San Sebastian Winery

Let’s start by saying that I don’t particularly like sweet wine, although that’s what they do best. The bought cab Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes produce a below average wine.
That said, the third floor ambience is great. Love the rooftop setting and live music.
We did not try the food, so I can’t comment on that.

COOL AREA WITH SURPRISING VARIETY OF WINE = (Disclaimer: Central FL visitor here for a trip. Only did tour and tasting on 1^st floor)
LATE ARRIVALS STILL TAKEN CARE OF = We arrived shortly AFTER the tours and tasting yet the 1^st floor still accommodated us for the tasting (PLUS another group after us). Thanks! Staff on the 3^rd floor was also kind in directing us to the correct location.
LARGE VARIETY TO TASTE = No tour for us, but the lone bartender warned us we’d have a ‘very quick tasting.’ Therefore I only expected 4 samples… NOT 10! (Although it amounted to a mere splash… YAY). Besides the typical, they even featured a Rosa, Sherry and Port! Unfortunately we flew through the tasting I didn’t have time to ponder the flavors. But I can’t dock off stars because WE WERE late…
RETURN VISIT TO CHECK EVERYTHING OUT = The tasting is held downstairs at the gift shop’s rear; many wine-​themed gifts there. One day I’d love to take the free tour. My brief encounter with the 3^rd floor revealed a large, comfy area partially open to the sky with great views of the town while you sip some drinks.

I was disappointed that there was not a guided tour explaining the winemaking process. I’m not a big wine person so the free tasting didn’t do much for me. If you like wine tasting go here. If not, don’t bother, there isn’t much else here.

Very cool place. We did the tour with an awesome guide and got to try several products.

It was such a good experience i will be doing this again when i go back i love their wine i loved the energy that was going around of how proud they were to be working there

Another glorious day while vacationing in St Augustine. This is a must go to for us when we visit. The white sangria great when paired with something from their lunch menu. We started with the meat and cheese platter with stuffed peppers. We cannot stress how good it is. We are waiting for the live music to start. If you are visiting, please check this place out you will enjoy it and then tell all your friends about it. We have sent pictures back to family and friends who are in 10 degree weather with snow. We will be back on our next visit

Came here with a couple girlfriends yesterday. I truly had a wonderful time. First thing I appreciated before even entering the building was the fact that parking was not limited! This is rare in st. Augustine. The rooftop bar is gorgeous and our waiter was so nice and friendly. I had the red blend and it was delicious. We ordered a cheese plate and it was scrumptious. They also had live music which is always a plus to me.
After we enjoyed our glasses of wine we went to the first floor to begin our wine tour. The staff was all really nice and the tour was short and sweet! I loved it. Lastly we ended up at there large selection of gifts and wine. My only wish is that we had stayed her longer and just relaxed and listened to more great music. I will for sure be coming back here.
Thank you San Sebastian Winery for such a great experience and for being a gem !

I love this winery! If you are a beginning wine drinker or prefer sweeter wine they have great options. You have to support Florida grown businesses. I didn’t know grapes grew in Florida. My first visit a few years ago included an educational tour, which taught me more about wine and the processes it takes to create wine which was educational and enjoyable. They still have free wine tasting. I believe they
Replaced the tour with a video presentation. I recommend going to the chocolate factory and the St. Augustine Distillery while you are in that part of town. They also sell their wine at Publix if you decide you like their wine.

Ok, so we are not in Napa Valley or Italy or some other place that makes decidedly higher quality wine, but in Florida this is the place to go to try the best that Florida has to offer in wines. The winery is not actually a vineyard in St Augustine, but a short video will go show you where they do grow the grapes in Florida. The free winery tour is simple but the wine tasting is pretty generous. You can try all but a few of the limited wines available. The standard white, red, and rose are made from the muscadine grapes so they are very sweet. If you like moscato you will like these just fine. They also have a version of the cab and chardonnay that are pretty good if you prefer dryer wines that pair better with food. The wines are really affordable and you can always find great discounts and coupons to stock up. The rooftop bar offers more wine cocktails and beer and is a fun way to spend an afternoon, weather permitting. We usually stop by the winery whenever visiting St Augustine for a nice refreshing break.

Cute self guided tour. The highlight was the restaurant on top. Great views, wonderful breeze. I was in heaven sipping my sangria, live music playing, just relaxing. Super friendly, down to earth staff. I had a delicious hummus plate. Had a wonderful afternoon there. We will be back.

So I called the day before to find out about the wine tasting tours and was told «just come in before closing and you can take out wine tasting tours.» We showed up at 3:15 and were told they were closing at 4 and that the tour had started at 3:00 and when we explained what we had been told they said that we could stick around for a taste of their wines after the tour ended at 4:00. Why not just add us to the tour 15 minutes late? We would have gone for that. The lady who let us do a wine tasting was really, really nice but there was a younger girl there muttering «Why don’t they go home already?» referring to the guests. REALLY?!

After a BBQ lunch, we stopped at San Sebastian Winery since mama is a bit of a wine lover. We walked in and they have a nice gift shop with a variety of their wines along with some other things for the tourists to buy. We saw wine racks, olives, pickled items, infused olive oils and even a cheese slicer. I am sure there were many other things but mama was anxious to take the tour.
We headed to the back of the gift shop and there was a gentleman sampling wines. I immediately let him know of my allergy to alcohol and let him know my wife and I would just share a sampling cup. He let me know that I could just spit out the wine into the metal buckets since swallowing it would make me sick. I appreciated that he went out of his way to accommodate me.
We headed upstairs and after looking at the items displayed and watching the movie in theater one, continued the tour. The next sampling station I took a sip of the wine after my wife and as I went to spit it out I was berated by the guy sampling the wine for preparing to do so. At first I thought he was kidding but he was serious. I let him know I was allergic to alcohol and in the process spilled wine all over my shirt. He then allowed me to spit in the bucket and I headed off to clean up my shirt.
My wife followed me only to inform me that he let her know in a sarcastic tone he now had to clean the bucket. When I heard that, I was mad as all get out but instead of making a scene with my shirt now all wet, I told the gentleman at the next sampling station in the aging room what happened. He apologized for his co-worker’s behavior and told me the manager’s name. We continued the tour but I was pretty much ready to leave at this point.
After we completed the tour I located the manager and asked him to come talk with me away from all of the others and he did. I told him what happened and he explained how there has been a change in the policy over time and some of the employees seem to want to hold on to the old ways. He was very apologetic and offered me a discount in their store to make up for the inconvenience. He realized my wife was pretty much ready to go and asked her what kind of wine she likes and bagged up two bottles of wine. When I went to pay for them, the manager insisted that they were on him and again apologized for his staff’s behavior.
Had it not been for that incident, we would have probably taken a tour of the vineyard but I just wanted to get into the sun so my shirt could dry and see more of the town. I will likely return again to take the tour of the vineyard the nest time I am in St. Augustine because of how the manager handled everything. I have spent most of my life in Florida so I am used to how you treat the tourists because they are your bread and butter in this state. I suspect ONE person will be getting that memo in BOLD letters…

It is really cool that they give free tours! We came in just in time for a tour. I am not really a wine person, but I always think its cool to see how its made and the history behind the company. The mulled wine bag in the gift shop smelled really good so we ended up getting that.

The winery is a pretty cool roof top. There is a good selection of beers, wine, and mixed drinks. There is live music and they definitely have an older crowd. If I was an AARP member on spring break this is the place.

Absolute crap in every way. Hard to get a tour unless you’re just standing around waiting for a half hour, as the tours have no set times.
The tour consists of a video (note: tour guide does nothing) and then to look at the wine floor. For us there was nothing to look at since it’s off-​season. We just listened to the maintenance … which was bad for the tasting.
The tasting was crap. They come around with two wines at a time but you only get to choose one of the two. Too bad if you wanted to try both!
The wines, also, are disgusting and we tossed half of them out. They have just four dry wines (two were sold out) and neither were remotely dry. They were all palate-​wrecking sweet, often tasting like cough syrup.
Our tour guide was also boring, monotonous, and at times demeaning in how many times he repeated things and how rudely he asked for IDs. He was more interested in clearing inventory than discussing wine. He pushed it constantly.
The worst part of all is that you can’t do a tasting unless you do the tour first. Never once have we encountered this. Wineries give tastings to anyone who comes in, period.

Located in the oldest city of America! St. Augustine, Florida!
By farrr this is my most favorite winery! The ambiance is rustic and definitely Spanish architect. In love.
They have complimentary wine tours and tastings which everrryone should take advantage of! The connoisseur is highly educated and really breaks down how their wine is made. I learned so much. Glad they taught me how wine is stored.
The tour runs about every 25 minutes. The best time to go is on weekdays. Less crowd and more personable.
Note that this is not the actual winery but just a mini sample of it.
Must do:
Try out their café! Great dishes made by using their wine and wonderful pairing suggestions. There’s even live bands during the summer!
Popular Wines:
Vitners Red $ 9.99
Vitners White $ 9.99
Summer must buy is Rosa for $ 7.99
Highly recommend trying one of St. Augustine attraction! Take advantage of the free tour!

This is a fun winery and wine shop. You enter and exist (like always) through the shop. The stuff there is nice, but you can find everything other than the wine for cheaper on the internet.
At the back is the first stop of the tour, which is self-​guided. You’ll get a plaitic cup to use for the rest of the walk and try your first wine. Afterward, you go upstairs, watch a video (if you want), and do a small loop where you sample six more wines. There’s really only one beautiful stop: it’s where they do bigger, more organized wine tastings.
The wine ranges from — in my unsophisticated opinion — pretty good to bad. Most of the wines are sweet, and two are fortified. The fortified wines weren’t good, but they were fun to try.

I love all things St. Augustine and this winery is no exception!
Located in a multiple story building, the first floor houses a wine store and merchandise area, second story is utilized for tours and tastings and the third story is home to a rooftop bar area!
Tours and tastings are free and run continuously throughout the day. You’ll be directed to the second floor where a short video is shown, you are able to view the production facilities and taste the wines! When I have visited, we have had the opportunity to taste about 4 or 5 wines. Admittedly, I don’t have an incredibly sophisticated palette, but I do enjoy wine and have always enjoyed everything I’ve tasted at San Sebastian!
The tasting format seems to vary depending on how busy they are. I once visited on a weekday and we were able to do a group tasting at a counter, where the guide seemed to have substantial time to spend with us and explain the wines. The second time I visited on a weekend, and we were able to sample wines at different stops on the tour, at our own pace. I preferred the more formal tasting environment, but understand they must control weekend traffic a bit differently.
Wine prices are pretty reasonable with quite a few bottles in the $ 10 – 15 range. I definitely recommend a quick stop here when in St. Augustine!

On the last day of a visit with my family in Jacksonville, we decided to make a day trip to St. Augustine before heading back home to Tampa. I had already seen most of the tourist attractions there, so we decided to try something new.
Our group attended a free wine tasting at San Sebastian Winery that was so much fun. It began with a small tour of the facility, past rows of large wine barrels and into a room where you watch an informational video about San Sebastian. This was my first wine tasting ever and I learned so much! If there is one thing that my boyfriend and I are not, it is wine drinkers (although since then, I have become a fan of moscato and riesling). I was certainly not a fan of the dry wines that start off the tasting, but the sweeter wines were very good. My favorites were the Vintner’s Red and the Rose. I wish we had time to visit the rooftop bar, but there’s always next time!
There is a large gift shop where you can browse while you wait for the winery tour to begin. They offer all of their wines as well as a variety of other souvenirs. This is a great spot to visit in the summer when you need a break from Florida’s tempermental weather.
We had a great time at San Sebastian Winery. Now that I’m not such an inexperienced wine drinker, I’d love to go back and try the tasting out again!

When in St. Augustine, sometimes you just have to do as the tourists do. And on this day it meant we found ourselves at San Sebastián Winery. My in-​laws were in town and they had enjoyed this stop on a previous trip. Since it would be my first time, I was game to try it.
They weren’t giving tours per se of the winery — it’s not THAT big — but they had self guided tours with several stops along the way to let you sample their different wines. And if you found one you really liked, some of them were nice enough to pour you a second sip. I have to admit, I haven’t had San Sebastian wine on too many occasions, but it’s pretty decent. I definitely find us supporting this place over the next few years.
I have yet to make it to the rooftop bar, but I do want to go back and try it one day.