Winery Recommendations For A Good Bottle of Paso Robles Wine

For a Good Bottle of Wine in Paso Robles, here are our recommendations. We’ve written about the wineries with links. Just like our wines we are ranking wineries we’ve visited with our star system. When you see ✰++ you need to visit this winery, with a -✰, not so much. Ranked from best to least in descending order.

Highway 46 Corridor

✰++ Cass Winery – Creators of Rhone style wines with some food available too. Check out their Rockin’ Ted, Backbone Syrah and Rousanne.

✰+ 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.

✰+ 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.

✰+ Still Waters Winery  – Good wines, Viognier & Cuvee stand out, great garden concert series. Ask for wine hosts Ed or Nicki.

✰+ Vino Vargas – They make a variety of wines but we tasted only their sparklers: Viognier, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir….all excellent. They’re off the beaten track west of Hwy 101 from San Miguel.

✰+ J. Lohr – Out near the airport they create 1.8m cases of wine (lots of Chardonnay) but their tasting facility is itsy bitsy. Probably best to make reservation.

✰+ Penman Springs Vineyard -This small tasting room hosts some surprising wines, their ‘Dry Humor’ is created from a grape you’ll never guess, Syrah Rose is tasty and their Meritage as well.

✰ 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.) We recently enjoyed a bottle of their Carignan (you don’t see much of this wine in Paso.)

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.

✰ 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.

✰ 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.)

✰ 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

✰ 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.

✰ Rails Nap Winery – Formerly Malloy O’Neill winery.

Coastal (West) Side of Paso Robles

✰++ Brecon Estate – 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.

✰++ 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.

✰+ 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.

✰+ 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 but a lot of people enjoy their wines.

✰+ Midnight Cellars – We’ve enjoyed their Chardonnay, Grenache and Zinfandel as well as their weekend music in a beautiful patio setting.

✰+ Shale Oaks – Excellent blends and a killer Syrah with a beautiful summer outdoor tasting area.

✰+ 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.

✰+ 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. Unfortunately the patio is now only open for dining. Tasting occurs indoors.

✰+ McPrice Myers – Rhone blenders on Adelaida Road northwest of town. Great GSMs, Syrahs and blends along with ‘Hard Working Wines’. These are blends with a friendly price point. Ask for Kelly. Grounds are under construction so a little dusty & noisy until new wine taste room opens Spring 2024.

✰+ Harmony Cellars –  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.) 

✰+ Halter Ranch – What was formerly a small farm house tasting room is becoming an ‘edifice tasting room’ with Rhone Valley style blends, a Syrah & Cabernet.

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

✰+ Oso Libre – Another Rhone style blender using Cab Sauv, Primitivo, Mourvedre, Crenache & Syrah. They of course have Viognier and bottle price points are on the higher side.

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

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

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

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

✰ Castoro Cellars – Winery on Hwy 46 west of Hwy 101, they have Zins, blends & Primitivo. They have a selection of Chardonnay & Sauvignon Blanc as well. Their disc golf course is available for those who want to wander & play the vineyard.

✰ Jada Winery- Recently acquired by Riboli Family Wines.

✰ Lone Madrone – Worth the visit, some tasty whites & reds.

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

North East Quadrant (Pleasant Valley Trail)

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

✰++ 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.

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

South East Quadrant

✰+ Ruby Cellars – Located in downtown Atascadero they create some tasty Syrah, Zin & an upcoming Bordeaux style blend. They’re a small family operation creating 450 cases yearly.

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

✰ Ambyth Estate – Tasting room in downtown Templeton splits space with an organic grocer. Wine host Grace served up some very distinctive organic wines. We enjoyed their Adamo (GSM), Validus (Tempranillo/Sangiovese) and Petite Sirah/Zin blend.

✰ Ancient Peaks Winery – In the town of Marguerite on main street.

Tin City Area

✰+ Onx Winery– Blend, blends and more blends of all sorts from the Templeton Gap AVA. Estate is located in the Southwast side of Templeton.

✰+ 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 – Review to Come Soon – 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

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

✰+ CaliPaso Winery – Store front tasting room has some great Portuguese varietals & a wonderful, dry Prosecco. Ask for wine host Nicki during your visit.

✰ Alpha Omega – 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.

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