Jodar Vineyard & Winery

Fantastic experience! Excellent food and wine pairing along with great customer service and atmosphere. Beautiful location.

Did a wine tasting at Jodar with my daughter. Mitch is the Babe Ruth of wine tasting hosts. Really enjoyed our time there and the wine is all very good. Thank’s Mitch!

This is a must stop on a day of wine tasting in Apple Hill. If nothing else, show up for a glass of Sangiovese (their specialty) and some of Mitch’s antics. You won’t be disappointed.
Easy to get to — the winery is right off the Carson Rd exit of Hwy 50 (sharp right when you exit the freeway).
Pretty grounds. Ample parking (unless there’s an event of course). Wine tasting room is small and gets packed easily during rush times. If you have a large group you should be courteous and schedule that so I don’t have to throw elbows to get closer to that Sangiovese.
They also usually have something yummy to pair with the wines too.
One of the best table reds you will find is their Vinosaurus Rex. They don’t often have it open to taste so just buy a bottle and thank me later.

Me and a couple of friends discovered this place after spending a day roaming Apple Hill. One of my friends and I had the first 2 pours from a clearly distracted attendant while our other friend used the bathroom. What we tasted was good – so much so that I was thinking of buying half a case. That never happened.
After our friend came from the bathroom, we waited and waited and waited for the attendant to return to give him a tasting glass and to pour our next tasting. We never received even a glance from anyone working in the tasting room. One male attendant was showering the couple next to us with jokes and wine, but never once even noticed our empty glasses (or the fact that one of us had never even been given a glass). The women working the tasting room had sloppily poured our first 2 tastings (with no information about what we were tasting), but by now was gushing over another customer across the room. Apparently she had forgotten about us.
We must had stood there for 5 minutes without so much as anyone even telling us they’d be right with us. So, we walked out. Not sure they even noticed that. Obviously, the people at this place aren’t rude to everyone, but they do seem to have a problem attuning to more than one patron at a time. Maybe you’ll get lucky and be one of the customers they actually serve. Or maybe you’ll be like us and just get ignored. NEVER coming back. There are too many other good tasting rooms to visit where the pourers are actually pleasant for me to spend money at this place.

Mitch will make any wine tasting experience, magical.

Awesome spot. Came in with a groupon, Customer service and quality were superb, great pouring by Mitch.

This was the first time my husband and I have visited Jodar Vineyards. What a fun time we had! The staff there is super friendly and attentive. We had a lot of interaction with Mitch who is hysterical. He had us laughing the entire time as we enjoyed sipping on the delicious wines that were served. Mitch has quite a unique way of describing the wines he is pouring, as well as giving visitors some interesting facts about each one. Mitch paired one of the red wines with smoked salmon. This is a fish he caught fish himself, and which was being smoked on the premises during our tasting. This was a very unique and fun experience! We really enjoyed out time there. We grabbed a quick lunch and a glass of wine on their picnic grounds. There are a few small bistro tables and a larger table for guests to enjoy. If you have a large group though, they do not have a lot of picnic accommodations. This is definitely a winery we would like to revisit sometime.

My review is a few months overdue, however, We went there a group of girls about 8 of us. Had the best time! Mitch was fabulous. We tasted with pairings he provided. Then we had a nice lunch there with our food we brought with a few bottles we purchased of course! The service was superb. Great way to spend the end of the wine trip for sure. We will be going back and have been going there for several years.

Wine club member after supreme service. A great tasting experience is an understatement. Wines are great, beautiful sitting area where you can relax and enjoy a glass.

Awesome place and incredible experience. Fun and knowledgeable staff and excellent wine. The vinosaur and chardonnay are great. The port is good for those who like sweet wines without being overpowering. Will definitely come again!

Wine was great, Susan was great, we’ll be back next time we’re in the area.

If ur a wino, and love wine… come here! The zin, dinosaur rex wine and food black bean cur are amazing! Such a relaxing spot to visit.

Love love love this place. A day at apple hill is always a good day.
This is not only a great place to do a tasting but a great place to pack a picnic lunch and hang out. Buy a bottle of your fav to go with your meal and it’s a sweet deal.
Club members get special little perks like wine pairings, Dinners and BBQ’s.
Vinasauras Rex and apolos lyre are favorites as well as their barbera.

Free wine tastings, beautiful outdoor seating, friendly and knowledgeable employees… excellent!
It was our first stop on Apple Hill and that may have been a mistake because we rushed more than I would’ve liked. Next time it’ll be a mid-​day stop!
Anyhow, walked away with a bottle of the 2011 Cabernet Franc.
Enjoyable place!

The wine was pretty good at at reasonable prices. The tasting room staff was very nice.

Winosaur!
How can you say no to a wine with THAT name?
If you can, you obviously never liked dinosaurs. And that means you suck. :)
Anyway. The tasting room is very nice. I didn’t explore, but it seemed to be just the front area making it nice and cozy. Our pourer was very friendly and knowledgable about the wines. They have a small selection of picnic supplies on hand for you to enjoy on their gorgeous patio area.
The reds I tasted were all wonderful but we decided to take advantage of the case sale (who seriously wouldn’t?).
Wines are reasonably priced and the wine club seems fun, but didn’t join since I have four wine clubs already.

A good place to swing by if you are in apple hill. The tasting were free and you get a full shot sample. We had about six different wines, but none of it was to my liking. Except for their port. It was not too sweet compare to other ports that I tried. It taste so much better with the fudge that they were pairing it with. I was glad that we stop by here. Ended up going home with a bottle of port.

What a GREAT place! I cannot wait to go back!
While most places like for you to call and make an appointment… we forgot… this place didn’t care at all!
I came here with a bachelorette party and we were greeted by MITCH! He sat us all outside on a grassy lawn with a view of their vineyard. It was sooooo beautiful and peaceful!
Mitch came to us and poured all our wines that were available to taste. He explained what to taste and what it would go good with! He told us how to make his secret wine dessert! **If you want to know it… go ask him! Its amazing!**
After all the tasting… and no rushing… he gave us a group bottle purchase discount. We walked away with a case full of amazing wines!
When we were packing up and walking back to our limo… the battery ended up dying too. So what did Mitch do? Why he opened up one of our bottles and poured it for us in our glasses and helped us continue to have a FUN time while waiting for the limo to get a jump start!
Fun, friendly people, and good wine!

We always stop by this winery when tasting in the Foothills area. Recent visit with friends was especially memorable due to the excellent service & hospitality shown by Mitch, who graciously — and with great humor — walked us patiently through Jodar’s various wine samples and specials. We ended up buying 2 cases among the 6 of us, largely because of Mitch — and of course the reds were very good (especially the Barbera). If you like ports, their port is also a good find. Am not usually a fan, but I do enjoy Jodar’s port.
Check this place out when wine-​tasting in the El Dorado region, easy access off Hwy. 50. Scenic picnic grounds. Have always enjoyed it here and friends have never been disappointed when visiting for the first time.

Found this place to be a little odd…
My two friends and I came here on our Apple Hill Wine Tasting excursion and it is actually one of my friends favorite wineries, but my other friend and I thought it wasn’t as great.
Their tasting is free, I only ended up trying one white because that is all they had. What??? Ok… My two friends tried some of the reds which one of them really liked and the other thought they were only ok because she’s not a big red wine fan.
What I found odd is that when one of them tasted something she didn’t like, and asked for a cracker, the tasting room assistant pulled a bowl of crackers out from behind the bar, my friend grabbed one, and then she put the bowl of crackers back out of sight behind the bar. I don’t know if spending $ 3 at the store for a box of 150 saltine crackers is too much for them, but I just found it odd they wouldn’t have any available and would hide what they did have?
Also what was weird is they had little desserts under glass on two big serving dishes. These dishes were placed all the way at the end of the bar on a shorter table so they were hidden unless you walked over there. We were never offered one or offered to pair one with wine (even for $) so I don’t know why these were hidden and not offered either. It’s not like this place was packed, we were the only ones in there the entire time.
The tasting room assistant Malissa was friendly enough, even offered a small pour of something that wasn’t on the tasting list after my friend mentioned she had it last time and loved it and took a picture of all three of us.
The grounds weren’t all that pretty and I think more attention could have been spent on them. There was a small lawn with some trees and a BBQ, but the railing on the deck outside of the tasting room was made of rebar… Another oddity.