Central California is special! The region is farm country and brimming with vineyards. We spent 4 days in the region in mid May. 3 of the 4 days were unusually cool, overcast and sometimes raining so our favorite lunch mode – picnicing at a vineyard only happened once on the last day before heading on to Carmel.
Sadly, many of the wines purchased on this trip are hard to find as they are from small producers who either only sell out of their tasting room or from their website, or only sell small quantities to a distributor that might possibly get it to large metropolitan markets – not Sarasota. It is still worth remembering them should they increase production or, more likely, should you travel west and find them on a restaurant wine list …… or better yet, want to visit some extraordinary wineries.
I’ll jump right in and list the wines we tried and purchased:
Adelaida Cellars, Paso Robles, CA
- 2005 Nebbiolo
- 2007 Cab/Syrah Chelle Mt.
- 2008 Grenache
- 2008 Version
- 2008 Version (Rhone White)
Jada Vineyard & Winery, Paso Robles, CA
- 2008 Jersey Girl
- 2008 Mirror
- 2008 Jack of Hearts
Tablas Creek Vineyard, Paso Robles, CA
- 2008 TCV Tannat
- 2008 TCV Mourvedre
Entrance to Alta Colina’s tasting room
Alta Colina, Paso Robles, CA
- 2008 Old 900
- 2008 Toasted Slope
- 2008 Ann’s Petit Sirah
This tasting room has a marvelous, quiet, lovely picnic lawn equipped with an extremely friendly dog named Buddy! We shared a bottle of their GSM with incredible cheeses and sausage from Di Raimondo’s on 13th St. in downtown Paso Robles next to The Two Little Birds Bakery!
Kenneth Volk Vineyards. Paso Robles, CA
- 2008 Aglianico, EPJ Vineyard
- 2008 Touriga
- 2008 Negrette
- 2005 Tempernello Starr Ranch
- 2008 Mouvedre Enz Vineyard
- 2007 Zin Enz Vineyard
If you visit Paso Robles Kenneth Volk and Lone Madrone Winery are a terrific complex to visit – Two excellent winery tasting rooms, an herb farm, gardens and animals! And Lone Madrone showcases some excellent art and fair trade gifts.
Lone Madrone’s tasting room
Lone Madrone, Paso Robles, CA
- 2005 Nebbiolo
- 2007 The Will
Andrew Murray Vineyards, Los Olivos, CA
- 2008 Syrah – Watch Hill Vineyard
Epiphany, Los Olivos, CA
- 2007 Grenache
- 2008 Revelation
- 2010 Grenache Blanc
A side note: We enjoyed the Los Olivos Wine Merchant and Cafe for a relaxing lunch during our day trip to Los Olivos.
Babcock Winery & Vineyards, Lompoc, CA
- 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon – New Epoc
- 2009 Fathom
View from Chateau Margene Tasting room
Chateau Margene, Paso Robles, CA
- 2007 Petite
- 2009 Pinot Reserve
Mooney Family, Paso Robles, CA
- 2007 Petite Sirah
- 2008 Pinot Noir
One perk about visiting wineries during the week is running into the owners and winemakers. At Chateau Margene the owner/ winemaker was our host!
A side note: The winery property has orchards of English Walnut trees and produces its own toasty walnut oil.
Melville Vineyards & Winery, Lompac, CA
- 2009 Verna’s Pinot Noir
Thunder eyeing the cheese board at Dover Canyon
Dover Canyon Winery, Paso Robles, CA
- 2008 Osso Seccho ( Zinfandel)
- 2007 Reserve Zinfandel
Barrel 27 Wine Company, Paso Robles, CA
- 2007 Right Hand Man
- 2007 Bull by the Horns
- 2008 Hand over Fist
Hug Cellars, Paso Robles, CA
- El Pape
Denner Vineyards, Paso Robles, CA
- 2009 Ditch Digger
Turley Wine Cellars, Templeton, CA
- 2008 Old Vines
We didn’t visit this winery as many of the small wineries are only open on the weekends, but John ordered a number of bottles from them recently…….
Sans Liege, Paso Robles, CA
- 2008 Prophetess
- 2009 Prophetess
- 2008 The Adversary
- 2009 Call to Arms
- 2009 Cotes-Du-Coast
- 2009 Groundwork Grenache
A side note: Artisan’s in downtown Paso Robles was my favorite for dinner. We also tried Thomas Hill Organics and McPhee’s Grill in Templeton.
John's Wine Cellar 
Thanks for this great list of wines. Would be interested in reading your tasting notes too. Cheers!
I just received an email from Richard and Katherine who were recently visiting Paso Robles…You probably just missed each other…
Wouldn’t that have been amazing – to run in to each other there!!!
Hi Debbe,
Great blog!!
As Jon said, Kathryn and myself were also in Paso Robles recently. It turned out we visited a fair number of the same wineries, and also loved Artisian. We stayed at a B&B at Venteux Vineyard, which was quite enjoyable (and probably cost as much as the wines we picked up!). At Jon P’s urging, I am posting what I found in the cellar from that trip:
Adelaida – 2008 Version
Alta Colina – 2009 12:00 High and 2008 Syrah
Calceros – 2007 Tres Violet
Caliza – 2008 Aximuth
Dark Star – 2006 Rocordati (didn’t visit)
Denner – 2009 Ditch Digger
Four Vines – 2008 Zin (didn’t visit)
Halter Ranch – 2008 Cotes de Paso
Herman Storey – 2008 Grenache (didn’t visit)
Justin – 2008 Cabernet (didn’t visit)
L’Aventure – 2006 Optimus
Lone Madrone – 2005 Nebbiola, 2007 Points West Red, and 2008 Points West White
Minassian-Young 2007 Mourvedre, 2007 GSMV, 2010 Grenache Rose
Pesenti/Turley – 2009 Red Velvet Zin
Tablas Creek – 2009 Roussanne, 2009 Cotes de Tablas, 2009 Cotes de Tablas White
Venteux 2008 Grenache
Villa Creek 2008 Avenger, 2008 Mas de Maha
Some of these were “value” purchases (like the Pesenti Red Velvet @ $120/case), some were from the Albertson’s south of Paso Robles that had some good mark-downs and to pick up a few bottles from places we didn’t visit, but most were from the wineries we visited and decided to give a try. The best wine we tasted was at L’Aventure, but the “good stuff” was $85/bottle and we took a pass.
Yosemite, Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks + Paso Robles made a fine trip. It is great to live in California!!!!
Ricardo
Thanks Richard! Great post! Appreciate you taking the time to list the wines. We almost tripped over each other in Paso Robles!!! It’s a gorgeous region of California. You are so fortunate to live relatively close by………How’s Walter II ?………best toy you and K!