The Experience At Crystal Basin Cellars
Crystal Basin Cellars History
Founder Mike Owen’s family started making wine at home in 1980. Between college years, Mike and a friend dug out the basement of his parent’s house in 1981 so wine could be made there by his parents from local grapes grown by friends. Taking the winemaking reins in 1988, Mike led a group of friends towards a production level that reached 20 barrels. That’s almost 500 cases! That amount was too much for the space under the house and Mike’s Mom encouraged the group to “Get a Room”. With his wife Melissa’s support, the goal of commercial production was attained in 2000 with a move to Gold Hill Vineyard. The winery found its footing there and production there hosted the 2000 thru 2005 vintages. September of 2006, the winery moved to its current location on Carson Road in Camino’s Apple Hill. The winery thrived and grew to maturity with successive vintages winning multiple Gold medals at major competitions. Our winery is well supported by a large number of passionate wine club members and aspires to show the best wines with El Dorado fruit aligned with the finest hospitality.
The Crystal Basin Cellars Winery
Our 80-year-old building has been a pear barn, a cider house, a box manufacturing facility, an apple barn and now it’s a grape barn! In fact, the building was the second winery to be licensed in El Dorado County in 1973 after the end of Prohibition. We finished construction of two storage buildings early in 2024 after an arduous effort with local permitting rules. The new buildings enclose our patio area, creating a quiet retreat to enjoy wine outdoors. We are always proud to refer customers to our neighboring wineries on Carson Road, based on their wine preferences.
The Crystal Basin Cellars Winery
Our 80-year-old building has been a pear barn, a cider house, a box manufacturing facility, an apple barn and now it’s a grape barn! In fact, the building was the second winery to be licensed in El Dorado County in 1973 after the end of Prohibition. We finished construction of two storage buildings early in 2024 after an arduous effort with local permitting rules. The new buildings enclose our patio area, creating a quiet retreat to enjoy wine outdoors. We are always proud to refer customers to our neighboring wineries on Carson Road, based on their wine preferences.
Meet Our Crystal Basin Cellars Team
Crystal Basin Cellars boasts the best wine team in the Sierra Foothills. Erich, our production staff leader, may not be on site when you visit, but you can be assured that the focus is on creating the most flavorful wines from the local grapes from El Dorado County.
Our Camino hospitality team players — KZ, Chris, Barbara, and Mike — provide a wine tasting experience that is one part fun, one part information, and a price-to-value that is second to none. We call our style of service “legendary foothill hospitality!”
The Camino winery regularly hosts fun events including a Crab Feed, OysterFest, Gold Medal Tasting, Taste of Italy and Stroll Thru Bordeaux. We’ve event hosted grape stomps and pool parties!
Our Crystal Basin Station tasting room in Folsom features the hospitality of Melissa and Lori. These folks run the finest little tasting room on Sutter Street.
You might find Ritch, Chip or Lydia at either of our locations!
El Dorado County Grapes
El Dorado County grapes were originally planted by the gold miners in the 1850s and 1860s. These hearty souls created a legacy that we follow today by crafting the best wines in our own unique style by showcasing the amazing flavors created by our soil, climate and precipitation.
Our approach is to only buy grapes from a 30-mile radius around our winery. We like it Local! El Dorado County has vineyards ranging from 600 feet to 3400 feet in elevation. The elevation and the topograph create the wide temperature swings late in fall – aka Indian Summer – to create grape flavors that cannot be found in other regions. Almost 100 types of wine grapes are grown in our region – and we never met a grape we didn’t like!
El Dorado County Grapes
El Dorado County grapes were originally planted by the gold miners in the 1850s and 1860s. These hearty souls created a legacy that we follow today by crafting the best wines in our own unique style by showcasing the amazing flavors created by our soil, climate and precipitation.
Our approach is to only buy grapes from a 30-mile radius around our winery. We like it Local! El Dorado County has vineyards ranging from 600 feet to 3400 feet in elevation. The elevation and the topograph create the wide temperature swings late in fall – aka Indian Summer – to create grape flavors that cannot be found in other regions. Almost 100 types of wine grapes are grown in our region – and we never met a grape we didn’t like!