Brochelle Vineyards is located in Paso Robles and has some really nice wines. Their flagship is Zinfandel but their Petite Sirah and Chardonnay speak for themselves as well. The tasting room is very nice, a great find! Two locations for your tasting pleasure:
1. Westside Location: 6996 Peachy Canyon Rd, Paso Robles, CA 93446
2. Eastside location: 2323 Tuley Rd #130, Paso Robles, CA 93446
Ray is the owner and winemaker, has been in this location for 16 years.
He sources fruit from a variety of places, and has some varietals (wine types) he always makes, and also mixes it up sometime. Besides the 4 varietals usually pouring the current for sale list will have chardonnay, several pinots, gewurztraminer, zin, and more. Total case production for D'Argenzio is only 3k cases a year.
Waterstone Winery makes a very pleasant, reasonably priced 2008 Merlot at $18 and a really nice 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon at only $24, with all of their other wines being quite decent for the money and most coming from vineyards in Napa Valley (The Pinot Noir is from the Sonoma side of Carneros.) Waterstone has no vineyards, but sources all of their grapes. Waterstone Wines are available for tasting at the new Taste at Oxbow. Taste at Oxbow wine tasting salon offers a complete downtown Napa experience, featuring Waterstone Wines, along with gourmet food and boutique retail items.
Moon Mountain Vineyard is a family-owned 286-acre property located high on the western side of the Mayacamas Mountains. Sixty-six acres of this rugged mountain terrain are devoted to organic vineyards. The property also serves as the home of Repris Wines. Nice red wines grown on the hilltop with near organic techniques. The syrah is very good and the cabernet sauvignon is usually blended nicely. In general their red wine tends to be rich in flavor with a nice finish.
W.H. Smith makes fantastic pinot noir and they now have a tasting room in Calistoga. They make about 5 different pinots: Sonoma coast, Helenthal, Umino, Maramar, and Maritime (a proprietary blend). They also make cabernets but I think the pinots are way more to my taste.
Great spot to bring your own picnic while enjoying the wine - many tables and a pretty view. Friendly staff. Good wine.
The property is beautiful, complete with a pond, a fountain, beautiful views and plenty of benches and seating to sit back and enjoy your purchase. In the near future, they'll have a heli pad and side VIP entrance for the celebs and famous peeps who wanna sip in peace. I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to fire up the jet and visit them again. The cabs are dark, juicy and have beautiful balance. Make sure to walk away with a few bottles of the Persistence. In my opinion, it is the perfect holiday wine. Tons of black fruit, some tobacco, and intriguing minerality.
Kevin Carriker, together with long-time friend and winemaker, Mark Herold, makes a knock-out Cab which mostly comes from Coombsville, the coolest micro-climate in Napa, and since inception has remained fantastic and nearly impossible to acquire. As an answer to demand that surpasses all production, and to produce an approachable wine at a more achievable price point, they create a red wine blend called Window Pane.
Punk Dog Wine produces affordable wines meant to be enjoyed and consumed at the time of purchase. With statistics being thrown around about how most wine is consumed within an hour or two of purchase, this makes a lot of sense! In addition, they focus on non-traditional red varietal blends. Their first vintage was in 2001.
A family owned and operated, boutique winery located in the Sierra foothills of Northern California in Butte County. Owner and winemaker Gary Quilici has been making wine for 20 years. Quilici Vineyards is the realization of his dream - handcrafted, estate wines grown, produced and cellared at his family facility.
