Costa de Oro

Costa de Oro was a great find. I was hoping for an actual winery at a vineyard but found this tasting room off the highway instead. After some deliberation I went in. There was an excellent 3-​piece string ensemble playing. They were just fabulous! I got the 5 tastes for $ 10, very reasonable. The Costa de Oro estate Pinot noir was fabulous!!! They also offered wonderful cheeses and crackers with jams for free!!! It was a great time. I highly recommend this place!!!

ok, so i’m kind of a wine snob being from sonoma county but as a former santa maria native, i thought that my old hometown would have great wines everywhere… not the case… there are some fabulous wineries in the area but this isn’t one of them! i guess the only positive thing i can say it is freeway close and if you want a quick glass of wine for the road, ok… its kind of a shame because there is sooo much good wine in the area and i know that tourists will go here because of location and think it is representative of santa barbara county…$ 10 sampler? they should have poured for free until they earn the right…

My mother and I stopped in for a tasting. The room is nice but perhaps a little tacky? The wines were ok but not worth buying a bottle. This place was convenient (as stopping in was a spur of the moment decision) but there is something to be said for tasting wine with a beautiful view. It felt like drinking in a gift shop. I probably won’t return on future trips.

The Pinot sampled here is amongst the best in the world. The room is friendly and «Cheers’ like. There is a regular crowd that comes in. Roger has his own reserved spot at the bar. The Friday happy hours are must do bargains. Chef Rick is usually there serving up some kind of amazing southern styled food while great local music talent plays live. The music is free the food is $ 12.
Love CDO!

We were driving into Santa Maria to do some wine tasting and spotted it right off the freeway. A nice tasting room, with great wine items to shop and purchase as well.
The wine hostess was great, and a special ed school teacher as well. She was quite knowledgeable, and made recommendations on where to go next.
We sampled their wines and liked enough to buy a couple (always a good sign, and at the start of the day)

I feel obligated to give it 5 stars since I just joined their wine club =/​… but they really do deserve it!
Ive been coming here quite a bit and never joined their wine club… not sure why. I would probably be here 2 – 4 times a month to just sit back on their couch and lounge around with friends while enjoying a glass of wine (they even have board games if you want to play… I bust out the Connect Four!) Had I joined on my first visit there, I would’ve saved quite a bit in tasting fees each visit!
Their pouring list has been good each time. You get to pick 5 from their list of whites and/​or reds for $ 10, or get a glass of anything for the same price. The wine itself is average to above average. Some of their estate stuff is really good and well balanced. You wont find anything too big and bold here… rather easy to drink and can please any crowd. Around the tasting room they have lots of treats and goodies for sale so feel free to take a look around. I do like their shirts… I wish they had some for guys there as all of them were for gals.
Another reason I finally decided to join their wine club… the events. They have frequent events and a wine-​down every Friday. I haven’t dropped by yet, but they sure made it sound entertaining!
In the end, this is the place to go to relax if you’re a wine lover in Santa Maria and don’t want to drive too far. The wines aren’t bad, the chairs are comfy, everyone there is sooo nice and cheerful… they even have wine on tap… its just a fun environment to take your mind off things.

Stumbled into this place while on our way up to Big Sur for the weekend. Great prices, friendly staff, and they have live music and yummy food for their weekly «Friday Wine Down.» Really great place if you’re driving through the area! So glad we stopped!

Had a great experience at Costa de Oro! I went with my boyfriend on our way to Pismo and really enjoyed it. The girl working was really nice and tentative. We were the only two in there and she treated us very well but give us alone time when it seemed like we wanted it.
We bought two bottles and a knick knack & the prices were very reasonable. I definitely recommend visiting the winery :)

Costa de Oro leaves a bit to be desired. Yes, it’s conveniently located right off the highway. I don’t need my wine tasting experiences to always be scenic ones but, really? It’s literally right on the highway. The wine was okay. Bordering on expensive for Wednesday type wines. Our tasting room attendant seemed to have zero interest in us and we were the only ones in the tasting room for the entire span of our time there. Lots of cute knick knacks for sale so it gives you something other than the highway to look at while you’re tasting. With so many great places around, I’d go as far as to say skip it.

Talk about convenient — right off the 101!
My friend recommended this place after having some of their wines. Their chardonnays were incredible and their reds were also delish. I ended up becoming a member so I can get a couple of their wines every few months.
Very friendly woman pouring the day we went, too.

Convenient location for sure… they are known for really wonderful sweet wines, exceptional actually. The pinot was very good value as were most of the whites… fun staff… a definite stop for anyone who like quality wines.

Love the Pinot here, the Chardonnay is excellent as well. Its super-​convenient, and the pourers are a lot of fun and have great information on the must-​stops in the area. Santa Maria is turning into a great destination to bring the family on the Central Coast. Friday happy hours are great as they have local big time musicians rocking the house. It’s nice to have a place like this right off the freeway. Stop by and give them a try next time you drive by.

We needed to make a pit-​stop and what better place to go but a rest stop that doubles as a tasting room. We hit Costa de Oro in Santa Maria mostly because it was there and we felt like it was time to start tasting. Conveniently located right off the highway and near a gas station for all your tasting/​traveling needs. Tasty Pinot, friendly pour-​er plus a fair amount of snacks to purchase for the road. It was like an AM/​PM with a wine bar. I’m sure that’s not what they were going for but it works. We picked up two bottles for Thanksgiving Week.
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This is my favorite quaint winery on the Central Coast of California. My favorite wines are made here, excellent quality. They really know how to put that hometown love into the wine. I especially love their Chardonnay’s and Pinot Noir!
They staff is so friendly and very helpful. They always have fun live music on Friday nights as well. A great way to «wine down» your week and get together with friends.
Much love to Costa de Oro Wines!

Always wanted to visit, so I finally stopped in mid-​day on a Sunday. The place is very nice inside, lots of polished hardwood décor, even has room to sit and eat if you like. The lady bartending was loud and pretty obnoxious, but we stuck around, and the wine was wonderful — the Chardonnay & Cabernet Sauvignon especially. Nearly everything on the list would be worth buying if we had the money! Prices range from $ 20 for the Pinot Rose to $ 75 for the Dijon Pinot, definitely getting better as they go up. The nicer Pinots in particular have a distinctly earthy element that you don’t see often, I might pick one up next time.
Still, the experience was rather colored by the ADD bartender, who would constantly spend 5 minutes loudly talking to one couple while ignoring all of the others waiting for another pour, then repeating with the next. Too loud to even hear a polite «excuse me»! She’d be more appropriate at a frat bar, I think… We both had a bit of a headache by the time we bought our wine and left, and were tired from standing around waiting so much.
If the wine wasn’t this good, I’d probably never go back. If I do, I’ll probably make sure it’s a different bartender, since she’s supposedly there most of the time.
Visits: 1

Nice tasting room, very nice estate Pinot and Chardonnay, tasting room also carries local produce. Right off the 101, worth the stop.

Plusses: Just off 101 north of Santa Barbara. Next to a little coffee place if you’re just passing through. I’m a big fan of going through and stopping at little wine tastings and even beer, with Laetitia, Firestone Brewery, and Costa de Oro. No excuse to not stop if you are driving through while they are open. Wine was unremarkable — I liked the Pinot, as usual — but absolutely worth the stop.