When I arrived at Clos Pepe I was not knowing what to expect. I was up with my car club. Were they…read morea high pressure wine house? Were they a snooty white gloved pretentious place that you had to hold the wineglass with your pinky extended? Or a mad monk hair shirt single focused obsessed wine maker where the process of making wine includes human sacrifice and no fun? Thank the wine gods Clos Pepe was none of the above. Clos Pepe is Wes and his Partner in Wine Crime Andrew. Two relaxed fun loving guys. But serious winemakers. Serious like that English teacher that drilled you on past participles or questions your use of Iambic Pentameter over Blank Verse. And he is right to do that. They let the wines speak for themselves with their comments and explanations putting the wine into laser sharp focus. Without the hucksterism. Clos Pepe is a relaxed place. They know what to grow to produce superior Chardonnay and Pinot Nior. But they also work with other varietals to learn and grow. The Guanches, a week old, was a revelation. Changing one's thoughts on wine. Like I said, they are serious students of wines. The glee when introducing each type of wine was infectious as well as their frank and forthright answers to questions. The "we work hard, have fun and produce great wine" should be the motto. I have become a fan.

Disclaimer - I did not actually visit the winery at the address listed on Yelp. I was fortunate…read moreenough to hear about a barrel tasting that was being held on the very weekend my wife and I planned to visit. The barrel tasting was held in a storage and bottling facility in Lompoc. The barrel tasting was hosted by the wine maker, Wes Hagan. I can honestly say that is the most I've learned about wine in roughly a one hour period. We tasted from several barrels of Chardonnay, both oak and stainless. Then moved on to Pinot Noir. Finally, we moved on to bottles, one Chardonnay, and a 2009 and 2010 Pinot Noir. I am usually not a Chardonnay fan, but this was not overly buttery like usual Chardonnay. The Pinots... Well, they were simply fantastic. I probably preferred the 2010 to the 2009, but I would be happy drinking either one! If you ever get the opportunity to visit Clos Pepe, especially if Wes is going to be talking about wine, you'd be a fool not to go.

Such a beautiful winery. The vintage items they sell inside the big building is awesome. The wines…read morewere so delicious. Definitely recommend to visit if you travel to central coast wine country. It doesn't disappoint at all... from the wines to the scenery to the customer service, we love this place. Nora helped us and she was so great and helpful! We will be back for sure in the future and will recommend to our friends and family.

Perhaps the best winery in the Los Olivas / Lompoc area. I love this place because it has a fun…read moreseating area, delicious wines, helpful staff, a winer store, and fun vibes.

We joined Tyler Winery's wine club last year after visiting the Santa Barbara tasting room. We were…read morein Los Olivos this past weekend and decided to check out the winery while we were in the area, booking a tasting at the Mae Estate Vineyard House. Tyler is a small operation, and tastings are private and by appointment only. I didn't realize they were private private, and was surprised to find we were the only guests during our 1:00 Saturday time slot. We were traveling without our kids, but noted that the set-up was very family friendly. We were hosted by Linda, with assistance from Julian. She welcomed us in with glasses of blanc de blancs and introduced us to the property. The vineyard house was pretty and inviting, apparently founder Justin Tyler Willet's home for a number of years before becoming the winery's hospitality space. We started our visit by going out back and admiring the vineyard, with Linda telling us about the house, the land, what was planted where. The view was marvelous, blue sky and California bounty as far as we could see. The tasting was held in what must have been the old dining room, with a direct view of the grounds outside. It was a lovely space, sunny and comfortable, and Linda and Julian were wonderful hosts. The visit took 75 minutes, as advertised, and was complimentary due to our membership ($50 a head for non-members, totally reasonable for the experience). We did go for the picnic add-on, though, for $25 each, and the light spread tided us over from breakfast to dinner. It was all good stuff, Comté cheese and two kinds of salami, olives and cornichons and sourdough with fancy butter. Tyler specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and every bottle I've had from them has been interesting and delicious. On this visit, we tasted the Mae Estate Chardonnay, the Fiddlestix Pinot Noir, the Mae Estate Pinot Noir, and a more limited Mae Estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that were maybe single vineyard and named for Justin Tyler Willet's children--all with Linda's expert guidance. An educational tasting, and an outstanding selection of wines. We left with our spring allocation, plus six extra bottles, which Julian packed up for us while we wound down with some nice espressos. We had a splendid time at the Mae Estate, and look forward to coming back. We might even bring our kids next time, let them romp around the idyllic property while Mommy and Daddy drink wine.

This is my first time at this winery and we loved the location, view, and the winery itself. The…read morewinery is the former home of the owner and it was nice experiencing the wine tastings in a beautiful home and setting. We were a party of six and had the winery to ourselves. They had a dining table area with a nice view of the vineyards. We arrived for a 3pm tasting and by the time we were getting ready to leave the sun was setting behind the distant hills. It was beautiful. The tastings started with the 2020 Mae Estate Vineyard, Chardonnay and ended with the 2020 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, Pinot Noir. A total of five tastings with an extra tasting of a cabernet. We had a chance to taste the 2019 Happy Canyon Vineyard RSW, Cabernet Sauvignon. We ended up buying a few of the bottles to take home. Our hostess was very knowledgeable and helpful with information regarding all the wines and the history of the winery. I hope to return to the winery soon.

Great wine and beautiful views! We ate our lunch under a beautiful canopy. It was so relaxing and…read moresuch a nice experience. Everyone was so kind and very helpful with our large group. We especially loved the Sparkling Chardonnay! Can't wait to come back!

We are members and we love the nice outdoor space. We love to bring our fur baby and our niece…read more They love the outdoor space. Also love the Pinot Noir here. They also sell snacks to have with your pairing / wine. Inside space is limited though. But there are a lot of shaded area outdoors.

This was our first tasting of the day and it didn't disappoint. Small little tasting room and one…read moreof the more cost effective tastings in los alamos. Good pours and all the wines were low alcohol. They try and make them as natural as possible and are smaller batches than bigger wineries and labels. Friendly service as well. My only critique are the stools, they were really uncomfortable so sitting there for the whole tasting was not fun. We purchased one bottle and could have maybe purchased a couple others but we opted not to. I will also mention that there was a slight push to try and buy bottles at the end. Stopping short of saying "you should buy some bottles" but a lot of "nudges" and "hints" about buying bottles. We would definitely come back to try other pours.

This is a wonderful little tasting room with the coolest vibes. The wine is so unique and…read moredelicious. I'm not one for white wines and I even loved their white varietals, so that should speak volumes! The staff member during our visit was very friendly and had excellent taste in music. The pours were generous as well, more so than a usual wine tasting! It was fun to sip wine and they even let us pick a vinyl to play while we visited. We were so impressed by the wine that we even joined their wine club. I can't wait to receive the first shipment! I'm also already planning our next visit to this tasting room, which is located in an awesome one road town. Located across the street from The Alamo Motel, where we stayed for the weekend, so we just walked across the street for our tasting. It really doesn't get much better than that! I definitely suggest making a trip to this charming wine tasting room and finding out for yourself what a treasure it is.

Tasting: $20, or by the Glass: $20…read more First visit to this quaint, rustic wine tasting room in downtown Los Alamos. Stephan, the owner/winemaker, poured for us and provided us with his winemaking history. We tasted three wines, a '20 Chardonnay, a '22 Grenache, and a '22 Tempranillo, with revisits of our favorites. All were good, and we left with a couple bottles to add to our home cellar. He also had a couple friends visiting that brought their guitars and had a little folk music jam session, which created a very relaxing and fun ambiance. The week before our visit, they participated in the annual Mushroom Festival where they poured the same wines, however they had a food menu with several mushroom based items which really caught my eye. Definitely something to add to our calendar in the future. Overall, a pleasant experience and nice wines. Would stop in again to check out new vintages.

Stopped in on a whim. The 3 wines that were available for tasting were very good. I should have…read moreasked what the tasting fee was. We did buy a bottle but the whole experience was expensive. I had to step outside because of my allergies. The garden is beautiful with a lot of Lilly's and succulents.

Winter Flight Tasting: $25/4 pours (waived with 3 bottle purchase)…read more First visit and had a good tasting experience. This is an interesting, woman owned/winemaker boutique winery focusing only on Grenache wines. If you like Grenache, and we do, you'll most definitely get a deep dive into them here. The tasting room is rustic and quaint. Joaquín was a gracious host and poured for us a '23 Grenache Blanc, and several other Grenache reds from various vineyards and produced with varying methods (whole clusters, co-fermentation, etc.) Good aromas and flavors on everything. Enjoyed several enough to take some bottles home with us. Overall, a nice, unique experience and would highly recommend to any Grenache wine fanatics.

A fantastic female-owned boutique winery exploring Grenache and its relations. Joaquin was a…read morebrilliant steward of both the town and the wine. And, the wine is delicious! I will be back to this homey wine tasting room on my next trip.

The Hilt Estate has a gorgeous tasting room and great wines, probably the best of all that we…read morevisited. However the service we received was unlike any of the other wineries we stopped at in the area. When we arrived at 3:30pm we were greeted at the door by a young woman who immediately told us that they would be closing at 5pm so we may not have much time for a tasting. An hour and a half isn't enough time for a tasting? After sitting in the large open tasting room, we engaged in conversation with her about the wines and the winery. When asked how she got into the business and started working at Hilt, she said she just wanted something that she didn't hate, and had applied for the job a couple months ago. When we asked about the white wine they had, she mentioned its tannins. Tannins in white wine? Given that we were only interested in trying the whites and the majority on the tasting menu were reds, we decided to try a glass of the white on offer instead of doing the tasting. The pour was about 2 ounces. It's too bad that the service was so impersonal and uneducated because the winery and the wines seemed so impressive. We would have loved to learn more but decided to cut our losses and leave.

We had a fantastic experience at The Hilt Estate, very reminiscent of Napa-style tastings…read more Beautiful interior, glassware, privacy. The furniture and artwork were both stunning as well, definitely recommend sitting by the fireplace. Our host was lovely, knowledgeable, and super accommodating of the timing before our next reservation. She explained the wines perfectly and definitely got us thinking about the different tasting notes. We left with a few bottles of the 2005 Sangiovese, it was an off-menu recommendation from our host and this wine had an amazing aroma, didn't even need to take a sip to know how special it was (but obviously did)! All said, an amazing experience, beautiful wines, knowledgeable staff - definitely recommend!

We visited in weather-perfect, late October, but a couple months later we still talk about our…read moreweekend getaway to Los Alamos and our stop at Casa Dumetz. Yup, the Yelp reviews and their website paint an accurate picture. Super chill spot with good wines, friendly service, inviting outdoor area and excellent attention to detail. Whenever we return, we'll definitely carve out some time to have a glass or two here again.

Excellent wine and friendly staff. Winery is now called Clementine Carter. We met the owner, Sonja…read more Their Pinot and Grenache in particular were excellent. We did the tastings but ran out of time to actually come back and buy wine. Will be back next time. Los Alamos is such a cool and still very much undiscovered "frontier" town...

We had such an amazing time on our wine tour! Everything was so well-organized and the staff…read morecouldn't have been more accommodating. The wineries we visited were beautiful, and the whole day flowed perfectly! Very relaxed, fun, and full of great wine. Tom was the absolute best guide knowledgeable, friendly, and made everyone feel welcome. And a big thank you to Eric, the owner, for creating such a wonderful experience and making sure every detail was just right. You can tell how much pride he takes in what he does. If you're thinking about booking a tour, this is the one to go with. Top-notch service, great people, and an unforgettable day!

We went to Solvang for a short vacation, just needed a getaway. We decided to go on a winery tour…read morewith Stagecoach and we were very pleased with it! Full disclosure we lucked out and it turned out we (my wife and I) were the only ones on the tour, it was on a Monday so I think things were slow for them. Tom picked us up at our hotel right on time and took us to 3 wineries. The first was smaller and the most remote (Cebada). It was smaller but the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. Of course we bought a couple of bottles. The next winery was closer to Solvang (Brickbarn) and Tom gave us a tour of the facility, the vats etc... He's very knowledgeable about the winemaking process as well as the history of the area etc... Of course we bought a couple of bottles. The last winery was also a horse ranch (Bella Cavali). The host Jeff was great and very friendly. We got to tour the stables and say "Hi" to the horses. Of course we bought a couple of bottles! We then got dropped off back at our hotel and were pretty exhausted. It was a great experience and we highly recommend Stagecoach.