Placer County wine tasting and charcuterie for only $25? Here’s where we tried it
Wine tastings, especially in the rich Northern California grape growing regions, are often a luxury. Steep price tags and difficult-to-obtain reservations make spending an afternoon at a vineyard exclusive to special occasions.
In the Placer County foothills, one winery is subverting expectations and offering wine tasting experiences at a staggeringly low cost. Cristaldi Vineyards, 4020 Ridge Drive in Loomis, is a five-acre vineyard that produces a variety of organic wines.
Roughly one weekend per month, the family running Cristaldi opens their winery to the public for ultra-low-cost wine tasting and charcuterie experiences.
Usually, for The Bee’s On a Budget series, readers send in their recommendations for low-cost eateries throughout the region.
However, this tip came from the Terra Madre Americas festival held in Sacramento in September. Cristaldi Vineyards’s owner and head winemaker, Dave Brockman, eagerly introduced his business while tabling at the event and his clever business card — simply an extra wine label from producing his wines — stayed with me all these months later.
When he told me about his $25 wine tastings, I knew I had to make the trek to Loomis to try it for myself.
Here’s everything I got at Cristaldi Vineyards on a $25 budget:
What is Cristaldi Vineyards like?
Visitors to Cristaldi should avoid wearing stiletto heels and their finest outfits — there’s a five-minute hike from the unpaved parking lot on the side of the road to the winery.
A cypress-lined path opens to a view of wine grapes and a Spanish-style building in the distance. After a short walk along a gravel road, visitors arrive at the winery building, surrounded by tables overlooking the vineyard.
Brockman himself is one of a few employees who greets his guests. All visitors are encouraged to enjoy the experience slowly, savoring the glasses of wine and light bites that come with the experience.
Every table is meticulously set with a menu and a wine glass, and a small vase holding grissini, those thin Italian breadsticks, is brought out as the wine tasting experience begins.
Prepaid reservations are required, and they can be made on the Cristaldi Vineyards website.
Everything I got for $25 at the Loomis winery
The $25 per person Cristaldi Estate Agriturismo Tasting Experience comes with a set of five wines grown and made in-house, along with a curated charcuterie board for each guest.
Cristaldi’s wines are a unique selection with a diverse set of bold flavors. The tasting starts with the light prosecco-style L’Acqua Pazza, a crisp, smooth summery bubbly.
After guests whet their palate with the initial sparkling wine, the Cristaldi team brings out a sweet white wine. On the day I visited, it was the Cluster Fox, a three-grape blend.
Along with this refreshing wine, Brockman’s wife, Ramona Brockman, brings out charcuterie pairings she assembled for each tasting menu. Cheeses, fruit paste, olives, tapenade dip and cured meats were carefully chosen to complement the notes in each wine.
Following the white wines, I received the first of three red wines, a lightly acidic and fruity dolcetto wine. Dolcetto translates to “little sweet one,” though the term does not accurately describe the dry red wine.
A southern Italian-inspired aglianico red came next, paired with a creamy and salty toma cheese on the platter. This blackcurrant-forward wine is a point of pride for the Cristaldi team, as it is featured in the 2026 USA Slow Wine Guide, which honors wineries that follow ethical and sustainable production practices.
The final of the five-wine lineup was a rich, full-bodied syrah, featuring the varietal’s distinct peppery notes with a surprisingly strong hit of sweet vanilla flavors.
Each wine pour was generous, between 1–2 ounces, with a decent serving of charcuterie bites. In addition, Brockman said his wine grapes are all organic, and each bottle is served unfiltered to extract as much flavor from the grapes as possible.
During or after the tasting, guests can purchase a bottle of the wines poured during the tasting or any of the winery’s other offerings. Bottles are a reasonable cost for local wine, ranging from $24-38 for the vintages most recently served.
Is Cristaldi Vineyards affordable for a local wine tasting?
The Loomis winery offers one of the cheapest wine tasting experiences around, especially considering the included personal charcuterie board.
With the winery situated so close to most of the Sacramento area, it makes for an incredibly easy early afternoon activity, wine tasting without shelling out exorbitant amounts for admission — and a tank of gas nowadays.
For folks who are looking for an even more affordable experience, or who would prefer to skip the charcuterie, a wine-only tasting costs just $15 per person. Plus, guests are supporting a Placer County family that has been growing and producing sustainable organic wine in the region for more than 20 years.
I enthusiastically recommend this to any wine lover or wine-curious people who may otherwise be hesitant to book a wine tasting experience due to the price.
