rapazzini winery

Can't miss this delightful winery stopover when you travel by Gilroy, CA....right next to Garlic World, another great stop. We love their wines, but unfortunately, we stopped for two recommended specialty wines, Honey Meade (a port wine) and Apostles Red and they had neither wine! Our friends who live north in Pittsburg, CA, claim the Honey Mead is the absolute best for helping comfort those with serious cold viruses, and the red wine is amazing. Entering Rapazzini's one is greeted by a beautiful, huge and friendly standard sized black poodle....he welcomes you and a follup up greeting comes from a young man at a bar.....the young man apologized for not having either of our requests....the honey meade "recipe was lost in a fire, not making it any more", and they did not currently have the Apostles Red......a disappointment, but still a fun place to stop at and their wines are excellent.

We went here after our visit to a garlic shop (I'll review separately) with a coupon for a free tasting, and was surprised that I liked the Garlic Wine!! For those of you who don't know about Gilroy, it's the garlic capital of the United States, here in California. The garlic wine was very tasty and will go good with Italian or Greek food. They also offer garlic wines made just for cooking. I like their champagne, very light and crisp, they also offer an Almond champagne which has nice flavor but was a bit sweet for my taste. My boyfriend really enjoyed the Pinot Noir and the Bordeaux Select, they are quite good. They have a nice selection of cork cages, which I have a few and we bought a cowboy boot one. Worth a stop if you are in the area or even just passing by, give it a try I think you'll enjoy it. I am going to mark yes for a fee below, but they will take the $7 tasting fee off if you buy any wines/champagnes.

Been visiting since 94. Last year we stopped by with my toy poodle. They let us in, since they have huge dogs that greet u as soon as u open the doors. We just stopped by 10mins ago and as usual got greeted by 2 large poodles but was told to tie my little one out in 95 heat. No dogs? Why do you have yours walking around by the tasting area? Never going back.

We enjoy wineries, but if you want a unique taste, stop at Rapazzini Winery in Gilroy. They have garlic wine both for drinking and for cooking. Fun experience, nice tasting room.

I've been buying wine and garlic treats here since the mid 1980s and had a chance again this week for a few cases. The wines are unique and delicious. Garlic treats wonderful - try the garlic butter. Wind tasting bar is courteous and knowledgeable. Prices are low; value is high. Plenty of parking. Location visible and adjacent from highway. Very nice!

We got a free tasting with our Garlic Shoppe purchase and stopped in. We got to taste 3 wines...we chose a white and 2 reds. Although their wine list seemed limited, we did enjoy and purchase a white and Rockin Red. I had purchased a bottle of cooking garlic wine years ago and enjoyed it so i got another one. Although the tasting portions were skimpy (possibly because it was a free tasting) we were able to discern which ones we liked. Young man behind counter very knowledgable about the wines..made for an enjoyable tasting.

In the 50 years I've lived in the SF Bay Area, I've passed Rapazzini Winery on US 101 at the south end of Gilroy a million times and never gone in. Last weekend I went into the tasting room. I was the only customer. The tasting room itself is a little dark and dingy. The pleasant host who works there seven days/week told me that they no longer grow grapes for their wine; all their fruit is sourced. The reds are from The Black Ridge Vineyards in Los Gatos, above Lexington Reservoir; but the Merlot and Cabernet Franc are about ten dollars cheaper than Black Ridge's product from the same vineyard. I bought some to compare quality, but haven't done so yet. Tasting fee of $7.00 for five wines is waived if you purchase a single bottle. This place was a pleasant surprise; and I'll return to purchase more reds, since I've never seen them at retail and the merlot and cabernet franc are worth the price and then some.