I recommend this one because I went there - just once - and although I don't remember anything really outstanding, every time it comes to mind the vague memory makes me smile. The wine is good, the service is incredible, they're big supporters of our local firefighters, and they have pretzels (an underrated wine tasting goodie) But when it all comes down to it, I recommend this place just because it has a relaxed, very informal, fun atmosphere. *I don't remember there being any kind of seating to speak of, indoor or outdoor. This is a tasting room pure and simple, no bells and whistles, nothing showy. read more

I've been on a rampage lately checking out wineries all over the Russian River valley. As I've done so, I've become kind of accustomed to paying $40-$50 for a good bottle of wine. So imagine my surprise when, not only did I think the wines here were on par with that other stuff, but at very reasonable prices! The staff was great and managed to balance groups of people skillfully. We ended up taking home several bottles and joining their club. We had a fantastic time at the tasting room and saw some really cool stuff we've never seen before (hello, Gewurztraminer!) Overall we really liked the place and will definitely take friends here. We bought several bottles and will be back for more! read more

Not only are the wines amongst the best I had in a trip through Sonoma and Napa, but Hook and Ladder was the highlight of the trip! We got to see a good bit of the production process and were able to taste a number of their wines. Mike and Lori DeLoach, the owners, were able to be there when we were visiting. The were amazing! Devin, our guide was accomodating and excellent. He answered numerous questions and explained a great deal about the wine business. I highly recommend this winery if you are coming any where near Santa Rosa! read more

Really great winery. I was so impressed with the amount of great tasting wine they make here. Fell in love with a brunello style Sangiovese. Their pinot noir and Cabernet Sauvignon were set on point and so smooth to drink. The stars were the future barrels and I'm so excited to get my wine sent to me next year! Everyone was very helpful and very friendly. They even offered piping hot chili which was a godsend in the 40 degree windy and went weather. Of course the vineyards and winery were beautiful. I would recommend this winery 100%. That Sangiovese hooked me in! read more

Hook and Ladder - Wineries Near Me - Santa Rosa, California

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Even without ever tasting the wine you have to give Hook & Ladder credit as a leading winery because of its history. Hook & Ladder is a family winery run by the Deloach family, one of the first families producing wines in the Russian River Valley. After selling in the 1990's they shrunk their production and focused on the wine. Their tasting room is quaint and friendly. Their wines are tasty and very nicely priced. Complimentary tastings, but you can always find something to take home! read more

Next time I'm in Sonoma, I'm coming back to H&L. The wine was great and the company was better. We spent a long time here talking to the owner's son about how he personally made the Pinot Noir Reserve, and there are photos to prove it. If I had to chose between Hook & Ladder and Coppolla's winery, I'd say Hook & Ladder. Yeah. Try it. FYI, the wine is inexpensive because they don't want to charge a lot. It's still award winning and eco friendly. read more

Amazing winery: great location, venue, and wines. There are many different bubbles, whites, and reads so it's easy to find something for everyone. Also, part of their wine club proceeds go to charities (we opted for the 1st responders club), so not only do you get wine, but you're giving back! We always go at least twice when we are in town. read more

In my mind this is a fantastic find. The wines are delicious and the yard is beautiful. I was able to spend a few minutes sitting outside while going through the tasting. The Zin blend was outstanding as was the Cab Sav. But my to die for favorite was the petite sirah. Which was the one I purchased. If your in the area, stop in. Cheers, read more

Another pleasant surprise of a great little winery in the Santa Rosa area! There's an old firetruck in the parking lot that your group can play on and take tons of pictures. The tasting room is large and the server was super friendly and welcoming. The tasting is complimentary and we tried about 6-8 bottles, each with generous pours. read more

We stopped in here as part of our barrel tasting weekend. I tried to like the place, I really did but was put off before I really ever tasted their wine. Their tasting room was absolutely packed, it took forever to get in line to get a tasting, and the gentleman doing the pouring was very surly. After tasting a couple wines out of the barrel the decision was made to abandon ship and move on. The wines that I did taste were not bad, but they didn't really stand out either. Maybe next year I will give them another shot, then again maybe not. read more

Came here with my partner and had the most outstanding experience of all the wineries all weekend. We wandered in and began browsing some items for sale and a staff member came over to us from behind the counter and handed us glasses and poured us a wine to taste. And they were crowded, too! We felt so seen and valued right away. We really liked many of the wines-- can't even remember which were my favorites. We also made friends out of two strangers that were there. They turned out to be happy members, and it was clear their community was a really sweet one. The couple actually paid for our tasting, so we bought them a bottle of wine. I will remember our experience here forever. Thank you so much, Hook & Ladder! We love you. read more

The theme is the hook (pun intended) to draw you in. The tasting room is quite large as it also appears to double as their storage area. The tasting bar is to the left, the cash register to the right, and boxes of wines are in front of you. And it is decorated in keeping with the theme. We always seem to buy wine here. The service has always been great. The wines are nothing exceptional, just good mid week wines for dinner. Taste and price are right. read more

Hook and Ladder is a great place to try moderately priced wine. The people who work there are friendly. I like their Zinfandel, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Noir. It's weird; I didn't like their Pinot at all when we went in 2011 but loved and bought a bottle of their 2011 Pinot when we visited last month. They just won an award for it. Also, make sure you try some of the hot sauce they sell. We bought a bottle both times we visited. In fact, we just bought a giant jug of it online since we went through it so fast. It tastes a little like chili. One tip: you get a discount if you pay with your Visa Signature card. read more

The wine tastings are free. There is a large selection to try. Whites on one side of the paper and reds on the other. The dessert wines are also really good. The one wine that I like was the 100% cabernet sauvignon wine (called Three Alarm). Check it out. I think it is $30. Anyway, it's not terribly busy so you can probably drop in a take a break. It's air conditioned. What they also have is olive oil and hot sauce. The hot sauce is really good and not that expensive per bottle. A note about the parking lot, if you are driving north on Olivet, you enter the winery at the second driveway and exit in a loop. It's one way all the way around. read more

So this place is owned by the DeLoach family. They started it after they sold their larger vineyard across the street. I'm not quite wine nerd enough to follow the full significance of this but people in these parts seem to care. So FYI. We came here towards the very end of the day on a Tuesday by a recommendation from their neighbors Harvest Moon. The tasting room is fully themed for firefighters- and kind of felt like I should be visiting with my retired blue collar dad (my dad is none of these things and doesn't really go for wine or firefighter nostalgia) but still cool. We were the only people there and there was a man in a room full of chemistry looking stuff and a lady who looked like Mary Kay Place doing our tasting. She looked upset. She also acted upset and not very friendly. She warmed up a little here and there but was generally not very welcoming. Maybe it's because the folks at Harvest Moon were so friendly, or maybe she was having a bad day. Who knows. It wasn't what I'd call fun though. I know y'all can hate on the white wine but their Chardonnay was super oaky and I loved it. read more

Hook and Ladder has a super unpretentious tasting room with solid wines in a surprising range of styles. We had the inside-track on this winery thanks to the experience of our friends who are Green Valley natives, so we came with a home court advantage. First, since the Green Valley of the Russian River is where you go for pinot, you'll want to sample their pinot noir. We tasted two and took home the 2012 Pinot Noir "Third Alarm" Reserve. Next of note is the chardonnay, which was a surprise hit for us and the "goto" chardonnay for our friends. So bottles of the 2013 Chardonnay "Third Alarm" Reserve went in our basket as well. I also enjoyed the Tillerman Blend, and both the early and late harvest gewürztraminers. In fact, I didn't find a single Hook and Ladder wine that I didn't like, so this winery is definitely wine club material. Buy some wine, stay for bocce, and if you're there near closing you may even get to ride in the antique fire truck. read more

Jake and Devin are the absolute best! We had such a good time during our wine tasting! We wish they lived in Chicago so we could hang out everyday! read more

I agree with Buck S about the snobby service. We stopped by and they were doing some sort of event with 11 other 'Olivet' wineries so it was crowded with a lot of folks who had clearly been doing many tastings - no biggie. We asked if it was cool if our party of 8 did a tasting or if we should come back another day since they were having the event - they said no problem you can do a tasting. So we did the standard tasting and the woman pouring was downright rude. She was a bit older and had zero patience to talk with us, and gave the smallest pours I've ever seen. I don't care about the volume usually, but I could barely taste the wines, I'm talking a tiny sip. When we asked questions about the wine (the % in a blend for instance) she grabbed the bottle and shoved it in our face and said, oh why don't you just read about it if you're so curious. W.T.F. And to top it off the wines weren't that great - I say skip this one, there's much better and friendlier places in Sonoma. read more

Another Russian River Valley awesome winery with excellent wines and flexible hospitality! Thanks Bobbie for sharing the wineries cool history honoring our firefighter's. Also we appreciate your extended hospitality to Bella..We highly recommend a visit to this unique tasting room, it's worth it the wine is delish! read more

Since my dad and uncle are firefighters, we immediately had something to chat about with the Hook and Ladder crew when we came here to taste. This was our last stop of the day, and as it was near closing time, the tasting room was nearly empty. Still, the folks at Hook and Ladder spent a good amount of time talking to us about the wine, the history of their winery, and firefighting in general. I ended up buying several bottles of wine to be shipped home to me. I liked the Gewurztraminer and the Cabernet Sauvignon here, as well as several of the other reds. I was recently pleased to discover that my local supermarket here in Boston carries the Hook and Ladder Cabernet Sauvignon. I'm not a wine expert, but I think the Hook and Ladder reds tend to be a little bit spicy and less sweet. One negative of Hook and Ladder is that they were very persistent with their phone marketing for about a year after we tasted there (they had my contact information because of my purchase). It was only when I moved to MA, where they are not able to ship, that the phone calls stopped. That said, I would consider buying directly from them if I could. Hook and Ladder also occasionally sells wines on Woot! Wine, which is a great deal. read more

I love this winery. The grounds are simple but nice, there is bocce and corn-hole, the wines are excellent and affordable, and the entire staff is friendly and welcoming. read more

Very nice staff, friendly and knowledgeable. Good tastin wines overall...gotta say try the sweet stuff here. Port really good...late harvest Gewürztraminer. We went there and it was Super Bowl Sunday-foggy,Rainey and cold/ the staff are real troopers:). read more

So friendly, great wine, and a fun, relaxing atmosphere. We are members at this winery and out of all the options in our amazing area, I think we made the right choice! read more

My friend says this is a "must miss" in his book, but I enjoyed my stop with one major disclaimer. (One of the women behind the bar was simply bizarre. She insisted that they weren't pouring a wine despite the fact that there was an open bottle right in front of her and her co-worker was pouring it for other people. She then skirted around the rather innocuous question of "what's your personal favorite wine. Finally, after doing my best to avoid buying from her, she rang my sale - she was standing next to a giant sign advertising free wine charms with a purchase and neglected to give them to us. ) The wine itself was fun. I'd be back. read more

We stopped here since we had some extra time and our limo driver was a firefighter!!! If you are a firefighter or if you are with one, they offer you a 20% discount. They were very outgoing and friendly the had a nice large selection of wines and they were exceptionally generous with their pours! read more

Hook and Ladder - Wineries Near Me - Santa Rosa, California

Very friendly service, free tastings, big tasting room. Check out the hot sauce too- we bought bottles of it. The vineyard is owned by a former firefighter in SF; hence the name and decor. Would recommend if you're in the area. read more

This place is by far one of my favorites! The staff here is not only friendly and welcoming (no matter how big the crowd is) but they are also very knowledgeable. You often see the same people in the tasting room which means that they remember you and make you feel like you're an old friend! I never pass up the chance to go to Hook and Ladder and always make sure people know how much I love it. Keep up the good work! read more

I spent a long weekend on Olivet Lane over Labor Day. Over the 4 days we went to well over a dozen different wineries. Hook and Ladder was by far and away the best one. The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating - there was a great selection and I was particularly taken with the Port and Pinot Noir. I also greatly appreciated the unpretentious environment and the "militia warehouse". None of this frou frou bollocks and over priced tchotchke crap. Which some of these reviewers appear to find appealing. . . . I am disappointed not to be able to find its wines widely available in SF. read more

I first tried Hook and Ladder wines during a barrel tasting festival several years ago. Since then, I've become a member and I can't wait for my quarterly shipments. Their tasting room is practical and unpretentious. Their wines are delicious and inexpensive. I think my favorite of their whites is their Gewurztraminer because it's crisp, dry, and not too sweet. They have some wonderful zinfandels too. The staff is friendly and informative, and they'll pretty much pour you anything if you ask for it! Enjoy. read more

Welcoming staff & the Tillerman.... These two things are consistently found to be exceptional when visiting Hook & Ladder Winery. A smiling staff will make the wine taste better. The wines that I prefer here are the Station 10 and the Tillerman. Solid reds that go great with heavy proteins. I came by to sample the 2013 Station 10 futures and I wasn't swooned as I have been in the past. I am sure hoping that it's the lack of maturing of that batch of futures, only time will tell. I noticed that they had redone their landscape near the entrance to the tasting room. The gazebo and the waved linings of the paved path to their vineyards are cute additions. Not an ideal place to picnic because there is no furniture or comfortable open area to support that but hopefully that is next on their list of renovations. read more

Absolutely lovely place, not far off of River Road. Michael, our guide through our tasting adventure, was very knowledgeable and passionate about their wine. Unlike most places where you get one or two exceptional wines, Hook and Ladder exceeded expectations with several wonderful wines, both red and white. Off the hook, pun intended, were both the early and late harvest Gewurztraminer, old Zinfandel (which we purchased), Sauvignon Blanc (which we also purchased and opened right there... Sooooo good), and the Pinot Noir. If you're looking for place on a sunny day to go and taste delicious wine, Hook and Ladder is definitely a place to go. They even have Firemans memorabilia all over the walls and T-shirts hung up everywhere from different fire departments all over the world in honor of the wineries founder, who was a Tillerman. This place is veteran friendly (I am a Marine veteran), and if you have a Visa signature card they will give you 10% off of your purchase. Tasting of five wines is complementary... You can't beat that. read more

Wonderful wine, fantastic staff, great prices, and a lovely setting. Stopped here on the "Ace It" bike tour and it was our favorite stop. We did a side-by-side tasting that made it a lot of fun to compare plus we felt like we were learning a lot about the wine. It was clear the staff wanted you to enjoy your wine and experience. Everyone behind the counter seemed more than willing to take the time to make sure you enjoyed yourself. They do seriously good wine but are so non-snobby about it, you just gotta love them. We bought a bottle of Third Alarm and LOVED it later and wish we had more. Oh and they have bocce outside! :) read more

Unassuming, nearly unattractive tasting room, but the pourers were friendly easy going and not an ounce of obnoxious pretense. I liked the wines, bought a Pinot, and had a nice chat with the guy who was pouring that day. The wines are reasonably priced and of pretty good quality, all in all qualifying as a nice "i got you something from sonoma" gift. They gave us 10% off b/c we had Visa Signature cards. They also gave us some free tasting passes for Harvest Moon. All in all, a nice stop for complimentary tasting. read more

The gent pouring for us was charismatic and knowledgable, never hesitating with answers for any question our party had, from the general to the obscure. The wines were tasty, especially the Three Alarms. The hot sauce was awesome, and all the proceeds go to charity. The woman working the sales counter was brusque and unfriendly, but the winery overall was unprepossessing and approachable. Tasting is free, and the list [at least on the day we went] covers a broad range. read more

Hidden away towards the North West end of Santa Rosa is Hook & Ladder, a winery started by a former San Francisco firefighter. The wines are fire-themed and are generally of a very good quality. Pros: -Free tasting Just like everything else on the list -Helpful staff The staff were very friendly and talkative, and were very accommodating to our large group. -Good wines The wines are good quality, mid-range price wise. They have good choices in whites, especially the Gewurtz and Chardonnay. Tillerman is also a great red. -Tasting room The tasting room looks great, full of wine barrels and fire department patches. -Firefighter discount If you are in the business of fire, you will get a 20% discount if you have your union card or other identification with you. -Fire engine They have a cool old fire engine from Greenland (I think). You can sit inside it and mess around with it if you want. read more

I went wine tasting for the first time back in May and Hook and Ladder was one of the 3 places we went to. It was my favorite stop! I loved the decor, they alot of stuff to look at and the whole staff was completely friendly and made us feel not a bit akward. Also thank you Candace for being so helpful! and fun to talk to and making our experience that much better :) read more

Another gem off Olivet Road, Hook and Ladder's tasting room provides a very laid back atmosphere that is family-owned and family-run by the same people at DeLoach. The general theme to this particular winery is that its housed in what appears to be a fire station with firefighter paraphernalia. I really liked the wines here, especially the Zinfandels and Pinot Noirs. During Wine Road's "A Wine and Food Affair" event, Cecil de Loach prepared pulled pork sliders paired with their Russian River Valley Cabernet Franc. The hot sauce that came with this dish was really tasty. The staff here were very friendly and inviting and it was easy to spark up a conversation with any of the pourers working that day. This will definitely be on the list of wineries to return to for any future events, and especially to pick up a few more bottles to take home. read more

Loved all the wines. Candace was very knowledgeable and even gave us some tips on tours in the area. A must do winery in Sonoma county.

Coming from the Midwest and a beer drinker, this place went way out of their way to make us feel comfortable and not idiotic and at a great price. So happy we did it, found some things we may actually drink and feel like if needed could play on the game! read more

Hubs and I went here last June and became wine members. Yesterday we went there for the day to the member wine pick up. They had a taco bar (for members), the weather was wonderful and we meet other wine members that we hung out with. The wines are great tasting, light, the prices are great, and overall the winery is wonderful. read more