BASTIAN’S VINEYARDS
Address: 15326 Bandy Canyon Road, Escondido, CA 92025
Phone: 858-945-2405
Online: www.bastiansvineyards.com
Email: bastiansvineyards@gmail.com
Tasting Room Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 12:00pm-5:00pm
Food: Charcuterie board available; guests are welcome to bring their own food.
Customer loyalty program available
Bastian’s Vineyards is a boutique winery in Highland Valley, growing Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, and Mourvèdre. The owners farm, make their own wine, and manage the winery. You will meet them when you visit for wine tasting. A shaded tasting patio and extended tasting areas beyond it are a great way to spend a weekend afternoon in this dreamy area of the county.
A sign on Bandy Canyon Road lets me know that they are open for tasting. Parking behind the tasting room, I am greeted by the winery Golden Retriever and another guest dog. They walk me up to the outdoors tasting bar. Visitors fill out the tables in front of the bar. I am warmly greeted by Ron and Kelly Bas, the owners, growers, and winemakers of the winery. The tasting menu board is supported on a cart and displays six estate-grown wines along with others mostly produced from county grapes. A tasting flight of five wines is $19, glass pours are $10 and bottles for the table are between $32-$38. I order the flight and take a seat at a table near a table that includes some of the owners’ clients. We warm up a conversation about harvest and wine.
The first wine, a very light blush wine of Grenache matches this summer day perfectly: dry, minerally, and aromatic with strawberries and candy apple. I sense this will be a versatile food pairing wine. The second wine is Grenache in its red wine format, and it is nicely structured with cherry fruit leather and a wisp of anise. The Merlot, produced from Starvation Mountain Vineyard grapes, instantly ropes me in with a rich yet finessed expression of the varietal, I will need to try a glass of this.
The winery is an easy place to chill. Everyone is conversing but the sound level is low, the horizons spacious. Live music is featured from time to time. The tables are glass-topped barrels with corks tucked under the glass. I take a walk around the grounds that contain some more outlying tables with umbrellas folded and a horse sculpture.
I return for my final wine selections. Ron explains the red blend called Tres Bastian’s is Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot. The dried lavender and violets of the Syrah shines through in this bright wine. I finish with a Zinfandel, tight and classically redolent with strawberry jam and fresh oregano peeking through the fruit. Another good food wine.
Before planting the vineyards, Ron began growing grapes in his backyard in Rancho Bernardo. He schooled at UC Davis, CSUSM, and other seminars before acquiring the winery property in Highland Valley, a location he considered to be terrific for a winery. The vineyards were planted in 2016 and 2018 with Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, and Mourvedre. There are 1,000 vines today.
I enjoyed my afternoon at Bastian’s Vineyards: great wine expertly made, friendly companions at the nearby tables, and views into the vineyards. This experience is as boutique as you can get, with the focus on getting the wine right rather than a fancy estate property. And the wine is poured by the owners who really enjoy meeting their clients and educating them about the wine. I consider myself a fan already.
MAKE SURE TO TRY: Merlot, San Diego County 2022
Layers of plum pudding and Mexican coffee, this wine keeps a rich red wine party going on the palate, sip after sip. Produced from Starvation Mountain Vineyard grapes. The era of Sideways Merlot slander is over!