Clavo Cellars

Our first visit to Clavo Cellars was a pleasant surprise. Previously we had avoided tasting rooms like this under the misguided perception that you should be tasting at the actual winery. We’ve been missing out! Carole (yes with an E) greeted us warmly and immediately made us feel welcome. On her recommendation we started with Albariño, a white that was new to us as a varietal. Delicious! While we enjoyed every wine limited space only allowed us to purchase two bottles. The good news is that we can visit again. Wish we lived in the area to take advantage of the special events, Wednesdays for local entertainment in the wine garden and Fridays for open mic and other talent. Carole also helped guide us to some other tasting rooms and wineries that we would have missed without her recommendations.

Great wines, really friendly people, and lovely atmosphere. It was quite a perfect wine tasting stop for us on the drive from Santa Barbara to Oakland. Will definitely be back next time we are driving this way.

The wines were very good here. Smaller winery which is always fun. It is also across the street from a very good sandwich place. Grab a sandwich to go and head back to Clavo to do some tasting. Great customer service here as well.

Great customer service and loved all of the wines! Easy location to find and a very welcoming environment to hang out and enjoy your tasting.

We had some time to kill before our dinner at McPhee’s, so we decided to kill the time at Clavo, which is just across the street. It was a great decision, because we found some great people and great wines. Although they were supposed to close at 5 pm, they poured for us signficantly beyond that time, mostly because a group showed up at just about 5 pm so they stayed open for them (gotta love that service!). As others have described, it’s just a fun, welcoming, unpretentious and laid back wine tasting experience. We left with more than one bottle.

Service is always good.
The wines are so delicious. I do not have one bad thing to say about the wines. Very welcoming establishment. Easy parking. If you go you won’t regret it.

My fiancé were walking downtown Templeton with our dog when we came across Clavo Cellars Tasting Room. We asked it would br okay to bring our pup in and the answer was an immediate and welcoming yes. Score. We then sat down at a table with a lovely view of downtown Templeton. The hostess was super welcoming and friendly and began pouring whites. She gave us good information about the wines she wad pouring, and continued onto the sparkling then reds and finished with a dessert wine. We got about 8 tastings each for $ 10 each but the fees were waived because we bought a bottle of the Grenache sparkling wine (so delicious and unexpected) and the Dessert Wine which reminded me of eating cherries on the front porch on a hot summer day (AKA I want to drink it everyday.) The tasting room was not stuffy at all and they even had a 50% off case sale going on. The hostess let us know she would gladly let us try what we didnt have a chance to try today, the next time. We are eager to go back.

Nice service, free wine tasting, everyone there seemed to be having a good time, we just didn’t find anything we liked here. The guy at Wild Coyote sent us here, such a far out drive for something we didn’t like kind of sucked. We found out that guy referred us here because his friend works here, when originally he made it seem as if he just discovered this place smh.

Great starting point ! Amber, Tuesday room manager knows the ropes! Love their reds!

My second great find on my most recent trip to Paso was Clavo. I had not heard of Clavo before, and after our tasting at Ancient Peaks I was discussing Zinfandel with the lady who poured for us. I asked what wineries she recommended for Zinfandel. She mention several of wineries I either knew about or have visited, and a couple that I did not. Finally she said her brother works in the industry, and really liked Clavo in Templeton.
To be honest, an hour leaving Ancient Peaks, I had forgotten the name Clavo. Later that evening we had dinner at Villa Creek. We ordered an Adelaida Zinfandel to go with dinner. The waiter returned and told us they did not have that wine. We looked at the wine list again and the waiter suggest Clavo! That was twice in one day! We took the 2009 Clavo «Desperado» Zinfandel.
I loved it! A hint of fruit with some spice, very unique.
The next day it got late in the afternoon, and we need lunch. After lunch at Firestone, the couple we were with one to stay and try some beer. The wife and I hopped in the car and headed to Clavo. We started our tasting with a white, which I skipped. We tasted a sparkling wine called Corazon, which my wife loved so much, we bought a bottle. We also tasted a Malbec, Syrah and a Blend. They had the same 2009 «Desperado» Zinfandel. Loved as much as I did at the restaurant the night before. At $ 25 a bottle, we took three!
The tasting room staff was awesome, and this place is definitely on my revisit list just for the Zin!
Highly recommended!

Service was good — took a while for the hostess to warm up to us but then at the end she was all smiles and giggles. Unfortunately I was not a fan of any of the whites. But my favorite red was the Enigma (a blend of Cab Sauv, inky Petite Verdot, and Syrah). There is a dessert wine that tasted like liquid tootsie rolls.
I did leave with a bottle of Enigma.

This place is in downtown Templeton a few minutes off the highway. Totally recommend the visit.
The 2009 Desperado zin was perfect for me — sweet with a bit of bite and structure. Only $ 25. A steal.
The 2009 Collusion is 50% Petite Verdot, 25% Cabernet and 25% Malbec — silky smooth and luxurious. Only $ 30. I almost never buy blends but it was so smooth.
The 2007 Dessert Wine was really good and they sell it for $ 22 in a split.
I bought 2 Desperado, 1 Collusion and 1 Dessert Wine. I took the Desperado to a friend’s dinner party, but he didn’t open it. Damn. At least I have one more.
I am getting thirsty just writing the review.
Grace poured for me and is totally cool.
Will go back anytime I am anywhere near Templeton.

My fiancé and I stumbled upon Clavo during a day of visiting venues and the whole wine tasting experience was perfect! The owner and wine-​maker Neil (whose nickname is Clavo) was great to talk to. He let us try every wine — about 3 whites, 1 rose, 1 sparkling, 5 or 6 reds, and a port. We are kind of wine snobs and loved a lot of the wines.
While we tasted (and we were the only visitors at the time), Neil told us stories about his wine and his dogs, Rory and Karma visited with us. They are very sweet older pups.
Because Zack’s dad is in the wine business, Neil offered us a 30% discount on the wines we purchased — so nice! We’d love to visit Neil and Clavo again and were so thankful for such a fun afternoon activity (and Neil even gave us caterer suggestions to we can label this stop «working on our wedding»!).

Clavo Cellars is a nice tasting room in downtown Templeton. The wines are nice, reasonably priced, and the hostesses are friendly and kind. The tasting room would be a fun place to hang out after the farmer’s market.

This was our first stop on the latest whirlwind Paso Robles wine adventure. This trip I had some tastes of Albarino, which is something I don’t get a lot. Their 2010 bottle was very light, crisp and aromatic with a hint of grapefruit. We bought a bottle of the vermentino, which was indeed voluptuous. I also enjoyed the zin — which seems to be the way my tongue is trending these days.
Affordable wines, cute tasting room in Templeton and sweet staff. I enjoyed the story behind their label name as well, but you’ll have to visit them yourself to find out. The winemaker truly loves what he does.

Loved the Vermentino, Viognier, and Zinfandel. Bought a bottle of each and will come back to purchase the malbec which be got to taste as a barrel sample.