Editor Pick
Wine tasting driving tour
- July 26, 2000
- Rated 4 of 5 by
IWW639 from New Orleans, Louisiana
Driving north out of San Luis on highway 101 takes you past the small towns of Santa Margarita, Atascadero, Templeton, and Paso Robles. Templeton and Paso Robles offer the best wine tasting around. You can't miss the billboards on 101 and once you get to highway 46 headed east, you'll see vineyards lining both sides of the road. Pull in to any of the tasting rooms for a swill or two at no charge.
My favorites are Tobin James, Meridian, and Eberle.
Eberle has free cave tours of the underground storage facillity.
Meridian is one of the larger wineries in the area, under the umbrella of Berringer. This location has recently increased its red wine production by 300%, and has more construction planned.
Tobin James can't be missed, with its colorful barn-like tasting room, but you'll have to judge the product yourself.
Another one that shouldn't be missed is the Mafioso-esque Estrella tasting room. Inside you'll find an authentic formula-1 race car, but the staff can be a bit snooty. Try the dessert wines. Yummy.
Pick a designated driver and be sure to drive extremely carefully on highway 46, the entire highway is double fine zone for speeding. The CHP patrols heavily and every holiday claims lives on this stretch. Surprisingly few DUI's are involved, but you may still want to look into limo tours.
From journal The SLO life