Paso Robles Trip Suggestions

Hello all!

So I will preface this with the statement that I am pretty sure I have read almost every post regarding Paso visits, specifically around Tin City. My wife and I plan to spend a Thursday afternoon at Tin City, then visit Linne Calodo, Justin, and Hermant Story on Friday.

I think I have read great things about most of the wineries in Tin City. I know I want to visit Turtle Rock and Sans Liege (I have always been a fan of these…). On the short list after that are:

Nicora (does Top still do tastings out of Tin City here?)
Levo
Field Recordings (have always loved their wines. They are fun.)
Brian Benson
Aaron
Onx

I live near Napa and Sonoma, so want to really focus on the rhone based varietals and producers that have that unique Paso style. Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

I think Torrin should not be missed. Great wines from top to bottom and really lovely tasting experience (just nice ambience and intimate).

The Clos Solene tasting with cheese pairing is really excellent all around as well.

Slightly below those two for me, but still really enjoyable, is Epoch. Very comfortable tasting and nice ambiance with great wines.

I love L’Aventures wine and the tasting was solid, though the experience itself wasn’t as polished as the three mentioned above. If you go on a slower day, you might get a little cave tour thrown in.

I was personally a bit disappointed by Booker. I think the only higher/highest-end wine the poured was My Favorite Neighbor (which I admittedly love; however, they wouldn’t sell us any without joining the club), but their other wines didn’t wow me as much as most of the others and the tasting room was nothing to write home about. It was slow and we did get to go on a vineyard tour though which was really nice. Not a bad experience at all, but I don’t think it quite stacked up to the other ones.

Herman Story is a fun/casual one for the end of the day if you’re staying in downtown Paso.

I still haven’t been to Tin City, but I’'m hoping to go soon.

Have fun!

These are some of my favs in Paso to visit. L’Aventure
Caliza
Booker
Torrin
Herman Story
Levo- Tim City
Benom- Tin City
Brian Benson-Tin City
Guyomar
Dilecta
Alta Colina
Clos Solène, you can probably taste Benom wines there as well, same winemaker/co owner.
Denner
Epoch
Law Estate
Zin Alley
Desperada-Tin City
Tablas Creek
Paso Underground: 4 small boutique wines there, Hubba, Lost Blues, Ranchero Cellars and Ultima Tuile

Lone Madrone is a fun place to visit. The owner is the winemaker at Tablas Creek. Lots of different wines at decent prices.

Epoch Estate, they do require reservations now. New tasting room is really nice.

I might not like their bottle shapes, but Turley makes some killer zin’s and petite syrah’s and you never know when they are pouring an older library wine in that tasting room.

I haven’t had much experience with their wines, however we had a really good tasting at Brecon Estate.

Top does taste out of the Nicora space but when we were there recently they were out of wine. Do contact them to see if that is still the current status.
Aaron is also making nice wines in Tin City.
Wild card- Giornata in Tin City. All Italian wines that are quite good and affordable. Check them out.

Arriving late on the scene, agree with the great advice others have given.

We particularly enjoy visiting Desparada and Herman Story, just to pile on.

You’ll definitely want to add Torrin to the list. Their Syrah is world class! JebD thinks so too, gave their Akasha 100pts in 2015.

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I have 5 of the 2016 Akashas (which they should be pouring now), but I feel that they are so young/tight right now. I think Torrin opens their bottles up well in advance of your tasting so they show better, which is a nice way to be introduced to the wine. I really like their Pinots (and Chardonnay) too, which I can drink while I let their big reds rest in the cellar for many years.

Adelaida & Epoch

Don’t miss out on Turtle Rock - Saxum’s assistant winemaker and Benom - owner of Clos Solène and his brother. All in Tin City.

Agree with Lone Madrone being a reasonably priced fun spot to stop in at. Very friendly and they’ve got goats and stuff. Adelaida I put in kind of the same bucket.

+1 L’Aventure makes some excellent wines, lots of variety. +1 Epoch is great. +1 Turley as well.

-1 Agree with Booker being kind of meh as far as the tasting room experience and I was a member when we visited.

I’m not big on Daou but they have a beautiful spot, great to finish the day there and catch the sunset.

Lot’s of good suggestions. I’d add Jacob Toft to the Tin City list.

TOP has moved their tasting to Tin County, just outside Tin City, building on corner of Ramada & Marquita Crossing, inside the Cordant/Nelle winery. They have their own upstairs room. I think they are pouring futures. I had their 2016’s Thursday at a local Ruth’s Cris wine dinner, drinking very nice.
I’d suggest Dilecta, if you need a stop between Linne & Justin.

(I sell grapes to a number of the wineries listed above and have to be considered biased [cheers.gif] )

Go see Ryan and Nicole at Paix Sur Terre - great people and great wines.

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Tablas Creek — best CA Rhone winery, imo.

— if you searched all.past Paso threads then you already know everything else I would say.

If you do Tablas (which isn’t my favorite, but is a good one to go to at least once and is priced better than a lot of the others), I highly recommend the collectors vertical tasting or at least a seated tasting. I’m not a fan of the GA standing at the counter tasting; if it’s not an off day, it’s kind of like a zoo in there.

Cass
Denner

I’ve always liked Thacher.

I’ve mostly avoided Paso wines in recent years, but I’ll chime in on my impressions of a couple that I’ve had experience with:
L’Aventure - $100+ per bottle oak milkshakes. Haven’t tried any recently, but haven’t heard anything to the contrary. No thanks.
Tablas Creek - easily the best wines in the region. Most of the higher end Paso reds tend towards spoof, but TC is making balanced wines that are enjoyable and tasty.

What does the term “milkshake” mean with respect to wine? Does it mean very viscous?