Austin Hope & Treana Tasting Cellar — Restaurant in Templeton

I'm partial to Austin Hope as their Cab is one of our favorite wines. We got a chance to visit here in March while we were in Paso for a wedding. Did not disappoint. When you walk up to the tasting area, there are multiple greeters there who greet you with a glass of wine. They handed us a glass of their Sauvignon Blanc. I'm not a white wine drinker, but this wine was very crisp and something I could definitely drink on a summer day.

They sat us in a separate, secluded area for our tasting appointment. Definitely a nice touch as other wineries and clubs we have been a part of all did tastings standing at a bar in their tasting room. It was nice to have our own little area and personal attendant.

Speaking of the attendant, we were able to do our tasting session with Dina and she was awesome. Very friendly and knowledgeable about the wines. Really made for a great experience.

As part of our tasting, we sampled the Cab (again, one of our favorites), Malbec (one of our new favorites :)), Pinot Noir, Mourvedre, Grenache, and Syrah. I'm normally not a big Pinot Noir fan, but loved how they made theirs. Mourvedre and Grenache were also very good. Least favorite was the Syrah, and not because it was bad, but for me, just didn't measure up to the others. One word on the Cab is that somehow Austin Hope is able to create a similar taste profile year over year and since we love the wine already, we know what we'll be getting with each bottle. We have been members of other wineries, and while we appreciate variety, even within the same varietal, sometimes the quality would drop or you would get a completely different taste profile. So, we appreciate the consistency here. And then the Malbec - normally not one of my favorites, but Austin gave it a resemblance to the Cab while also maintaining the Malbec flavors and lighter body. A really, really good wine.

So in the end, we ended up joining the wine club. Was really a great experience here, cool environment, great service from Dina, always great wines, couldn't have...

What do us people who work in the wine industry do on our days off? Of course we go to other wine regions (I'm from Lodi) and go wine tasting 🍷🥂. Austin Hope is one of my favorite stops in Paso Robles. From the gorgeous tasting room sitting up on the rolling hills to the magical people who work there and of course the five star exquisite wine. On this visit we had the privilege of being hosted by Maddi T. What a complete sweetheart who sat with us, engaged us in stories of how Austin and Chuck Wagner from Caymus connected once we mentioned to her that Caymus was one of our favorite wines. Took us on an individual journey, instead of sticking soley to the flight that was pre-planned. She mentioned how she was fairly new to this industry but yet you could tell this was her calling. She has taken the time to really educate herself and that with her customer service background & bubbly personality was able to give us a five-star experience. I've been in this industry for a long time and I pride myself on giving guests a 5 star educational and personalized journey through their tasting and so I am very particular about the customer service I receive back in tasting rooms. I'm also someone who doesn't really write reviews but I had to take the time to tell you not only about this beautiful place but about the wonderful people (shout out to Nichole too) who work there and make the experience even better. Of course we left with several boxes of wine as well as their gorgeous wine glasses. With their side labels, there is really amazing wine at price points for everyone's budget. If you're visiting Paso Robles, put this one on top of your list & ask for Maddi! If you're out in the Lodi region come see me at LVVR Sparkling...

This was our second visit to Austin Hope and the team at Austin Hope exceeded all of our expectations. Motivation for this visit came from our tasting of their Cabernet Sauvignon a friend brought and shared at dinner for my birthday. I have not been a big fan of cabs from Paso, but this cab not only surprised me, it provided "hope" that a good Cabernet could be created from the soil in Paso Robles.

Now that I got the preamble out of the way. Let's talk about the visit: I reserved a tasting for six and they bumped us up from a picnic table to a cabana. The cabana's are both private and very comfortable which led to fantastic ambience for our tasting. Our server for the day was Mo Colwell. Everyone in our party loved Mo. She is very personable and made the effort to learn everyones name and something about them. Mo led us on a tour of the tasting menu and also provided opportunity for us to experience wines not featured for the days tasting. She made such a strong impression on our party that others in her profession will now have to live up to. Mo set the standard for excellences.

The wines at Austin Hope are very good. We pretty much enjoyed all tasted but the star of the show is their cabernet. The portfolio is huge with many choices at various price ranges. There is a wine for everyone.

We enjoyed our time at Austin Hope and will return on a future visit to Paso Robles. We will also request Mo Colwell to host our tasting and do so in the comfort of one of their cabanas. Our visit to Austin Hope was an easy 5 star review. Yes, "as good...