Explore the Urban & Beach Wine Trail and experience serious wines in chic urban or sunny beach settings.
Get ready for the unexpected in and around San Luis Obispo, like the beachside Shuck Shack in Avila, and an industrial-chic warehouse in the city of SLO. Enjoy a varied selection of traditional Burgundian and Rhône-style wines on this trail: Sinor-LaVallee in Avila, and Timbre in SLO.
Total drive time is just 15 minutes, leaving you plenty of time to stop for lunch at one of SLO’s many restaurants highlighting SLO Coast wines.
Avila Beach: Sinor-LaVallee Wines
Get in the ocean, and then taste the ocean and the wines at Sinor-LaVallee, where they offer shuck-it-yourself oysters, tinned fish, and California caviar at The Shuck Shack along with your tasting of Sinor-LaVallee wines. They’ve got great wines to go with food from the ocean, and plenty of tools and advice if you’re not used to shucking. Some oyster-favorite wines are the Chardonnay, Albariño, and Vin Gris Rosé. Make sure to pre-order your local oysters ahead of time (sourced from Morro Bay Oyster Co.) and get your shucking hand ready; you’ll be shucking them yourself. But don’t worry; if you don’t have your own shucking gear, you can buy it from the winery. It’s not hard, but you may want to watch a video or two before arriving.
At Sinor-LaVallee, they specialize in wines grown 1.2 miles from the Pacific Ocean at their estate Bassi Vineyard near Avila Beach. The wines naturally reflect their pronounced coastal terroir, as well as the impassioned viticultural handwork that they bring to our vines and soils. The effect of these elements is highly local and personal—the hallmarks of Sinor-LaVallee.
photo by Liz Dodder, CaliCoastWineCountry.com
Sinor-LaVallee was founded in 1997 by Mike Sinor and Cheri LaVallee-Sinor. After years of grinding away at winemaking and grape growing, Mike Sinor ultimately became one of the Central Coast’s most decorated winemakers. Starting with the 2013 vintage, all wines are from the Estate vineyard in Avila Beach with an Ocean View. Planted there are 8 clones of Pinot Noir along with Syrah, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Albariño.
TIMBRE Winery
TIMBRE has a new winery/tasting room in San Luis Obispo’s LoBro area. It is located at 770 Capitolio Way, near near Lower Broad St. In music, Timbre is what makes two voices sound different, even when singing the same song. It’s why two winemakers, working with the same vineyards, make unique wine. “The goal of our winemaking at TIMBRE Winery is to express a snapshot of a place (the vineyard) and time (the vintage) that will never occur again,” says winemaker Josh Klapper. “As a terroir-driven winery, we make wines expressive of the places and times from which they came.” His goal is achieved through enhancing and showcasing the integrity of the land and vineyards.
“We strive to produce wines of balance, which serve to convey not any one element – aroma, sweetness, acidity, alcohol, minerality, earth, complexity – but all of the elements in the wine in perfect harmony.” To that end, the fruit is handled gently in the winery using minimally invasive techniques and sustainable practices. You’ll find Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and even a hard cider. TIMBRE also offers special events throughout the year to taste their limited production wines.
Contact the tasting room at Timbre.
