Every Friday as we cruise into the weekend I plan to feature and review a California winery. I’ll provide notes on the experience, info on the wines, and I’ll rate the tasting experience from 🍷 to 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷. Definition for my categories can be found here.
This week I am featuring Villa Creek in Paso Robles.
I recently went to Villa Creek with three of my nearest and dearest on a beautiful, warm, and sunny Friday morning. We had reservations and when we walked up through the grasses and shrubs we were greeted by the most welcome outdoor environment with beautiful views of the vines up the mountain and in front of us. The inside and the outside of the tasting room has an upscale yet comfortable rustic feel. The outdoor seating area decorated with a large cow? skull on the outside wall that the finches used to put nests in. All at once you look at the vista and you breathe out an air of relaxation and harmony. Throughout our tasting we were the only visitors there, which added to the serenity.
The staff had set-up a beautiful intimate tasting experience for us inside, but it was such a lovely day we asked to be moved to the outdoors. We were so glad that we did. Nestled on the hill in between the vines with views of the grazing sheep helped to add to our appreciation of this biodynamic and organic winery. It also meant that we got to say hello to their very friendly Dire Wolf sized dogs who help to protect the sheep which graze on the property from mountain lions.
The tasting experience at Villa Creek was my ideal tasting experience in every way. It was friendly, approachable, intimate, not rushed and was provided by informed staff. We had the pleasure of meeting the owners Cris and JoAnn Cherry, who made us feel welcome and like old friends. We had a great laugh with other members of staff, and received the best recommendations for places to eat and visit for the rest of our trip from our host. In fact, we went to lunch at their recommendation the Tin Canteen, which was incredible. The service was so good that they offered to hold our just purchased wine for us and drop it off for us later, so it wouldn’t sit in a warm car!
We did the reserve tasting of their Rhone-Style Wines. My favorite was the Syrah, but the Willow Creek Cuvee was not far behind. I actually ended up going off the menu and purchasing wine I hadn’t even tried at the tasting, because I was so impressed with the quality of what I was drinking.
The Ratings
Ambiance – 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Friendliness of Staff – 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Knowledge of Staff – 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Quality of Wines – 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Cost of Tasting – 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Overall Experience: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
The Details
Types of Wines: Rhone-style Blends
Average Cost of Wine: $25 – $65 (off the tasting list is a bit more)
Cost of Tasting: $20
Reservations Required: No. I sent friends the next week and they walked right up and enjoyed themselves.
Food Pairing or Food Available: No
Lord Indy Friendly: Yes
View: Yes
Kid/Family Friendly: Yes, although they shouldn’t be scared of dogs.
