Wine Tasting In Ramona – The 5 Best Wineries To Visit (2024)
Want to know about wine tasting in Ramona? We’ve got you covered with all the best Ramona wineries to visit!
We recently spent a few days wine tasting in the Ramona Valley area and had the best time exploring it’s wineries and tasting rooms.
Ramona is about 40 miles northeast of San Diego and about 20 miles east of Escondido.
The Ramona Valley Wine Region has only been around for about 15-20 years, so it’s still in it’s infancy compared to most other wine regions.
But many wines here are already award winning.
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Wine Tasting In Ramona
In Ramona, most winery owners actually still work day jobs, so almost every place is closed during the week.
However, some places will open by appointment only during the week, so you can just check the website or call each place you want to visit and find out.
How Many Wineries Are In Ramona?
Within Ramona itself, there are 30 wineries currently.
However, the Ramona Valley Wine Region extends into towns like Julian, Fallbrook, Escondido, and Oceanside, for a total of 42 wineries.
The 5 Best Wineries To Visit In Ramona
We haven’t visited every winery in Ramona, but we’ve been to a few that we highly recommend.
This list will also consist of some wineries outside of the Ramona city limits, but still part of the Ramona Valley Wine Region.
1. Woof n Rose Winery
Location: 17073 Garjan Lane, Ramona, CA
This is the oldest winery in the Ramona Valley.
They offer mid-week wine tastings by appointment only.
You just have to give them a call or email them to set it up.
It was a really nice day outside and this place has a great view of the valley!
For our tasting, we initially sampled 6 of their wines.
We also tried their 2 dessert wines at the end.
We picked our favorite wines from the day and bought a bottle of each to take home with us.
One was the Cabernet Franc, which is their signature wine.
You can taste and smell a hint of hatch chile peppers, which I would never eat, but they mix perfectly with this wine.
It doesn’t make it spicy, it just gives you the essence of hatch chile.
The Grenache Noir was another that had a distinctly different taste that I loved!
With this wine you get the fruitiness of strawberries, but also a mix of black current jam and burnt caramel.
I highly recommend trying this one.
The other 2 wines we brought home with us were the Malbec and the Merlot.
To me they didn’t have any specifically distinguishing flavors, but they were just overall good wines.
They were smooth and fruity, which we love!
Also in my opinion it’s hard to go wrong with a Merlot.
These wines are all award winning by the way.
At the 2020 Toast of the Coast Wine Competition, the Cabernet Franc and the Grenache Noir were awarded Double Gold Medals and the Merlot received a Silver Medal.
The Cabernet Franc was also awarded as the Best Cabernet Franc of the competition!
We also got to keep this glass from our wine tasting.
2. Pamo Valley Winery
Location: 636 Main Street, Ramona, CA 92065
Another place we found that is open on week days is Pamo Valley.
It is a tasting room right in the middle of downtown Ramona.
No appointments required!
We tasted 6 wines and all 3 Sangrias they have on their menu.
We enjoyed all of the wines we tried, but we especially loved the Sangrias.
They had a red, white, and a pink sangria.
The server recommended blending the red and white sangria since it is a local favorite.
This place has a rich local history and Tuesdays are the day to visit!
I can’t explain here why, but if you visit on a Tuesday I promise they will tell you the story!
And don’t forget to sign the dollar bill that will go up on the wall at the end of the day!
3. Turtle Rock Ridge Winery
Location: 18351 Woods Hill Lane, Ramona, CA 92065
One of our favorite drinks we’ve enjoyed at a wine tasting is Blue Sangria from Turtle Rock Ridge Winery.
It’s so good, it’s even sold at Rose’s Tasting Room in Old Town San Diego.
We also enjoyed their Hello Gorgeous Signature Blend which has Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sangiovese.
4. Volcan Mountain Winery
Location: 1255 Julian Orchards Drive, Julian, CA 92036
Volcan Mountain Winery is just a couples miles outside of the historic area of Julian.
I mentioned earlier that Julian is known for their apples, so it only makes sense that a winery in Julian would have an apple wine.
It’s produced from estate grown apples and is great with light snacks and sunshine.
I wish I had a photo because this area had great views, but we visited this one before we started blogging and don’t have any photos.
5. Blue Door Winery – Julian Tasting Room
Location: 2608 B Street, Julian, CA 92036
Blue Door is a tasting room right in the middle of historic downtown Julian.
It’s been converted from the old livery stables in town to this tasting room.
They are open daily from 12 pm – 5 pm.
You can get sangria here too, which was our favorite drink we tried during our visit and we had a generous pour.
Where To Eat In Ramona
In-between wine tasting, you’ll want something to soak up all the alcohol.
✅ The Barn
Location: 344 Main Street, Ramona, CA 92065
The place you have to end the night in Ramona is The Barn.
They have an amazing menu selection and you’ll love the atmosphere!
We started off with an Old Fashioned and a Tequila Sunrise.
I wanted to try the Hard Cider from the local Turquoise Barn Cider, but they were sold out at the end of the night.
For our entrees we had a 10 oz Medium Filet Mignon with Potatoes and a Lasagna with Garlic Bread.
There were several other menu items that we really wanted to try, so we’ll have to go back for a couple more visits.
For dessert we opted for Tiramisu since it is on the lighter side.
Where To Stay in Ramona
For this trip, we stayed at the Riviera Oaks Racquet Club in one of their 1 bedroom condos.
This was our first time in this specific part of town and we were pretty impressed.
It is located in the San Diego Country Estates neighborhood, has all kinds of resort amenities, and our room had everything we needed.
The San Diego Country Estates consists of a handful of resorts and timeshare properties all inter-mixed, so you can’t go wrong with any of them.
If you’re using timeshare points or weeks to stay at Riviera Oaks Racquet Club, it’s sometimes on the more expensive side, but since we booked it last minute it was heavily discounted.
But there are other resorts here that are very similar like Riviera Oaks Resorts, San Vicente Golf Resort, and San Diego Country Estates.
You can see a full walk-through of our one bedroom at Riviera Oaks in this video on our YouTube Channel.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Stay In The San Diego Country Estates Collection Of Resorts Today!
More Fun Things To Do Near Ramona
Ramona is so close to some popular destinations around Southern California like San Diego and Julian.
Here are some more fun things to do when you’re visiting the Ramona Valley area.
✔ Things To Do In Julian
Julian is a historic gold rush town about 20 miles east of Ramona.
It still has gold mines you can tour and a Western style historic downtown with shops and restaurants.
Today, Julian is particularly known for their apple pies, so be sure to try a few.
✔ Hidden Gems In Oceanside
Oceanside is about 40 miles northeast of Ramona along the Pacific Coast.
It’s known for its whale watching, a historic California Mission, and a vibrant downtown with wine tasting rooms and restaurants.
✔ San Diego Urban Wineries Ultimate Guide
There is even more wine tasting available if you head out to San Diego for the day.
San Diego is only about 40 miles southeast of Ramona, so it’s an easy day trip from the area.
✔ Best Things To Do In Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach is a neighborhood in San Diego that is known for its laid back beach culture.
It’s just south of SeaWorld, Belmont Park, and Mission Beach.
✔ Best Things To Do In North Park
North Park is another neighborhood of San Diego that is between Balboa Park and Old Town San Diego.
Again, these areas are only about 40 miles from Ramona, so they make for an easy day trip.
✔ San Diego Zoo and La Jolla Day Trip
The San Diego Zoo is one of the most famous zoos in the world.
Just a few miles north is the town of La Jolla.
Here in their famous coves, you can see the sea lions all over in their natural habitat.
So it just makes sense to pair both of these excursions together.
✔ San Diego Weekend Itinerary
There are so many world class attractions around San Diego like the USS Midway Museum, Balboa Park, and the Gaslamp Quarter.
It’s enough to keep you busy for at least a few days, but it’s an easy drive back and forth from the Ramona area.
✔ The Best Temecula Wineries
Temecula is a bit farther than these other destinations, but only about 50 miles north of Ramona.
Ramona and Temecula are our favorite wine regions in California, even above Napa and Sonoma.
So if you’re coming out to Ramona for wine tasting, I definitely recommend trying to fit Temecula into your trip.
Conclusion: Wine Tasting In Ramona
Wine tasting in Ramona is such an underrated experience.
Their wines compete just as well as the larger wine regions even though they are much newer and much smaller.
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