Odonata

Location: River Road — Salinas Valley — same side as The Santa Lucia Highlands.
*Closer to Salinas/​Highway 68 (MTY)
*North of Gonzales.
Ambiance:
*Unpretentious, down to Earth spot similar to others on River Road.
*Barrels located right in the tasting room.
*Still a work in progress as the proprietor Denis is hands on from making, pouring wine to working on the drywall. He’s a nice guy and definitely passionate about what he does.
*Today Chad started off the tasting and did a great job.
Wine:
*See pics — Completely blown away how good every pour was.
*Very consistent across the board.
The first time in a long while I did not pour any wine out.
My New favorite overall label in Monterey County — better than anything Carmel, Carmel Valley, Monterey, Salinas Valley has to offer. A real Gem and worth the visit.
*Odonata sources grapes from Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey Counties. A different approach to the other tasting rooms on River Road.
*Overall this is a Santa Cruz winery crossing over and setting up shop in Monterey County. A nice change of pace and a great compliment to the more local tasting rooms in the area.
*Second (original tasting room) in Santa Cruz.

Hands down best wine in the Salinas area. My wife and I went late one Sunday afternoon and had an enjoyable tasting session with Denis (winemaker/​owner). I bought an ’09 Sangiovese and ’11 Petite Syrah. Both exceptional wines (a rarity given our usual form in late afternoon boozy purchases in wine regions).
Only disappointment was that I didn’t join the wine club on the spot; thankfully an easily addressed mistake!

Great tasting experience at this boutique winery. Dennis, the winemaker himself was pouring the tasting. Got to hear about his background and wine making passion.

ARound this region, you’ll find mostly whites and pinot noirs… but I saw a review for a Syrah and I decided to come here just to try it. I’m glad I did! Upon arrival there, you will notice that there are interesting pieces of artwork displayed around the property. Apparently, there was an art show in the same week. I loved that the tasting room was also in the barrel room. Makes for good backdrops for pictures!
For $ 10 tasting fee, you get to taste 5 – 6 wines. I can’t remember all the names of his wines, but the first one was named the River Skimmer. It’s a fruitful, crisp white wine, perfect for a hot sunny day. Best of all, it only cost $ 20! The 2^nd pouring was a sparkling rose. How often do you see that?! By now, I’m impressed with Dennis and his passion and adventure for wine. I’m not a huge fan of sparkling stuff, but this was a nice one. Not too sweet or dry. The next few tastings were red wines (FINALLY! what i came here for) — Pinot Noir, malbec, Petite Syrah and Syrah. My favorite out of all these was the petite Syrah. The Syrah (Durif (sp??)) was a a nice bold red. It was hard to decide on which to get of the two! But I decided on the petitie syrah, which was a little lighter so it would pair better with lighter meals.
Overall, great service, great atmosphere, terrible reception tho… Would definitely bring friends back here!

My wife & I visited the Odonata tasting room on River Road. The experience was not something to write home about. We were the only people in the tasting room, but we felt less than welcome. The server looked like Miley Cyrus, read the tasting notes to us (go figure) and was more interested in her cell phone than us. The wines were ordinary compared to the rest of the River Road wineries. I can’t remember any of them as being note worthy.

I met the winemaker (Dennis, a very nice fellow) and was able to hear a good bit of information and opinion — most of which I have forgotten. Enjoyed my visit and would definitely recommend him!

Wow,
A nice step up from Marylin Remark. Similar Rhone wines & more except much better.
It is nice to catch an unexpected surprise once in a while.
The wines are very clean & strong, good varietal characteristics.
This young wine maker has it nailed.

What a great place, very relaxed and very good wines. Saw a barrel labeled 2012 Montebello, very curious now. The Syrah was very rich and lush.

Great little tasting room inside their barrel room. Was once Marilyn Remark Winery but last week Odonata opened. They also have a tasting room in Santa Cruz but I haven’t been there. The TR in Salinas is very nice and low-​key serving wonderful wines (even some bubbly). My favorite was their Syrah; I loved loved loved it. They are open only on weekends and are considering doing a pizza night on Tuesdays once a month (fingers crossed).
Thank you Odonata, you are a very nice addition to River Road!