Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Wow! Yester California Adventure has truly unique theme park attractions—like this seven-minute film providing a “behind-the-scenes introduction” to winegrowing. Head over to the Barrel Room at the Golden Vine Winery for Seasons of the Vine.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Theater in the stone winery building

The Barrel Room is inside a rustic stone building on the edge of the Yester California Adventure parade route, where you might see Eureka! - The California Adventure Parade. There are a couple ways to get to the entrance of the Barrel Room. The most fun is to take the pathway behind the building, which is planted with Johannisberg Riesling grapes.

Photo by Tony “WisebearAZ” Moore, 2003

A Wine Ambassador at the entrance is ready to greet you.

The Barrel Room is staffed by Robert Mondavi-trained Wine Ambassadors. Other Robert Mondavi-trained Wine Ambassadors at this winery-within-a-park can answer your questions and provide further information about the winegrowing process. The Wine Ambassadors may also guide you through wine tastings. They offer insight into the character of the wines and provide tips on serving and food pairings.

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003

Open doors welcoming you to Seasons of the Vine

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

“Wine of California is Bottled Poetry” —Robert Louis Stevenson

You found the entrance. You’re about to enter the Barrel Room.

As you enter, there’s a quotation from Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson (but see how the painter spelled Louis). Yes, he really did write the phrase “bottled poetry” about California wine in The Silverado Squatters, his 1883 book about his honeymoon trip to the Napa Valley:

Wine in California is still in the experimental stage; and when you taste a vintage, grave economical questions are involved. The beginning of vine-planting is like the beginning of mining for the precious metals: the wine-grower also “Prospects.” One corner of land after another is tried with one kind of grape after another. This is a failure; that is better; a third best. So, bit by bit, they grope about for their Clos Vougeot and Lafite. Those lodes and pockets of earth, more precious than the precious ores, that yield inimitable fragrance and soft fire; those virtuous Bonanzas, where the soil has sublimated under sun and stars to something finer, and the wine is bottled poetry: these still lie undiscovered; chaparral conceals, thicket embowers them; the miner chips the rock and wanders farther, and the grizzly muses undisturbed. But there they bide their hour, awaiting their Columbus; and nature nurses and prepares them. The smack of Californian earth shall linger on the palate of your grandson.

The quotation at the entrance to Seasons of the Vine is more succinct, even though it’s not what Stevenson wrote.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Plenty of seats.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

The barrels of the Barrel Room

Take a seat in the Barrel Room. The cool, intimate space is designed to look like a wine aging room in the California Wine Country. Real, handcrafted oak wine barrels line the wall of the theater. (They’re empty, so don’t even think about trying to tap into one.)

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

What’s beyond the doors?

Your Wine Ambassador slides open the massive doors in the front of the Barrel Room to reveal a vineyard with workers tending the grapes. It’s a movie, not a real vineyard, but it’s a pleasant effect.

When your Wine Ambassador stops talking, the film’s narrator takes over. The narrator speaks with an aristocratic accent. As you watch scenes of beautiful vineyards through the seasons, the narrator tells you about the history of wine in California; what happens in the vineyards in winter, spring, summer, and fall; how “the winemakers work their magic,” and how the wine is carefully aged in oak and finally bottled. You’ll even learn about the “villains of spring”—insects, heavy rains, and frost.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Narrator: “Here in the Wine Country, life is on a timeless journey through the Seasons of the Vine, a journey that began in the 1700s, when missions planted vines brought to the New World by Spanish Conquistadors. During the Gold Rush of 1849, European Immigrants arrived bringing wine grape varieties from France, Germany, and Italy. Their vineyards took root and thrived. After a hundred years of planting and harvesting, California was finally recognized as a World Class winegrowing region.”

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Narrator: “Today, visitors from all over the world come to explore the vineyards and taste the wines of a new generation of California winemakers. But while years pass, and generations change, the vineyard continues its timeless journey.”

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Narrator: “Summer dawns, filled with hope. The days begin cool and foggy, then turn warm and sunny. The grapes thrive in this climate of contrasts. They begin to develop the character, color, and taste unique to each wine grape variety.”

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Narrator: “Finally, autumn arrives. Every day the grapes are tasted and tested. And when the winemaker decides that the flavor is perfect, the grapes must be picked immediately.”

When the movie is over, your Wine Ambassador closes the doors in front of the movie screen, thanks you, hopes you enjoyed Seasons of the Vine, and directs you to the exit. If you have questions, there are Wine Ambassadors outside the theater to answer them. If the film inspired you to have a glass of wine (and you’re at least 21), you won’t have far to go.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007

Wine by the glass at the Golden Vine Winery

Seasons of the Vine was one of the original attractions when Disney’s California Adventure opened in February 2001.

The musical score for Seasons of the Vine was by Emmy Award-winning TV and film composer Bruce Broughton. The narrator was Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons. But Seasons of the Vine was just a film. It lacked any “gimmick” that might have made it into a real theme park attraction. (And, no, the barn doors in front of the screen don’t count.) It was a nice, well-made educational film. And nothing more.

Seasons of the Vine was part of the Golden Vine Winery, presented by Robert Mondavi. The winery also included an actual vineyard, the Vineyard Room fine dining restaurant, several wine tasting bars, the gourmet Wine Country Market delicatessen and wine shop, and the outdoor Golden Vine Terrace where you could enjoy your Wine Country Market purchases.

The idea was that the Robert Mondavi Winery would introduce new or “marginal” wine drinkers to Mondavi’s premium wines. At the Disney park, Mondavi would reach ten times as many people as at their actual wineries—a number almost equal to the entire Napa Valley visitor business. Shortly before the grand opening of Disney’s California Adventure, the wine trade website WineBusiness.com called Mondavi’s presence at the new Disney park “a marketing coup through which it will likely introduce premium California wines to millions of visitors.”

It wasn’t such a coup after all.

According to Wine Business Monthly in November 2001, “Mondavi announced it is no longer operating the Golden Vine Winery complex at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim, California. The Golden Vine offered restaurants, a demonstration vineyard, and winetasting bars. Only Mondavi wines were served. Mondavi said its role had shifted from ‘partner’ to ‘sponsor’, and was writing off a $12-$13 million loss.”

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2003

Golden Vine Winery

Photo by Photo by Tony “WisebearAZ” Moore, 2001

Seasons of the Vine theater, with Grizzly Peak looming above

Seasons of the Vine survived Mondavi’s exit. Although operating hours were limited, guests could still enter the Barrel Room theater and see the film about wine.

On March 30, 2008, Seasons of the Vine closed forever. The rest of the Golden Vine Winery continues to operate for now, as it has since Disney took over operations and modified the offerings.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2009

The former Seasons of the Vine theater became Blue Sky Cellar

The former theater reopened on October 20, 2008, as Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar, a preview center. Guests could see models, artwork, and videos of the changes being made to Disney’s California Adventure and Disneyland Park. The interior kept its barrel room look and winery vibe. For almost six years, Disney did a good job updating the exhibits as most of the concepts became realities. But at the end of September 2013, the doors were locked, although the sign remained.

During Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival of 2016 and 2017, the building, still with its Blue Sky Cellar sign, served as the Disneyland Annual Passholder lounge—complete with Seasons of the Vine playing on the video screen. It appears this will be an annual tradition—at least until Blue Sky Cellar returns to being a preview center or the building takes on a new use.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016

Seasons of the Vine at Epcot

Speaking of annual traditions, Seasons of the Vine has been an annual tradition at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival since 2009. It’s shown in the theater that was home to The Making of Me when the Festival Center was the Wonders of Life pavilion.

In a way, Seasons of the Vine hasn’t really gone to Yesterland, even though it’s no longer a year-round attraction at Disney California Adventure.

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Updated January 12, 2018.