Baywood Cellars

My friends wanted to go wine tasting in Monterey and I’m definitely not much of a wine drinker. So I had one friend who love wine, but not an expect in it. And one that love wine, and knows it pretty darn well. Of the three locations we went to, this one was our favorite.
First off, we came in on a Sunday right before closing. According to Unilocal,they’re not even supposed to be open on a Sunday. Anyway, he still took us and let us get our sampling on. It was more like get our drink on with the amount of wine he was pouring for us though.
Anyhow, the reason that I really like this place is because they give you a menu to choose from. I’m not a big fan of reds, I really like whites and I really like dessert wines/​sweet wines. So instead of trying a series for 3 — 5 red wines, I got to sample all the whites and dessert wines. It was great.
The service here was impeccable and at the very end, my friend was still undecided on which one he liked because he liked a couple. So gentleman behind the counter poured him a sixth glass of their petit verdot and that was it, my friend was sold. Sold the most expensive bottle in the place, but sold nonetheless.
I walked away with a bottle of the Late Harvest Symphony that my aunt and I loved and wish we had more of.

This is a nice little tasting room. Spent about $ 130 on four bottles of wine, which made the tastings free. Customer service here is good. The late harvest Symphony is particularly delicious. The Syrah was great too. No complaints. This is usually a pleasant place to stop while wine tasting in Monterey.

This place rocks my freaking socks — I saw Leo DiCaprio and his VS model gf here!!!
Of course, seeing Leo anywhere makes any experience freaking AWESOME, but this place is also amazing because the bartender here was SO FRIENDLY and knowledgeable and helpful!
My friend and I went in on a whim, and the place emptied out while we were having our wine tasting. We got to chatting with the bartender, and he gave us a full on lesson in wine-​making and tasting, and kept giving us more and more pours — we probably ended up drinking at least 3 extra full glasses in addition to the tastings we had paid for because he was so eager for us to learn and experience wines with him. It was amazing! Granted, we went on a pretty slow day and we were the only customers in there at the time, but still, it was pretty awesome.
And yes, totally saw Leo in here. He just sucked down a glass of pinot noir and jetted out with his entourage. Being from LA, I don’t normally get starstruck, but that was pretty sweet.

Dan Johnson made for a very comfortable experience — I felt like I could enjoy myself and not worry about doing everything «right» or what other people were thinking. It was how a tasting should be, relaxed, fun and casual.
«G17,» the tawny Port and the Malbec were highlights. I purchased a bottle of Port to be delivered to me back in Chicago

This was the first stop on Cannery Row and we loved our experience here. The tasting room is pretty large and is dog friendly. We arrived shortly after they opened and had the complete attention of our host (Joe). Joe was very knoweldgeable and friendly and had generous pours. We enjoyed conversing with him and really enjoyed the wines. We ended up purchasing three bottles: the Symphony, Rosetta, and Gewürztraminer. Joe also gave us recommendations for other dog friendly tasting rooms in Monterey and Carmel. I definitely recommend Baywood if you’re in Cannery Row. The wines were my favorite out of all the tasting rooms we went to in the Monterey/​Carmel area.

$ 5 tasting for 5 wines…‘nuf said. don’t miss the symphony. Dan is the best. Comfortable setting, great wine, directly across from the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa

This place was fabulous!!! I’ve been to wineries at Napa before and was turned off with my first experience; that I’ve been so hestiant to try wine tasting again!
This was our first wine tasting at a cellar/​bar (not quite sure what they are called ??). Our host was very knowledable and exeteremly friendly. He knew almost every answer to your wine question and which wine would pair best with a type of dish you had in mind to prepare! He was a great host, paid attention to everyone in his cellar!
The price is very worth going to taste! $ 5 for five wine tasting! The amount of wine was overwhelmingly generous, it was more like a glass of wine than a glass of tasting!
We had a great conversation with another couple who told us that this place was much better than the other places the were just recently at!
All six wines, yes we got 6 tastes, were great. I don’t recall most except for their port and G17. W/​c were too strong for me, but they were nonetheless great!

$ 5 for 5 tastings (they’re pretty flexible), and the service is awesome! Our wine host, I didn’t catch his name, was very knowledgable, friendly, and GENEROUS
Whites: definitely try their Symphony (ended up getting a bottle)
Reds: ah, so many greats! I was really impressed by their Merlot (I usually am not a fan of merlots), Pinot Noir, and their Petite Verdot is heavenly
Also, 1 tasting is waived for each bottle purchased

This is one of those reviews where I want to give MORE than five stars. Baywood was my absolute favorite of all of the tasting rooms on Cannery Row. The wines were great, and when I was there, there was friendly guy from Boston serving. He was very conversant, very informed on the wines, and really good at describing and educating those of us who were tasting the wines.
I went in the spring when it wasn’t busy yet, and so I felt especially lucky to get just about the full attention of this guy. He really knew his stuff, and had some pretty great stories, too.
I ended up buying their gewürztraminer, and am looking forward to the right occasion to enjoy it. Everything about this place was truly a delight.

Best Tasting Room on the Row… Why?
$ 5 for a flight of 5
The pours were very generous (½ of a true glass of wine)
The wines were really tasty (10 year port, probably the best port ever tried.)
Petite Verdot — Very rare to find a 100% PV anywhere. Very tasty!
Lemoncello — You won’t know what hit you.
15% off — 3 or more bottles
Not charged for the flight if wines are bought…(This happened to my partner and I. Not sure if you would get this lucky.)
Very Very Pleasant experience…

This is when I wish I could add some sort of extra pizazz to my review like glittery unicorns and shooting stars. I really want to call attention to how awesome Baywood Cellars was. and how fantastic Dan the winetender is. I think I have an official wine crush on the guy.
For starters, I knew I’d like him as soon as I saw he wasn’t jokin around with the pours. None of those measured, wimpy pours like a couple of the other local wine lounges… this guy meant business.
He not only poured wine, but he created cocktails from the wines and the grappo lemoncello they offer here too and it was SO good we asked if we could buy a glass. That’s when everything got twinkly.
This was by far my favorite wine tasting in Monterey. great selection of good wines, great hospitality and just an overall great time at Baywood.

I stopped in here the other day and had a great time. The employee working at the time was very friendly and knowledgeable.
For $ 5 you can try 5 different wines and if you purchase a bottle the fee is waived. I really liked the Symphony and the G-14…thats the one no one
can pronounce, but it’s really sweet and goes down nicely.
They also have a cute little dog named Samantha who will greet you when you come in for a taste.
Overall nice variety, decent prices, and friendly staff.

Came here on my Birthday as the rain had ruined most of our plans and wine was the perfect way to salvage the day. Our pourer, Dan, was awesome. So was his wee little doggy, Sammy. We ended up staying for a few hours, drinking a ton of wine (and port, and grappa, and eventually water) and having the time of our lives! Dan, if you’re reading this, thanks for showing us a good time, brother! We’ll be back!

This was the last winery on our first day trek. We managed to come at a perfect time when we had the place to ourselves.
The Wine was great, and they had a few varietals that I have never tried before. The Blue colored glass of some of the bottle and the clean and elegant bar all added to the experience. The gentleman behind the bar was very knowledgeable and friendly.
I would love to go back and visit again!

Baywood Cellars is located on the quieter end of Cannery Row. I researched them prior and was excited that they produced a Symphony wine. (New grape bread between Muscat & Grenache Gris). I had only had it once before and really enjoyed it. Their 2008 Symphony was okay, nothing that screamed out at me. Still picked up a few bottles though.
Nothing else impressed me in their line up. The pourers were nice and friendly. They had an adorable dog as well. All in all okay.

If you have ever been on a Napa Valley wine tour, you may have experienced some snobbery, *cough* V. Sattui, among other places. This is especially true if you look young and you don’t have a tree that grows money sticking out of your ass. You will not experience that here. I took my girlfriend to Monterey for our 4 year anniversary, and this was one of our destinations. I guess this place is not very well known, because when we got here it was empty, except for the pourer’s dog that was greeting people.
The pourer is pretty much all you can ask for from a wine tasting room. He was knowledgeable, friendly, chatty, and ridiculously awesome. The standard price is $ 5 for 5 tastings (or free with a purchase of any bottle), but as we were conversating with him, he got a glass for himself and asked us to taste various different wines. We had a blast just talking about the different complexity’s of each wine and just life in general. I had to run outside to feed the parking meter twice (Monterey = no free parking), because honestly I thought we were going to stay there for only an hour, but it ended up being close to two. All in all, I think we tried pretty much every single wine they have to offer.
We ended up buying two bottles which I feel like I need to talk about. The high end red they offer is called a «Petite Verdot», and I have never tried anything quite like this type of wine. Until I walked into Baywood Cellars, I didn’t even know this type of wine existed. It has a light yet rich complexity, something I didn’t expect of a petite wine, which usually just taste very light. It also has a smokey complexity to it, and a blend of spices that I can not quite put my finger on. Don’t get me wrong, I have tried plenty of good wines on my Napa Valley tour, and Napa wines definitely do have their own unique style that I like, but I didn’t buy any of their high end wines because I was not in the mood to. I guess it really is true that service is everything, because I ended up buying this wine despite the steep price tag of $ 60-​ish (I honestly forget, but he discounted it for us), something I did not do at Napa because of the snorting snobs. The other wine I got is called «Symphony». It is a white wine, and if you know me at all I do not like white wines that much. But this one has a very crisp and deliciously clean flavor that I decided to buy it ($ 15-​ish).
I didn’t select a price range, because $ 5 is cheap for wine tasting, but if you buy a bottle, than your prices can range from $ 15 to $ 60+.
This visit has re-​sparked my interest in wine tasting rooms, something that was lost when I visited Napa Valley. Highly recommended, do not miss out on this gem if you visit Monterey. Try the Petite Verdot (pronounced Ver-​Dough)! You wont regret it.

This was our very first stop on our tour of Monterey tasting rooms on Cannery Row and it was sort of hard to top. We had a wonderful experience tasting here and partially it was because of the great tasting wine, but most of it was based on the wonderful time we had chit chatting with our pourer, Dan. He was very generous in his pours, knowledgeable on the wines and super duper friendly.
The actual tasting room was very pretty and had a nice toasty warm feeling with a table that hard card games you could play while enjoying your tasting. We just stayed up at the tasting bar and ran our mouths with Dan. I felt like I was in an actual bar to tell you the truth. He’d make an awesome bartender one of those neighborhood local bars. Anyway, I digress. I highly recommend Baywood Cellars for both their great-​tasting wine and customer service. We plan to order from them online as we found many of their wines to be quite delicious. If in Monterey for wine tasting, this is a must on your list to pay a visit to.

On our way to another wine tasting room, we chanced upon this place. Who knew that we would have such an amazing experience here! The wines were generally good to very good in quality. I was impressed with the consistent quality across varietals, very nice bouquets, lovely finishes, etc. I have been to tastings where I was not interested in buying any of the wines, but this place was unique because I was interested in buying the majority of the wines sampled. The tasting room was smaller and more intimate. The pourer was exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable. We really hit it off with him, and he was able to provide us with so much information. He was really the best I have seen. The place is also dog-​friendly. What a gem! Highly recommend.

It’s all about customer service about this place. My friend and I arrived here at around 3pm and was greeted very kindly by an older gentleman who was sitting on one of the chairs. My friend and I came in to do a lil wine tasting and to buy a few bottles of wine.
From the minute we got there to the minute we left, Don (the guy working) was very nice to us and welcomed all 15+ questions that my friend had asked him. He knows his wine and damn, Baywood Cellars has a quality selection of wines!

Very good dessert wines in a calm, casual atmosphere, though the store is cluttered with wine doo-​dads and trinkets. $ 5 for a tasting of 5 or 6 wines, but both of our fees were comped when we bought a $ 15 bottle of wine. Can’t beat that!