Worth a Look
Here are a few other wineries of interest. All have a $5 tasting fee unless otherwise noted.
Eagle Creek Winery: 3090 Anderson Road; 805-227-1428; www.eaglecastlewinery.com. Designed to look like a castle with a real moat. Tasting room open 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily. Food and wine pairings in the Crown Room 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. Great deal — we received 13 tastings for our $5.
Oso Libre Winery: 7383 Vineyard Drive; 805-238-3378; www.osolibre.com. One of the newest tasting rooms to open, it was closed for a private party when we visited. Also a cattle ranch, it has a 27-hole disc golf course for fundraisers, solar panels and a wind tower and hopes to have a zero-percent carbon footprint by 2011.
Wild Coyote Estate winery: 3775 Adelaide Road; 805-610-1311; www.wildcoyote.biz. Tastings 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily in an Adobe-style winery and bed & breakfast. The winery has a real teepee and displays the stone sculpture works of owner/winemaker/artist Gianni Manucci.
Sylvester Vineyards & Winery: 5115 Buena Vista Dr.; 805-227-4000; www.sylvesterwinery.com. Free tastings 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily; $5 for cheese or chocolate pairings. The winery has a large gift shop and gourmet food shop, an outdoor wine park and picnic area, swan pond and 1947 Pullman Train cars on exhibit.
Clautierre Vineyards: 1340 Penman Springs Road; 805-237-3789; www.clautierre.com. Tastings noon-5 p.m. daily. Art meets wine here with metal sculptures and a 6.5-foot mosaic sphere on the grounds and lots of purple and funky artwork in the tasting room.
Paso Wine Centre: 1240 Park St.; 805-239-9156. This downtown center is a collection of wineries with exclusive labels or no tasting room of their own. Enomatic machines dispense 1-ounce tastes of about 50 wines, each costing between $1-$6. What makes this unusual is that owner Ryan Broersma uses the profits to fund “Wine for Water,” a nonprofit that helps bring clean water to African nations.
— Ann Tatko-Peterson
