Salamandre Wine Cellars

Our «Girls Weekend» house is about a mile away from this place, and even though there were six different women ranging in ages 24 – 54, all of us had such a wonderful time at the invitational tasting.
They had a wide variety of wines to taste, even late-​harvest dessert wines… but you should definitely be a dessert wine person.
There was also a variety of cheese and sourdough slices to cleanse your palette/​snack on.
I have been wine tasting up and down California, and this is one of the most unique tastings I have attended. It was held outdoors, and with the beautiful Aptos weather, any other way would’ve been doing it wrong. There was plenty of seating in the form of cute benches and wine barrels repurposed as personal seats, lots of salamander-​themed items, and funny signs like «Wino Xing» with a drunk stick figure. It was so funny when we bought our wine, my friend inquired about the Salamandre sweatshirt by the register, and Sandie said that if my friend didn’t mind washing it upon taking it home, she could purchase it for $ 5. I thought that was so cool. DEAL!
Can’t wait to go back for the next one, this tasting was very carefully planned, the Shoemakers are delightful people who truly want the attendees to be comfortable and happy, so join the mailing list it’ll be well worth an Aptos trip! (Also about 4 miles from the BEST bakery in the USA — Gayle’s! Please see my review on it if you wanna know more.).

Speak of the luck of the ignorant. We popped in on a Labor Day weekend, Saturday for their invitational wine tasting event. Luckily, we weren’t grabbed by the ear and thrown out for being gate crashers. We received a warm welcome from the winemaker’s daughter, Aimee who introduced us to the lighter end of reds on the tasting roster– 2 Malbecs, and 3 Zinfandels. Winemaker, Wells continued the tasting with an Aussie style blend, a Bordeaux style blend and 2 Primitivos, the grand finally being a full fruit, port style Primitivo. Our favorites were the delicate and refreshing 2010 Malbec and the sultry enchantress, 2010 Primitivo with its peppery and berry juxtaposition. I envision this Primitivo doing a seductive belly dance in my tummy along with a heady group of cheeses post dinner.
If you enjoy wine speak, Wells is your man. He will captivate you with stories about sourcing his grapes, his food pairing choices and mix in where he found the rocks on his tasting table, should that be of interest to you. He’s a pediatrician by trade and you can see where his winsome personality has put kids and parents at ease in his alternate practice.
Timing is everything so don’t leave a visit up to chance, be sure to sign up for the invitational tastings in advance. You may not have the fortune of beginners’ luck as we did. The wine tasting is adjacent to the winemakers’ home and you truly feel like you’ve been included in a familial gathering under majestic redwoods.

I just discovered this company because my boyfriend’s dad has been going to these guys for the past 10 years! We were invited to join them. Located in a residential area in a very beautiful neighborhood. Our tasting session which was located outdoors right next to the redwood tree was very intimate. It felt so special to listen to the actual wine maker talk about his wines. Thus while their black cat, Cobbs was asking for more pets. Man I had a really nice time here! Oh inside the barn they had four different cheeses set up for us to taste with bread, yummy! I did get the wine truffles but I’m very sad because I’m going to give it to my neighbor lady as a present. I should have bought some for myself.
Their wines are really good. We got three bottles can’t remember what, but they tasted good. I’m looking forward to opening them up soon.

So, Renae H. beat me to this review, likely story. Yes, Salamandre is by invitation only. Yes, I’m on their invite list. My first experience with these wines was doing a Mystery Flight at Vino Locale. The Syrah knocked me off my feet. So, I set off on a mission to find this place. I called, got Sandy on the phone and told her how much I loved their wines. With that, she invited me out.
I spent a bit of time locating them and viola I arrived. Sandy and Wells are always very gracious and hospitable. Their wines divine. Yes it is tough not to fill your trunk with their wines.
Their Primitivo is incredible. By golly, you have to try their Menage a Trois, yummy. I bought the laterals last time I was here. There are times that I often break the bank here.
One other thing to note is during the holidays, they also have chocolate shooters –yum yum. They have limited space due to it being located in a residential area. Great place to meet some nice people on invite days. Another cool thing about them is they remember everybody. It’s kind like a cult following with their wines, most people have been with them forever. Kudos!!!

Wells and Sandy are terrific people who make incredible wine.
This past Saturday I was fortunate enough to score an invite to one of their tastings and let me tell you, it was more than worth the trek out to Aptos. Their wines are interesting, well made and just plain fun to drink. You don’t have to be a wine snob to enjoy Salamandre but at the same time they’ve got enough going on to satisfy even the most sophisticated of palates.
I showed remarkable restraint and only came home with a bottle each of syrah and ultra late harvest primitivo, but it was hard. They were pouring six or seven different wines on Saturday and I honestly did like each of them. It’s kind of funny that I ended up going home with out a pinot as those tend to be my favorite, but it was the syrah that was ringing my bell this weekend.
They are small, but mighty, email
to find out where you can pick up a few bottles to try out for your self.
Two things to note: Salamandre does not have a tasting room, so don’t just randomly show up on their door step, it won’t work out so well. And finally, Salamandre wines tend to be on the higher side in terms of % alcohol by volume, so be careful and choose your designated driver wisely.