Heeey girls! It’s Alison here and I wanted to share with you my recent trip to Paso Robles to go wine tasting. For those of you who don’t know your California wine regions like the back of your hand, Paso Robles is located 30 miles NE of San Luis Obispo in central Cali. I’ve visited vineyards in Napa, Santa Barbara, New Zealand, Chile and beautiful Long Island, NY (seriously, not a joke haaa!), but never in Paso Robles. I feel pretty well versed when it comes to the ins and outs of tasting at a vineyard and tbh it’s probably one of my favorite things to do on vacation. So needless to say I was excited for our (me, the hubs, and our 2 chihuahuas, Juice Box and Buttercake) long weekend in wine country. The only problem though, when I started to research where to go, what to eat, what to see blah blah I couldn’t really find the ultimate Paso (from here on out Paso Robles simply becomes “Paso”) itinerary. The Paso region is pretty spread out so I wanted to find a suggested itinerary by sub-AVA or “sub-region” (Creston, Highlands, Adaleida…to name a few) but I couldn’t find one on Pinterest , which is alwaaaays my go-to when planning a trip. My hopes is this humble post can serve as a mini-itinerary for the areas we visited :)

We arrived late in afternoon and were so happy when we pulled up to our airbnb after 4.5 hours of driving. We rented a small guest house on a larger estate in Creston, which is about 15 minutes from Paso proper but there are tons of wineries in that area too. After visiting with the resident goat, sheep and doggies we hit up the local bar/restaurant , Longbranch Saloon which we ended up going to 2 out of the 3 nights because it was so close to our airbnb, it was cowboy festive and the food was delish.

The next day we decided to wing it and hit up wineries in the Geneseo and El Pomar districts. We were so excited when we learned about wine ubers, which are basically ubers that stay with you and drive you from winery to winery for an hourly rate. Yessss. Instantly hired one.

Here’s what our Saturday looked like:

1. Cass Winery: Such a pretty property where you’re able to walk through the vineyards with a glass of wine. They also have a cute vegetable garden to wonder through in the front. Word on the street is the food at their restaurant is deliciousss. Sadly, we had just had breakfast so we weren’t ready for another meal quite yet. We did a flight there and ended purchasing a bottle of their rosé (shocker).

2. Sculptera: This winery is filled with art by various artists. There are sculptures all over the property with seating spread out so you can sit with your wine and enjoy the views. Part of the actual tasting room feels like it is in an old airplane hangar, very cool. Our favorite wine was the Héroe wine, which is dedicated to the heroes who work in Sculptera’s vineyard and production facilities. The bottle has all of their pictures on it and I just thought it was so sweet that Sculptera recognizes its workers that way. We also got a few bags of their pistachios that are grown on their land. So good!

3. Pear Valley: The tasting room was in a beautiful stone building with high ceilings. There also was an amazing viewpoint at the top of a hill near the tasting room. As for the wine it was good but nothing really stood out to me. Just keeping it real!

4. Eberle: When we pulled up to this place it was the equivalent of a crazy house party. We were greeted by the two resident poodles who escorted us inside to the tasting room, which was packed! The tastings are free which explained its popularity. The patio was also crowded with people lined up for wood fire pizza. To be honest, we didn’t stay too long because we couldn’t find anywhere to sit. I’ll try it again next time because it did look like a fun place.

5. Still Waters: Our wine uber, Paul, is a member at this winery so he offered to take us there for the free tastings he gets as a member. There was an event happening in the main tasting room so we had to go to a smaller room filled with all the barrels. I feel like we didn’t get a proper experience at this one but it was a quick and easy stop on the way back home.

   After 5 wineries we called it a day and ended up back at the Longbranch Saloon for dinner. And that was the extent of our night!

Sunday

We made our way into Paso and had brunch at a place literally called Brunch. and it was amazing! Like seriously one of the best brunches I can remember. It’s a tiny place tucked away in this little cheese shop but also has a patio out front. After brunch we hit up a cute shop in town called The General Store and grabbed some snacks for the rest of the day. They have an incredible assortment of cheese, meats, crackers, and locally made dips and sauces. We then decided to check out the Adaleida district which is west of Paso proper. We didn’t have a wine uber that day so just shared the the tastings at each winery. So here were our stops:

1. Daou: Hands down one of the most beautiful wineries I’ve ever visited. This property is absolutely STUNNING! When we got there we had to be shuttled up to the tasting room so I was thinking oh great this is going to be packed and super commercial. It was busy but there was so much space to walk around. We ended up buying a bottle and sitting out on adirondack chairs and took in the view. Absolute must go if you visit the area.

2. Adalaida: Right next to Daou. The tasting room is actually surrounded by a walnut orchard. The tasting room was super elegant and the wine was good. They seemed to have fun membership events and members even have a private tasting room. Fancy.

3. Parrish Family Vineyard: We were greeted by the owner of the vineyard who took his time to give us the history of the vineyard and tell us about the wines we’d be tasting. I thought it was pretty cool the owner was so hands on and working on the floor. The tasting room has almost a Cape Cod feel to it (does that even make sense?). There was a huge balcony with tables that sat above the vineyard, so pretty. We ended up buying a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, which is one of my favorite varietals, even when the owner described one of its notes smelled like “cat piss” Yes, he said that. Apparently that’s a thing when describing Sauvignon Blanc. Whoa. Didn’t stop me from buying it. Ha.

We were snacking all day so we didn’t end up having dinner anywhere. The next morning we woke up early and headed home.

Our trip to Paso Robles was so much fun and I would go there every single weekend if I could. Have you been? What are your favorite wineries?