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Alapay Cellars
491 First Street
Avila, CA 93402
(805) 595-2632
| Tasting: |
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Open daily 11-5:30
$5 tasting fee refunded with purchase
10% case discount
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Amenities:
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Giant Saltwater Acquariums
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Price Range:
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$14-$50 per bottle
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Established:
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2001
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Production:
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2000 cases
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Alapay Cellars Description
One block from the ocean in the tiny central coast beach town of Avila Beach, is the basement level tasting room of Alapay Cellars. Unlike any other, this tasting bar is splashed with bright colors and hosts a giant salt water aquarium, among wine accessories and beach related gifts.
The mood is certainly casual with “just off the beach” customers sampling the array of white, red, blush and dessert wines. There are two tasting bars with stools to sit on and plenty of wines to sample. Production is off site in nearby Edna Valley with the owner and contracted winemakers crafting the wines. Taste their Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah, a Bordeaux blend, Zinfandel port, and a Late Harvest Moscato.
Most of the wine bottles have added Braille type for those visually impaired, one of only a handful of wineries in the world to do so. The tasting room is a bright casual spot with memorable wines and bathing suits are encouraged.
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Alapay Cellars Features |
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Types of Wine |
Amenities |
Kid Friendly
Family Run
Casual & Relaxed
Hip & Stylish
Storefront only
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Cabernet Sauvignon
Pinot Noir
Syrah
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Gift Shop
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Write Your Own Winery Review
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 Great Central Coast StopDigitalEye, Santa Barbara Alapay has a unique and quite appropriate tasting room for a place next to the beach, I love the huge aquariums. We've stopped by on several occasions and Scott & Rebecca, the owners are fantastic people who are really passionate about making good wine. I've never had a bad experience there and never received a "micro pour". In fact we've always been invited to taste and re-taste anything they're pouring as much as we like.
The wines they offer are quite varied, and include Syrah, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Zinfandel,
plus a few blends. I feel that Scott does the best work with his Syrah and Pinot Noir, the other varietals vary from good to just decent. Though the last time I was there he had made a stellar late harvest Moscato.
Alapay is always worth a stop, the nuisances you might find in other patrons or incompetent staff, shouldn't keep anyone from discovering these really nice Syrahs and Pinots.
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Alapay Always FriendlySparty, Stevens Point We visited Alapay Cellars tasting room in 2006 and 2008 on annual trips to CA. On our first trip to the tasting room, we were greeted by the winemaker, who was very friendly and welcoming. We joined the wine club in 2006 and love the wines, especially the Jamison Vineyard Pinot Noir. All interactions with Alapay staff at the tasting room and on the phone have been unbelievably friendly, personal, and positive. The service on the wine club side has been outstanding and the wines are excellent. Recent negative CWA reviews contradict our experience with Alapay.
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worst tasting room in AvilaKens, Pasadena We stopped here right before closing, only one customer was in the room. We were abruptly told they were closing but if we wanted a bottle they would sell it to us, no problem we would come back the next day. We did. The hostess was very pretentious, the first thing she told us was that she bought so much of their wine they gave her a job, I guess customer service wasn't tested. The first thing she tried to do was sell us on their wine club at the end of the tasting we were asked what we wanted to purchase, when I said I think we will think about it (we were doing more tastings that day and frankly their wines were not impressive) they wouldn't even talk to us anymore. This is off season and their staff is NOT FRIENDLY, wines-better wines can be found for far less money and from staff that is actually friendly, what a concept, friendly staff! This place should close in about a year with this type of staff.
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Mostly gift shopmjmilliken, SLO Crowded gift shop with tasting in the back. Staff acted as if we were bothering them. Smallest tasting portions we have seen made it difficult to judge color or value of the wines.
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Alapay Disappointmentwineboy, St. George We showed up shortly before closing time. The staff was very kurt and annoyed. The place was full of loud unsupervised children. The tasting was so small it was hard to tell a red from a blush. Save your money for somewhere else.
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 Tasty WhitesJames, Fresno Great stop in Avila Beach. We ventured out to taste wine and found two tasting rooms that both had very respectable wine. Alapay's whites were top notch and the place is pretty neat. We usually don't taste many sweet wines but the late harvest Muscat was delicious. We like this place!
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Must VisitSwirl and Savor, Santa Barbara How perfect it was to visit the ocean and then stop by this wonderfully bright colored tasting room. I still had on my beach attire and felt completely comfortable, not out of place at all. Their Chardonnay was full bodied and contained the most pleasing aroma.
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Unique, that's for sure.Napan7, Napa Where to begin... I felt more like I was at a seaside gift shop and ice cream parlor than tasting room. I'm not sure whether the goal is to attract people that otherwise wouldn't venture a few miles down the road to a vineyard tasting room or to catch a connoisseur while he's at the beach. In any case, while the wines are average to above average on the whole, this place lacks much of why I go wine tasting: the experience -- the story you can share with friends as you uncork the bottle you brought back with you.
Review Disclaimer
The above reviews are the subjective opinion of Winery Advisor members and not of Winery Advisor LLC.
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