Vino di Amore Tasting Room

We are members here and LOVE the wine. Their limited hours are obnoxious. We drive 4 hours to the region and they are not open the same hours as every other winery in the area. I believe being closed on a Sunday is ridiculous as that’s when your customers are available.

by Aleta Copestakes
I spend a lot of time in Cloverdale. Mostly for work, but on occasion I get to enjoy some of the many events and leisure activities the town has to offer. There is a lot more going on in the town than firsts meets the eye. Cloverdale has a great live theater, art studio with all kinds of classes, live music every weekend, and an abundance of good restaurants.
Recently I rallied some friends and we headed up North for the evening. We first ate dinner at my favorite restaurant in town, Tien Yuen (I will review them another time), then we headed to Vino di Amore, the only wine tasting bar downtown. Its elegant Italian style interior is adorned with art on every wall in every room, even in the hallway leading to the beautiful patio out back. The high ceilings echoed the melodies of an acoustic guitar being strummed in the corner. With the soft lighting, cracking fireplace in the back room, friendly staff pouring delicious wine, and patrons laughing at a table nearby, it felt like somewhere you could get comfortable and stay a while.
And that’s exactly what you can do, because they serve light meals to go along with your bottle of wine as you listen to live music, which they offer every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Vino di Amore is the exclusive tasting room for Milano Winery, a small family run business in Hopland. If you’re familiar with Hopland, you may recognize the beautiful old Hop Kiln on the left side of Hwy 101 after you cross the bridge into town. Ted and Deanna Starr purchased the property in 2001 and continued the winemaking tradition that has been held on that property since 1977. Deanna, the winemaker, spent 20 years as a nurse and uses her chemistry skills to perfect her wines, and her culinary skills to ensure they pair well with food. Her passion is Port and other sweet, late harvest wines, but she also specializes in more rare varietals such as Carignane, Charbono and Valdiguie.
Milano wines are made in small batches from vineyards throughout Mendocino County and are a variety of blends and single-​vineyard varietals. Deanna’s personal relationship with the winegrowers allows her access to the finest crops, which she will often create wines from exclusively for Wine Club members.
If you don’t feel like driving up to the winery in Hopland, stop into Vino di Amore in Cloverdale for a bite to eat and enjoy the wide variety of exquisite wines that Milano has to offer. Be sure to come on a night when the music is turned up if you’re in the mood for something more lively. You can find their band lineup online at
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Vino di Amore
105 N. Cloverdale Blvd.
707−894−6166
Milano Family Winery
14 594 S. Hwy 101, Hopland
707−744−1396

Love this place! Stopped in for a few hours while my fiancé was abalone diving and felt right at home. Hung out with Tim and shared so many stories. He truly loves being around people and working there.
I will definitely come back and recommend this place to all my friends.

Great place to sit relax and enjoy some fabulous wine along with a little salami, cheese & cracker trays.
Walk around and check out the beautiful art in the gallery and listen to live music on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

This place was a lifesaver for a wine lover in wine country with very few wineries.
We sauntered into town from our campsite to pick up some food and wine. First place we come across is this lil gem of a place.
Tim welcomed us with open arms and was ready to start pouring. It was too danged hot to enjoy any reds (for me) so, I stuck to the whites and really enjoyed their Sunshine Gewürztraminer. Ended up picking up 4 bottles of that through the weekend.
Such a cute tasting room with some of the best wine gifts I’ve ever seen in a place like this. Lots of cool art displayed all around too. and they had a cozy lil sitting room if you had a group of peeps and wanted to just hang and drink all day.

Wandered into Vino di Amore because we heard great music coming from inside. There is a friendly welcoming atmosphere in this tasting room, lead largely by a very gracious and generous host, Tim Moore.
Tim made us feel right at home and alongside engaging conversation about everything under the sun, he was able to educate us on a variety of local wines and vineyards without missing a beat.
A very special place, that we were lucky to find!

Clean and comfortable place for people that enjoy wine. Staff is always friendly and knowledgeable. The selection of wine is large. I like the house sparkling wine: Bubbles di Amore. This is a good place to hang out.

Mazel Tov to Cloverdale and the owners of Vino di Amore whose winery is in Hopland, but decided to open this wine tasting room in Cloverdale. Great idea to put the wine tasting room in the same room as the visitors information center.
I actually stopped in there for a sales call to present my Mobile Marketing System to help them build up and effectively communicate loyalty rewards for their wine club. However, I missed out on meeting the owner for the third time. My wife was with me, and so we decided to do the wine tasting adventure. I’m not a wine connoisseur, and my favorites are usually Manischewitz Concord Grape and Mogen David, basically whatever is sweet and tastes like grapes, not like alcohol. But read on…
Very impressed with the flavors of the wines presented and the ease of their wine tasting venue i.e. x amount of dollars for x amount of wine variety to taste. Their desert wine, I think it was the Milano Tawny 2004, it was the first one listed under their Port selections, was one of the best I’ve ever tasted, and would displace my preference for Manischewitz and Mogen David, except I’m a cheapy and like these under $ 5.00 wines.
Anyway, the other reason for my good rating is because all three of their Wine Tasting Room attendants were very friendly and knowledgeable. One of the disappointing things that is missing from this tasting room is cheese or other foods that go nicely with wine. However, you may like the live music on Fridays as a suitable replacement for food.
I would give it a higher rating but I never received a return call from the owner after three visits to talk to him. But don’t let that stop you from visiting this very nice wine tasting room in Cloverdale. When you visit wine country, don’t make the mistake of just visiting Napa, there are a lot more wineries north of Napa, and into Mendocino County!
Cheers!

A Unique tasting room located in Cloverdale, Ca. offering a wonderful selection of premium wines. Don’t leave without trying a sip of the Mistero, My favorite!