Talisman Wines Tasting Room

My husband and I have visited Sonoma / Napa for several years but it was our first time to Glenellen and our first visit to the Talisman Winery tasting room. It was recommended to us by another tasting room who said that if we like Pinot, we absolutely had to visit Talisman. We were beyond blown away. Every single one of their wines were outstanding. The tasting costs $25 which is waived if you purchase 3 bottles of wine. It was an easy decision for us to purchase 3 bottles and Talisman was definitely our wine of the trip. The tasting room itself is very inviting and comfortable and we were lucky enough to be on our own with the lovely Amanda who was as generous with her time as she was with her pours. The passion of the winemaker and his wife are clearly evident from everything to the people that work for them, the tasting room and of course the wine itself. We will definitely be back.

I love Talisman Tasting Room.   It feels like you're visiting friends when you step inside.  They don't have the standard bar that is common in tasting rooms which can feel commercial and detached.  Instead, the tasting room is more like a welcoming living room with pretty sofas and chairs and a large beautiful table that invite you to sit down, relax, and get to know not only the Talisman team but also other folks at the tasting room.  It fosters a great community vibe as you sip delicious pinot noirs.   Amanda and the owners, Scott and Marla, are so incredibly friendly!  As wine club members, the perks are great.  Tastings are free and we get to select the wines we want for the club shipment.  And Amanda is simply awesome.  She brings a great energy to the tasting room that makes it a treat to visit.  Talisman Tasting Room is a gem in beautiful downtown Glen Ellen.

My husband and I stopped by on the recommendation of another winemaker based on Talisman's Pinot Noirs (which is all they make).  There was some other event going on that day, so the general tasting room wasn't open to the public.  

We were ushered into a private room and sat with the winemaker's wife - who was very nice and energetic.  The wines were all very good...so good that we bought 6 bottles (and they're not inexpensive).  They emailed the bill to us after running our credit card and we were horrified that we were STILL charged a $25 tasting fee each even though we bought so much wine.  

It's been our experience that tasting fees are usually waived or applied to the purchase of wine.  We reached out to see if this was an error.  No response.  We reached out again and are still waiting to see if this was a mistake.  Overall, the tasting for the two of us was definitely NOT worth $50 for the amount of wine poured and considering the additional cost for the wine we purchased.  Unless this is resolved, we absolutely won't be going back.