Raymond Vineyards

Oh boy this winery, haha. My husband Matt B. and I visited Raymond Vineyard after a staff member at another tasting room recommended the place, and I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly was not The Crystal Experience. To be fair, I booked The Crystal Experience online, knowing it was called The Crystal Experience, because it featured a horizontal tasting of cabernets – and who doesn’t like cabernets?
Online booking was really easy less than a day in advance – I was able to make our appointment through Unilocal,actually. Not that it seemed to matter very much. We walked in a half hour before our appointment and they barely bothered to check our name.
We got our first inkling that this wasn’t the usual vineyard when we caught a look of the founder’s photograph, posted conspicuously at the entrance. Matt said he looked like the kind of guy who’d wear a tuxedo to go clubbing, and that pretty much summed it up. The grounds were nice, but fairly cheesy. I did enjoy seeing the farm animals. The lobby/​reception area looked classy enough, and I’m guessing a lot of the rooms in this apparently giant winery shared its more or less subdued Napa Valley vibe.
Not so the Crystal Cellar. This place was ridiculous – purplish lighting, loud music, stainless steel walls, and Baccarat crystal everywhere, in the form of both chandeliers and like, Snoopy figurines in garishly lit curio cabinets. There were mannequins hanging all over the place designed to look like strippers, wearing high heels, wigs, and (crystal?) lingerie. It looked like a weirdo nightclub, and was a strange environment for tasting $ 75 – 125 wines.
It was packed, too, and I guess most of the crowd was really into it. We found space at a little high table without seats, and service was pretty good, though we did not get the chance to opt to share a tasting – the wines just started pouring, and cost us $ 60 all told. The lady helping us was busy, running around pouring tastes for everyone, but she still managed to take us through the wines with plenty of notes. The Crystal Experience started with the 2013 Generations Chardonnay, then moved onto four cabernets – the 2013 LVE Collection, the 2012 Diamond Mountain, the 2012 Rutherford, and the 2012 Generations. The LVE Collection, she explained, was the result of a collaboration between Raymond Vineyards and John Legend. I like John Legend as much as the next person, but that seemed kind of perfect.
The wines tasted good, but we didn’t feel motivated to buy any of them. Our palates aren’t so sophisticated that I can deny being dissuaded by our environment. I would’ve felt stupid paying $ 85 for the John Legend wine – it felt like a Vegas mark-​up. That said, we had a good enough time with our tasting. The wine was nice, and Raymond certainly offered an interesting change of pace.

Raymond Vineyards, probably one of the most unique stops you can make while in the Valley. There is just so much to say regarding the property outside and the indoor facility. A unique, eclectic and an almost random place to go… which makes me love it.
This place allows walk-​ins or you can make reservations for tasting on Unilocal.They literally have a dozen or so tasting experiences for you to try. Each tasting experience can be done in one of their tasting rooms. They have educational rooms like the Rutherford Room, which has soil samples from each AVA in Napa, or tastings in the Red Room which is all red and velvety. They also have the Theatre of Nature, Crystal Cellar, Library Room, Barrel Tasting room… etc, you really need to look it up and find out which tasting best suits you.
We ended doing a tasting in the Crystal Cellar. Our tasting room server was a lot of fun. She kept it interesting and was very knowledgable about the wine. It also helped that she was willing to let us try a lot of the wines. Raymond is probably best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux Blends, but they make a lot of different wines. They have Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah, Zinfandel, Merlot and many AVA specific Cabernet Sauvignon. I am a big fan of some of the estate Sauvignon Blanc and many of their Cabernets.
One of my favorite parts is the ‘smelling wall’. They have scented bowls/​jars that when you squeeze the pump, it allows you to isolate on an individual smell from a wine. You know, all those fancy and unique scents the experts say they smell in a wine, they have them on the wall for you to smell for yourself.
If you are looking for a great tasting experience that can be tailored to your wants, look no further. Check out all the options they have, there has to be something for anyone.

So we came here for a friends birthday. Denise was so amazing. So friendly and genuine. 4 out of our group of 12 work at Ristorante Allegria and we are going to be so proud to send people here! Thank you so much for making this day special, highly recommend this place

Amazing service! We had a large group, celebrating my cousin’s 21^st birthday– all local girls, Denise went above and beyond to accommodate us. Spectacular service and amazing wine– highly recommend!

Been here on multiple occasions and it doesn’t disappoint! Book Rebecca for your tour!
I suggest sampling the LVE wines and the Frenchie line.
Very unique space and super fun for parties. Their Halloween party was so fun! (007 themed)

This was a wonderful wine tasting experience. The grounds and wine tasting rooms were over the top luxury and elegance.
The wines were amazing! Our guides were fun and very knowledgeable and made us feel very comfortable. Thank you for a wonderful experience!
I can’t recommend this enough!

Pretty awesome experience. Prices are a bit high, but a very fun experience. We especially enjoyed the Crystal tasting room.

This review is long overdue, that being said this place is fantastic! Completely unlike any other winery in the region, Raymond is out of this world! My friends and I came to check it out a month or so ago, we had the pleasure of having the awesome Cory Simon taking care of our wine tasting. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the wine-​making process and gave us a killer tour around the vineyard! If you can I would request to have him guide your tasting, you will not be disappointed! The tasting rooms are a trip, kind of like mini Vegas in Napa… each one with a different theme. The grounds are beautiful, you can take a walk through their sustainable garden and learn a few things in the process. There is so much for the senses here. If you want a unique wine-​tasting experience then this is the place for you, and ask for Cory!

By far the most hip winery in the Napa Valley! LED lights, hip music, great hosts! A must see in Napa. Look, call me wine snob if you want, but this place is putting out some pretty damn decent wines. The crowd is young and hip, the place is trendy, and the wine is great.
The wifey set us up with the wine blending experience, where they put you in a mad science lab, to learn how to blend wine. They put you in a room with stainless steel counters, a mirror ball on the ceiling, blasting Michael Jackson and other 80’s hits, and you make you own Bordeaux /​Meritage Style blend. They set you up with little lab beakers that have precise measurement of ML on the side. They give you bottles with full oak Cab, Neutral Cab, Petite Verdot, and Merlot to blend. Once you figure out the perfect blend, they take you into a different room, punch the percentages into a machine, and voila! You made your own blend. It helps if you frequently sip the product as your making it, to insure that you are well primed.
Look, Napa is full of world class wineries, that produce arguably some of the best wines, I could easily name 20+ Fantastic Wineries in Napa. The crew at Raymond is catering to a different crowd, the younger more hip, 20 and 30 somethings. If you are looking for the traditional quiet tasting room, with the focus 100% on the wine, this is probably not for you.
The only complaint I had about the place, were the restrooms, they both smelled and looked like a crime scene inside. Fix your plumbing and this place is A+. Super nice people and great wines, including some off the hook blends.

Came here for their open house today all rooms where open to us but the red room was only open to members, so it wasn’t really a open house and the red room was one of the reasons we came to see, maybe they should have charged more for the tickets we would have payed for a full open house. The wine that we tasted where ok that you can get at any of the wineries in Napa. All the workers here where nice and friendly and the appetizers and snacks where good. Joy Squad Photo Booth Experience was the best thing going on there 5 star photo booth all the way and the best photo booth I’ve seen you can pick a background and after you can get a copy of picture and you can also Email, text you picture to your self or post your picture online. I come to Napa once a month and don’t think I be coming back here any time soon and if I do it will be with a wine club member.

I love this place! My parents, however, who are your typical winery visiting, Napa living, traditionalists, had a little bit of trouble adapting. It is definitely not by any means «standard» and yes, it’s a little «out there.» Wine drinkers of my generation will love how cheeky and edgy it is. There is something to look at in every room and you can tell from the décor that Boisset knows how to throw a mean party! I want to come back and book the red room because it looks like it would be an awesome venue for a party!

This is definitely a winery worth visiting! During busy times it would behoove you to make a reservation. They have 3 different tasting rooms and boy howdy are they interesting!
They also have a neat outdoor area with some funky art installations to enjoy. I feel like I only experienced the tip of the iceberg in regards to this place.
Our wine expert was excellent and didn’t just pour a set list of wines (those were definitely available though) but rather catered to my specific preferences.
I ended up taking home a box of wine. Yea, you heard me! They had a particular red blend that was available boxed. A delicious wine that lasts a month after being opened? Sign me up! It was also available bottled but I’m sold on the idea of an upscale boxed wine!

This place feels like a night club indoors. And outside they have nice picture frames where you can take pictures. And indoors they have different rooms where you can do the tasting. Overall, nice place for girls. The tasting here cost $ 25. The wines are okay. \

Absolutely love this place and what it’s doing to differentiate itself from the other ho-​hum wine tasting experiences. We like to take our visiting guests there that have been to the «typical» tasting room, to watch their reaction upon walking into the Crystal Cellar or Red Room. You cannot visit Napa Valley without a stop here. Wines are stellar, not overpriced and bring the dog as you let your pooch roam at «Frenchie’s Winery».

Wow. This place is seriously a trip. Meaning an acid trip. From the strange «art» out front to the Crystal Experience, Raymond definitely strives to stand out, and boy do they. Entering the winery tasting area, you are drawn to the left, where the hosts stand with their bottles lined up ready to pour. This area is much like the others, fairly conservative and nice, with a wide selection of tasting options. Our host asked us what we preferred, and when we declared our interest in nice bold reds, she told us that we wanted the «Crystal Experience», which was another tasting room, down the hall to the right as you enter.
We obliged, made our way to the long, dark, velvety hall, and pushed open the door to an immediately bizarre tasting room. Crystal was everywhere. A huge chandelier in the middle, smaller, oddly shaped ones over the tasting counter, and miscellaneous pieces hanging here and there, and in display cases along two of the walls. Apparently someone there also has a crystal shop. I believe it was all baccarat, including the wine decanters at the bar.
Mannequins dressed in Victoria Secret party wear were all over the place, as were mirrors on the stainless vats. Club music of a sort was playing at a significant volume, adding to the intentionally strange ambience. Was this the tasting room, or had I inadvertently stepped across the threshold into a gay, cabaret-​themed, Vegas nightclub? It’s fun to be surprised, and wow were we.

The tasting in this room is all about the Cabernets from different regions, and how location affects the character of the wines. It was interesting to taste a cab from St. Helena, and then another, the same grape, from a mile away in Yountville. Completely different. We ended up picking up one of those bottles, as they were from small batches of only three hundred cases or so, and only available at the winery. We also tasted their flagship Generations, which was really, really good, but had had that a few times before.
The pouring host was full of winery history, and kept us entertained as we enjoyed our wines. Of note here is that the tasting fee will not count toward the purchase of a bottle.

Also interesting is that the first lady I spoke to in the first tasting room asked me if I had ever tried the Generations. When I said I had she raised a brow and asked where, stating that only the finest, exclusive wine shops were allowed to carry it. This was a bit snobby, and really quite funny, as I found a bottle at Costco in Irvine two days later, on sale for 70 bucks. It was $ 125 at the winery!
Snobbery of one host aside, Raymond is worth a visit.

Lynn was especially helpful and kind during our tasting. The varieties offered were fabulous. A Pinot Noir Rosé? What? Delicious. The Frenchie Cab is our choice for today. We didn’t make an appointment but on a weekend may recommend
Fun place. Nice employees. Lots to explore. Would return again for sure.

The new owner has turned this once great winery into a 3 ring circus or wine disco… very sad indeed.
My wife and I were in Napa last weekend and we COULD NOT BELIEVE what the new French Owner (Jean-​Charles Boisset) has done to ruin the aesthetics and charm of what was once one of the finest wineries in all of Napa!
OH MY LORD! (or as we say in Yiddish… Oy Vey!).
Years ago my wife and I had the pleasure of getting to know some of the Raymond family quite well — Margaret and her husband Roy used to pride themselves on offering fantastic and gorgeously made wines at an attractive price point. They were about the terroir, the farming, their herritage — and namely about making the WINE the star of the vineyard. At the time in the early 2000’s we belonged to their «Cabana Club» and looked forward yearly to their «Raymond Generations» release.
Fast forward to 2015 and we have a glammed out winery where a French James Bond meets Kim Kardashian in a strange kind of Cirque du Soleil wet dream. Really weird stuff.
When we arrived here last Thursday afternoon we had just had a nice picnic at V Sattui and having not been to Napa since 2007, we were really excited to go back to our old low key friends at Raymond — where we could always count on delicious juice.
We were met at the entrance by a handsome and trying way too hard dashing young man with greased back hair. He directed us to a dark back tasting room lined with mirrors on the stainless steel tanks, catwalks and sexy dominatrix leather accessorized mannequins on trapeze overhead. The area was also decked out with a huge jewelry case selling assorted baubles. Crazy stuff.
You couldn’t make this stuff up if you wanted to.
Speaking of baubles — get a load of all the BOBBLE HEAD dolls everywhere (I promise I do not exaggerate!) in the cartoonish likeness of the ultra-​brite grinning new proprietor, Jean-​Charles Boisset. Some of the bobble-​head dolls even had a replica of the Frenchman’s dog («Frenchy» — get it?) at his tantric master’s side.
Are you kidding me? Woof woof…
It is pretty apparent that the WINE is not the star of this reality vineyard show… it’s the unspeakably well heeled new owner who apparently came to Napa town with a taste for the tacky — and has forgotten somehow that the WINE should be the centerpiece, not the footnote.
My wife and I marveled at the sheer gaudiness and spectacle — and were mostly speechless. We did NOT try the wines, which may be exceptional but we were just too turned off by the whole Vegas/​Ibiza feeling at this once proud winery.
The piece de resistance was the big screen video loop overhead of the owner Jean-​Charles pretending to be James Bond (with the famous «gun barrel» title opening sequence), fancy women and cars… and just more blingy stuff that feels like a massive ego stroke trying to impress visitors.
Let me be Swarovski crystal clear that I have nothing against the crushed velvet jacketed owner — it is just that this particular gentleman has refashioned this once sleepy and highly respected winery … into a garish leather and lace MTV kind of farce that is simply impossible to take seriously.
All I can say is I hope Kirin Brewery in Japan (prior owner since 1988) and the Raymond Family took this new owner for a LOT of $$$.
The Raymond family worked their asses off since the early 1970’s to build something great, and to produce world class wines that had few peers. Things have changed.
Bottom line: Raymond is now a glitzy winery for the under 35 Vegas jet set crowd. Nothing wrong with that mind you — just not our glass of Cabernet thank you.
You can buy a winery — however you can’t buy good taste. A votre sante.

What an amazing experience! We tasted in the Crystal room with Gianna I think? (So sorry I can’t remember her name!). She had only been working there for 2 weeks but she was really knowledgeable about the winery, the history, and the wines. She was so sweet!
Then Desiree came in and took over, taking us on a tour showing us a little of the grounds, the Red Room, and the patio area. It’s all so beautiful! We sat out under the trees in the lush French furniture with white doves cooing in the background and drank a little JCB bubbly. It was so serene we could have stayed there all day!
When we asked Desiree where she would recommend we get a bite to eat she recommended a place down the street, told us who to ask for, and even called over there for us to tell them we were on our way!
Everyone at Raymond went above and beyond. I will definitely be back! Oh, and Jean-​Charles and Frenchie were the best and made us all feel right at home. I can’t wait to return!

This is a must see winery. When you first arrive you can take a little tour around the grounds to learn about winemaking, the environment, crop growing, etc. the grounds are beautiful and unique.
We did the Crystal Room wine tasting because it offered a unique experience — the tasting counter is covered in mirrors, the walls in steel, and there are scantily clad mannequins hanging about the place. Literally.
Our hostess was a little stiff with us at first, but she opened up and gave us the history of the place and some info about the owner.
We checked out the other wine tasting room, which was much more tame.
The wine was nothing to write home about.

I booked the Red Room experience and we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves with the exception of one other party. This room isn’t your usual tasting experience although you are able to tailor your time in here to meet your needs. It’s more of a bottle service experience but they provide 8 different bottles on tap (including an 86, and a Red Room only bottle).
The room is super sexy and plush but I wouldn’t rule out returning and checking out their crystal room experience for a different tasting experience in the future.