Minassian-Young Vineyards

I discovered Minassian-​Young courtesy of my local Carlsbad wine bar, RELM (look up my review of them). RELM expanded my appreciation of Central Coast wines in general and this Paso winery in particular, and for the time that RELM stocked a Minassian-​Young zin, I drank that regularly.
So I had to visit from whence such tastiness comes.
I’ve visited the vineyard and tasting room twice while in Paso. It’s on the very scenic, narrow, and winding Peachy Canyon road, a road I strongly recommend navigating at the beginning of your wine tasting day, not at the end. The tasting room is on a hilltop with a beautiful view of their vineyard on both sides of the adjacent canyon.
The tasting room is dog-​friendly, as are the customers and employees… always a bonus! The tasting room hasn’t been busy during either visit and the employees are very happy to talk wine, dogs, and all things Paso, making it a very comfortable experience.
But back to the wines: the Zins are excellent. I recently started enjoying the Black Saint Peter, a zin blend that’s very inky with explosive flavor. A couple bottles came home with me.
When in Paso I’ll be back again!

Love this place! Amazing Zin, friendly and great service. Would recommend this to everyone!

This is quite a hidden jewel in Paso! The wines were fantastic, the views amazing and Christy was wonderful!!! We will certainly by going back! Glad they poured at the home show in Paso yesterday… just discovered them so had to go visit the winery today!

Loved their wine! It is a bit of an adventure to get there but the atmosphere was very relaxed. We walked away with a few bottles my favorite was the black saint peter.

The view from the winery is gorgeous. The wine is good also. I recommend the saint Peters blend. Very good if you like blends.

A very worthwhile destination for anyone looking for very good wines at a sub $ 50.00 price. The winery is situated atop a hill taking advantage of the rolling vistas of surrounding oak trees and the occasional grape vineyards.
Take some time and try what they have you won’t be disappointed!

Great low key vineyard with really unique wine. You can see the vineyards and walk around.

I really love this place. It is well worth the drive to this wonderful vineyard. Their Zinfandels are absolutely fabulous.

This is a really cool winery and tasting room. It’s not as flashy as its neighbor, Calcareous, but the vibe in the tasting room is friendly and cool… like you dropped in to your friend’s living room to taste some cool wines.
I wish I had gotten the name of the woman doing the tastings, because she was fabulous… knowledgeable, friendly and unpretentious.
Their white wine is a Rousanne blend, and it’s really interesting (big notes of honey). It’s probably not for everybody, but I liked it. I loved the Syrah (my friend made an audible noise of delight when she smelled it, and I thought she was going to have to take a moment to collect herself). The most interesting wine though, for me, is the Black Saint Peter. It’s fruity and peppery at the same time. Yum.
Buy a glass of wine and just sit here and enjoy the scenery. It’s lovely but not as crowded as some of the other wineries here.

Now that Paso has made a name for itself, places that used to charge 2 $ per tasting have risen to 10, places that used to charge 5 have risen to 15, and places that have been lauded by Robert Parker and his poorly-​adjusted palate… you’ll probably need a pound of flesh from your firstborn just to get in the door (and you don’t want to know what they’ll do with the flesh afterwards). At Minassian-​Young, tastings are free, and the wine is great.
Lets cut to the chase: Minassian-​Young isn’t doing wine that would classically be considered food friendly. They focus on big, succulent reds with smooth tannins, fruit-​forward noses, and full-​bodied mouthfeel. The estate wines are all crushingly lush, with a ripe, thick zinfandel (which has dropped from 15.8 percent to 14.5 in recent vintages), and peppery Mouvedre being two stand-​outs. If blends are more your style, the «Black St. Peter» is the way to go (68% Zinfandel, 12% Malbec, 8% Tannat, 8% Syrah, 4% Grenache), which has a medium body, strong flavors of strawberry and pepper, and a long aftertaste of ripe fruit. In the true spirit of Paso Robles, these wines aren’t going to go well with your boeuf bourginogne, but they’ll do nicely if a fun evening with friends is your preference.
The property itself is lovely, set atop one of the hills in the Peachy Canyon area, with stunning views of vineyards and oak groves. Its worth coming just for the chance to lounge on the back patio with a book, order a glass of wine (5 – 6 $) and take it all in.
Overall: 5 Stars. An authentic Paso experience.
Extras:
Watch out for the pack of dogs likely to surround your car on the way up. Emo-​dog (a long haired behemoth with fur over one eye) is especially cute… and really quite massive.
Service is friendly, although in the spirit of Paso, its not as attentive as Napa or Sonoma.
The drive up can be scary. The drive back can be scarier.

They poured this wine for the happy hour they held at the little boutique B&B we stayed at on the beach in Cayucos and I really fell in love with it. It was a perfect sit by the fire and watch the sunset off of the patio in out room. The wine was rich and bold and I had to rush over to the winery to score me a bottle or two to take home with me.
The winery itself is off the beaten path, but really worth the trip. The view is amazing! The tasting room itself is very plain but I really like the casual feel of it. The guy pouring was not obnoxious like some are and he just let us taste and didn’t pressure. I hate that. We interacted and asked questions with out feeling dogged.
I left with Black St. Peter (the guy told me that that used to be name for Zin during prohabition – cool!) it was really kick-​ass and full. I also scored a Mourvedre (the one that I had at the B&B) and I am most pleased with my loot!

Located on a hilltop with a wonderful view, this tasting room turned out to be a disappointment. When we arrived, there were two other couples at the tasting room. One was sitting outside enjoying the view and the other couple seemed to know the sole person working the tasting room, and they had her full attention.
We tasted 5 wines a white blend, a Grenache, a Movedre, a blend and I think a Caberbet. The pours were some of the smallest we had seen on our wine tasting trip. Barely enough for a sip each (we shared a tasting). I can’t complain too much about the small pours as we were not charged for our tasting. I believe the price is usually $ 5. I don’t think the the person pouring our wine said more than 20 words to us the whole time.
I always appreciate interaction with the staff, it’s how I learn about wine.
Anyway, for me not a real memorable tasting. If you haven’t tried their wine, it might be worth a stop. Hopefully with a better experience than ours.

You can search long and hard but finding a dry Zin like they put out is pretty much not out there. They dry farm which must be the difference but lining up their Black St. Peter, Bailey Zin and the Wills Hills, I am hard resisted to pick the best of them because they are just pure power. Bold, smooth, complex and rate beyond the 5 stars allowed. Having been a wine club member for years, I’ve never had a bottle I didn’t need to own more of and it’s my first choice when heading in my cellar for a Zin.
They deliver a great tasting experiance, spectacular views and knowledgeable pourers.
If you are lucky, they will have the dry farmed walnuts available that are grown on their vineyard. A remarkably different, heirloom variety that if you pickup a unshelled bag, nestle in by the home fire to crack them with a bottle of Black St. Peter Zin, you are in for a cozy, memorable taste experience!

Yes! Yes! Yes!
A bit off the beaten path but soooo worth the drive because they make wines the way wines were meant to be enjoyed. The fellow behind the counter (Tyler?) was engaging but comfortable, we felt right at home with him and later the winemaker (Dave) came in and chatted with us as well.
We tried the full menu and a few of the wines that were going out to the club members as well. They were all so good we had no choice but to join the club ourselves. Their flavors and blends are outstanding, plus they have a terrific view right outside their tasting room and rocking chairs in which to enjoy it. I spent more money than I should have here, but every single bottle was worth it. This place is a true gem and their wines are just terrific.

I think I have delayed in writing a review on this place because I don’t want this «secret» gem of a place to be «discovered» and have their wine prices double on me. But… the wine is SO good, reasonably priced and the property is beautiful. The owners and staff are friendly and willing to educate you if you aren’t a wine snob/​expert. I am a wine club member and look forward to my shipment every quarter. Just the bottle makes me salivate. I think they are at Bristol Farms now as well. Give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed!

Owned and operated by David and Amparo Young, I had met this winemaking couple at a Learn About Wine tasting event in Beverly Hills last year. They may have been the only winemakers there. Anyway, that, and their wines, got my attention. Visiting them in Paso, they allowed me to film their grounds (the link to the video is
) so I got some great, albeit short, footage of the vines dusted with snow — not commonplace. David said that the snow was great for them as they are dry-​farmed and the snow will melt and dig in deep for the roots. Of his lineup I enjoyed the 09 «White» made from 64% Grenache Blanc, 19% Viognier and 17% Marsanne, 07 «Junipero» that is made from 31% Tempranillo, 31% Tannat, 23% Zinfandel and 15% Carignan, and an 07 Mourvedre that was 80% Mourvedre and 20% Syrah.

I am so glad we stopped by this little family-​owned & –operated winery. Another lovely «far-​out» tasting room with a great view, the owner poured for us everything they had open (mostly Rhone varietals & blends, with some zin) for no fee. (We did buy wine, but it didn’t seem as if he was going to charge us even before that, and there was no note about a fee on the tasting menu anywhere. Maybe it just depends on who’s there that day.)
A few of the wines were a little too sweet for us, but most were excellent, particularly the grenache and mourvedre. Best of all, I think their priciest wine was high $ 20s, and the white was $ 12 (though they didn’t have any open so we didn’t get to taste it; too bad, since we were actively looking to buy some white this trip and it was probably pretty good.) We definitely bought a few bottles & circled MY on our wine-​tasting map. :)

This spot is about halfway through Peachy Canyon on your way out to Vineyard Drive and, like all of the wineries in the canyon, you sort of need to hunt it out. The tasting room is tucked back behind a private residence and if you’re not attentive, you’re likely to park in their garage.
There is a $ 5 tasting fee which is not what the website says, but they do waive it with purchase and, honestly, if you’re complaining about a $ 5 tasting fee, you deserve to drink the crap the pour at J. Lohr, EOS, or one of the other bland corporate behemoth wineries.
The tasting room was nicely done and the girl working there staff was relatively pleasant with us. We were the only ones there and I got the sense that if we hadn’t been it would have been a bit of a different experience. She seemed like that popular girl in high school that would talk to you if she had to during a science project, but wouldn’t acknowledge you if you said «hi» when walking through the halls. I really think that one of the keys to keeping your business running in this industry is having enthusiastic sales people in the tasting room that keep you engaged. One star deduction.
The wine itself was pretty good. It was definitely better than the $ 8 — $ 15 bottle that you get from BevMo as a daily drinker, but certainly not up to the standard that Peachy Canyon Winery set at this same location. As I think through the quality/price=value equation I think that they’ve set their pricing well. We enjoyed their Zins enough to be willing to pay the $ 22 price tag for a bottle to bring home.
I really think that there is a lot of untapped potential at this winery. A little more dialing-​in on the wine making process and a rethinking of their tasting room sales strategy/​staffing would go a long way.

Whoever TJ is, I’m not sure who was pouring at Minassian Young the day he was there but I’ve been here four times and never once has anyone demanded anything or been rude in any way. In fact, this family-​owned place has one of the nicer tasting rooms in Paso Robles, and some of the nicest staff. They are more than willing to tell you about the history of the winery, how they make wine and about their family. Which is something you don’t normally get at big corporate places like Eberle and Tobin James.
I was there this weekend and the fee to taste is $ 5, which is waived if you buy wine. Nine times out of ten in Paso, your tasting fee will be waved if you buy something. Smaller winemakers can’t afford to pour wines all day for free like Tobin and the larger places — people should keep that in mind before complaining about not getting something for free. In this economy we don’t really want to run the little guys into the ground to serve our own sense of entitlement… The wines here are really, really inexpensive for their quality and in comparison to other similar wines in Paso. All the bottles being poured/​tasted this past weekend were $ 22.
Last weekend I bought a Mourvedre for the first time, I couldn’t believe that this varietal (usually reserved for blending purposes only) could be so complex and fruit-​forward. The one standout for me is the Portly Pinot, a pinot noir port that is definitely more mild and less sugary than other ports I’ve tried. And they sell is for TWELVE DOLLARS, which is crazy. I believe they are actually almost sold out.
I think like most Paso wineries, they are typically known for their Zinfandels, but right now they are pouring Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah and a blend of the above three. All of these were really great and accessible wines that could either be opened right away or stored for several years. All around, a really versatile winery and a beautiful location for tasting. Highly recommended!

First off the website it stats that tasting is free, it wasn’t. The girl working behind the tasting bar DEMANDED that we each pay $ 5 before she would allow us to taste. We paid that, but then she paid no attention to us, and they was only one other person in the place and she spent all of her time talking to him. My friends commented that she had the personality of carpet.
All they were pouring was the leftover wine they had from the previous weekend which had been Zinfandel weekend in Paso Robles.
The wines had absolutely no flavor. The wine server was trying to push the 1,000 vines and the 2006 Zin both of which had no flavor what so ever.
I was hoping this would be a good winery, and have good wines, but I should have known better when I was at other wineries and I mentioned going here and Calcareous, they sort of gave me a bad look, because they knew these wineries were not going to be to our liking and they were right