Any not to miss wineries near Paso Robles?
 

We will be staying a night in Pismo Beach and then heading up the road to San Jose to stay with BIL. We want to stop at a few wineries along the way. We had some friends who just went to a few, near HWY 46. Justin and a few others. Are there any that you have been to and LOVE? I do like a gift shop and we will taste. Probably only two stops since we will be driving. Thank in advance.

Justin is pretty good...lots of locals seem to like it. I like Eberle from the ones I went to...and the owner apparently refuses to charge for tastings (although lots of ones in the area do not.)

I have also been to Castoro a couple of times (they have a zin that I liked) and Tobin James (nothing exceptional there, but they are known for their "liquid love".)

Don't know if it's still there, but there used to be a funky little winery called York Mountain on the road from Cambria to Paso Robles. Wine was only so-so, but the winery was cool.

Thanks all. Yes, I think that York Mt. is still there. I saw it on the wine map. Are there any restaurants in that area not to miss for lunch? Along Hwy 46? Haven't been in that area for about 8 years. Thanks.

I love Paso Robles! Way better wine tasting than commercial Santa Barbara, where they charge you at almost every freakin' winery. I hope that Paso Robles has not caught on to that trend yet.... We really loved the out-of-the-way wineries that you have to really drive to get to. I wish I remembered the name of the small one we went to where the young couple was just starting out. They were so nice to us! I hate cattle-call wineries where it's packed with tourbuses and you can find those same wines in your local grocery store. I imagine you have the map from the Paso Robles website, right? It's pretty accurate. We went off that and by the end of 2 days, we were trying to shove our 20th bottle of wine into the compact trunk of our Z3 convertible. :)

We also love the Paso wineries. My favorites are: EOS, wonderful wines, we're in their wine club. The moscato is to die for! The gift shop is gorgeous with lots of cool dips and sauces for sale.

Martin & Weyrich, very nice Tuscany-type place. I love their reds here.

Meridian, gorgeous winery with beautiful grounds, wines aren't bad either!

Peachy Canyon, a quaint little place, like a small house. Very good zin here, try the Incredible Red and the Old Schoolhouse zin.

Matustuano (sp) very nice winery with a small gift shop.

Have fun!! ***kim***

OK how about this question. We will only have a little time in the morning before we head up the road to Morgan Hill to get to BIL's house by happy hour. So, here is the question, should we do Hwy 46 East or West? We don't have time to do both. Is one side prettier than the other? Thanks. Also, any great place to stop for lunch? Or just stop by a deli and grab something there?