I recently learned that Bacchus & Venus is under new ownership and management. Thank goodness! Though I haven't had an opportunity yet to visit, some friends recently stopped in and have reported to me that the whole vibe has changed (for the better). Now I'm looking forward to returning and checking it out. read more

Had to review since it was such an awesome experience! Was visiting town from San Francisco and stumbled upon Bacchus & Venus and decided to stop in for a wine tasting. WOW. Not only was the wine awesome, the service was top notch! Planning to come back JUST to come back here. read more

Without a doubt our favorite place in Sausalito! Great wine, wonderful art and a lot of wine related accessories. The best part is the staff who are very knowledgeable and very friendly. If you want a real conversation with a real opinion make sure you talk to Doug! I don't know who the mayor is but Doug's probably the best representative of Sausalito! If your going to Sausalito Bacchus & Venus is a must stop! read more

Bacchus & Venus - Doug! The man with the plan! - Wine Bars Near Me - Sausalito, California

I looked up wine tasting rooms in Sausalito before taking a day trip with friends and Bacchus and Venus was not on my list. But we stopped in while walking down Bridgeway and I'm so glad we did! Jennie is knowledgeable and personable; we had a great time and enjoyed some delicious wines. If you're local to Sausalito, I'm jealous, because I'd become a regular. And if you're planning a trip, skip the other tasting rooms and just go here. I'll definitely be back! read more

We are wine club members and absolutely love the wine selection and service at Bacchus & Venus! Taylor and crew are very knowledgeable about the wines and extremely helpful. We always have a good time visiting when we are in town! read more

When we first walked in, the owner didn't even bat her eye. Yes, we look young because we are Asian, but we aren't walking in here underaged! We sat down at the bar. Someone else approached us and introduced their flights. After ordering, it took about 10 minutes before anything came. The lady that helped us the most was new. She had told us that it was her first day, which is fine. I don't expect her to memorize everything about each wine and vineyard. She kept saying how her boss knows, but her boss never came (except to take our glasses away). As we were wrapping it up, we decided to order 2 bottles of the wine we enjoyed the most. The gentleman working there (came out of no where) happily helped us. He recommended paying for 2-day shipping so that the flavor doesn't change with the heat. When it arrived, the bottles weren't just warm. They were hot! The flavor had totally changed and practically soured it! What's the point of paying more for shipping when they don't care to package the wine better to protect it from the heat? read more

I wish no stars was an option. I've never posted a review before, but this experience inspired me... I had a mediocre tasting with my friends, then we each got a glass and chatted waiting for another person to show up. Once he got there we were asked if we could pay now because it was busy and having to deal with 4 different cards would take a while. Okay, sure. So we pay, I decide to buy an aerator, and instead of just charging my card again, she cancels the first charge (but I never saw a receipt saying the charges were reversed) and charges the card again. When we get home, we all see an additional charge on our cards. After calling our card companies, and finding out the card number had been manually keyed in by the store after we had left (umm FRAUD much?), we called the shop and were rudely berated for "stealing." Since none of us were charged for the small glass of wine after the tasting we figured it was included. I'd recommend not going here, unless you like rude people and fraud! But if you do, pay in cash... Edit: I've also found out, she FORGED my signature on the receipt to prove to the card company I'd agreed to the charges. So go here if you're looking for a really slimy business that has no morals and shitty business practices. read more

Pretentious servers complained about how tired they were and that they didn't want to be there. Last pour of a house bottle was short and the server in training asked the lady in charge for confirmation that she opens a new bottle. It was 1/2 short of a standard pour (half pour charged a full). We asked questions about glass type as we didn't know why one glass paired with a particular wine type. We ordered the Cab and Merlot. Rather than taking the opportunity to educate us, she became defensive and stayed that they didn't have specific glass types for the wine they served. We simply wanted to know about why certain glasses were used on certain types of wine. Not call her out on something that wasn't an issue for us. Also, we ordered the cheese and cracker plate. The cheese knife kept coming apart. We pointed this out and she told us to "... just stick it back in there." and walked away. It continued to come apart and rather than wait for good service, we asserted the need for a new one. The server in training came over and apologized while handing us a new knife. A minute later the lady in charge came over with one twice the size - overkill and a bit late, the kind server provided us one already. We got a feeling of being unwelcome there for a rainy Saturday afternoon. Definitely will be on the list of places to avoid in Sausalito. It's a cute place. Unfortunately the service was sub-par for the prices. It did give me and my friend something to laugh about later that arvo. We concluded that she was "The lady who's husband bought the place so she would stay busy and not complain about how bored she was every time he came home." Good luck to her husband. Now she can complain about how tired she is from having to pour people wine. read more

Bridgeway is a retail nightmare. Streets filled with googly-eyed tourists, children with ice cream smeared faces stumbling in sugar stupors, and stretchy-suited bicyclists shooting past the 5 mile an hour traffic...all a recipe for a migraine. So when someone in my group spotted a big sign advertising "Wine Tasting" we shot into this wine store snapping at our respective bits. Offering only California wines, we came in search of a $25-30 bottle of white wine. Rather than offering our group of 5 individual tastes, the guy behind the counter simply poured one taste and made us share. Hellooo...mouth germs. And it's not like you crushed the grapes with your own feet, what do you have to lose by pouring 5 tastes besides the "extra work" that may be involved. If I didn't regularly make out with these male and female CMs then I'd have balked publicly about this "shared tasting." The guy was also a bit cheeky when my British friend asked about the Chablis. Yes, she has an accent so she will pronounce it differently...no need to sneer "Do you mean ChAbly?" ayayay. All in all, we walked out with some overpriced wine, were backhandedly insulted and still parched. read more

This place would get negative stars if that was an option. I went here with some girl friends for a wine tasting. We all had the chilled flight except for one who had the dessert flight. All were alright, nothing to write home about. The Rose and the Sav blanc were probably the best. The flights were 12 dollars for 1oz pours, the smallest pours ive ever had wine tasting. We all bought a glass of our favs and the pours....still small, we thought they gave us a revisit of our fav since so many cellars do that. We had our cards charged one at a time, signed, and left. When we got home and checked our accounts we realized that our accounts werent charged ONCE but TWICE and with one of our friends THREE times. Up to 55 dollars. They had manually gone back and recharged our cards WITHOUT authorization. They did not try to get in contact with us and when we called they put all the blame on us for something THEY had forgotten. They told us with attitude that " we should have known" "it felt like stealing" and that she felt it was "hard to believe that none of us noticed ". I find it hard to believe that a business would have such poor practices they cant remember what to charge four ladies who had been DRINKING. IF they had contacted us, explained their mistake, and apologized, instead of attacking us we would have felt fine with the recharge but how they handled it was unprofessional, rude, and ILLEGAL. Pay with cash if you come here at all. read more

I walked in here totally intending to "window shop" and left having ordered their Zinfandel Six Pack to be gingerly shipped up to me in Seattle. Basically I just wanted an excuse to have six more dinner parties before I left. I chatted with the guy about apartments and where to live and felt right at home. I love that they support small boutique vineyards in California, however I had to ask about the Oregon Pinots and some other varietals that are really coming out of the gates in the Pacific NW. Super nice, even though I can get a little overly passionate, I think it was appreciated here...which equates to a very loyal customer. Come here if you know what you want and are into branching out. read more

Went there with my girlfriend today. We decided to do a wine tasting there, and the first wine had begun to turn to vinegar. We told the owner, and she responded that she had just sold a bottle of it to two guys that had just finished up their flights, and gave us a bucket to dump out the wine into. Before the last wine we tried, one of her employees went up to her and told her not to give us anything from that particular bottle, because it had begun to go bad, and was full of sediment. She told him that sediment was the best part, and that she wasn't going to filter it for us (keep in mind that we were sitting two feet from them), and proceeded to pour us our last tasting from the bottle that her employee said was bad. Giving this two stars because even though she was a total jerk to us, i have been there before, when she wasn't there, found one of my favorite wines there during a tasting, and had excellent service from her employees and have also bought a couple bottle of wine from there. Needless to say, I will not be going back there. Luckily we found a fabulous wine store down the street from her (towards the bay and around the corner) called "Real Napa". The lady (whom I assume was the owner) was very nice to us, and gave us our tasting for free since we bought a bottle afterwards. read more

...a nice departure from the general pompousness that is Marin. Every time I visit Sausalito I come to this tasting room. There's all sorts of wine gizmos to play with, and there's a fairly nice art collection upstairs. The tastings are inventive...oftentimes I cannot tast the difference from one to the next. But not here. Each wine is very different than the last. Even the novice wine lover can appreciate the subtleties between them. We had the Spring tasting (two reds, two whites). It cost ten dollars, which is kind of steep, but the pours are fairly generous. The Cakebread Chard and Orchard Hill (I think it was a Zin) were both phenomenal. if you don't dig their wines: pig out on their free almonds! read more

this warm wine tasting bar with small upstairs art gallery is aptly named after the god of wine/intoxication and the goddess of beauty. strolled in on a saturday evening with a girlfriend and chose tastings from 3 different wine flights offered: dessert wine flight, red wine flight, sampler flight (red and white). not terribly busy, we were seated at the bar after a few minutes (there is also plenty of standing room among the art downstairs). a relaxed atmosphere, the 2 workers behind the bar were attentive and informative without being intrusive to our conversation. near closing time, we were the last patrons in the shop and were able to have a somewhat lengthy and friendly conversation with the owner and manager of the place - a very cool chick with aspirations to possibly change up the place in the near future; "stay tuned!", she advised. i think i may need to change my most recent discovery to dessert wine, as i walked out with a bottle of each wine from the dessert wine flight. in total, we walked out with 9 bottles of wine from this place. okay, not technically. technically, we walked out with one bottle of wine for our friend, with the remaining 8 shipped to nyc. received my wines last night [whoo hoo!] complete with a flyer to join one of their wine clubs! am contemplating joining their dessert wine club for $40-60/month with no joining fee and no minimum number of months necessary either. read more

Bacchus & Venus - wine and art. - Wine Bars Near Me - Sausalito, California

In the fray of touristy activity in Sausalito there are a few stellar standouts. And, this spot is one of them. Bacchus and Venus focuses on quality California wine. They have opened my eyes to several new winemakers. They sometimes have winemakers come into their shop for tastings which is really fun. Bacchus and Venus has a wide range of prices and tastes. I would say all of it is good value. I have had great twenty five dollar bottles of wine and transcendent hundred dollar bottles. I often ship my sister CA wine up to her home in Southern Washington and they help me with that too. Very cool place to sit and have a glass of wine. Locals and tourists alike do tastings, wine purchases here. They do sell gifts too. But, I'm a typical dude so I tend to come for the vino! Keep up the good work Bacch and Ven! read more

A friend at work has been a long-time member of the B & V wine club and I've been lucky enough to share a few bottles on delivery day. I've always been impressed with the high-quality, low-volume wine producers that are represented in the wine club shipments. As examples, I've sampled Adelaida from Paso, Bink from Anderson Valley and Sea Smoke from the Santa Ynez Valley as part of the wine club shipments. These are fantastic winemakers that are not easily found in random wine shops around SF. I found myself in Sausalito on a recent Saturday afternoon and stopped into the tasting room to learn more. Kelly was pouring a Roussanne from one of my favorite Paso winemakers, Booker. I love the winemakers represented here at B & V! I spent most of my time scanning the inventory for wines from small winemakers that I have a hard time finding in the Bay Area. The vibe is friendly and casual although around 0400PM it became extremely busy as regulars stopped in for a happy hour tasting. The staff and patrons all made me feel welcome and were extremely friendly. read more

Came here during our Thanksgiving break. On our short visit to Sausalito, we stopped in for a quick wine tasting & snack. The cheese & crackers were more than enough. It was fun to hear about the different wines and I loved how knowledgeable the staff was about the wineries themselves. A lot of the wines are local (Napa, Sonoma...etc.) I loved all the little wine knick-knacks around the store too. FYI: If you have a child, they can only be in the small store part, the back bar section is an actual bar and not fit for kids. read more

Absolutely love this wine store. The owners are so incredibly knowledgeable in wine, and so easy to talk to. We are part of their wine club, as it's such a fun way to explore new types of wines and find new wineries we hope to visit. When we stumble across one that we love, we typically chat with the owners for recommendations on others - and if they're open, they let us sample them before we buy. Every single time we've walked out with not only our monthly 2 bottle pick up, but also additional bottles of whatever we fancied at the moment ;) The only "downside" I've stumbled across is that I wish they offered free tastings to members/guests when they stop in the store. A couple of times I've stopped in with visitors who decided to try some wines thinking they were free, only to be charged the $18 or whatever the fee is for tasting. That being said, I understand they probably have to charge since they're distributors vs. an actual winery. Perhaps an alternative would be to offer just a few sips to family members of members "on the house." I've been offered a sip of something while I wait, but it would be nice if they also offered something to the guests I'm with on the house. In any case, this place has a special place in my heart. And I love it so much! read more

Very nice wine selection but the older woman who worked there was so hateful, she made us almost want to get up at leave. We are a mixed race couple and she only acknowledged us when she realized we wanted to buy a few bottles after our wine tasting. Save your money go to tho wine tasting next door, great wine and even better service! read more

A nice little tasting room, a few steps from where the ferry gets in. The owner is super-sassy (as is her staff) and has a taste for pure, intense Californian wines. Lots of small, hard to find vineyards are represented. Tastings are pricey, but they open good stuff. Definitely worth a visit if you're in town. And they have a little art gallery upstairs if you need a break from the vino. read more

Stopped in on Sunday (Memorial Day weekend) and had THE best experience!! Doug and Kelly were so awesome- had us laughing the entire time. We had the Reserve Sampler- amazing. Thank you, Doug and Kelly, for the great time and delicious wine!! We will be back!! - and thank you, Kelly, for the dinner recommendation in the city- we went and LOVED. (LC) read more

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This was our 3rd time here... The 1st time (about 5 years ago) was a fabulous experience. The last two times, just ok. The wines were good and the atmosphere was nice. The gal that served us was a sweetheart and knew the wines very well. Once again we ran into the owner...never a greeting from her or a kind word welcoming us into her establishment. Instead, we got attitude. We wanted to send home some wine but had been in other wine tasting bars that we would much rather give our business to. This was our second year in a row dealing with her..never again. The 3 start was because of the good wines and the nice girl that waited on us. read more

While walking around Sausalito on a gorgeous sunny day, we stumbled into Bacchus & Venus for a little wine tasting. The bottom floor includes a little gift shop space and wine bar. Upstairs features a few tables and art gallery--very cute! We opted to do the tastings of all red. A tad pricey for $16 a piece but we did get a lot of bang for our buck! Although listed to try only 4, the wonderful gal behind the counter customized our tastings per our feedback and gave us 5-6 tastings. We ended up walking away with a bottle of the Mantra Primitivo 2007--at $36 it was definitely a bargain for what it tasted like. Delish! read more

Stopped by during a visit to Sausalito today. Really enjoyed the service, and the wine options as a group were superb. We are going to visit the wineries that were grouped as offerings; artwork in the building is really cool. Cool wine stuff for sale. Wife was a fan of the red sampler, daughter was a fan of the dessert wine sampler. I went next door to get a beer. Great experience read more

If you are looking for something to do or taste wine. Go across the bay to Sausalito and while you're at it, you should BIKE there too like we did! This little boutique wine shop is located on the main street of Sausalito and is pretty awesome because you can taste and buy wine and other wine related items and accessories. Great wine and awesome knowledgeable staff. You can do wine tasting for about $12 and they'll let you know a little insight about each one as they're pouring it. Definitely will visit again on my next trip to Sausalito read more

Not as interesting as the name but expect the combo of winetasting, wine bar art and gift shop to hit every type of person trolling through the area. Still a lovely space if you don't want to hit the local tavern. Giving it 4 stars for the balanced offering and its flexibility as a private party venue (attended a wine launch here as well); however, had mixed business and social experiences here. Primary wine knowledgeable owner has an established reputation in the industry, but would look somewhere more vibrant for private parties / events. Kind of dry personality here. read more

I came here with my bf and his family just for a random day of walking and enjoying the sun. At the time, I also had two dogs with me. I asked the ladies at Bacchus & Venus if dogs were allowed and they say yes! SWEET! The gang of us ended up ordering two tastings. Sampler tasting ($10): two white and two red Purely red sampler: ($16):four types of red Some of the wine that we tasted was good, others not so good. The doggies enjoyed the place as well, they were getting so much attention from the other customers and the ladies working that day. Overall, good experience and the tasting was nicely described and gave us enough for all of us to share. read more

Marcy and the staff at Bacchus and Venus are extremely knowledgeable and helpful when selecting tasty CA wines and I love the art gallery with all kinds of fun, interesting art. This is a cool place with cool people! read more

We were sooooo excited to do a little wine tasting before our dinner plans and thought this would be the perfect spot! (It was recommended by a local) No kids, just us, a little romance, good wine, love, laughter.. that's what we had in mind. We walk in and we were the only ones in the entire place. No big deal. We sit down and we're greeted by a worker doing some side cleaning and stocking. I asked her a few questions regarding the wine tasting list. She didn't say much about anything other than "it's good". We told her what we like and if she could sub a wine to fit our taste (the local who recommended this place said they do it for everyone) the young girl looked at us and said "I can only serve what bottles are open). No big deal I thought, if there was a bottle open for us awesome! If not, that's fine. Well we told her what we liked and picked out the $38/person tasting. We asked her a question on one of the wines and she put a piece of paper in front of us and told us we could read about it. Umm, I don't want to read a novel, it would of been nice of her to maybe interact with us considering we were the only two people there. Maybe explain a little about the wine? Or ask us what we like and she could see if a bottle was open?? She poured us a white wine first, we sipped it and really liked it! She IMMEDIATELY got the next one out and dumped it on top of our white wine that was still left! I'm talkin maybe 2 minutes after she poured the white she was pouring the red! We asked her if we could get a new glass for the 3rd wine because we didn't want to mix such nice wines together and she looked at us square in the eye and said "no, there's not enough glasses to give you for each wine". Ummm hellooooo we were the only ones in there! You're telling me you don't have 6 wine glasses in the entire place? Anyways she immediately poured the 3rd and 4th wine right on top of the last sips of all the others. Who knows what that last wine actually tasted like. I still tipped her decent even though it was such a let down and sooooo disappointing. $100 bucks gone and we were there MAYBE 8 minutes. Then as we were leaving we were asked by a manager (I think she was) if we wanted to ship any cases to Arizona. Are you effin kidding me? 8 minutes we were there!! No romance, no fun exciting learning experience, nothing but a waste of time and money. Wouldn't recommend this place at all. read more

What a warm and wonderful place. Visiting from out of town, we stumbled on this Gem! The wine selection is fantastic and Jesse, the wine club Manager was most knowledgable and gracious. This is a must do! read more

Bacchus and Venus is a great place. We came in not knowing anything about wine and left educated in what we liked and at least a basic knowledge of wine terminology. Micha or Michelle (or Mrs Cruz by the next time we see her) was awesome. She helped us through a tasting and not only educated us on wine but is an awesome person. The place was populated by locals who were extremely friendly and honestly very tollerant of wine nubies. We were talking about coming back to California and where we would stay and because of our experience at Bacchus we are planning on renting a house in Sausalito read more

On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2013, I was enjoying a day off work and visited Bacchus & Venus. I purchased an "Intro to Wine Tasting" and 3 tealight candle holders that look like little sailboats. I spent $51.66 total. The sales person wrapped them for me. The clerk listed on my sales receipt is Kelly. When I got home I was disappointed to find one of the tealight candle holders from Bacchus & Venus was broken. I visited Bacchus & Venus again on Nov. 25, 2013, to exchange the broken tealight candle holder, purchase two more and buy another wine tasting. I wanted a whole regatta of sailboats. Doug was the sales clerk that serviced me on Nov. 25, 2013. He said it was not broken when I left the store and what breaks after I leave the store is tough luck. I was shocked. He DID NOT offer me a wine tasting. He DID NOT recommend I look around the store to buy more gifts. I told him the tealight candle holders were not wrapped well and that is why it broke. He offered to sell me another one at half price. My charges for that day were $8.68. I really wanted the tealight candle holder. Since I cannot confirm it was not broken when it was packed and neither can Doug, I will have that charged credited to my account when I receive the credit card statement. The really sad part is that I was there to spend another $50 and enjoy myself. Doug demonstrated a poor understanding of retail sales and no selling skills. His business card has his job title listed as Director of Wine Sales. I live in Sausalito and commute by ferry. I told Doug that I walk by Bacchus & Venus at least 12 times a week, if not more (of course I walk around Sausalito on the weekends). It was a convenience place to get a bottle of wine on my way home. They did have a $10 local special - red or white. I don't know if they still have the $10 local special. I was a customer there for many years, but due the cold, spiteful service I received from Doug, I am not longer a customer at Bacchus & Venus. If you want to have a pleasant experience wine tasting and buying gifts, I do not recommend this shop. read more

Wow so nice. Friendliest people. Alex the bartender is super friendly. I joined their wine club cause I enjoyed their sampler flight so much ! read more

Let me start off by saying I used to love visiting this place. I've dropped by San Francisco a couple of times and running away to Sausalito was always a favorite escape. Although the past couple of visits has left a sour taste in my mouth (literally and figuratively!) and I don't plan on coming back. I'll start by off and saying, the owner won't even recognize you unless you make it very apparent you plan on spending money. Forget the wine flight. What once used to be an informative and fun experience is now a frustrating waste of money as you wait around 15-20 minutes between your tastings. Save yourself money and frustration. Avoid this place at all costs. read more

After biking to Sausalito, we thought it would be nice to do a wine tasting. We were confused at first because when we walked in no one really greeted us or asked if we were doing the wine tasting. After a few minutes, we just grabbed a seat and asked, "hey are y'all doing wine tastings today?". The girl behind the bar was really chill and awesome. You can pick between a white and red flight, just red flight, or dessert wine flight. I'm a huge red fan, so I got the red flight. My friend got the mixed. She gave him a few extra pours because I was enjoying my wine. It would have been cool to go off the menu a little bit and had a little more interaction with the wine expert, but it was overall a good experience! Unlike napa, it's more laid back with just a few people in the store, so I enjoyed it. read more

Great wine selection, super friendly staff! They have a nice upstairs lounge area with some charmingly kooky artwork, perfect for taking a bottle of wine and relaxing or an hour or two before dinner. read more

As you write your reviews here on Yelp, once you choose the "three stars" it says 'A-Ok', which is the exact experience my fiancee and I had here at Bacchus & Venus. We had a few tastings which was okay. The space itself was pretty small... Just a little spot in Sausalito if you wanted to have a quick sip of wine. Nothing too special... read more

Great wine tasting bar! I tried two tasting flights and was not disappointed! Really good boutique wines. They have an amazing bottle list as well. Very cool little "artsy" space. Cool little upstairs seating area too. I would definitely recommend if you are chillin in "The Lito"! read more

Bacchus & Venus - Wine Bars Near Me - Sausalito, California

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My partner and I were very impressed with the wine selection at Bacchus & Venus. All the wines we tasted were incredible! Marcy and the rest of her staff were very knowledgeable and catered to what we typically like in wines, and even offered some amazing recommendations. We will definitely be back soon! If you have a great appreciation for wine and art (they also have a gallery!), Bacchus & Venus is a must go-to place when you are in Sausalito. read more

Popped for a quick tasting. Very nice selection. Staff was cordial. Tasting flight was $12 not too bad. read more