JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery — Restaurant in Cambria

JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery is a beautiful place to stop for wine tasting, lunch, and a winery tour. The tasting room and restaurant stands out like a contemporary ranch house amongst the surrounding vineyards. Row upon row of vines stretch across the land and hills like fine stitch work. If you decide to stay for lunch, here are a few suggestions from the menu:

A great way to try the wines while enjoying a meal is with a flight. The White Wine Flight includes 2014 JUSTIN Sauvignon Blanc, 2014 JUSTIN Rosé, and 2013 Landmark Overlook Chardonnay. The Sauvignon Blanc has a pear nose. Green apple and peach flavors are experienced on the palate with a light, clean finish. Rating: 3.5/5. The Rosé has a blackberry and cherry aroma. Strawberry and grapefruit flavors are experienced on the palate with a nice, clean finish. Rating: 4.5/5. The Chardonnay has a white grape and pear aroma. White grape, pear, floral, and mineral flavors experienced on the palate. Rating: 2.5/5

Windrose Farm Lamb Tartare is topped with garden greens, preserved lemon aioli, and crostini. This was a fantastic take on tartare. The lamb was sweet and minced perfectly. The use of shaved egg yolk added a richness to the dish without the mess of a runny egg yolk. The fresh greens from the garden paired nicely. Rating: 4.5/5

JUSTIN Fries are tossed with truffle salt, parmesan, and JUSTIN fine herb blend. The fries were light and crispy. The truffle flavor was just right so the parmesan and herbs could shine as well. Rating: 4.5/5

Bucatini Pasta tossed with Alle-Pia sausage, wild mushrooms, bitter greens, smoked butter, and parmesan. This was an excellence lunch dish, light yet satisfying. The sauce had a rich creamy texture. The flavors of the succulent mushrooms and lean, meaty sausage balanced perfectly with the sauce and pasta. Rating: 4.5/5

JUSTIN Brownies topped with caramel, cocoa nibs, and served with lemon balm ice cream. The brownie was served warm with rich, decadent chocolate flavor. Caramel sauce made the dish more luxurious. The lemon balm ice cream was refreshing with unexpected herbal notes. It was different and made a nice contrast to the brownie. Rating: 3.8/5

After lunch, a walking tour is a great way to burn some calories. JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery offers tours of their facility. Be sure to call ahead for a reservation as the tours are limited to 10 people per tour. Our tour guide, Larry, took us around the winery, showing us the machinery used to mill and press the grapes during harvest and the large stainless steel tanks used for the fermentation process. He then walked us through the caves where the different wines are aged in French Oak barrels. You will also be tasting wine along the way - Rosé, Merlot, Petit Syrah, and Reserve. You'll also notice that scattered around the vineyard are poles with metal boxes on top. They sort of look like large bird houses. They are homes for the owls who rid the vineyards of rodents and snakes. They let nature take on the job of pest control so chemical pesticides are not used.

After the tour, head back to the tasting room to sample and purchase your favorite wines. Take a walk around the on-site vegetable garden where they grow the produce that is ultimately going to end up on your plate in the restaurant - kale, different varieties of lettuce, edible flowers, Swiss chard, and more. Lady bugs and praying mantis are also natural pest controllers and are on patrol...

If there was a way to give no stars for my recent experience at Justin Winery I would. I decided to take my entire office staff on a wine tasting trip for their Christmas Party. I had never been to Justin Winery, so this winery was the one that I was most excited to visit. When we arrived, luckily, it was not very busy. There were maybe 5 tables outside and 5 people inside the winery tasting room. We sat down and waited to be greeted. When our wine representative came over to the table, Gregory, he was less than friendly. He did not smile, nor did he try and talk with us to see why we were there, the reason for the visit, etc. He also did not explain the wines that we would be tasting. We got our first pour of wine after about 10 to 15 minutes of waiting. During this time, one of my staff members told Gregory that one of his family members wanted to join the wine club. Of course, he immediately started working on that on the phone inside. After we waited and waited for our second pour of wine, one of my employees finally had to go into the actual building and ask for a second pour from another wine representative. When, Gregory finally finished his phone call and came out with the second pour of wine, he made a comment about my staff member that went into the building to ask for our second pour. After rolling his eyes, he stated, "Well if she would just quit hounding me" I would come out here and pour wine. This was the first time anyone had went inside the building. Gregory was unprofessional, extremely rude, and an outright negative individual. I have no idea how he would even be able to obtain a job such as this. Because of my experience with Gregory, I may never go back to Justin. It is too bad because the wine...

We have been members here for several years, and the place has gone down the toilet. We made reservations for lunch and to pick up our shipment. When talking on the phone to make the reservations, we wanted to make some changes we were assured we would be able to make minor alterations to our order once we taste the latest wines - sounded like a good tradeoff at the time.

When we got there this was the worst experience ever at a winery:

Lunch is no longer served, I quote the manager: "We are trying to focus on our Michelin star dinner service." Our options were either overpriced chocolate tasting, or some moldy nuts that the waiter managed to dig up somewhere. The flavor of the nuts was far from the supposed Michelin star. They can't be bothered to feed people anymore, not even cold appetizers or salads.

Swapping out a bottle of Rose we didn't quite like even for a lower priced bottle is suddenly not allowed either. Seems, they want to get rid of the swill by packaging it up into overpriced pre-sealed boxes that apparently they weren't allowed open. I tried accessing their terms of service, to confirm, but that page has apparently been removed in anticipation of the flood of complaints.

Since then, I tried contacting the "Wine Society" but they don't answer or call back. Several messages later I am hoping they will respond better to emails and negative reviews. At this point I am working on ending my membership one way or another.

In a town known for amazing food, wine and service, this place is just no longer worth it. They had my business for years, but seems they got too big for smaller customers. This is a company riding on past success. The current operation is less...