Sylvester Vineyards & Winery

In the early 1960's, Sylvester Feichtinger purchased the 400-acre Rancho Robles, now the current home to Sylvester Vineyards & Winery. Originally used for beef cattle and hay production, Rancho Robles became a vineyard in 1981 after the first grapes were planted. After years of selling quality grapes to many of the premium wineries in the area, Sylvester Vineyards & Winery released its first wines in 1990 and instantly won many awards and received much notoriety. Their instant success prompted the building of their modern winery and tasting room, which was finished in time for the 1995 harvest. In addition to its custom crush capability, the winery can produce up to 50,000 cases of wine annually.

Sylvester is unique in that wines are aged in more than thirty different kinds of oak barrels gathered from twelve different cooperages and seven different regions of the world. The wines age aged an average of 8 months before release.

The Kiara label wines are the producer's reserve or premium selection lineup. A Pinot Noir is produced from Latchford Vineyard in Templeton and vinified by winemaker Joc Jacobs. Reasonably priced, it is a perfectly fine Central Coast Pinot Noir.

The tasting room at 5115 Buena Vista Dr, Paso Robles is open from 10:00 to 5:00 daily. The wines are sold through the website and at the winery. The winery has a master chef who is known for his winemaker dinners.