In addition to thinking that Avio is a really lovely winery in a gorgeous spot with nice wines, I hosted a bridal shower there this past weekend and couldn't have been happier with the venue. I grew up in Sutter Creek (as did the bride) so it was nice to be able to have the event in such a beautiful spot back home. The people at the winery were very accommodating and helpful. Stefano, the owner, was very helpful and open to allowing us to have the event there, and the volunteers pouring that day were just the nicest people. My favorite wines are the Barbera and Sangiovese. All in all I'm very happy we decided to do this at Avio. By the way, when I say the place is gorgeous I'm not kidding. There are sweeping views (I can't imagine how spectacular it is in the fall) and pretty buildings, and I enjoy the animals running around. read more

Wow, we just had the most fabulous bottle of Avio 2005 Merlot with a wonderful barbequed bourbon glazed meat loaf. Perfect pairing! Thank you so much Lisa and Stefano for all the good wine you make! Avio is the best! read more

Adam was awesome. Very friendly and super helpful. Loved the wines and the yelp discount he honored.

Good service ! Awesome employees and quite location. We have fun experience with friends.The grounds are beautiful and we really enjoyed to taste different kinds of wines. I love this peaceful and awesome winery. read more

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Ok, it has been two years and I think I can finally write about my wedding at Avio. We have a group of quite rowdy friends, a mix of San Francisco people, Brits and Irish (my husband is English), so maybe getting married at a winery was not the best choice, but we really wanted to get married in Amador Wine Country as that was one of the first places we went when we met, and my husband has a house in Amador County. And we thought it would be a bit different from the typical Napa/Sonoma wine country weddings, as Amador has a bit more low-key/family style wineries. We used Beth Sogaard catering, which didn't really live up to our expectations, more on that later. We had visited the winery a couple of times with Steve, from the catering company (they're really the only game in town around there) who had also recommended the place to us. We got a good feeling from Stefano, the owner of Avio, who seemed like a really nice and down-to-earth guy. We briefly met his wife, Lisa, who we both immediately felt was quite cold and not very friendly (first instinct ignored). But, it seemed pretty reasonable, and the views from the back of the house (where the ceremony would be) were really gorgeous, especially in the fall when we were planning to get married. As we were leaving, we noticed a W sticker on one of their cars (instinct number two ignored), but we thought, aw heck, they seem like nice enough people. Time comes it is the week of the wedding, and it is looking like rain! In September! We obviously didn't plan for that, as generally it just doesn't rain there that time of year. Five days before the wedding we get a call from the caterer (Steve at Beth Sogaard) and they said there was a couple getting married the night before us at Avio and they'd reserved a tent - he said that they didn't need to return it until Sunday, and if we wanted, they would just keep it set up for us, just in case it looked like rain - at no charge. Then, two days before the wedding he calls back and tells us they will need to charge us $4,000 extra! to rent the tent - not even a fancy tent. The tent company said they could rent it out on Saturday, as it was definitely looking like rain by this time. We were pretty angry after being told we could keep it for free, but what could we do at that point? $4,000 that was not planned in our budget really hurt. Come the day of the wedding, it poured, all day. But, incredibly, it stopped in time for the ceremony, which we were able to have outside, with the incredible view behind us (neither of us wanted to get married in a tent). The event ended up being pretty fun, if a bit unorganized (our fault, as well as the caterers). The food wasn't great. I heard more than one person complain about the pork as no knives were provided and it was quite tough and too big to eat whole (annoying - did they think our guests would get into a knife fight? we weren't on an airplane). Our guests were a bit rowdy, sometimes verging on belligerent, and we had the caterer come to us more than once about the guests smoking outside the smoking area that was set up. Coming to us??? That's what we're paying you for. Steve had said over and over during the planning process we shouldn't worry about a thing, he'll take care of everything. It was pretty unnerving and really not what you want when you're trying to focus on your friends and family having a good time. There might have been a couple of other minor incidents with our guests, but nothing major like a fistfight or anything. Then a few weeks after the wedding we received the most scathing, rude letter from Lisa, the owner of the winery, as to why we wouldn't be getting our deposit back. It was so unsavory and mean, it just completely ruined Avio for me forever. The place I got married. I was so upset and hurt by it, and it put a bad taste in my mouth. Don't get married at Avio (unless you're a Republican or a teetotaler), because Lisa will not like you. read more

BEST wine tasting experience ever ! Stopped in after a girls hiking and had the best time at Avio ! Shellie was friendly and so knowledgeable about the grapes and process of making wine, and even took us on a lovely stroll through the property. I enjoyed the flavor of the wines and had a hard time choosing which to purchase. The setting of the winery is breathtaking, we did not want to leave. Will be back for sure and this time stay longer and enjoy the outdoor seating. Thank you !- Anya read more

We had our wedding here 9/14/13. Stefano and Lisa were wonderful. They were so hospitable; making every effort to make our stay and important day as perfect as possible. The vineyard is an absolutely gorgeous location for a wedding. Stefano and Lisa keep the house, grounds, and vineyards in gorgeous shape and perfect for a wedding. All of our guests commented on how beautiful the vineyard was; how perfectly the grounds were maintained; and suited the venue was to a wedding. The wine is wonderful. Our guests really enjoyed all of our offerings and we liked the wine better than when we tasted it originally. We were very excited to find several bottles left over at the end of the night for our own enjoyment in the weeks to come. We also stayed in the Carriage House the night before - made our wedding weekend even more relaxed and enjoyable. Our pictures turned out perfectly - which was one of the main reasons we had picked the venue in the first place - for the gorgeous views and scenery. We barely needed any additional decorations; the venue speaks for itself. After having seen our photographs, I think that choosing Avio was one of the best things we could have done for our wedding! read more

6 years ago today, my husband and I were married on the beautiful Avio Vineyards. When shopping wedding venues, we knew this would be the most enchanting location any bride and groom could dream of. Not only was the venue perfect, the owners, Lisa and Stefano, were amazing to plan with. They customized a sparkling wine, just for us and had a beautiful label made to match. Our actual wedding was such a hit-our friends and family still talk about how it was the best wedding they have ever been to. Everything went beautifully and at the end of the night, my husband and I were so thankful to just walk right into the guest house and not have to worry about going anywhere. It truly was a dream come true to have our wedding on the beautiful vineyard. read more

Great wine! And super friendly staff! The woman working gave us a map and introduced us to a bunch of wineries in the area! We definitely came back for a second time read more

Great boutique winery in the Sierra Foothills....... Stefano and Lisa love what they do and it shows.

It's a lovely winery with a friendly couple running it. The wines are really great and it's a nice stop on the way to the mountains.

My husband and I got married here in May. When we came to see the venue about a year and a half before (in the Winter), the vineyard was absolutely gorgeous, and we immediately fell in love. Our wedding was so magical and special, and we could not have chosen a better venue. I would recommend any bride to go check it out as a venue. The wines are all amazing, and the owners and tasting room staff are all very friendly and accommodating. My favorites are a red wine called the Barbara (or Barbera?) and their Raspberry Champagne. The beauty of this venue cannot be done justice by any pictures. It has a magic all its own, and it is worth going to, even if it is out of your way. All my friends kept going on about how amazing our wedding and this venue were. It has a great "WOW factor." read more

A visit to Avio is a journey to another world you might not otherwise have the pleasure to experience. The setting is exquisite. A Tuscan influenced tasting room set back amongs the vines. It's easy to understand why the property does such a thriving wedding and event business. As for the wines there is something for every taste and sensibility. I passed on the whites but made my way through everything from a lush '07 Barbera to the heady '06 Maximus (not for the faint of heart!) As far as location Avio is set apart from the glut of vineyards situated in the valley of Amador county. Trust me. Take the short drive up on the ridge and visit Avio. The wine sells itself but the owners Stefano and Lisa have ready smiles and great stories of the business they have nurtured. Don't miss the opportunity. read more

The meanest owner you could ever find. Couldn't believe he acted the way he did. Slammed door in my face when I got lost finding the dinner party. His wife yelled at the patrons of our dinner when one used their carriage house bathroom, rather than the bathrooms we were supposed to use. Their signage needs to be updated to fix this and parking issues. Best of all, we even had to pack up our own bathroom trash. Hoping he realizes that if he opens his house up for public use and to make money he needs to treat people respectfully.. read more

I visited this place the weekend of Oct-13-2012, one of my friends bought a voucher over the net to go wine tasting here, wine was amazing, I really liked the Barbera and their sparkling wine, Stefano started to give us a tour, then I asked "how is it that places like 'Trader Joe's' and 'BevMo' are able to sell a bottle of wine for 5 bucks?" That was the end of the tour, after 5 minutes into it Stafano left us standing there and all he said "I need to go back to work". I also had the funny feeling that because my wife and I are hispanics, the lady attending the crowd paid more attention to the people they thought were going to buy wine than us. Again their wine is really good but I was quite disappointed with their attitude. read more

Adam was our tasting room attendant and he was great! He helped us with directions to a few hiking spots we were interested in and gave us a great history of the winery. Avio was a perfect spot for our picnic out on their shaded tables among the beautiful vineyards. The Barbera is tasty too. The read more

Boring, banal wine with little character--not worth visiting, even if the tastes are free. The owner (Stefano) was a conceited ass, making snide comments about my friend (who apparently wasn't happy enough for him, or something), and paying much more attention to the three wine club patrons who were gushing over his mediocre wine. Stefano pushed a white wine on us (although we were pretty clear that we were there for the reds) and when we didn't like it (as we predicted), he was snotty and rushed us through the rest of the wine-flavored piss he featured on his tasting menu. I wasn't impressed by any of his wines: like the winery itself, they were big on appearance but had little substance. They might be good in a few years, but honestly, I was so turned off by the owner's attitude that I'll never drink anything from this winery. (If this sounds harsh, sorry--I am a little tipsy on much better wine that I purchased from OTHER WINERIES.) read more

Nice wines in the Italian wine tradition. Our server, Sherry, was wonderful and made the whole experience great for us. We bought a number of wines and will be going back again for sure. read more

We spent a week at Avio to celebrate our anniversary. The grounds are lovely and the guest room was luxuriously appointed by a decorator with a great sense of style and a very fine eye for detail. Our hosts, Stefano and Lisa Watson, were very generous. When we arrived, Stefano welcomed us with a tour and a private tasting. They stocked the kitchen cabana with snacks and sodas for us to enjoy throughout the week at no additional cost, and stocked the guest room with a huge assortment of DVDs. They welcomed us to walk the grounds and make use of the pool. We enjoyed our walks on the grounds with their farm dog, Tuxedo, and our encounters with their friendly rescue cats, guinea hens, and peacock. We had a wonderful, restful week. No one asked me to address this, but I feel compelled to put in my two cents after the consistently generous experience we've had during our extended stay at Avio. Specifically, I read an earlier review from a dissatisfied bride and am having difficulty making sense of her experience with the extended experience of welcoming hospitality that we just enjoyed. I came to this conclusion. Avio is the fulfillment of a very personal dream for the owners, Lisa and Stefano. Their personal investment in opening up their slice of paradise shows up in the details and the way in which they take very good care of their things. For example, each night, someone takes the time to put the farm dog, Tuxedo, in a thick coat to make sure he's warm enough and someone removes the coat every day as soon as it warms up. If anything, in the outfitting of the guest room and their welcoming approach, they showed an exceptional amount of trust in us as guests to take good care of their nice things. I imagine that if a guest were to fail to treat their things with respect, they would react like any normal person in their position who shows such a level of pride in ownership. So, if they withheld a security deposit, I'm willing to bet there was ample reason to do so. Yelp has a lot of influence and sometimes perceptions can be distorted by the review of one or two dissatisfied people. We had a wonderful time and felt compelled to enter our review to provide some sense of balance. read more

We held my daughter's wedding last Saturday at Avio, and we can't say enough good things about the experience. The winery is on a ridge and so the view is stunning. The sites for the ceremony and reception are around the owner's house at the back of the property, so it felt intimate and private. We had 120 guests, and many of them called me this week to say that they had never been to such a beautiful site for a wedding. The best thing about Avio is the service we received from Stefano and Lisa, the owners. My daughter's wedding was on a Saturday, so the rental company set up the tent structure, etc. on Friday morning. We had planned to leave the roof of the tent open to the air. Friday afternoon, we were told there was a 30% chance of rain for Saturday (evidently extremely rare in September). So the poor rental company workers had to come back, drop the roof and attach the tent. This took them until midnight. Stefano stayed there from early Friday morning until late Friday night to supervise. On Saturday, he and his wife Lisa were there from early in the morning until the last guest left at 10:30pm. During these entire two days they were exclusively working on our wedding, and pointed out several important things that our wedding planner was forgetting to do, such as a timely set-up of the ceremony chairs, have the buffet disassembled to allow dancing to begin and set up the newlyweds' room (which is on site and included in the package). Throughout this time Lisa and Stefano were cheerful and warm to us and our guests. Despite the stress of the wind and potential rain (luckily, the weather calmed down by the 5pm start of the wedding), they remained calm and organized, and we felt very taken care of. In the months before the wedding, they were very helpful and flexible in the planning. They do have some rules, but we felt these were ultimately for our benefit. We saw no mosquitoes - only the peacock, dog and cat. Both the band and the lighting company mentioned to us that Stefano was a great help to them in setting up and organizing things. Lastly, I am not a wine buff, but many of our guests were, and they all told us they really liked the wine. Thank you to Avio for making our daughter's wedding everything she wanted it to be! read more

My husband and I were married on the estate at Avio Vineyards just a couple weeks ago and we were so pleased with it we had to write a review right away! Stefano and Lisa were so kind to us and very accommodating! We live in the SF Bay Area and my mother lives about 20 minutes away from Avio so whenever we were in town visiting we would stop by Avio to take another peek at the grounds where we had booked our wedding. They never minded that we popped in, just asked us to give them a call or email to let them know ahead of time whenever possible. The fact that they were ok with us coming by more than once was generous in itself. We were very grateful to have these opportunities! Shellie ended up being our Site Manager on the day of the wedding and she was so very kind and helpful. It gave us great peace of mind knowing she was there to handle any problems that might have popped up with regards to the property. (thankfully there were none, whew!) Stefano and Lisa were also on the grounds that day and Stefano actually came to our rescue a couple times with things we either forgot or needed prior to the start of the wedding. As for the venue itself, it was breathtaking and perfect. The view of the rolling hills covered in vineyards as the backdrop to our wedding ceremony was something I will never forget. The yard where the ceremony took place couldn't have been more perfect allowing for a very intimate, yet comfortable seating arrangement. The ceremony itself was so serene and beautiful and all of this played a huge part in creating that setting. We want to publicly thank Stefano, Lisa and Shellie for being so kind and caring to make our wedding day as special as it was. We knew from the moment we stepped foot onto the grounds that this was exactly where we wanted to get married and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to do so. Thank you Avio!! read more

We really enjoyed our visit to Avio with their fantastic, friendly customer service. Named for the owner's family's village in Italy, this adorable, comfortable tasting room on Ridge Road is a must-visit. The owners of the property have adopted 40 rescue animals, several of whom are in or around the tasting room. Tux the lab/pit bull mix greeted us at the door, and one of the kitties made my tasting experience extra snuggly. :) Though Italian varietals aren't my particular favorite, it's what this terroir grows well, and this place does them well. The winemaker does a great job with wines that run the gamut of lighter-bodied to fuller-bodied. We bought more than half a case, enjoying their very reasonably-priced Barbed Wire Red Blend. For those of you who enjoy "sweet wines" you will love their two sparkling offerings. There is a B&B cottage onsite that my hubby and I will definitely be returning to rent for the night. The fee includes use of the property including the pool, a kitchen-cottage, and a crazy beautiful view! Francois the rescue peacock might even stroll by to say hello! Do stop by if you are in the mood for a wonderful, quintessential foothill wine tasting experience. read more

We rented out the barrel room for my parents anniversary party earlier this year. The grounds are beautiful & everyone seemed to enjoy the wine. My sister and I came up there a month or two before the even to look at the space and see if it will work for us. We spoke to the owner and he offered us the barrel room. He said all the barrels would be moved out and we would be able to use the whole room for party. Well the day of the party we come to set up and only half of the barrels were removed so it literally gave us no space. I was so upset and asked if we can use the other outdoor venue and they said no and the owner said it would be a lot of work to move the rest of the barrels. Gosh I was pissed. We were going to have a projector and screen set up for my parents wedding video and couldn't do that because there was no room and we even had to have the food outside in the tasting are because again there was no room. A huge disappointment. I would never come back here to do an event again. And I would warn others to be careful, they don't give you what they say when you first meet with them. read more

The second I walked into this winery I knew this was perfect for my wedding. The scenery is like nothing else and a back drop that took our breath away. I felt like I was swept away in an Italian paradise. The backdrop to our vows was rolling vineyards that led into a mystical night under the stars with bistro lighting, great wine and family. It couldn't have been a more perfect wedding and it was two years ago and I still hear praises about what a beautiful wedding it turned out to be. People told me it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever been to. The owners are detail oriented and nothing was overlooked. We still love to go back and visit. Stefano and Lisa accomedated our requests and were great to work with. read more

Just finished off a bottle of the '09 Syrah - absolutely fabulous, and, shame on me for not buying more, because they are completely sold out! Lesson learned - Avio is a family-run, small lot winery, so, if you love the wine, buy more than one bottle. Social comment regarding previous reviews: I totally disagree with the champagne bash - especially the raspberry champagne comments (not sweet, just excellent in my opinion - and it sells out regularly, so I'm not the only one who loves it!!!). I have served Avio champagne to many friends (all discriminating wine drinkers), and they always drank the bottle dry. Some people just like to complain. read more

We spent an amazing night at the Avio Carriage House after a day of winetasting during "Big Crush" weekend. It was perfect from beginning to end. First of all, we were able to book the room for Saturday night only on what must be one of the most popular weekends of the year, which would be unheard of anywhere else. We arrived just as they were shutting down from the event, but Stefano and the Avio staff took the time to give us a private wine tasting and a complimentary bottle of one of their fabulous wines before showing us to our room. Even the musician that played the event stopped packing up to play two wonderfully romantic songs that my husband and I danced to. Then off to the amazing carriage house and a tour of the property by Stefano. Breathtaking doesn't even begin to describe it all. In the morning, we drank our coffee on the terrace overlooking the grape vines. We had just come back from a trip to Italy and this felt more like the traditional romantic Italian countryside than anything we had found there. Stefano, Lisa and everyone at Avio made the experience perfect. Our only disappointment was that we hadn't booked the room for more nights. We will be coming back for our anniversary and this time we plan on staying a week. read more