Cypher Winery

These are my favorite wines in all of Paso Robles. Our family has a house in town so we are members of quote a few of the wineries… This place is hands down the best. Most places I may like a few of the bottles at Cypher I love every single bottle. Ask for Kelly to pour the wine for you. She knows her stuff! She knows exactly which ones to start and finish with. She has incredible knowledge of California wines and she really adds a lot to the Cypher experience.
The wine maker Chris is very unique. He is a brilliant eclectic man with his personality shining through each bottle. Normally the cooler bottles are the worst wines, not true here! Not at all! The tasting room is very small and if you drive too fast you will miss it! DON’T LEAVE Paso without stopping at Cypher! I have been to so many– trust me– it is well worth the stop! I would tell you which one to try first but in this case it is too hard! Try them all– you will love them!

Had a wonderful afternoon tasting at Cypher! Loved drinking wine on the patio, super friendly and informative.

I usually really enjoy their wines here. But while it still says they are opened until 6pm on Unilocal,they’re not. I just stopped by at 5:25 today only to be told that they closed at 5pm. They were obviously still pouring for others.

Tried out this gem of a place. Really creative esoterc blends and robust reds. Took home a bottle of their Dusi Reserve Zin they make for an ethereal and great experience.

The wines are good. A little pricey in my opinion. The people are cool. The food is really good. I suggest hitting up Cypher, ordering a pizza, and doing the tasting, even if you do not end up purchasing any wine.

I was really turned off when a large motorcycle raced through the outdoor sitting area. The operator was greeted with enthusiasm by employees of the winery. I was left with lungs full of dirty polluted exhaust and a ringing in my ears from the loud noise of the motorcycle. Really couldn’t enjoy the wine after that experience. Not a lot of class here. The employees and motorcycle man were enjoying wine and food whilst our group was encouraged to leave. Yuchhh. Never again.

We have been a member of Cypher winery for years! They are one of the best around! They have the best, spiciest zin! The TNT is amazing!
They also opened up a food kitchen and the pizzas are to die for!
Great ambience and great music– definitely a must visit when you come to Paso Robles!

Great wines. Nice relaxed atmosphere. Best of all the winemaker, Christian Tietje brings his personality to the wines, tasting room and the wine business. I highly recommend stopping by if you are on Highway 46.
Oh, and Sam, the other owner makes these fabulous lotions! My husband swears that the lavender geranium is great for sore muscles!

Overall great experience from arrival to departure. Cool vibe in the tasting room with old vines hanging from the ceiling (dig the tunes playing too), staff is very friendly and welcoming. No to mention the wines are solid and they have yummy small plates and wood fired pizza. Great spot to hang out.

Sis and I dropped in on a lark. The wines were surprisingly drinkable. Not a symphony in the mouth, but inoffensive, gentle and drinkable wines with ADORABLE labels! They’re the kinds of bottles you display before opening. Our pourer was friendly (and bored because there was no one else there when we got there) and it was a fine choice. Cute tasting room!

Cypher is one of my very favorites. I am never disappointed when I open a bottle and I can’t help myself so I purchase a lot of their wine. I make a point of planning trips around this winery if I’m in the area and am a member. It is an absolute delight to drink their wine. The 2011 Mouvedre is currently my favorite. It defines the word «luscious» for me but honestly I think it’s impossible to go wrong with any of his wines. So glad I found Cypher!

Now they are doing pizzas, too! This is hands-​down the best pizza I’ve ever had. Not the best pizza outside of Italy… simply THE BEST EVER. The two pourers who helped us (Dana and… oh dear, I forget the other lady’s name, but she’s pregnant) were friendly, very knowledgable, and full of good local knowledge. We joined the club last time and I don’t see us quitting it anytime soon. Keep up the great work!

This review is based on customer service alone. I have been to this winery before, many times, the wines are good. Nothing to write home about, but they are good. Usually big, BOLD reds, which isn’t my style, typically. Anyways, in the past this winery had stayed open until 6pm, tonight when we arrived at 5:22 we were told it was closed. Which wasn’t the problem, the problem is how we were told it was closed. We parked in the front parking lot and walked to the OPENED front door. We DIDNT EVEN MAKE IT INSIDE before the two ladies behind the bar shouted that they were closed with no eye contact whatsoever. I asked if this is how they treated their customers and walked out. Probably won’t be returning here, even though I highly respect Christian, his wife Nicole and Sam. Better luck next time, Cypher. You just lost two customers who are in the industry, buy and collect wine.

Dropped in on Christmas week and had a memorable visit. What reminded me to do this review was this hand written thank you card I just opened from Sara. She was the wonderful young lady who hosted us for our tasting. Most tasting rooms have VERY nice people (especially Paso) and good wine but it’s a special treat when you are helped by someone who loves their job, company, product and helping people experience something. This is Sara.
The wines at Cypher are fantastic. So much so that we ended up joining the club. Had some really great and different wines there and wanted to keep enjoying them year after year as we don’t make it up to Paso that often.
Make sure you stop here. A VERY easy stop as the tasting room is 100 yards from the main road.

Just have to disagree with LT ‘s review. This one is on my list every year. I do have to say I liked the original back tasting room more than the front room.

Christian is adventurous with his red blends. Yummmm!!!
Their PEASANT blend is my favorite. Give it a try.

Love, love, love Cypher Winery! Ok, so the place doesn’t really grow its own grapes and relies heavily on its neighbors to be able to make its wines but boy can this place blend some amazing reds! Be ready for something a little more on the unusual and eclectic side both in relation to the atmosphere and the wines. Favorites include the Peasant (a GSM), Anarchy (a ZSM, a play on the traditional GSM — with Zinfandel replacing the expected Grenache), Kiler Canyon Vineyard and the Slayer. Tasting is $ 10 and you get to keep the Ridel stemless glass you taste with (if you don’t want the style of glass you tasted with and you can be sweet and friendly they will generally let you swap the glass out for a different one). An eccentric little stop in an area that can sometimes otherwise be a little cookie cutter.

Nice wines. Not the most impressive in the Paso area, but very drinkable. By the time we got here, I had been tasting at 10 wineries and on the average of six per tasting room. Had to admit to palate burnout. The majority of the tasting duties were taken by my wife and she seemed pleased with almost everything they served. This was a good sign.
Prices run about $ 5 – 8 per bottle higher than most comparable wines in the area.
Interesting décor and some cool bottle labels and product names. ZinBitch, Anarchy, Slayer and Gargoyle are just some of them.
Friendly and knowledgeable servers, comfortable facility right off Hwy 46 west.
Cypher deserves a re-​visit and closer examination of their product.

Über-​Yelper Jim W and I were travelling around the central coast celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary — a food and wine extravaganza. We heard good things about Cypher (a wine we hadn’t heard of before) so we wanted to give them a try. It was on the early side when we arrived so they weren’t busy. We spent a good bit of time exploring their wines and we enjoyed every single one. This usually doesn’t happen. Usually there are one or two we love, one or two that are okay and one or two that we don’t really care for. But not here. Each wine was absolutely delicious! We particularly loved Slayer and Anarchy. Sadly, we didn’t have the opportunity to try ZinBitch — as Zin lovers I imagine we would have loved it as well. Though their wines are more than we usually spend we just couldn’t resist bringing a bottle home. We’ll be saving it for something special.
One sad note: we read the following on their TASTING ROOM webpage: «You will discover that SAM has a passion for chocolate! (We’re talking the good stuff… dark and pure.) She will take you on a tasting journey of some of her favorite chocolate discoveries, and you will soon come to the realization that chocolate and wine compliment each other exquisitely!» The young woman who took care of us had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned chocolate, which was a shame. The idea of good rich dark chocolate pairings sounded delicious and we were bummed that it wasn’t accurate. Doesn’t diminish the wine one bit but they ought to update their website.
I’d go back in a heartbeat. (Good thing because they call themselves a «limited distribution» winery so going back may be the only way to get more.)

Not originally on my list to check out, but we’re so glad we decided to add Cypher to one of our tasting stops. The place has a cool vibe. To our delight, the $ 10 tasting fee included a large, stemless Reidel glass (our choice of 8 designs) and 6 tastings (and bonus tastes)! Nice touch serving oyster crackers.
Josh was cool, knowledgeable, fun, and friendly — and was nice to offer some appreciated recommendations (many of which we pursued). Surprisingly, we stayed about an hour. Good wines! Fun time!