My earliest memories of Paso Robles have nothing to do with wine. It was the late ’90s at the legendary Mid-State Fair and 98°’s “Heat It Up Tour” was setting aflame the hearts of tweens everywhere, including a certain 12-year-old adorned in a freshly acquired fairy halo for her very first concert. Fast forward nearly 30 years, and my personal associations with Paso lean less on boy band obsessions and more on the booming viticultural scene. (Though I’ll never forget that momentous summer of 1999, set to the melodic stylings of Nick Lachey.)
Up until recently, Napa and Sonoma have received the lion’s share of wine tourism within the state. Now, regions such as the Santa Ynez Valley are attracting big name talent and hospitality titans, like the recent Auberge Resorts Collection opening of The Inn at Mattei s Tavern in Los Olivos, or the acclaimed Bell’s Restaurant in Los Alamos. But about an hour’s drive north on the US-101, the small town of Paso Robles still feels comparatively untouched—at least for now.
Wines from Paso Robles have traditionally been associated with full-bodied reds made from primarily Bordeaux and Rhône varieties as well as Zinfandel, though over 60 different grapes are grown in the AVA. For vineyards planted on the west side of Paso adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, cooler growing conditions can allow for more restrained styles of wine. To the east where it’s warmer (read: notoriously hot), you’ll often find more robust expressions. But Paso’s reputation as a big red wine destination does seem to be on the precipice of change. (More on that ahead.)
So for travelers who relish the satisfaction of visiting a destination before it ‘gets big’ I have just the ticket: Paso Robles. Where the wine is exceptional, the landscape like something out of a classic Western, and the community refreshingly unpretentious. Here, find our travel guide to this California wine region that’s fast on the rise.
Where to Stay
This boutique property from Nomada Hotel Group opened its doors in 2024, but dates back to 1947, when it opened as a motor lodge. There are 28 rooms centered around a retro-chic pool, courtyard with fire pits, and Ciao Papi (River Lodge’s ‘Cal-Italian’ restaurant serving up favorites like panzanella, pizzas packed with fresh veggies, and hearty pastas). The hotel conveniently sits at the base of the Paso Robles wine trail, making it an excellent home base for your wine country getaway. Side note: Nomada also owns Farmhouse in Paso Robles, which offers 26 rooms and is designed in the spirit of a classic American motel.
With just 16 rooms (each named after a horse) and a coveted location on Paso’s historic square, Hotel Cheval is a sought-after booking. Guests entering the property are greeted by a crackling fireplace in the lobby, and a few steps further into the interior courtyard, another large wood-burning fireplace offers a lovely focal point for ending the day with a glass of wine or enlisting the aid of the property’s s’mores butler.
This rich-in-detail rental is owned by an art consultant and offers a bucolic experience for guests. Rolling hills! Olive trees! Grape vines! It’s the ideal setting for contextualizing Paso’s distinct landscape. In addition to the numerous fireplaces and private terraces, there are two master suites, making this a great choice for couples or friends traveling together.
Farm stays are common throughout Paso Robles, and this charming concept hits all the marks with its peaceful setting and pastoral design. Begin your day with a hike around the property’s 42 acres that overlook the esteemed vineyards of L’Aventure Winery. There are two residences to choose from—Le Coop and The Ranch House—both of which curve around a communal fire pit.
Grab your friends and book out this fun-loving accommodation in the middle of a vineyard. There are five vintage trailers to choose from that all date back to the 1950s and 1960s, each of which is equipped with an enclosed outdoor shower. There’s also an outdoor kitchen with a gas-powered grill and picnic tables, setting the stage for a memorable evening barbecue.
Where to Taste
It’s not a sin to associate Paso Robles wine with full-bodied reds. What would be a sin, however, is to stop there. “Paso allows for a broader spectrum of grapes and styles of wine,” Riley Hubbard of Hubba Wines says. “From the massive diurnal temperature swings, to all the different microclimates and varied soils, there is a wine for every palate in Paso.” Take her low-intervention wines as an example. Hubbard sources grapes from trusted farmers and sustainable vineyards, producing wines that highlight lesser-known varieties like Valdiguié, Verdelho, and Cabernet Pfeffer.
Or there’s Guillaume Fabre, the eminently likable owner of Clos Solène who learned his craft in Languedoc Roussillon and Bordeaux as a sixth generation winemaker. “Arriving in Paso Robles in 2000 was like a dream, the rolling hills full of white rocks, the everyday blue sky, and the breeze the comes across the westside was all a huge whoa factor,” he says. Six months later, his fiancé Solène flew over. “We planned to stay two more years, and now it’s been 21.”
Fabre’s elegant Rhône blends are the result of refining his style, paying close attention to the climate and minerality of the terroir in west Paso Robles. “I had to take the fruit from California enhanced by the sun and slowly make it my own with my French influence,” he explains, adding that picking the grapes earlier has led to better acidity. “For me, this freshness is the spine of the wine.”
His and Hubbard s distinct approaches underscore the region’s aptitude for versatility. “Paso feels like the wild west of wine,” Hubbard says. “What excites me most is the freedom winemakers have to experiment and be creative here.” Whether it’s the ‘French Mafia’ who have played a pioneering role in the region (Fabre counted among its esteemed ranks), or the growing contingency of young natural winemakers crafting with unexpected grape varieties, the tasting experiences ahead help illustrate the breadth of Paso Robles s wine scene.
Taste Fabre’s indelible wines firsthand at Clos Solène’s peaceful 17-acre estate vineyard and home. (Did I mention Guillaume, his wife, and children all live on the property?) The intimate experience will guide you through a flight of wines selected especially for your palate, or if you opt for the ‘Taste of the Terroir’ experience, you’ll be treated to a privately led tour of the vineyard with Guillaume. (Stay tuned: Clos Solène is currently constructing an ambitious wine cave, which, when finished, will further enrich the tasting experience.)
Tablas Creek was founded in 1989 and is considered both a pioneer of California’s Rhone movement, and something of a legend within Paso Robles. The 135-acre estate was the first Regenerative Organic Certified vineyard in the world, and is both organic and biodynamic certified. Reserve a seated flight tasting on their terraced patio or book the legacy experience to try current and library releases plus a limited-edition pour that changes with each season.
Named after a soil type and founded by Matt and Maureen Trevisan in the late 90s, Linne Calodo is situated in the mountainous Willow Creek District of Paso Robles and regarded for its Rhône-style blends. Pay a visit to their scenic tasting room to sample current releases, or schedule the retrospective tasting to try wines from 2018 and beyond.
Tin City is an industrial complex housing 40 food and beverage businesses, offering a relaxed central location for a day of hopping between wineries, eateries, and breweries. Hubba Wines is situated within Tin City and is located along the perimeter (meaning the outdoor tasting patio has great views of the surrounding landscape). Tastings are by appointment Thursday through Monday, but you can also drop in for a casual glass from their rotating tap list of wines.
This family-owned winery in the sub-AVA of Santa Margarita Ranch is characterized by its cooler weather due to the proximity of the Pacific Ocean. The vineyard’s terroir is especially unique as it includes ancient seabed soils, and the estate-grown wines include everything from complex Cabernet Franc to whole-cluster fermented Syrah. The winery has paid special attention to crafting unique experiences for visitors, including building out a zipline and offering guided horseback rides.
Though a picturesque tasting room is not the prerequisite for quality wines, the breathtaking estate at Booker Wines, complete with a tasting lounge and underground wine caves, is tough to resist. The estate vineyard was designated as Regenerative Organic Certified® in 2023 and focuses on Rhône varietals. While you’re out this way, also swing by My Favorite Neighbor next door for a tasting of wines made from grapes harvested from neighboring vineyards in Paso Robles.
Winemaker Stephan Asseo left his native France in search of a region with fewer restrictions. He bid adieu to Bordeaux in 1998 and searched for over a year before landing on the terroir of west Paso Robles with its clay-limestone soils (a jackpot discovery). Asseo is now largely regarded as a pioneer of the region, helping to reshape the perception of its wines. While the discovery flight experience with its views of the vineyard is lovely, the library tasting is even more unique and takes place within L’Aventure’s intimate caves.
While making your rounds at the industrial Tin City complex, be sure to schedule a tasting at Desparada to sample current releases by owner and winemaker Vailia From. She sources her grapes from organic, biodynamic, and sustainably farmed vineyards, and produces wines that are Bordeaux and Italian-varietal driven, with a focus on production in amphorae (clay vessels). If you’re a Sauvignon Blanc lover, you won’t want to skip this one.
Where to Eat
Goshi Yamada was born in Tokyo, trained in Kyoto, and eventually moved to the United States to open a restaurant in Los Angeles. In the 1990s, he made the move up north to San Luis Obispo, and in 2002 he opened Goshi’s Paso Robles outpost. Yamada has since passed, but his family continues the legacy of delivering authentic Japanese cuisine (including a dynamic range of sushi and sashimi, a favorite order of Hubbard s).
Owned by husband-and-wife duo Courtney and Julien Asseo and named after their three children (les petites canailles is French for ‘the little rascals’, a nod to Julien’s French heritage), this Michelin recommended restaurant offers both a nightly tasting and a la carte menu. It’s situated in downtown Paso and beyond its grilled branzino and steak au poivre, also boasts an impressive wine list.
A tapas spot loved by locals, S’Aranella is where you go when you’re craving traditional pintxos (among other things). Be sure to save room for dessert: the vanilla ice cream with PX sherry drizzled on top is the stuff of Spanish dreams.
Though Finca markets itself as a casual restaurant, don’t be fooled into thinking the food is anything less than brilliant. The menu highlights ingredients and preparation styles from Mexico’s Baja and Sonoran regions, focusing on wood-grilled seafood and carne asada. Flavorful bites aside, the pleasant setting within a historic farmhouse also makes this a destination well worth your time while in town.
The first Michelin star restaurant in Paso Robles, Six Test Kitchen is located in Tin City and is at the helm of Chef Ricky Odbert. Diners are seated around a wood counter that wraps around an open kitchen, and served dishes that focus on ingredients of the central coast. (A recent highlight includes dungeness crab with preserved yuzu, honey crisp apple, and aged beef cured in miso.)
In the mood for a cheese board or maybe some fresh Morro Bay oysters? Swing by the Paso Market Walk for a few bites and wine pairings at this shop, bar, and restaurant that focuses on local farms and sustainably made wines.
What to Do
Sensorio is one of California’s largest immersive art exhibitions, lighting up once the sun goes down in Paso Robles. Paths are illuminated by 100,000 glowing bulbs that resemble jewel-toned flowers. As the name would suggest, it’s a sensory experience, and on April 11, Sensorio will open an exhibition by the Fiber Optic Symphonic Orchestra (FOSO), complete with 32 columns of light synchronized with a classical musical score.
Hearst Castle lies just 45 minutes outside of Paso Robles in the seaside town of San Simeon and is more than worth the drive. After a two-year closure spurred by the pandemic, the property is back and better than ever with revamped tours and infrastructure improvements. Be sure to book ahead of time as visitors can only experience the property via guided tour.
This subterranean performance venue hosts internationally recognized talent each week across jazz, blues, classical, and opera performances. And not in a good for a small town kind of way—Libretto regularly welcomes Grammy-winning jazz artists to its intimate setting that can seat up to 62 guests. It operates as a members-only club during the week, but ticketing is open to the public for Fridays and Saturdays. And because this is wine country, expect a class act menu of bottles from around the world.
You really haven’t lived until you’ve been whisked into the rolling Paso Robles hillsides aboard a sidecar. The experience also makes plenty of stops along the way, explaining the geography and history of this historic winemaking region.
Long before travelers arrived to Paso Robles for its hot springs, and well before the Spanish missionaries arrived in the 18th century, the Salinan tribe inhabited the area that came to be known as Paso Robles for thousands of years. When the Spanish did arrive, they forced indigenous populations into labor, eventually constructing the 21 mission network that dots up and down the California coastline. There are a couple of these missions within driving distance of town (Mission San Miguel Arcángel and Mission San Antonio de Padua), offering the opportunity to dive deeper into the complicated history of these ancestral landscapes.
Because what wine region would be complete without a local art gallery, a stop by Studios on the Park should be on everyone’s itinerary. This nonprofit open studios art center is in downtown and has six studios featuring 15 artists, as well as four galleries and a gift shop. Enroll in a workshop or catch an exhibition—it’s a casual setting that’s easy to pop in and out of.
