Is there anything better than a weekend of wine? Paso Robles is about 3 hours out of LA and a fantastic wine weekend spot.
Of course it should come with a warning: you will taste lots of wine, think you are a millionaire and basically buy half a vineyard.
So, it’s not the worse thing in the world.
Things you need to know about wine tasting in California:
1. A lot of vineyards are pay per tasting
2. Most of them have some kind of food with a minimum of cheese
3. They’ve got a good atmosphere.
The good news is, Paso Robles has some that are free or where you get your tasting back if you buy some- which I pretty much always do. I’m sure this has something to do with the manners my mother brought me up with, not my functioning alcoholic/shopoholic tendencies .
1st stop was Tobin James Cellar. Free tastings, nice wine, great staff and a really fun atmosphere. I liked pretty much all I tasted and their wine club is their stuff that isn’t what is for sale in normal retail. I think there’s no surprises here, first stop and I joined the gang.
Tobin James 5
Eberle: here we did a cave tour. Not bad. What I did find out was they did do private tasting in the cave for $35 per person. Free wine tastings!!
Cotes-du-Robles Rose 2017
Eos: $10 tasting per person which is wiped when you buy things.
EOS reserve Cab Sav
San Antonio: they have a great outdoor area here which is perfect for end of the day cheeseboard and wine.
I cant remember what we ended up buying here and it was the 1 we drank but I do remember them all being pretty decent.
Opolo: so we went into this one knowing we were going to pay but they were listed as being good for Bordeaux and Al loves a good Bordeaux (ok me too). Also, they have a wood fire pizza oven. Which I didn’t get to try cause Al didn’t fancy it and I was not able to justify eating a whole pizza to myself. Though I did sulk about it later š
They wipe the $10 tasting for 2 bottles of wine.
Sangiovese 2014
Castoro: ok we went to this one for the name. It was super busy, free tastings will do that. Nice wine, I was going to join the club but Al told me no. By this point he thought we had bought enough (he was wrong).
PLUS they have frisbee golf!!! We didn’t get to play (wine focus was on) but will definitely try it next time!
We picked up some Dam Fine wine, some Fahlehgina and 1 that wasn’t in the tasting but some strangers recommended and then gave us a taste of, Barbera.
Donati: amazing!! Everything tasted great. We went in knowing it was a pay to taste $10 per person and walked out with another wine club! Winners! I love that this is a family vineyard. It’s hard to say which was the favourite, there seriously wasn’t a bad wine. The cheapies were super tasty and the higher price points (still not expensive) were really great.
Ezio 2013
Claret 2014
Sisters Forever un-Oaked Chardonnay
The Immigrant
There’s a fair amount of wine tours you can do in the area ranging from group tours to private ones. I’m pretty sure they are staring about $60 plus tip & tax which is pretty reasonable. I always have the intention of getting a driver and it never ends up happening. Al always ends up being my driver and gets to taste a little while I taste everything.
We’ll be back up to Paso Robles for sure, especially for a pick up party.
Jilltopia 