Winery Recommendations For A Good Bottle of Wine in Paso Robles

Seeking an Interesting Bottle of Wine in Paso Robles

For a Good Bottle of Wine in Paso Robles, here are our recommendations. We’ve written about the wineries with links. In the age of Covid 19 call to make reservations as space is limited at most wineries.

Highway 46 Corridor

Tobin James, East Side Paso, Hwy 46 as you enter Paso from the east. Check out Ballistic (Zin) and ‘5’ a Bordeaux style blend. $20 tasting fee for non-members.

Eos Winery, Hwy 46 @ Airport Road  has closed so Halter Ranch acquired it and opened an east side tasting room.

Still Waters Winery – Review to come soon – Good wines, Viognier & Cuvee stand out, great garden concert series. Ask for wine hosts Ed or Nikki.

Eberle Winery – The wines don’t sing for us, but they might for you. You need to tour their Caves & check out their dogs. The dogs will literally stick to you (especially if you have some cheese crackers.)

Robert Hall – Make sure to go on the Cave tour. We tasted a wonderful Merlot from the barrel (and Merlot is not our wine of choice.)

Hemingway Winery – Closed at the moment for ABC violations. They have some nice wines…..if they ever open up again.

Bianchi Estate – They’re blending Bordeaux styles and using lots of Zin. Nice venue off Branch Road on the East side.

Glunz Family Winery & Cellars – A long time Chicago brewing family purchased this property immediately west of Tobin James and is producing wine like Grenache Blanc, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Syrah and Sangria. $10 tasting fee, good pricing on wine we would classify as on the dry side.

Pear Valley Estate Wine – Their venue is beautiful, their product was spicy several years back but they’ve toned down their wines. Great hilltop garden for a wedding.

Sculptera – Wonderful gardens with sculptures, music on Saturday & Sunday. Their Viognier, Primitivo, Petite Sirah are wonderful. Ask to taste with a wine host named Bruce.

Le Vigne Winery – Near the airport, they have Tannat, a good Sangiovese and Sangiovese Port. They also have lots of interestingly shaped pasta, wonderful cheese and great pizza on the weekend….lots to buy.

Rails Nap Winery – Formerly Malloy O’Neill winery.

Coastal (West) Side of Paso Robles

Castoro Cellars – A nice winery on Hwy 46 west of Hwy 101, some good Zins & Primitivo. They have a selection of Chardonnay & Sauvignon Blanc as well. They also have a disc golf course for those who want to wander the vineyard.

Minassian Young Vineyards – You’ll find a very small sign on Peachy Canyon Road that leads to some wonderful Zins. Friends gave us a bottle of this Zin and we were quite impressed, leading us to visit.

Denner – Wonderful blends, Ditch Digger, Dirt Worshiper. They love droping a dollop of Viogner into their red blends. Recently purchased  for $30m by E.& J. Gallo Wines. This is an interesting purchase. We briefly visited the host at the front desk she said all things will continue the same and the tasting room will remain open. An outside source of ours indicates the primary winemaker is leaving and the assistant winemaker’s salary was cut in half (how long will that person stay onboard?)

Justin, Coastal West Side, Savant, Justification & Isosceles are always favorites, though things are have been in flux over the years as the founders sold to The Wonderful Company-growers of tangerines, almonds & Fiji Water. Some in the Paso community are displeased.

Turley – Good Zins

Opolo – Check out their Mountain Zin also, a favorite of ours and the folks in San Francisco. Their other wines are wonderful as well.

Calcareous – On a snaking road through the canyons west of town and worth the drive. Perched atop a mountain top overlooking Paso Robles they produce some wonderful wines – a Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, blends, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.

Barton Family Estate – You’ll enjoy weekend music in their closed patio along with their spirits.

Harmony Cellars – Review to Come Soon –  On Pacific Coast Highway 1 in Harmony (population 18) near Cambria. Enjoyed their wines, particularly Zin & Petit Sirah.  All grapes sourced from the Paso area.

Adelaida – Some good wines, enjoyed their Recess Red blend enough to buy a case special for the teachers in our life. It’s an orphan wine blend of Mourvedre, Grenache Noir, Syrah, Zin, Pinot and Carignon.)  Don’t  plan on lunch here as there were goats somewhere nearby and the flies were competing for our lunch.

Lone Madrone – Worth the visit, some tasty whites & reds. They only use the wine room, not an estate.

Brecon Estate – Review To Come Soon – Damian and his wife are producing tasty wines and worth a visit. He’s Welsh, she’s Australian, and they’re celebrating 10 years of making wine with a wonderful 2020 10th of Brecon Magnum with a Petit Sirah base blended with Syrah & Mourvèdre.

Kukkula – Taste NV pas de deux & sisu (their spelling.)

Hunter Ranch – What was formerly a small farm house tasting room is becoming an ‘ediface tasting room’ with Rhone Valley style blends, a Syrah & Cabernet. They’ve opened a new tasting room on the old Eos Winery on Hwy 46 at Airport Road.

Jada Winery- Recently acquired by Riboli Family Wines.

Tablas Creek – A place for blends, try their Esprit de Beaucastel & Syrah.

Rabbit Ridge has closed but seems to be selling online.

Rocky Creek Cellars

Epoch Winery – Historic facility with some tasty wines at a higher price point, Syrah Block B was great, at $70.

Dusi Winery – A winemaker with a long family history in the community.

Cypher Winery – A rock and roll kind of place with wines like Loco, Monarchy, Anarchy, Peasant & ZinBitch.

North East Quadrant (Pleasant Valley Trail)

Graveyard Winery, North East Side of Paso Robles in the Pleasant Valley region. They have a very tasty Port infused with chocolate.

Ranchita Canyon Vineyard is now High Camp Wines – They’re a small winery rebranded in 2020. They’re located behind Villa San-Juliette.

Mystic Vineyards – Great Bordeaux style blends in Montery County. Judy & Joel are wonderful hosts by appointment.

Villa San-Juliette – We call this an Edifice Winery, lots of statues, patios, grassy areas owned by television producers. We enjoyed their Chorum Red, a blend of seven wines.

South East Quadrant

Wild Horse – Tasting room is not open, they were known for their Pinot Noir. E.J. Gallo Wines bought the label and has sold the property to an unknown company.

Onx Winery– Blend, blends and more blends of all sorts from the Templeton Gap AVA. Located in the very Southeast side of Paso Robles.

Bella Luna – Dry side Italian wines like Zinfandel, Nebbiolo, Cab Franc & Barbera

Tin City Area

Sans Liege – Taste room in Pismo Beach and Tin City in Paso Robles. With eclectic names like ‘Fool’s Errand’ and ‘The Offering’ you should stop here and savor their wines.

Field Recordings – Tasting room in Tin City has 36 labeled wines, from bright whites to Orange to inky red varietals.

Union Sacre – Tasting room in Tin City focusing on wines from the Alsace region of France which includes Pinot Noir and dry-style Gewürztraminer, Riesling, and Pinot Gris.

Downtown

Alpha Omega – Review Coming Soon – New to downtown right on the park. They are testing the price elasticity of wine tasting with three flights, #1@$50, #2@$75 & #3@$100.

CaliPaso Winery – Review Coming Soon – Store front tasting room has some great Portuguese varietals & a wonderful, dry Prosecco. Ask for wine host Nikki during your visit.

Wine Boss – Small store front where the wine maker often pours his creations.

Derby Wines – Occupying the historic Almond Building towering (by Paso criteria) over Hwy 101 they make some wonderful blends and host a wonderful summer concert series.