The Definitive Paso Robles Wine Guide

As you start your drive out on Adelaida road into the heart of vineland, one of the first stops you encounter is Alta Colina—a small, family-owned winery known for hand-harvested farming and high altitude terroir. Their classy, intentional lineup of wines are all estate-grown from the 31 acre property and maintain polish and elegance across the board. When a traditional winery like this makes something (somewhat) out of their wheelhouse, like their summertime Pét Nat, it should feel askew. But it somehow fits the high-quality nature of the vineyard and their commitment to producing pleasureful, balanced wines for the table. Their up-leveled private picnic tasting at the hilltop behind the winery is stunning. And for your next visit, consider booking one of the 5 vintage trailers on the property in an area known as the Trailer Pond.

Brothers Arnaud and Guillaume Fabre (winemaker/proprietor of Clos Solène) are infusing their French heritage with the best that Paso has to offer, to craft premium luxury wines dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon and Spanish style blends. The portfolio is ultra-refined, and though the wines display the intense character and structure of the region, they drink softer, prettier, and more ethereal than you’d imagine. That grace and elegance isn’t always easy to come by. The tasting room (and outdoor area) in Tin City feels like you’re at a friend’s house, alternating from the cozy living room setting to the covered patio for a potluck meal. Which makes sense since the phonetic translation of Benom (or binome) is ‘a project together’ and this operation is ideal for a friendly affair.

If there’s a sexy place to get bad and bougie, the new hillside tasting room at Booker is the spot. With or without a cave tour, the dressed up ambience is screaming with Cabo San Lucas vibes—from the cabana-like adornments to the open air kitchen+bar, to the loungey music pumping through the outdoor speakers. It’s a bustling oasis on a vineyard with pretty grounds and even prettier people. The wine’s not too shabby either. Fans of Booker’s namesake wines as well as their second tier label “My Favorite Neighbor” can get the day started in fashion. The service reflects the newness of the operation, but perhaps that’ll get figured out sooner than later. Either way, no place has more style for a trendy wine brunch.

Winemaker Tyler Russell always aims to please, and his dual-functioning project Cordant / Nelle does just that. The Cordant side of the brand is all Pinot Noir focused, while the Nelle side of the brand experiments with blending trials and co-fermentation techniques to create signature Rhone blends. The wines here are as approachable and fun loving as the big man creating them. His enthusiasm to pour and hang out with his guests is palpable (he may even be cooking for the staff in the back). The tasting room, with its bohemian vibes, vintage record player, and large speaker system suggests you may want to smoke a joint and have a glass without moving for a while. Khruangbin and Syrah never paired so well together.

Dilécta is a boutique wine project from Orion Stang, a well-known vintner in the area who previously held winemaking roles at Booker, Herman Story, and Law while standing up this label. Since inception, Dilécta has been pumping out high-octane red wines with power and persistence. The modern barn tasting room on vineyard drive is like a cool HGTV guest house with great indoor/outdoor space (tasting bar included) that spills out into the picturesque vineyard. The label art on the bottles, as well as the corresponding large-scale prints for sale that are posterized throughout the tasting room are done by Stang’s mother Betty Wick. Who knows, you may leave with a six pack and a new living room piece.

Imagine a beautiful, organically farmed, 100-acre vineyard (30 acres planted) with rolling hills and crumbling, deep-rooted limestone soil that produces some of the area’s premium vineyard designates. You’ll get the appeal of Fulldraw Vineyard in Paso Robles. The prized land was paramount to Connor and Rebecca McMahon’s decision to buy the property back in 2012 with Connor working first as vineyard manager and then assistant winemaker at adjacent Booker. Fulldraw’s wines always have great intensity and refinement. The new production and tasting facility, which opened right before our initial lockdown in March 2020, is a beaming, architectural warehouse perched up on a hill away from the initial gate overlooking the back of the property. You don’t want to miss it.

Riley Hubbard of Hubba Wines is all about taking inspiration from friends, family, and whatever the day brings to craft modern, holistic wines at her new outpost in the back corner of Tin City. After various pit stops in Australia, France, and Italy working harvests, Hubbard navigated back to the Central Coast to work as an Assistant Winemaker at Law and then Desparada before launching her own label. Her minimal approach and wanderlust mentality let these carefully restrained wines speak for themselves. Almost all of the vineyards she sources from are focused on organic or biodynamic farming, leaving her with the purest fruit possible. Like the playful cartoon sketches on her bottles, each wine has its own distinct character in the portfolio.

You’d be hard pressed to go anywhere in Paso Robles without hearing the name Stephan Asseo. Just like a legendary coaching tree in sports that spawns historic careers for the entire staff, all lines lead back to Stephan and the singular impact he created on crafting luxury “Paso Blends” —a mixture of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals —in the heart of westside Templeton Gap long before it was cool. The entire estate is hidden, private (cell service optional), minimalist, and built into the most immaculate cave you’ll ever see. One walk through and you’ll be enamored. Don’t forget to get that picture perfect photo op in front of the cave wall or a sneak peak at Stephan’s private wine collection. As for L’Aventure wines, it doesn’t get much better. They are amongst the most age-worthy in the region, with ‘special occasion’ written all over them. A true classic.

If you spend a good amount of time in Paso Robles becoming familiar with the local flare and small town gossip, you’ll hear rumblings about this enigmatic under-the-radar project from winemaker Mark Adams, who may be the region’s most covert talent. Situated on his family’s Adams Ranch estate on the west side of Paso, the word family becomes synonymous with the entire experience. This is a private tasting on the family’s actual property, in their actual home, with the actual family members (dogs too) in attendance. You may even hit some golf balls off the patio, prepare a home-cooked meal, or have an impromptu jam session while the record player cranks classics from Bob Dylan. Very few places are this discreet and enlivened by their own anonymity, and yet with Ledge, the wines revel in that mysticism. These are rare classics that capture a different aura. 

Newly minted up on Peachy Canyon Road comes this family affair from winemaker Drew Nenow and his sister Tracie Roesbery. As second generation winemakers with a family lineage in Napa (their father started Robert Nenow Winery, and their aunt and uncle own Behren’s Family Wines), the formula here is to craft singular wines of distinction from top sources throughout Paso Robles and Santa Barbara. Drew is the current winemaker at ONX in Tin City and has honed his skills making delicious, flavorful blends from their estate. With Nenow, his personal style is evident in the glass, while the charming tasting room bungalow and outdoor deck has total Southern California vibes.

The Royal Nonesuch Farm, with great tragic reference to Huckleberry Finn, is the York Mountain home of talented vintner Anthony Yount and his entire family (three generations to be exact). When Yount isn’t tending to the family farm, raising livestock, or growing fruits and vegetables, he has two full time gigs as winemaker at Denner and the newly opened Sixmilebridge up on Peachy Canyon. But it’s his personal projects—the white wine focused Kinero and the singular focused Royal Nonesuch—that continues to impress and evolve. With just 7 acres of vines planted on the namesake property, Yount only makes one Royal Nonesuch red wine per year, based solely on whatever yields he’s able to generate for each vintage (elements be damned). Super unique and limited production (<500 cases annually), these wines are well worth seeking out.

As a true respite from the city and other fanciful wineries just down the street, Thacher should be on everyone’s list. It’s exactly what you’d expect of a bygone era in a small, wine country town. The famous “KR” markings on the 1920’s barn are a landmark of the old west when the property was known as the Kentucky Ranch—part of 4,000 acre Spanish Land Grant from the 1800’s. Combine homey hospitality, great wines, and ranch atmosphere with abundant farm animals roaming around and the place is a total throwback. The wines play nicely off the farmstead setting with the majority focused on Rhone varietals, as well as some old vine Chenin Blanc and Nebbiolo which you don’t see too often in Paso Robles. Fun place to visit.

Torrin came from humble beginnings to being surrounded by some of the best Paso Robles has to offer. And that’s not an accident. Owner/Winemaker Scott Hawley is one of the guys that helped usher in new talent during Paso’s transitional period in the late 2000’s. Hawley himself is an ethos-driven, technical wizard with sometimes unorthodox wines. Still, they always seem to hit the mark exactly how you want them to, and in exchange, have created a loyal following. While their main label irrefutably delivers on the high-powered Rhone influence, don’t sleep on their Lagom collection which is exclusively focused on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Altogether, the brand ranks high up there for the quality in a bottle, and the wines are some of the most sought-after in the region.

With a stark commitment to wholly sustainable farming and winemaking practices, Villa Creek Cellars is on the frontline of the natural wine movement in Paso Robles. The tasting room and winery are situated on the certified biodynamic and certified organic MAHA Estate Vineyard, a breezy serene setting with a calm and casual demeanor. The wine list captures a bit of everything, mostly with a focus on Grenache and Syrah, but they also have an Italian white varietal called Fiano thrown into the mix as well. Altogether, vintage to vintage, they showcase the technique and style of the brand. If you’re interested in upping the ante, consider the MAHA tasting where you’ll get some additional pours of their limited-production releases.