Hovey Winery

I don’t like white wines but the C squared is the best I have ever had this place is excellent

In a word… boring. The wines were good, but nothing really memorable. The building was clean and new looking, but didn’t really have any kind of atmosphere. The staff was pleasant enough, but not really friendly. There are better places to go.

My all time favorite winery. I am a lover of white wines, but I even like their reds! Hovey is my first stop in murphys when wine tasting with friends. Best wines and friendly servers!

Hovey will not disappoint! The tasting room is a great stop downtown! The service was absolutely wonderful! I was with a group of friends for my birthday. They popped a bottle of champagne for us and even gave me a birthday gift (a wine chiller bag). Wines are DELICIOUS and service was warm and friendly.

Housed in an historic home of a Noble prize winning scientist from the late 1800’s in the middle of Murphys Main Street, Hovey wines are complex and delicious. We especially enjoyed their Chardonnay while chatting with the knowledgeable server. The grounds and gardens are beautiful. Definitely make a stop and buy a bottle.

Stopped by Hovey after another wine tasting room recommended them for their Tempranillo.
Went in and there were only 2 other parties so we were greeted and served right away. Both pourers were friendly and talkative with the guests.
This place is right up my alley in terms of my wine palette. Complicated whites and some bold reds. I wasn’t disappointed by the Tempranillo — one of the best I’ve found in years!
I only wish I’d come here when it was a bit warmer. The porch and outdoor grounds were so inviting I really wanted to sit and sip!

Hovey wines are some of my favorites, This guy has been making excelent wines for various other establishemnts for some time so when I found out that he had his own tasting room, I was stoked. I really enjoy the wines, atmosphere, and people. As far as the comment below, I’m a Mexican who always comes in wering a Radiers shirt and basball cap. I pretty much fit every stereo type you could think of and I have NEVER had a bad experience nor have I ever felt like I’ve ever been treated diffently there. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of places that have their snobbery issues, as for me, I’ve never experienced that at Hoveys. If your going to throw out the race card, please back it up with specific facts. When you make emotionaly driven racial assumptions simply because you didnt get treated the way you wanted, you tend to loose credability. And It’s makes it bad when thugs like me want to chill out over a glass of good wine. :)
Love your wines Chuck! Thank you to you and your staff for always being awesome.

Let me start by saying I work in the service industry. I have worked in this industry for 6+ years while going to school for business management. The customer service at this winery is atrocious. I have gone wine tasting in Murphy’s at least 5 pervious times. And I have always had great experiences at Lavender Ridge, Tanner and Hovey. However this time my experience at Hovey was AWFUL! The girl who was are taster was so rude and could careless about our group. Never mind that she was taking excellent care of the other group next to us and we had a birthday and we wanted to buy bottles. She never explained the wines or even tried to start a conversation with us. We were totally ignored! I’m not sure if I was because we had a multi racial group with us and the other groups were white? Or because we were younger (23 – 28) whatever the case it was inexcusable service and I will not be back. Oh and my mother is a member of this particular winery. She will be highly disappointed in them as am I. The girls name was Taryn btw. Service never got better.

We tasted wine at Hovey on June 27^th. They were friendly and attentive, even though the tasting room was quite crowded. Tasting fee was $ 5 which they will wave depending on how much you buy. We bought a Vermintino, which is an Italian varietal that is pretty rarely grown in the US, as well as a red wine blend that they call C2. Their tasting room is set back off the street and has nice seating for hanging out and sharing a bottle or having a picnic.

When in Murphys, CA make sure to check out this stellar tasting room housed in a historic cottage right on the main drag. Kelly treated us like kings and queens on our Saturday evening at Hovey… she even stayed open a little later than normal I do believe! The wine was spectacular… all locally produced and grown, all very limited quanity… our faves were the Barbara, Zin and the dessert wine… but all were stellar! We joined the wine club because of Kelly and those tasty wines. We can’t wait to go back!
Murphys gets a lot of love from the Bay Area, but I don’t think that many Southern Californian peeps visit this town … do yourselves a favor and go! The area is AWESOME! Say hi to Kelly for us and get your wine club on for amazing deals!

I really wasn’t impressed with this winery. Out of all the places we visited on this trip Hovey was the the only one we did not end up purchasing any wines from. I will say though, a winery’s dessert wines will generally make or break the winery for me… and Hovey did not have any. So, if you are not into sweeter wines like I am you may appreciate Hovey’s wines a little more than I did.
The 2 star score however is not because of the wines, it is for the lady who was doing the tastings. She was very rude and completely dismissed my husband and I. Especially after the tasting was done and we had decided we did not want to purchase any of the wines. We visit Murphys fairly often since I have family that lives here, and this was the rudest I have ever been treated at a winery. Although we did not like any of the wines, we had actually planed on buying some of the olive oils they had for sale… but changed our minds after the way we were treated. All in all it was a very disappointing visit and we will not be returning to this winery.

This winery is definitely my favorite in Murphys. Heather was working that day and she is a true pro. I told her that if she could sell me on the wine that I would get a membership. Of course, she did a great job and I bought a membership.
The membership itself is great. My in-​laws go up to Murphys every few weeks, so Hovey allows them to pick up the wine for me. The wine is very affordable and delicious.
My favorite wine is the tempranillo. I have yet to find a tempranillo that up to par with Hovey. For a great overall experience with a great tasting wine, I suggest you stop by Hovey.

We visited Hovey for my Bachelorette Party. It was a small tasting room, but well decorated and modern. One of the party hostesses had called ahead to let them know we were coming in. There were two employees working, they were both very polite and also did not charge me for my tasting, as I was the Bride.
The wine was okay, nothing amazing, but not bad either.
I’m giving a 3 star because of a couple of things I noticed with the service–
The woman pouring for us was sloppy, not only did she spill wine on me and not notice, but she was eating behind the counter! Straight eating a burrito right in front of customers! She did not seem like she was focused on anything, which lead me to believe she either tasted a little too much herself, or she just did not care about her job. Our large group left feeling a little confused.

Arrived for the first time at the wine tasting room Memorial Day Weekend. The place was beautiful and I found the wines delicous — joined the wine club and was back 4^th of July weekend with family and freinds. The new Zin got 2 gold medals — it needs some time to age, but good at opening.

Joined the wine club. Purchased several of the library selections and wow. Excellent wine maker. Excellent wines, recommend Hovey Wines to everyone. Stop in and do some serious tasting people. You won’t be sorry, and you just may very well go away happy.

Although I greatly enjoyed many wines during our recent visit to Murphys, Hovey made the top of my list. There were two winery that were available on the Friday evening Passport event that required three «tastes» and Hovey was one of them.
To be sure that the wine was wonderful when I had a clean pallet, we returned to the tasting room the following day and the wine was just outstanding. We were also able to taste several other varieties that were not available at the Friday event and loved every one. We only purchased wine from 3 wineries during this visit and Hovey was one of them.
We absolutely LOVED the Zin which was only available to the Passport holders this weekend (a new release) and the Petite Sirah.

Enjoyed a day of wine tasting in Murphys, Ca all of the tasting rooms would waive the tasting fee of $ 2.00 or $ 3.00 as we purchased alot of wine between the 6 of us. Hovey tasting was $ 5.00 and even tho all but one of us purchased wine there they refused to waive the $ 5.00 fee for our one friend, really ?? i do understand they are new but must say were all alittle disapointed., and will continue elsewhere in Murphys…

While the Hovey Winery tasting room has only recently opened, Chuck Hovey has been making wine for years. He began making wines over 20 years ago for Stevenot Winery. For those familiar with Murphys, the new Hovey tasting room is located on Main Street in the former Twisted Oak tasting room. The tasting room is quite spacious and features a long wine bar along with several tables and chairs for guests. There is a $ 5.00 tasting fee for the wines on the list. The fee is waived if you purchase wine or if you are a wine club member.
My absolute favorite wine is the 2009 Tempranillo. This wine won the gold medal at the 2011 Tempranillos al Mundo international wine competition held in New York this past November. This was a huge honor and recognition for a winery from Calaveras County. There were only two gold medals awarded to wineries in the United States from more than 500 entries from around the world. The Hovey 2009 Barbera recently won a double gold and took the sweepstakes as Best Red at the Wine Vineyard & Winery Management’s 2012 U.S. National Wine Competition. I think it is wonderful that wines from Calaveras County are being recognized and honored as there are some very good wineries and wines in the region.
The tasting room staff was very friendly and eager to answer any questions about the wines and the winery. If you have a chance, I highly recommend that you visit the Hovey Winery tasting room on your next wine tasting excursion to Murphys.