Our central coast wine passport, Priority Wine Pass, makes exploring new wineries easy, and led us to the Bordeaux varietals from Paicines AVA at Donati Family Vineyard.

Donati Family Vineyard was an early afternoon stop on our San Luis Obispo County wine tasting tour. (As part of Priority Wine Pass, which we use as our central coast wine passport, tastings at Donati are complimentary!) The three story European chateau style facility in Templeton is easy to find and inviting to explore. We walked into the homey-feeling tasting room and were drawn to the family photos on the walls — family pride and Italian heritage are cornerstones of Donati’s brand.

The family-owned operation is run by Ron Donati, son of a first generation Italian-American family where winemaking was part of growing up. He began the operation in 1998 with the purchase of acreage in the Paicines AVA</a/>, which is about 100 miles north of the current tasting room in the northerly portion of the central coast wine region (the Templeton tasting room and production facility came on-line in 2007). This portion of the larger San Benito County AVA is one of the older AVA’s in California, and the new Bordeaux varietal clones planted there take full advantage of the longer days and cooler nights characteristic of the region.

The wines we tasted were straight forward presentations of the bordeaux varietals and blends featured on the menu, at a  price point on the lower side of the range typical of the area. The normal tasting is $10 per person for 5 tastes, but as mentioned previously, complimentary with Priority Wine Pass! Our personal preference leans toward more complex, fuller-bodies wines, but it’s certainly a popular style for some (and they have a knock-out price on their table wine, packaged as a jug wine!),

Donati Family Vineyard’s tasting room is a full production winery facility in Templeton, and you can use the picnic grounds or bocce ball courts as a drop-in visitor. We read that, if you call ahead, arrangements can be made for private tastings and tours including a visit to the barrel room, cellar or production facility.

It’s our understanding there’s a new winemaker for the facility who came on board in 2016. Along with a new marketing agreement with a national wine distributor (V2), Donati wines looks like they’ll be available nationally.