely be back!
Bonus: Beautiful outdoor restrooms on the grounds with sturdy, soft disposable towels. I felt like I had walked into a fancy hotel bathroom in London. This is a very nice touch.

A group of 7 of us were looking for the perfect way to spend an hour wine tasting in the Somerset/​Shenandoah Valley winery area and we found it at Skinner Vineyards. Being from the Bay area, we arrived there on the recommendation of manager of another winery. The weather was crisp but not windy so we sat out on the upper patio, turned on the gas heaters and enjoyed Skinner’s wine pourer Rolly’s history of the area and local stories. As noted, the views of the valley are spectacular and a huge bonus — but come for the wines.
The wine was wonderful and our group of experienced wine makers, pourers at other wineries and consumers (me) all purchased wine to take back with us so we can recall our fabulous Saturday afternoon with friends on the patio deck of Skinner Vineyards.

I must start off with the view … Truly Amazingly! Best view in the area. With that said I couldn’t give it a five star on the view alone. Two things that were disappointing first $ 10 tasting fee, too steep even though you get to keep the glass and the $ 10 is applied to the purchase of a bottle. The second is no outside food. I love to bring my own food and enjoy their wines with their views, but no, no outside food. That should be changed.
The wines? FANTASTIC! Enjoyed them all. Good for you Skinner, great wines. Change the other two things I’d come back more often.

We have gone to Skinner Vineyard many times. Really enjoy their wines and the tasting room and decks with views are fantastic! Well, I’m writing to let others know about a change at Skinner. You can no longer bring a picnic. If you want to picnic you have to make reservations AND purchase their picnic food. You can not bring in outside food. We were so very disappointed because we had friends with us and we planned on picnicking and turning our friends onto Skinner wines. We all were stocking our wine supply and I know we would of bought several bottles of Skinner. There were no customers in the tasting room, no customers on the decks. When we were told about the new rules, we turned and walked out. Ended up over at Iverson Winery in which we were welcomed along with our picnic basket. Bought several bottles of their wine. Enjoyed visiting with the wine makers and staff and had a wonderful picnic on their grounds. We will not return to Skinner again. I think they are making a mistake with this new rule. Very disappointed! Skinner… you are loosing customers!!!

This is a beautiful place with gorgeous views. Very friendly and welcoming. Really enjoyed the Seven Generations white and several others.

The view is the best reason to visit this place. Sparkling wine selection is outstanding, whites and reds pretty amazing, cheeses from france and other areas, nice outdoor fireplace and water fountain, comfy chairs and in general just awesome! :)

A wonderful winery! Great service and great views! Love coming here. Wine is a little pricey but it is great tasting!

This is the most beautiful winery! The staff is very accommodating. The wine is outstanding, so I joined the club. You need to visit this winery now.

Great Rhone varietals. Friendly and knowledgable staff. Stunning views. Plus, they are family owned and reasonably priced.

I heard good things about Skinner and other vineyards in Dorado County so a couple friends and I left the city on Saturday to see for ourselves. It was clear when walking in why Skinner was recommended to me from a friend in the wine industry. The view was unbelievable, we crossed off another winery on our list to spend more time on the patio. Service and hospitality were terrific — warm, friendly and very knowledgeable. Such a nice break from Napa where they can get a little pretentious. I prefer full bodied new world style reds so I even shocked myself when I was ranting about their Rose, Viognier and Grenache! Make sure you try all of their wines — what Chris Pittenger has done here is really impressive.

Our group of 9 went to 5 wineries on Saturday June 22. This was one of our stops. On our arrival «We went even out of our vehicle by the way»… We were greeted in the parking lot «yes I said parking lot «by a tall red head man named Rolly. His first words outta his mouth were «We charge 10.00 for tasting». Not «Hi» Welcome to Skinner Winery»…This man has the class of someone who works at the DMV! Rolly just a little word to the wise, its called meet n’ greet ! Not put down and belittle. One of the rudest men I’ve dealt with. Our planner called numerous times this past week and to have Rolly state, they received no message. He stated to her that she must have the wrong phone number. She showed him the card and he said yes that’s our number but we have no messages. She also stated that she emailed the winery as well. Then he had the odasity to say. Ohhhh we had a power outage last week. Great people skills Rolly !! Mine you we were the ONLY people at this winery. Never will I go to that place !! Only plus was the views. Nothing else ! Hey ROLLY !! Way to win the customer service of the year award.

Great winery. Nice service. But what we really love is their view! Great picnic spot!

Beautiful grounds, tasting room, friendly staff, I just wasn’t a big fan of the wines. You should definitely try it out because your taste could be different than mine and it is definitely worth a visit just for the view.

great wine, great view and great staff

Wine with a view? Not sure it gets any better. The views here are spectacular. Skinner is a beautiful place to spend a relaxing weekend sipping a killer Syrah. The employees are very knowledgeable and friendly. One of the best wineries I have been to and having lived in Sonoma County for 3 years, I am pretty spoiled. I passionately recommend it.

Rhone to the bone. Skinner Vineyards, nestled into the orange and green hued vicissitudes of the sierra foothills (southern El Dorado County), grows Rhone varietals in the Fair Play AVA — the highest elevation designated growing region (2,700 ft.) in California.
Rusticate yourself to Fair Play for Skinner’s sumptuous Syrah and the gorgeous, Provence-​like vistas.