Charles B Mitchell Vineyards

One really cannot argue the notoriety, quality, selection, nor the devotion to wine making found at the Charles B Mitchell Vineyards, but for me, there’s a hint of stuffy snootiness about this place. Well deserved, sure. I mean, look at that wall of ribbons. Still, I believe that the owner could treat his patrons and employees with a tad more respect. There are so many wineries in this area that have the employee family togetherness vibe that Charles B. Mitchell Vineyards lacks.
That, however, is the only complaint. My favorite time spent here was on a rainy Sunday when my family was the only party in the barrel tasting room. We sampled futures amid Christmas lights and breathed in the smells of oak and pine. Warm, cozy, and private. A perfect day!
There are all kinds of unique offerings here, including a Bottle Your Own option, surplus sales, barrel tasting, wood-​fired pizza nights, and even passport worldwide wine vacations are offered here along with an extensive variety of their famous and not so famous labels.
My favorite varietals include the 2014 Amador Barbera, and the iconic Bella Rosa (one of my favorite all time wines) «Super Tuscan.» This does not even scratch the surface of what you can taste, however. They have Mourvedre, Grenache, Zinfandel, Zinfandel Port, Cabarnet, and whites as well, if you’re into that. Sauv and Chard, respectively. I recommend giving Madam Omo a try when you taste whites, and Monsieur Omo when you taste reds. They are delicious table wines.
Tasting Tidbits:
–Parking will fill up here quickly. It’s best to hit it on a bad weather day, or a lazy non holiday Sunday afternoon.
–Closed Monday and Tuesday
–Tasting fee for non-​members
–Membership is pricey but offers many benefits. My parents have one. I definitely do not, haha.
–Logos! Are you shopping for someone who collects fancy labels? Charles B. Mitchell pulls out all the stops in label design. Madam and Monsieur Omo and Bella Rosa are iconic.

Wine. It completes me. It fills my body and soul with wonderous feelings. It cures my ailments whether it be headache, stress and even boredom. You see, wine reigns superior in the land of alcoholic beverages and so does this winery.
It was a lazy, summer day in Amador County. It was my first wine tasting adventure and I was totally stoked! My friends and I decided to stop at Charles B. Mitchell after being recommended by several other wineries.
So off we went! Over the hill and through the woods to Charles B. Mitchell we drove! On a side note, the roads to this winery are such a beautiful drive. I highly recommend being a passenger.
We had a wonderful time tasting at this winery, all of their wines are incredible. I love the Sanfrancisco Cup Chardonnay, the Petite Syrah and several others. Their signature champagne is also incredible. We also ended up joining the wine club and it has some awesome perks! The staff is so friendly, they really make you feel welcome and at home. Charles B Mitchell also has Friday night pizza and lobster dinner, bottle your own wine weekends and many other fun events!
Charles B. Mitchell has definitely captured my heart so go ahead and treat yourself, give them a try!

What a wonderful experience. Got a private sitting with Charles and his daughter Jo. Charles is very entertaining and passionate about winemaking, wine culture and history, and was gracious enough to share some of his delicious wine with us during our visit. The pairing with food was absolutely fantastic!
The tasting room is very unique and themed as a cave as it is literally carved into the hillside. The tasting room staff where awesome! Informative, honest, and possessed lots of wine knowledge.
The front offers a warm and inviting tasting bar, while the back has private servings, and barrel tasting. I was very impressed with how much attention to detail Charles and Jo took to make sure we had a memorable experience.
We enjoyed all the wine but I have to tell you the grand reserve was more tasteful than my favorite bottle of silver oak. Just goes to show that Charles makes better wine than what it have been buying in Napa for half the price. His futures prices are soooo cheap, I’m blown away.
They offer guided tours to France. Would love to party with this guy, he’s a good man. :-)
Thanks Charles and Jo for making my day.
Dion

if you go for the friday night pizza — BE WARNED — their prep area is FAR from up to code, the utensils and pans are washed outside in buckets, — they DO use hot water, but i don’t like thinking of the pans my food is cooked on being hosed off in a driveway. The other reviewers refer to the owner as «a hoot» and «colorful character“I see it differently –my daughter refuses to go back for pizza now since he groped her as she walked away while he was intent on «flirting» with her (she was 17 at the time) if you get there early he is probably not as beligerently drunk and lecherous as he is toward the end of the evening. there are PLENTY of other affordable awesome wines in this county

There were six of us wine-​tasting in the area and it was suggested that we go to Charles B. Mitchell Vineyards. That was a great tip!
We tried their various wines, but it was actually the champagne that intrigued us more. They did not offer any champagne tasting, so we were only going to purchase one bottle. Then, they treated us to a visit from Charles B. Mitchell and the fun began! He is indeed a colorful character and full of wonderful information. He told us the story behind his champagne and instantly 2 more bottles were purchased from our group. Their champagne was wonderful and we will be back to purchase more.
We didn’t get a chance to try the barrel tastings since we were there just before closing. But I did get to sample a tray or two or OK,.three of their popcorn!!! What a wonderful treat since we had been wine tasting all day and I love popcorn.
Cheers!

Popped in their on Saturday as we were on a mission to find a new place (we are members at several places in the area) to fall in love with! The popcorn was a cute touch and something different, the tastings were amazing. I had never done a barrel tasting before and I was in heaven! I end up leaving a member, with several bottles purchased and even 2 cases purchased of futures (barbera reserve) plus a party invite :) That is what I call a good day! I can’t wait for that wine to be ready, it was a partay in my mouth! So glad we found this little place. Hoping we can head there on a Friday night so we can try their pizza (or lobster) night soon!
*they could have worked harder to get us to taste their reserves or to tell us about their membership but I generally LOVE these little places that don’t push you! I think I was just in the mood to spend a little and I wanted someone to sell me something ;)

We use to come her often with friends… the price was $ 10 for pizza which in my opinion is just mediocre. They just raised the price to $ 15 a person. So with four of us it cost $ 60 for pizza, a little over priced as we all agreed… unfortunately we wont be back again. It’s still a nice place to enjoy and talk with other people if you are just wanting to go and hang-​out. Oh yea… I heard that the crafts of wine that can be purchased have also been down sized, I did not notice this.

They are usually quite friendly but the wines, which used to be pretty solid (before it was Conti) but nowadays they are just average, although the Grand Reserve and reserve Petite Sirah can be pretty good.

This is my favorite winery on this side of Hi 50. The winery is very laid back, the ladies that work the bar are always great, helpful & PATIENT :) I have been a member for years, they have the best Club around for value, variety & flexibility, plus the free Member events can’t be beat! If you love Zin, this is the place for you, so many to choose form their is a Zin for every taste. They have whites & red and even champagne! They have pizza nights, make a great cheap date night and a bocce ball court to hang out and play. Charles the winemaker is quite the host :)

Went to a tasting /​pizza event here tonight. I wasn’t able to taste all the wine because of the event. Good 2009 Barbara and the 2011 Zin was decent. We bought a bottle of wine to share with our group. They cooked pizza’s made to order on the crush pad and had nice salad to go with it. Great clientele and casual atmosphere. I will be back to taste more…

One of the superior wineries to visit in the El Dorado County area. There is a large list of white, red, and reserve wines to try. The wine maker was actually on the premises when we came in today. He not only poured numerous wines but also brought us in the back for the reserve futures barrel tastings. Very helpful and extremely knowledgeable. I’d highly recommend their Reserve Grenache, Reserve Zinfandel, and their Grand Reserve which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cab Franc, a very nice Bordeaux style wine which will age nicely for years down the road!
A note to anyone reading the 2 star reviews below… note that these people are rating the winery solely on their pizza and lobster they offer on Friday nights… no comments whatsoever on how their wine is! Can a moderator please remove these?
You want some quality wine when you’re in the Sacramento Foothills? Head over to Charles B. Mitchell!

The winery itself is fine but don’t have the lobster ($ 20 more) on pizza Friday nights. My first attempt one evening ended up a mushy lobster tail that had been boiled to death. They blamed it on the seafood supply company. Right! They were kind enough to give me another tail at no charge. Not mushy but far from cooked right. Way over done.
Addressing the evening in general… the pizza was OK. Note I said OK. Nothing special at all. The crust was not done in the middle and the slices were limp but it was pizza. They couldn’t keep up with the demand so I think they were being pulled out of the oven sooner than they should have. The salad was fine.
For the money, $ 10, the pizza and salad is worth a try on a nice evening as there isn’t much else to do in the area, eating places or entertainment, on a Friday evening. You might like it and even if it isn’t the best, what the heck, it’s just $ 10, and the wine is above average for the area (at a reasonable additional charge). But forget the mushy or over boiled lobster. Gross!

This was my 2^nd visit to the winery. I joined the wine club on my first visit. I love Ono’s Sunshine and the San Francisco Cup. The service is nice and pleasant. Fair Play is beautiful and the wines are yummy!

This is one of my favorite wineries to visit in the foothills. I have yet to taste a wine of theirs I don’t like. Also, the place is just lovely. It’s up on a little hill amongst oak trees. On Friday nights they have all you can eat wood fired pizza nights.
It’s also a nice place to have a picnic. Plus they have a bocce ball court.
They also have some bottle your own specials on various holiday weekends. You can get some of their great wines for a pretty decent discount during the bottle your own events. Again, don’t go here. I want it all to myself!

As one of our planned stops for my birthday wine tasting extravaganza, I was really happy to visit CBM! I’ll echo another Unilocaler in saying that this place is memorable due to amazing wines, friendly staff, and a great atmosphere.
I really appreciated the fantastic barrel tasting we were treated to, and I wish I could remember the name of the lady who helped us, because she was great! (If you read my other winery reviews, you’ll notice this name forgetting is a recurring theme, hmmm… blame it on the wine!)
My faves: the Viognier, Red Sunshine, Zin, Petite Syrah and last but not least– the bold Primitivo… mmmm come to mama. Delicious!

Was here for the 2011 Barrel Tasting and I loved the food as much as I loved the wine! Fantastic pairings — they gave us suggestions on what to put on your wood-​fired pizza to fit your favorite wine. The scenery was gorgeous, typical for the area, rolling hills and gorgeous vineyards. Their cab franc was perfect for my tastes. Awesome experience here! Thank you Charles Mitchell Vineyards!

Charles B Mitchell Vineyards
Endless Pizza Nights, Most every Friday 5 till 9: pm
This « Unilocal» is for the Pizza night get togethers.
This was my first time, and the price was right @ only $ 10.00 per person plus wine of coarse because they have NO beer. I mean why would they «it’s a Winery» Basically all you can eat gourmet pizza’s cooked in a real Oak wood fired oven, that’s what the brochure said. Only problem is there is no wood fired oven. None that I could find anyway. So we grabbed a bottle of Bella Rossa ($ 10.00 on Pizza Night) and found a nice spot to sit, It was a gorgeous and clear star filled evening. The temperature was perfect. The Pizza’s however fell a little short. What can I say, not enough stuff, barely any cheese, I think they were saving the cheese for someone else because they didn’t put any on the slices I had. It was crowded and shoulder to shoulder we stood waiting for the meat pizza. But pizza after pizza, There was no meat. No Meat, No Cheese what the heck is going on I asked. Six or seven of us continued to stand and wait for the Meat pizza. It was like who is going to grab it first. Six of us waited as she finally pulled it from the «Electric» oven. She cut it up and slid it out on to the buffet line table and like hungry Piranhas’ it was gobbled up in a flash. Needless to say I didn’t get any. Out of desperation I helped myself to one of the last remaining slices of a Veggie Pizza, It was sitting there all alone for the entire time the meat Pizza was cooking. We all were promised that another meat was on its way… I didn’t wait.
I had a small helping of Caesar Salad and returned to my Table.
I have to say that you can get better food from the sample table in Costco then you can here.
So here is my recommendation. If you want to sit outdoors with your Honey and drink wine you wont find a better place for $ 10.00,
But if you come for the Food or the Pizza and maybe a bottle of Beer stay home…
Pizza selection 2 Stars (only because I think I saw the meat pizza for a moment)
Pizza Quality 0
Ambiance 3 Stars
Prices 3 Stars
Service Self Serve

Excellent wine and very nice tasting room. You’ll also be doing some barrel tasting as well in which they have some awesome 100% zin and petit sirah at the moment.
The sparkling wine was also good as well as the viogner!

Michelle was the nicest Wine Hostess on the planet!
What makes this place memorable:
Wines were amazing.
POPCORN!
Friendliest staff.
Cool Atmosphere.
Can’t wait to meet Charles and get my Friday night pizza!

CBM is back!
I first found this winery when I spent the summer working in the area, back in 2000. Back then, Charles B. Mitchell was unknown, but was producing exquisite reds and the best domestic port I have ever found… and that still holds true a decade later. I have bought more wine here than from anywhere else, and I LOVE it. Nice buttery chardonnays, sweet, light rieslings, complex zins… oh my.
In 2007, CBM sold the winery to the Conti’s …a couple that had no idea what they were doing. The wine quickly went to hell. Gone were the fun little tasting room, the unique blends, the amazing brownies that used to accompany the Port.
I just found out CBM re-​bought his own winery when the Contis filed for bankruptcy last fall. I can’t wait to get back to CBM next year and see what he’s got up his sleeve… the man is brilliant. If you went in the last few years and weren’t impressed, give CBM another try. The Master is back in charge.