California Wine and Cheese

Good things to know:
Closed: Mondays
Open: Tuesday through Thursday 11am — 8pm.(Stop serving wine at 7:45pm)
Friday through Saturday 11am — 9pm (Stop serving wine at 8:45pm)
I really enjoy this establishment.
The staff is helpful and appreciative to those that may not know much about wine and cheese.
Essentially this place is a store to find great wine but it’s also somewhere you can actually pick out a wine and sit and enjoy a few glasses with a group or a significant other while trying different cheeses they have set up for the week.
It’s not the biggest place to have a group of over 50 at but you can definitely have a group of 10 or more people, just give a call to the shop. More then likely, Tom the owner will be able to accommodate your needs.
I’ll be back!

I have been to California Wine and Cheese a few times. The wine is spotty, I mean usually do the taste testing and buy a flight. Some of it is really good and some is really bad — or it is just that I really, really do not like it.
The owners seem to know some about wine, the woman is apparently a certified sommelier. However, I would not say that they are overly friendly unless you have been one of their friends for 50,000 years. I arrived with my friend at 8:20pm and we were informed at 8:45 that it was last call and we had not finished our flight (we did not have to pay for the whole flight). There was no leeway, they close at 9pm and that is it.
I actually like the cheese and the place has good products. However, I like Malbecs and it does not have a good Malbec selection.
But the real reason that I dinged them was the ambiance, I have been in Walmarts with more romantic lighting. They have these blazing lights and now quiet private spaces. Then there is the fact that they unceremoniously threw me and my woman friend out at 9pm. I mean, really, who opens a wine bar and closes at 9pm. That is just crazy!!!

REV Winery mingling with the owners. How cool. They are legit.

This place already gets a +1 because they are pretty local to me. I love to drink wine and love cheese so this is a great little spot. This place gets wine from all over so they change their flights every Friday and also rotate their cheeses every Friday also. They rotate their blue cheeses a few times a month. I would suggest signing up for their email distribution so you can find out what wines they will feature on their next flight.
They offer both a red and a white flight with 5 tastings in each. They also pair the cheeses that would go with those wines as best as possible. There weren’t too many people in the place when we arrived except for one larger group. We didn’t have to wait too long for our next pour and the girl who was pouring gave us a nice breakdown of each wine.
I left there with a great white wine from New Zealand that I’m saving for a nice hot day this summer. If you have been to other tasting rooms before then this is pretty straight forward.
My boyfriend and I both got a White flight and sat and enjoyed our cheese and wine. The cheese they had were good. The one that really stands out to me is a cheddar that had saffron and pepper corns in it. It had a great but different taste to it that really paired well with the wines that were on the flight that week.
I will keep going as often as I can because I do love wine and can’t get up to Santa Ynez/​Solvang/​Los Olivos enough.

I sat in traffic for nearly 2 hour just to meet the wine maker for Clos pepe.
This is a cute location with a large wine selection and some tasty cheesed to snack on.
Service was friendly.

What a cute little place this is! I decided to meet a friend here after I read the reviews on Unilocal.My God, I’m really glad I did. I called ahead of time to see if we needed a reservation and spoke with the owner, Tom. Such a nice guy! He told me that we should be fine to come in on a Friday around 5:30pm but if it was packed, he personally would figure out how to get us comfortable. Um, yes. Not having to do any work or waiting? Sounds amazing to me.
My friend and I decided to do the wine flights, which they update every week, and cheese plate (also updated every week). I’m not a white wine drinker but the day was hot so a nice cold, crisp white wine sounded amazing. That’s exactly what I got. The wines are great, the cheese plates compliment the wine very nicely and the conversation with Tom was amazing. He is insanely knowledgable in the wine selections. As it should be! The other employees are great as well. They made sure to acknowledge and fill our empty glasses and bread basket. It’s always a plus when people are trying to get you boozed up and full.
Obciously the wine is from California. It’s in the name. (I laughed at some of the reviews that were «disappointed» to discover this. Um. The name is CALIFORNIA Wine and Cheese. You guys are funny.) Anyways, I enjoy and welcome the theme. Plus, go California! *claps* You make delicious wine.
I left there with two bottles of WHITE wine (which I NEVER buy) and three different cheeses; lambchopper, blue and goat. I definitely recommend this place … and if you are going, invite me. :)

How do you help a friend wind down when he has a super cute and very busy 2 year old at home? Kidnap him and take him for a flight of wine. Fortunately, the perfect spot for this kidnapping to occur is just around the corner from his house.
California Wine & Cheese has been our escape of choice from time to time. It is a 45 minute drive for me but, when we need some adult friend time, this is a great place to get it.
Each week, there are new red and white flights. Each flight focuses on wines from California, since that is the theme of the shop. Hand-​picked and always interesting, Tom the proprietor does a good job of blending small wineries with the larger tried-​and-​true wineries. This lends itself to a tasting that is fun with lots of room for comparisons and exploration.
The cheese plates here are good, too. Today there was a choice of two different plates. One is a blend of lovely cheeses and the other was all bleu cheeses. Since wine and cheese are natural partners, we opted for a cheese plate with our red flights.
Apparently there are regular monthly Thursday wine dinners with a chef who pairs the food to the wine. The cute room is the back promises a fun and intimate experience. So, sign up for Tom’s weekly e-​mail to get the heads up on what each week’s flight is as well as intel on the next wine dinner.
Even if you don’t have a two-​year old, even if you are naturally relaxed and don’t need help, even if you don’t know lots about wine, stop by Tom’s shop and experience a fun approach to California wine. For those of you who have been tasting for a while and want intrigue each time, I think you’ll find that Tom can promise that. Plus, some evenings there is live music from a local guitarist.
Thanks, Tom, for a great tasting tonight. As always, we’ll be back!

Got Cheese? They do. I LOVE that I have a wonderful selection of artisanal cheeses close to home now
. No more trekking to Pasadena or L.A. for imported and/​or raw cheeses. I bring the best cheeses to the parties now. I am able to request an all raw cheese flight. My fave fave of all infinite is Abbeye de Belloc cheese
. Made for centuries by the monks at abbey of Notre-​Dame de Belloc. It’s a raw sheep’s milk cheese that is firm and smooth with a light nutty and caramel flavor. I need my weekly dose of this cheese. Oh, but this isn’t a review for Abbeye cheese.
Well, this wine shop also has a wonderful red and wine flight featuring California wines every week
. And that happens to go perfectly with my weekly dose of Abbeye de Belloc cheese. California has great wines to offer. The owner Tom is very helpful and warm. The staff is friendly and knowledable about the wines and the cheeses. They are generous with sliced baguettes to help absorb the alcohol and cleanse the palate while tasting. They often have wine classes in the newly added back «Cellar Room» which I always sign up for when offered
. They are very enjoyable and I always learn something new. It’s nice to have this little gem in my neck of the suburbs.

Went here for an informational interview with the store owner. He was very kind and patient, as I asked him numerous questions about his business. His manager Jeff was friendly and welcoming as well.
Store was very clean and tastefully appointed. Decent cheese selection (about 60).
About 220 kinds of wine available I was told, almost all from California. It is pretty cool to see this kind of specialization in wine shops, although I am not a huge fan of California wine, it is good to see anyway. As a result, they carry some unusual California labels among their selection. For example, I did not know anyone in Cali was making wine with Arneis grapes. Pretty cool!
Yes, it is true they do not charge corkage for bottles of wine bought there. An extra star for that!
They just added a back room that you can rent out for private parties. Good place for a company gathering. They also have a small selection of jams, oils, jellies, etc. I’d go back if I lived closer.
Thanks again for your time Tom!
–Anthony

I was looking for a particular wine and Unilocaled for a local wine shop. I called and they had the wine in stock… and for cheaper than BevMo! Closer and cheaper than Bevmo = worth a try.
The store was very cute. Wine bar to the left, a good selection of wine, cheese counter to the far right.
I walked in and was greeted by a smiley older gentleman behind the counter. I told him I had called about a wine and he had it ready for me. Chit chatted for a bit and left with a smile on my face. Will definitely go back again.

My hub and I have been here a few times with friends, and it’s always a great time. The staff is amazing… very knowledgeable and welcoming. Some wine bars are snobby, but this one is down-​to-​earth. The prices are pretty reasonable, too:
$ 12 a cheese plate (usually comes with some sort of jam or spread, fruit, & nuts, too.)
$ 12-​$ 18 for wine flights (4 – 5 wines per flight)
Bonus: on the weekends, there is live music.

This place is pretty good. Wines are pretty good, the cheeses are great. The service is pretty good too. My complaints are they are super inconsistent on the amount of wine they pour, and they close at 8pm mon-​thur, and 9pm on Friday. This doesn’t give someone time to leave work, eat dinner, and enjoy this place. We’re all grown-​ups, it’s ok if we’re up past 10pm!