Epoch Estate Wines

Epoch wines is a premier winery that provides top notch service and fantastic wines to their customers. With 35 years in the customer service industry I can say that Epoch is a business that strives to ensure each customer has an exceptional experience.
I have been to their tasting room more than a dozen times in the past three years. I have witnessed first hand a variety of customers ranging from the polite to the down right obnoxious.
I have read all of the 1 – 2 star reviews. First, there is no bait and switch. The prices are in front of each customer. As a collector of wines, I challenge people to find comparable quality wines at this price point.
Second, if you wrote a negative review because you were «cut off» from further consumption then need to look at it from a simple perspective. Any business that serves alcohol has a legal and moral obligation to ensure that, in addition to an enjoyable experience, each customer is safe! Whether you are driving or not each person’s behavior is subject to scrutiny.
I applaud Epoch’s response to those who had a negative experience. It goes to show, as stated earlier, that customer service is one of their top priorities.
No, I am an not an employee of Epoch wines!

I normally don’t review wineries as wine can be so subjective and personal, but I’m giving Epoch five stars for handling a recent situation. A good friend of mine is a member so the last time a group of us were in Paso, we stopped by for a tasting. I decided to bring home a bottle of the ’12 Veracity.
Opened the bottle and it was corked, or something. Luckily their tasting room system emailed me a receipt for my purchase so I fired off a reply to see if they could do anything for me.
Mallory took care of quickly getting me a new bottle shipped down to L.A. Opened it up and the wine is excellent.
Very pleased with the professional manner in which things were handled.

People were very nice. I enjoyed the tasting, but didn’t buy this trip.

We discovered Epoch Estate Winery a few years ago and we always go there whenever we’re in Paso Robles. To begin with, York Mountain Road leading to the winery is the most beautiful drive — you feel as if you’re a million miles away from everything when you drive it to the winery. Then the winery setting is even more beautiful. The ladies pouring wine in the tasting room have always been friendly and knowledgeable about the wines. The wine itself is wonderful which is why we joined their club the very first time we tried it. There is so much interesting history surrounding this winery and we were lucky enough to run into Jenna this week who is literally an expert on the history of the family who started this winery many years ago (not kidding — she did her senior college thesis on this and has written a book about it AND she’s working on her Master’s degree on this winery). Anyway, she found us peeking through the fence surrounding their new construction and struck up a conversation about the history of this beautiful land and the family who settled it, then planted grapevines. I’m hoping they’ll post a synopsis of this in their new tasting room because anyone who likes history and wonders how this winery got started would be interested in reading about it. Jenna told us how the construction crew took the old 1800s building apart brick by brick, numbered the bricks, then used those bricks to help construct their new tasting room according to current building standards. Personally, I can’t wait for the new tasting room to be completed — we’ll be visiting again and hope they produce more Tempranillo wine because it is amazing (it’s our favorite)! Other reviewers can tell you more about the wines so I’ll just say that their reds are among our favorites. It is so worth the drive to try these wines.

We stopped by Epoch at the recommendation of L’Aventure on our way to Cambria. It was a quiet Monday, and being off the beaten path we had the tasting room to ourselves. We really enjoyed the wines that were being poured on the tasting list, and had a chance to taste the 2007 Temperanillo too. We picked up a couple bottles of the white Rhone blend and the rose for the 4^th of July weekend festivities and the Temperanillo for a planned lasagne meal.
Well worth the stop.

We visited Epoch Estate Wines as part of my 40^th birthday wine tasting tour. Kristen & Jenna took care of us like no other vineyard that we visited on the trip. My husband and I were lucky enough to get the inside tour of Epoch, which included the bottling activity and gaining a better appreciation for the whole process. Now on to the wines! AH-​MAY-​ZING. Delicious. Decadent. Memorable. Veracity and Ingenuity were our absolute favorites. Thank you for making our trip from Denver to your winery one of the best stops on my birthday tour!. And to Nicole in the tasting room, cheers! We can’t wait to make the allocation list and enjoy more of your amazing wines!

Took a group to visit Epoch, after visiting 7 other wineries in the Paso area, over 4 days. Epoch, by far, had the best hospitality. Touring the facility, liberal time in the tasting room, great views. The wines are diverse in portfolio, rich, complex and represent the property well. Great historical property too! What a success.

Had a wonderful time in the tasting room and what a beautiful property. The wines tended to be massive and high alcohol that some are trending towards… but not our favorites.

Our impromptu visit to the Epoch Estate Wines on recommendation of another winery was one of the best experiences we had in Paso Robles. Partly due to the wines, of course, — well-​crafted and very elegant, with that European elegance that I so often miss in massive, oaked American wines. And partly thanks to Taylor, the amazing tasting room expert.
Not only did Taylor know tons about the wines and could answer even very technical questions my winemaker husband had, he was also speaking about the winery as if he was one of the family which owned it! This just never happens with salaried employees, they always keep distance!
Also, if you need food recommendations, ask Taylor! Every single suggestion he had for us, turned into a great meal. We basically gave up on Unilocal and followed Taylor’s advice :)
I’m really looking forward to our next visit and to speaking with and learning from Taylor.

Not the best personalities working in the tasting room. The wines were decent but the staff ruined the experience.
I would not recommend going to this winery for the poor service, especially for how far off the beaten path it is.

Another favorite winery in Paso. Just keeps getting better each vintage. Beautiful place and pleasant staff. Always a great stop for red or white

Amazing winery with great wines and an even better staff. Brought a baby along with us and they were very welcoming. Nicole set us up on their spacious deck and brought all of our tastings out to us. The wines were all very tasty but the experience was second to none. When we were finished with our tasting we were getting hungry for lunch and Nicole even set us up with a reservation with a local restaurant (she called 3 different restaurants to gauge how long the wait was). The wines are definitely a bit pricy for the region ($ 30-​$ 70) but the experience was worth the extra money. Would definitely visit again!

I’m writing this as we wind our way down the mountain after a wonderful tasting experience with Nicole at Epoch! Fantastic customer service– can’t say enough good things about Nicole! When we walked in (without appointment) she noticed us looking longingly at the comfy Adirondack chairs on the beautiful deck and immediately she offered for us to do our tasting outside. We brought our 19-​month old along and Nicole unprompted offered her an apple juice which was very welcome! After a series of generous pours from their tasting menu (which included a rose, a white and 2 reds) she brought out another estate red for us to try that wasn’t on their list. This was the clear winner for us (2011 Ingenuity) and both us and our friends left with a bottle! Also she called 3 separate restaurants to make us a lunch reservation after we expressed to her that we were hungry and going to go look for someplace to eat after we left.
The only reason I’m not giving Epoch 5 stars is because the wines were among the priciest of the places we have seen ($ 35-​$ 65) but the $ 15 tasting fee (also a bit pricier than most) is waived if you purchase a bottle over $ 40 (guess how much the one we left with was haha). Anyway– other than the pricing, the customer service, the gorgeous view and the beautiful décor of this tasting room make it a must-​visit and a repeat for sure!

Surprised to see all the low Unilocal ratings! Epoch makes world class wines, the staff are friendly and very knowledgeable. Mostly reds and rhone varietal wines. Can’t go wrong with any of their reds. Sooo excited about the upcoming 2012 releases!
Checkout Herman Story Wines too, my other favorite paso/​templeton winery!

The play on words here made me smile, as did all of the nice women who talked with us while tasting. I was happy to come across a winery run by a woman and learn about the history of the land /​winery. The wines were good, we bought a nice bottle. I especially enjoyed saying hello to the horses on the property.

An amazing experience with some of the best wines in Paso. The tasting room is truly unique and they are not stingy with their pours. The location is beautiful and about as far west as you get for a paso winery.

Another stop on my wine tasting tour through Paso Robles. If you purchase a bottle they will waive your wine tasting fee. I was a fan of the Estate Blend so I picked up a bottle… a fan of grenache lol.
One of the more amusing things occurred here, so we had a group of 15 people all between the ages 20’s to 30’s but yet they had to ID us all. However one person had 3 ID’s … 2 expired which I found rather amusing… long story short, rejected LOL Talk about being by the books … I found the whole thing hilarious.
BTW, they have a fat cat lying around their estate, really friendly. Loves to sprawl out in the sun.

This was our 1^st stop during our very first trip to Paso Robles. It was recommended by a visiting vintner at Total Wine. Indeed, it was an interesting tasting room — with beautfully peaceful and relaxing views. Although unoccupied, I liked the outdoor seating area, as well. However, the experience was unremarkable, and far short of what we delightedly experienced the rest of our day.
The young female staff member assigned to us was OK, not terribly friendly, nor approachable or interested, and seemingly too young to be truly knowledgeable and appreciative of good wines — further confirmed, as our representative didn’t offer any words of wisdom about the wines. She did inform us that Epoch was the 1^st winery; their website states it was founded in 2004. Perhaps they were short of staff, and she was just there to pour… lucky us.
The wines were good — not among my favorites. We didn’t even purchase 2 bottles to waive our tasting fees.
Glad to have seen it, to be able to check it off our list, but a return trip is not necessary.

Very interesting tasting room off York Mountain Road. The staff was extremely friendly and knew their wines well. The downside was the $ 10 tasting fee and waiving it only off the purchase of two bottles (most do it for one).
We passed, but I would have bought one of the wines if my car had not already been filled with other wines from other wineries.

Epoch is definitely a little off the beaten track but well worth the drive. A small but functional tasting room with two of the friendliest tasting room servers I’ve ever encountered. Because this place is just slightly out of the way it’s also quieter then some of the more main drag rooms.
All of the wine we tasted was fantastic and of course we purchased several bottles. Epoch is a solid potential contender on our wine club list this year.
If you’re a history nerd like myself you’ll also get the added treat of taking a look around the old York Mountain Winery, apparently the first winery in the area (circa. 1882) and the original winery directly adjacent to the Epoch’s current tasting room is being repaired (take a look at my pictures!).
A must do on your tasting list for Paso. You won’t be disappointed!