What to Expect at a LOLA Wine Tasting
A Complete Guide for First-Time Visitors
You are not in the wrong place at LOLA. You are in exactly where you belong.
The LOLA House tasting experience was built around a single conviction: that wine is more fun when it's shared without pretense, that curiosity matters more than expertise, and that the best thing a host can do is make you feel so comfortable that you forget to be nervous and just start enjoying yourself. That is what Jarred, Caitlin, Ryan, and the rest of the LOLA team show up to do every single day.
Here is everything you need to know before you arrive.
Let's be honest about something. Walking into a Napa Valley winery for the first time can be intimidating. The terminology. The prices. The unspoken sense that you're supposed to already know things. That you're supposed to have opinions about tannin structure and malolactic fermentation and whether the oak is French or American, and that if you don't, you might be in the wrong place.
Where We Are and How to Get Here
The LOLA House sits at 916 Foothill Boulevard in Calistoga — on Highway 29 at the northernmost end of Napa Valley, just before the town of Calistoga proper. You'll recognize it by the vine-post fence and the restored Victorian facade that has stood on this spot since 1892. Parking is available on site. The drive from downtown Napa takes approximately 45 minutes and is, by any measure, one of the more beautiful drives in California.
We are open daily from 11am to 5pm. Tastings are by appointment and can be booked at lolawines.com or by calling us at (707) 342-0623. For day-of reservations, always call directly — we do our best to accommodate. The tasting fee is $35 per person, waived with a three-bottle purchase. For groups of seven or more, the fee is $60 per person.
We are dog-friendly, family-friendly, and genuinely happy to see you regardless of how much you know about wine coming in.
The Team You'll Meet
Jarred LaPeire
Caitlin Zitko
Ryan Hoffman
And then sometimes — if your curiosity is showing, if the conversation has gone somewhere interesting, if Jarred or Caitlin or Ryan simply feels like sharing something special — there is a sixth pour. An unlisted wine. A small, unannounced gift of something unexpected. It might be a barrel sample, a rare varietal not on the current menu, or a wine that Seth made in quantities too small to feature formally. It is never guaranteed. It is always, when it happens, the thing guests talk about most when they leave.
That instinct — to surprise, to go a little further than required, to treat each tasting as an opportunity rather than a transaction — is as close to a LOLA house rule as anything written down.
What the Tasting Looks Like
When you arrive, you'll be welcomed and shown to your seat — either inside the historic rooms near the fireplace, or outside on the garden patio under the palm trees, depending on the season and your preference. The space is intimate and unhurried. There is no sense of being moved through an experience on a schedule.
Your host will spend a few minutes getting a sense of who you are and what you're curious about. Are you a white wine drinker who has never explored anything beyond Chardonnay? Are you a red wine devotee looking for something that surprises you? Are you a complete beginner who doesn't know where to start? Are you a serious enthusiast who wants to talk terroir and vintage variation for an hour? All of these are welcome. All of these are, in fact, wonderful starting points.
You'll taste five wines, typically structured as three whites and two reds, or two whites and three reds — shifting seasonally depending on what Seth is most excited about pouring at any given moment. The flight might open with a succession of aromatic whites you've genuinely never encountered — Malvasia Bianca, Vermentino, Albariño, Fiano, dry Muscat aged in clay jars — and move through to reds that range from the bright and structured to the deeply rare, like LOLA's Charbono from head-trained vines planted in the 1940s. Every pour comes with a real story about the vineyard, the vintage, the grape, and why Seth decided it was worth making.
Coming to Discover, Staying to Enjoy
One of the things guests consistently say about the LOLA tasting experience is that it changed something for them. That they arrived thinking wine was not really their thing, or that Napa was not really for them, and left with a bottle of Chenin Blanc and a genuine enthusiasm for a grape they had never heard of before.
That is the ambition. Not to overwhelm. Not to perform. But to put something genuinely interesting and alive in your glass, have an honest conversation about where it came from and how it was made, and trust that the wine — and the people pouring it — will do the rest.
That is what Jarred, Caitlin, Ryan, and the whole LOLA team are here to create. Every day, with every guest, without exception.
A Few Practical Things to Know
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Reservations
strongly recommended, especially on weekends. Book at lolawines.com or call (707) 342-0623 for day-of availability.
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Cancellations
within 24 hours incur the $35 per person fee. We are a small, family-run operation and last-minute cancellations directly affect our ability to host other guests. We appreciate your understanding.
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Dogs
Always welcome. Well-behaved ones — though in our experience, well-behaved dogs and wine lovers tend to find each other naturally.
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Children
Of course allowed. The LOLA House is a family place in every sense of the word.
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Groups of seven or more
Book in advance at the $60 per person rate. For private events and special occasions, reach us at lola@lolawines.com.
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The food pairing
Bottarga and Karasumi from Cortez Conservas — is available as an add-on to any tasting. Jarred's knowledge of how each wine interacts with each element of the pairing makes this an experience within an experience.
Napa Valley has more than 400 wineries. Most offer a competent, pleasant tasting. A smaller number offer something you remember for years.
The difference is always the people.
At LOLA, Jarred, Caitlin, and Ryan are not performing hospitality — they are sharing wines they genuinely love, in a 130-year-old restored house in Calistoga, poured for guests whose questions and reactions actually matter. Seth and Rafa built it that way on purpose.
Guests who come once tend to come back.
We hope to see you soon.