Testarossa FAQs
We are doing curbside pickup at the winery Thursdays – Sundays from 1pm – 5:30pm. No appointment is necessary, but it is strongly recommended that wine orders are placed in advance of pickup by ordering online, emailing clubt@testarossa.com, or calling 408-354-6150 x136. To do curbside pickup, follow the signs to our upper parking lot and park in our designated curbside pickup spaces. Once parked, call the pickup extension listed on your stall and we can bring any wine you have on hold out to your trunk.
You may also pick up your wine while tasting in our Outdoor Tasting Patio, Wine Bar 107, or JRS Terrace & Patio. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
If your wine is returned we will contact you when it comes back to us to confirm your address and coordinate a time to reship. If you are a pick up member and your wine was shipped because it wasn’t picked up by our deadline we will return your wine to our will call area automatically.
We use UPS for all of our shipping orders. Once orders are in transit you will receive a tracking number sent to the email address we have on file. A signature from someone over 21 is required in order to receive a package, so we encourage you to use a business address or a UPS holding facility if possible that way we can guarantee that it will be signed for. Packages are delivered Monday through Friday.
Wine is fragile and can be damaged when exposed to extreme temperatures. We want to be sure the wine you receive is in top quality, so we delay shipment to states that are exposed to extreme heat or cold along the transit routes to the destination point. All accumulated orders will be shipped together once safe temperatures are reached and will only ship after a communicative email is sent. We hold shipments where temperatures are below 32 degrees and above 90 degrees Fahrenheit along transit routes to the final destination point. All wine is kept in our temperature controlled cellars in the meantime.
We have a 100% quality guarantee for all of our wines so if you suspect you have an off-bottle let us know and we will be happy to replace it!
We use TOCK for booking reservations for Tasting experiences, Testarossa University, Club Events, and Wine Bar 107. Login using the email address we have on file is required for payed ticketed events like Testarossa University or Wine Club Events to ensure your member discount. Login is also required to access the JRS Terrace. You can find a list of our current openings by following these links: TASTING/WINE BAR 107/JRS TERRACE, WINE CLUB EVENTS, TESTAROSSA UNIVERSITY. Please see our support page or email concierge@testaross.com if you need any assistance.
With regard to the Wine & Food Event, two of the many changes we implemented during the last seven years were starting, and sadly needing to discontinue, our three year run of the one-day Testarossa Wine & Food event. Yes, it was a super fun and critically successful event. Michelin three star chef David Kinch of Manresa even told us it was the best run event of its kind he attended. However, due in large part to the very expensive shuttling costs we ended up losing over $300,000 in that three year run. After lots of head scratching and thinking of ways we could make this event at least break even financially, we did not see that there was a way to stem the six figure annual losses and still have a great event.
As a family owned business, with two kids in college at the time, we simply couldn’t afford to lose that type of money every year on a one day event. In addition to those loses, the event was simply too overwhelming for our staff to try to plan and execute every year on top of them still being responsible for all of their regular full time job responsibilities. So… yes, it was a lot of fun, but, alas, it lost too much money and was killing our most valuable assets, our long term employees and managers. Alas, it is not something we will be bringing back. Instead, hopefully, everyone will have had a chance to attend some of our other smaller, more intimate events like our grower’s lunch series, our new Farm-to-Table dinners, and the myriad of other Elevated Tastings and Testarossa University classes that occur virtually every week, all year round.
Despite having public occupancy permits for these areas, the County told us that we were going to have to stop using these additional areas until fire sprinkler and alarm systems are installed. We will be installing the necessary additions and will also be installing new emergency exits with handicap ramps for these areas. We hope to break ground on these improvements this year with the goal of having the Back Cellars not only reopened, but also completely renovated by 2021.
We had become victims of our own success. The wines were never better and friends were telling their friends about the great experiences they were having at Testarossa which brought more visitors.
With the reduction of our Tasting and guest spaces by 50% due to extended temporary closing of our Back Cellars, our main Tasting Room quickly filled to over the Fire Department’s maximum occupancy limit at peak times on weekends. The Tasting Room was also so overcrowded to the point that no one, not Club Members, not Guests and not even our staff could have a good experience. We were losing both Wine Club Members and staff due to this “controlled chaos” where we had no way to control or direct who walked into any of our Tasting Areas. In addition, we were concerned that the Fire Department could completely shut down all of our public access until we were able to manage how many people were in any give space. If we could not ensure maximum occupancy limits of our public spaces by not controlling them, we could have been put out of business. We simply could no longer let club members and visitors go to whichever tasting area they chose without checking in because of the safety issues.
One area of confusion though, is our Club Member Priority model does not guarantee never having to wait. If a Tasting Area is full, sometimes with nearly 100% Club Members, then there will still be a wait until someone leaves and a new space is freed up. Much like a popular restaurant can’t seat a regular guest immediately if every seat in the restaurant is full. There is a maximum limit to the amount of guests we can give a fantastic experience to in any given Tasting Area. To have the best possible experience for our visitors and staff, we strictly limit the number of guests in any Tasting Area to 10 visitors per Testarossa Team Member. In some instances, to the passerby, it may look like the Tasting Room is not full. In almost all of these cases it is because a Tasting Room Team Member (or two, or three) called in sick, or we are struggling, like so many other service industry companies, to hire enough qualified Team Members to fully staff for our needs.
Given the above, our Welcome Centers are open on weekends and busy holidays to ensure that we are in compliance with county safety standards and can maintain a great guest experience.
We currently do not have plans to add additional seating on the JRS Terrace and Lounge. That being said, as part of our new Testarossa2020 initiative, we are hoping to install a guest restroom off of the JRS Lounge as well as an elevator that will eliminate the need to use stairs to access these special historic spaces.
We couldn’t be prouder of Bill Brosseau and his winemaking team who were awarded Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine (CGCW)’s Winery of the Year this past January 2020! This award reflects the investments we have made over the last two and half decades in working with only the highest quality vineyards, as well as significant investments in top winemaking talent, and cutting-edge winemaking equipment.
Despite all of these costly investments, we are proud that Testarossa’s average wine prices are lower than any of the other recent CGCW Winery of the Year winners. To answer the question, to achieve the highest quality in our industry it takes a lot of investment. When it comes to value, Testarossa wines, when compared to the other Winery of the Year winners are the least expensive of the group, and thus a great value for the price.
Testarossa Wine Club FAQs
We produce some of the most highly rated Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from California’s most premium vineyards. Joining Club Testarossa is the only way to guarantee that you can get an allocation. Membership also comes with an extensive benefits package. Learn more
Your benefits start immediately upon sign up and you can find a full list of your club benefits HERE.
It is free to sign up and you will be billed starting with the release following your sign up. You can find a list of our average pricing for our clubs here. Many of our wines are exclusive to club members and select Single Vineyard wines that are in distribution will never beat your club price.
Your club level is shorthand for which benefits package you receive. We like to reward our most loyal members, so we increase the scope of our benefits package to correlate with increased spending over the previous 12 months. Your base level is tied to how many bottles you get allocated per release, but if you spend the equivalent of a higher allocation level by purchasing bottles outside of your regular club releases we will raise your club level when the next base is hit. Each level can be reached by purchasing around the following within the previous 12 months: Copper: under 18 bottles; Silver: 3 cases or more; Gold: 4.5 cases or more; Platinum: 9 cases or more. All purchases at Testarossa contribute towards your club level including wine, merchandise, and club events (Corporate or Social events through our Events Department are excluded). More information
Each year we pick the best barrels of our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the vintage and blend them into our Diana’s Chardonnay and Niclaire Pinot Noir. These are the ultimate expression of our wines and they are highly rated every vintage. Existing Club Testarossa members can augment their membership by becoming part of our ‘Jensen Reserve Society’ (JRS) by getting a case or more allocated to them each vintage. We also give exclusive benefits to JRS members after the first allocation is purchased. Due to the limited production of these wines, the only way to guarantee that you can try each vintage of our Jensen Reserve wines is by becoming a member of JRS. Membership is limited to existing Club Testarossa members. More information about JRS.
Your rank is determined by how much you have spent over the past 12 months compared to other members. We host exclusive events and open up sales for some small lot wines depending on where you fall on the ranking list.
You can switch your club enrollment anytime by emailing clubt@testarossa.com, calling (408) 354-6150 x136, or by talking to anyone in our tasting rooms or Wine Bar 107.
Find here our full release schedule for the year. If you aren’t sure which club you are in you can contact us at clubt@testarossa.com.
We always encourage you to try the wines that come in each release, but you are welcome to swap bottles out for items of equal or greater value when picking up your club releases in our Tasting Rooms or Wine Bar. You can also exchange wines prior to pickup or shipment by emailing clubt@testarossa.com.
We have events throughout the year which include, but are not limited to:
- Grower Luncheons: These are intimate gatherings that occur with most Single Vineyard club releases during the year and feature a vineyard manager from the respective Vineyard associated with each release. Proprietors Rob & Diana Jensen as well as our Director of Winemaking Bill Brosseau are often in attendance.
- JRS Release Party: a party held once a year to celebrate the release of our Jensen Reserve Wines. This event is exclusive to JRS members.
- Platinum Party: Each summer we invite our Platinum members to come enjoy lunch and library wines as we celebrate each new vintage of Pisoni Pinot Noir.
- Barrel Tasting: Try our newest vintage Pinot Noir’s while still in barrel at our annual Barrel Tasting event
- Harvest Experience: Put your stamp on the vintage by performing grape sorting, punch downs, barrel stirring and other tasks with our production crew.
- Harvest Dinner: A five-course meal prepared by our culinary team that is paired with current vintage and library wines at the conclusion of each year’s harvest.
- Vineyard Trip: An annual trip to the Santa Lucia Highlands where you can get a tour of some of our favorite vineyards.
- Salon Tasting: This is an intimate and seated tasting flight hosted by a member of our Education Team. Reservations can be made in our webstore.
- Los Gatos Wine & Cheese Experience: This is an intimate tour by one of our Wine Educator’s through our historical cellars and production areas and gives a history of the Novitiate and the Jensen Family. The tour ends with a private salon-style tasting with a selection of artisan cheeses.
- Testarossa University: In depth educational courses that cover various topics across the wine world. New classes are always coming out throughout the year and are led by our Education team.
- Testarossa Experience Tour and Tasting: Four complimentary tickets per year are given to members. This is a tour of our winery and production areas and ends with a tasting flight.
Reservations can be made on CellarPass or through specific links sent on the event invitation.
Of course! We will just need to get your information and the recipient’s information along with the duration of the membership and we can get them started! Give us a call at (408) 354-6150 x136 to start the membership.
We always send an email out on billing dates and send occasional emails out throughout the month. We encourage everyone to have an active email with us because that is our primary form of communication and it will keep you in the loop about general happenings around Testarossa as well as when your card is billed and when new releases become available.
If you haven’t received any emails we encourage you to check your spam folder and make sure that we have been white listed on your account.
If you have previously unsubscribed from our list you can whitelist us by entering your information here. It is also possible that we have a typo in your address so you can call us at (408) 354-6150 x136 to make sure that we have it entered correctly.
Please refer to our Online Support Page in the Update Credit Card section. You can also update in either of our Tasting Rooms or by calling (408) 354-6150 x136.
Because of limited storage space at the winery, we have pick up deadlines for our club releases before they are shipped to your address on file. As a Portfolio Series Club member we have a period of about three months before the pick up deadline for each release. As a Single Vineyard Club member, if three consecutive club releases are not picked up, usually over a period of about four months, they will be shipped. Pick up reminders will be sent prior to shipment and we are happy to extend pickup windows upon request. We do not currently have pick up deadlines for Jensen Reserve Society releases.
If you need to make any adjustments to your order after it has left our warehouse give us a call at (408) 354-6150 x136 or email us at clubt@testarossa.com and we will make any necessary interventions.
We are happy to group club releases and ship them in whatever interval you prefer. This has the double benefit of saving you money on shipping costs and decreasing the frequency that you need to coordinate signing for packages. Email us to arrange a new release shipment interval.
Give us an email at clubt@testarossa.com and let us know. We can delay the shipment to whatever date you choose or we can group it with the following club release.
Of course! All of our wines are small production so many sell out soon after release. Increasing your allocation is the best way to be sure that you can get enough of each wine before the next vintage is released. Emailing clubt@testarossa.com is the best way to increase your allocation.
If your needs fall outside of our regular wine club options we’re happy to accommodate you however we can. Shoot us an email at clubt@testarossa.com or call us at (408) 354-6150 x136 and we will be happy to chat!
Only two people can be tied to each membership and club benefits are only redeemable to members who are present at the winery. Club discounts are applicable to members and this does not extend to guests of members. We offer a referral program to those who recruit friends to the club! Contact us for more information.
Is your question not answered?
Contact us at clubt@testarossa.com or call us at 408-354-6150 x136.