Our Wines

“In water one sees one’s own face,
but in wine one beholds the heart of another.”
~Old French Proverb
(and one of owner David Hardee’s favorite wine quotes.)

We purchase our grapes from some of the best vineyards on California’s Central Coast in order to create wines that exemplify their own unique flavors, as well as those of their climate and soil. Our aim is to produce wines from fantastic vineyard sites, with a focus on Rhône grape varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.

Our white wines are made from a grape that originated in the Rhône Valley in southern France: Viognier (pronounced Vee-on-yay).

Taking our cue from the Rhône Valley in France, some of our most exciting wines are inspired traditional blends of Viognier, Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah grapes. We give these wines names - Clairvoyant, Sybilline and 7 per cent.

We're very proud that each of our vineyards gives us unique and distinct grapes and we're very careful in the winery to work with each vineyard's fruit to bring out the best in it. The very best single-vineyard wines are bottled separately.

And then there are our Reserve wines, the ones we pull out for special occasions. A Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. A unique blend of Santa Ynez Syrah and Napa Cab we call Iconoclast. A very special Mourvedre from Hearthstone Vineyard in Paso Robles. And a late-harvest Viognier dessert wine that's simply luscious!

Although we don’t generally have Library wines available for sale, we thought you might be interested in case you find past vintages on a restaurant wine list, in a specialty wine store – or in your own cellar! We also occasionally post notes on how the wines are aging, and if you open an older bottle of Carina Cellars wine, please send us your observations.