Tablas Creek is the winery most responsible for establishing Paso Robles as a serious Rhône variety region. Set on the Adelaida Hills on the Westside, it grows Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Roussanne, Viognier, and a handful of other varieties that were rare in California before the winery's founders brought cuttings from their Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate in France.
The tasting room is unpretentious and the staff knowledgeable about viticulture. The winery also operates a nursery that has supplied cuttings to dozens of other Paso wineries. Walk the vineyard before tasting if the weather is good — the limestone outcropping and the dry-farmed vines give a clear sense of why this part of the Westside produces wines that taste different from those on the valley floor.