Sparkling Wine in Downtown Paso Robles & Tin City

There are 13 spots to get Sparkling Wine and local champagne in this area! Downtown Paso Robles is built around a charming, historic square, where you can meander through a city park, an old-fashioned General Store, a tiki lounge, and lots of eateries and wine tasting rooms. It’s a great place for a fun day of discovering hidden gems. Heading south, Tin City is a newer, funky community full of winemakers, plus a distillery, brewery, artisan ice cream shop and a Michelin star restaurant.

So, enjoy these bubbles from 13 wineries in the Paso Robles Downtown and Tin City areas.

See more! There are over 80 sparkling wine producers in San Luis Obispo County.

Downtown Paso Robles

1. Bushong

Make your own party with this sparkling Gewürztraminer, 2020 Faire La Fete, made in the classic Champagne method. These grapes are from the Adelaida district and the bubbly is aged en tirage, meaning the wine is aged on the yeast and lees (grape matter that is leftover from fermentation). This is also called late disgorged, since it’s aged longer than usual before disgorging the yeast plug and bottling. This process gives it a fuller body plus yeasty aromas, which blends with the fun, aperitif style of the Gewürztraminer grape. Perfect for a winemaker who loves vinyl and Duran Duran.

Méthode Champenoise is how sparkling wine is made in the Champagne region of France, also called méthode traditionnelle or classique. This is the highest-quality and most labor-intensive way to make sparkling wine. It involves bottling the still wine with additions of sugar and yeast after a first fermentation, ensuring a second fermentation happens in the bottle, trapping the bubbles inside. It then goes through aging (and periodic turning of the bottles to force the lees to the neck of the bottle), until it’s ready for dégorgement (to get these lees out) and dosage (to finish the wine).

2. CaliPaso

CaliPaso strives to be an authentic Italian experience in Paso Robles, including bringing in Prosecco DOC from Italy. DOC means Denominazione di Origine Controllata or designation of controlled origin, and is the second-highest quality level of Prosecco in Italy – Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto. So you know it’s good.

3. Derby Wine Estates

This winery is a bit further out from the walkable downtown, located in a historic Almond Storage and Growers building, renovated by the Derbys. The Derby Sparkling Brut Rosé of Pinot Noir is made in the classic Champagne method, and is a nutty, complex sparkling wine.

4. Détente

Détente has a Pét-Nat of Grenache. More info soon…

Pétillant Naturel, or Pét-Nat, is an even more ancient way to make sparkling wine than the widely-used méthode champenoise (also called méthode traditionelle) originated in Champagne, France. In the méthode ancestrale, the wine is bottled with a crown cap before it even finishes its first fermentation, so it develops carbon dioxide as it goes. It’s not disgorged, often unfiltered, and can be made from any grape variety.

5. Hoyt Wines

This elegant Méthode Champenoise sparkling wine is sourced from Hoyt’s vineyards in Malibu and on the west side of Paso Robles. Made from Chardonnay, it’s light, crisp and refreshing.

6. Symbiosis

In the past, Symbiosis made a fun Sparkling White Barbera. This 2017 wine was made like a white wine, then ‘sparkled.’  Light, with a soft acidity and dry, despite a distinct ‘lollipop’ aroma. We’ll have to see what they think of next.

7. Tudor

Tudor Wines makes an off dry Riesling, and made a Sparkling version in 2017. This is another winery to keep an eye on for new bubbles…

8. Vines on the Marycrest

Vines on the Marycrest is coming soon to a new tasting room at 13th and Pine St. They mostly specialize in reds, but they also have a few sparkling options! Their Beyond Belief Extended Triage Brut Rosé, Jive Talkin Sparkling Syrah, and Beyond Belief Brut Cuvée are all quite unique and made in the traditional method.

Further South & Tin City

9. Broken Earth

Broken Earth makes three sparklers in the classic Champagne method: 2018 Limited Release Sparkling Albariño (made from 20+ year old vines), 2018 Limited Release Sparkling Grenache Rosé, and a 2018 Limited Release Sparkling Verdelho. All three are pressed in the Diemme Velvet 80 Press, which ensures that little to no oxygen comes in contact with the juice, resulting in brighter, fresher product.

10. Desparada/Scarab

Scarab is a joint project of Desparada Wine and Ultima Tulie Wines dedicated entirely to sparkling wines made in méthode champenoise with New World vibrancy and dynamism. They recently released their Blanc de Blancs, which can be found online or in the Desparada tasting room in Tin City. 

11. Field Recordings

At any moment, there are at least a dozen Field Recording sparkling wines out in the market. In addition to Pét-Nats and classic bubblies, you’ll see piquettes (wine made by steeping leftover grape material to make a new, secondary wine) and other experiments. Right now at the winery: 2020 Escolle – New on the Pét-Nat lineup made of Sparkling Pinot Noir and 2021 Tang – Sparkling White Wine Piquette.

Tip: You can also find various sparkling wines by Field Recordings at the local Whole Foods, like these Italian-style Acqua Pazza (“crazy water”) wines below. They are similar to the French-style Piquettes, which were traditionally made by winery workers for themselves, after all the wine was finished fermenting for the winery. They would reconstitute the matter other than grapes (like skins, stems, leftover fermentation bits, etc.) and add water to make a light wine they could drink for free.

12. La Perdignus

A newcomer to Tin City, La Perdignus focuses on vineyards on the Central Coast, and natural acidity to make fresh, vibrant wines. They make a Pét-Nat that is refreshing with notes of grapefruit, pear and melon.

13. Sans Liege

The 2020 Sparkling Clairette by Sans Liege comes from grapes grown in the El Pomar District of Paso Robles. This is a classic sparkling wine, and can be found here in Tin City as well as Pismo Beach.

See more! There are over 80 sparkling wine producers in San Luis Obispo County.