Sparkling Wine in San Luis Obispo Wine Country

San Luis Obispo Wine Country includes the SLO Coast, Edna Valley and Arroyo Grande Valley AVAs, and is one of California’s coolest wine growing regions. The 30+ wineries in this area are an average of only 5 miles from the ocean! Coastal fog, wind, soil, and sun create wines refined by the Pacific’s influence. This makes for energetically acidic and complex wines, with a large number of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producers, cool-climate Syrah, plus the Spanish white grape Albariño.

They also have 20 Sparkling Wine and local champagne producers in SLO Wine Country’s Sparkling Wine Trail, including Avila Beach and Pismo Beach!

Plus 3 more wineries offer sparkling wine online or for members only: Cadre Sparkling Albariño, Saucelito Canyon Blanc de Blancs.

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

In SLO, Avila & Pismo

1. Alapay Cellars

This tasting room in Avila Beach means you can always sip Bubbles by the ocean…who needs cake?! A classic, basic, dry sparkling wine that could be paired with many dishes, made in the traditional style.

Read more about Alapay Cellars Grand Cuvee Sparkling Wine.

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. Cali Love Wine

This pink disco party tasting room is originally from Solvang, and is now open in Pismo Beach, with more pink, beachy photos and sangria shaved ice! Their Bubbles include Stardust Brut Rosé, Gold Label Grand Cuvée, and the Wild Thing Peach Mango Sparkling Wine.

3. Deovlet: Myers-Deovlet

Myers-Deovlet is a joint sparkling venture between McPrice Myers of McPrice Myers Wines, and Ryan Deovlet of Deovlet Wines. You can buy it at Deovlet wines in San Luis Obispo’s Beverage District (behind Trader Joe’s). This is a Non-Vintage Blanc de Blanc called Line of Descent, a cuvée of 2013 – 2016 grapes made in the méthode champenoise. It’s also available at McPrice Myers on the Paso West Trail.

4. Dunites Wine Co.

Owners Tyler and Rachel Eck have made a beautiful, traditional-style sparkling wine, even though it’s Pétillant Naturel made in the ancestral method. It’s a blend of traditional Champagne grapes: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, both fully from the SLO Coast AVA. They make limited quantities, and sell out quickly. This is made in such small quantities, it’s not available right now. Watch for some next year at their downtown SLO tasting room!

Read more about Dunites Wine Co Pét-Nat.

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. Filipponi Ranch

This historic winery and tasting room is on the south side of San Luis Obispo, in the family’s former dairy farm. It’s a small family winery where you’ll frequently see Filipponi family members when you visit. They have just released their first sparkling wine, 2022 Pét-Nat using Grenache grapes from the Estrella Disrict in Paso Robles.

6. Kelsey See Canyon

Kelsey’s Estate winery in See Canyon is just outside Avila Beach, where you can picnic, play games, buy a flight, glass or bottle and relax to the sounds of wild peacocks. The Kelsey Sparkling Estate Chardonnay is crisp and refreshing, and made in the Champenoise style.

7. Sans Liege

There are 2 cool places to taste Sans Liege wines: here in Pismo Beach and Tin City in Paso Robles. The Sans Liege Sparkling Clairette is made in the classic Champagne style, with notes of brioche, sea salt and elder flower.

8. Sinor-Lavallee

At Sinor-Lavallee in Avila Beach, Mike Sinor has been making sparkling wine in the pét-nat method since 2016, when he released his first Ancestrale (named after this age-old method of making bubblies). Each year, you can find something different and fun as Mike experiments with all natural frizzante sparklers. He also makes a classic Champagne-style sparkler, called the Non Vintage Eclipse 137.

Read all about Sinor-Lavallee bubbly wines here.

9. Stephen Ross Wine Cellars

A classic Blanc de Noir in the tasting room in San Luis Obispo’s Beverage District. The Stephen Ross Blanc De Noir is made in the Champagne style, from Pinot Noir exclusively grown on the San Luis Obispo Coast. It’s lean, elegant and clean.

In Edna Valley & Arroyo Grande Valley

10. Baileyana Brut Rosé

Baileyana Wines in Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo has a lovely pink sparkler out in limited release: Baileyana Brut Rosé – a traditional méthode champenoise.

11. Biddle Ranch Vineyard

Biddle Ranch also has traditional-style non-vintage sparkling wine, made entirely from Chardonnay grown in Edna Valley, year-round. This wine could easily be called a Blanc de Blancs: the classic Champagne style made only from white wine grapes in the Champagne region of France. This wine should satisfy any Champagne lover with its yeasty notes, flavors of tart green apple, fine bubbles, and crisp, elegant finish. It’s clean, with just a hint of almond, and absolutely delicious.

Read more about Biddle Ranch Sparkling Wine.

12. Center of Effort

Center of Effort has just released a Sparkling Rosé from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir called EFFORTVESENCE – the first Méthode Traditionelle sparkling wine from Center of Effort. This exceptional wine, over two years in the making, perfectly highlights our estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes and continues our commitment to quality wines and sustainable farming here in the Edna Valley.

13. Chamisal

Chamisal Vineyards is located just outside the city of San Luis Obispo on California’s Central Coast and they specialize in Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Rhône varieties. Chamisal also produced their own Sparkling Wine for members, grown on the estate and made in the méthode champenoise.

14. Claiborne & Churchill

This historic winery in Edna Valley released a new Pétillant Naturel! This naturally sparkling wine is made from Riesling, one of Claiborne & Churchill’s signature Austrian varieites. Claiborne & Churchill now has their 40th anniversary 2020 Brut Cuvee made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir available in the tasting room. This wine has been aged on the lees and has lovely fruit and brioche flavros, like traditional Champagne.

15. Laetitia Vineyards & Winery

Originally known for Méthode Champenoise sparkling wines, Laetitia continues to produce seven unique Sparkling Wines. The vineyard site was specifically chosen by the French 30+ years ago to grow Chardonnay grapes that remained acidic, delicate and fresh with green apple and citrus characters – everything you want for making sparkling wine. And that philosophy continues today with these current releases.

Laetitia Vineyards & Winery is the only winery in the San Luis Obispo area that always offers a bubbly flight, as well as a Sparkling Only Wine Club.

Read more about Laetitia Sparkling Wine.

16. Piedra Creek

Piedra Creek is an exclusive, appointment-only winery in Edna Valley, with very limited quantities of Pét-Nat. When you are booking your appointment, just ask if they have any bubbles. The Piedra Creek Sparkling Lagrein Rosé pét-nat is dry, crisp and fresh. This is made in such small quantities, it’s not available right now. Watch for some next year!

17. Sextant

There are also 2 cool places to taste Sextant wines: the historic Edna town store in Edna Valley and the large winery on 46 west just outside of Paso Robles. The Sextant Sparkling Brut is crafted in the Méthode Traditionelle has fine and elegant bubbles with aromas of citrus blossom, almond and honey.

18. Talley Vineyards

A fun Pét-Nat from this historic winery in Arroyo Grande Valley is made from Grüner Veltliner grapes grown in sandy soils of the Edna Valley, just miles from the ocean. This naturally sparkling wine, hand-crafted using the ancestral method, completes fermentation in bottle, producing a bubbly and rustic expression of our sense of place.

Talley Vineyards has also released a traditional-method 2019 Blanc de Blanc, a celebration of the humble Chardonnay grape transformed into something truly extraordinary.

19. Timbre

Timbre is one of the only wineries on the Central Coast making local Prosecco-style Sparkling Wine. This is the Charmat method of making Bubbles, where still wine is put into a tank, and carbon dioxide is forced into the wine, making fresh Sparkling Wine in a variety of styles (some Prosecco can be sweet, but the Bubbles at Timbre are crisp and dry). The Chardonnay has notes of green apple and yeast, while the Rosé is a little more strawberries and cream.

20. Wolff Vineyards

The newest addition to the SLO Coast Wine Sparkling Trail is this 2018 cuvee, produced in the traditional Méthode Champenoise sparkling wine. Wolff Vineyards pressed Chardonnay grapes with early ripeness from their estate vineyard’s 45 year-old vines. This is rare in California!

This Blanc de Blanc follows a Champagne production process which includes primary fermentation from 100% Estate Chardonnay fruit, inoculated with a secondary fermentation lees aged in the bottle, riddling, disgorgement of the yeast plug, dosage and final corking after two years. The end result provides crisp fruity flavors with a creamy palate and youthful elegance. 

Wolff has also released their 2020 Brut Rosé Sparkling wine. This bubbly is made in the méthode champenoise from their estate-grown Pinot Noir block. It has wonderful, fruity strawberry notes with abundant tiny bubbles.

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