Lions Peak Vineyards

I absolutely hate writing bad reviews. But I must inform you of this establishment. I have, in the past, berated and chastised people for writing bad reviews when in actuality, they only had a bad experience. Well, this is one of those rare circumstances where a less than par review is warranted. First. the wine tastings are a bit overpriced. … I’m not making this up, they were the most expensive place we visited. Second the wines were really good… but again, overpriced. And again… comparing this to other wineries. Third, the person that helped us (apologies, her name escapes me) was phenomenally talented in her knowledge and in pairings. All in all, it was a good experience (in that, I can’t complain about the quality of the wine or the competence of our server) ((I don’t mind paying a little more for a little better)) but all this changed when the «owner» appeared around closing time (an hour earlier than what we were told but I don’t sweat the minutiae.) Which brings us to the fourth point… we were prepared to buy cases… probably 3… possibly 4, as we could not decide wich wine we would purchase over the other… at all the other wineries when we started talking cases… the price dropped considerably. Two wineries had a straight up buy 1 case get 1 free deal… anyway, the owner shows up around closing (1 hour before) time and we begin to talk cases… she absolutely would not deal… which is her right as owner, but as a business person, I am shocked and appalled that she would not even entertain the idea of negotiating. But my real disappointment came when she said… we are a boutique winery, we don’t produce in large enough quantity to give the deals the other places give… Unfortunately for her… I saw the info sheet on a couple of her wines stating they produced 180 cases… 200 cases. 110 cases not much… but a far cry above other boutique wineries that only produced 20 cases… 70 cases. And 35 cases. who were more than glad to negotiate… I don’t care if the answer is no… just say no, but don’t look me in the eye and straight out lie. You could have dealt and sold four cases, or… just said no and sold a few bottles, but you decided to lie… and you sold nothing. And that is why I recommend everyone to buy NOTHING.

I got the $ 15 flight which, I agree with the other reviews is pretty overpriced because a couple doors down they had tastings for $ 8. I felt super rushed by the bartender. She just watched as I was trying to take my time to swirl the wine before tasting it. As soon as I finished she would rush me to pick the next wine. I just wanted to have a relaxing tasting and enjoy a conversation with my bf. He didn’t want to drink so when I told bartender can we get just one flight she made a face like she thought we were so cheap. The pours were also extremely conservative. All the wine tastings I’ve been to, they usually give generous pours. Only can sit at the bar even though they have really cute tables, you have to buy a whole glass to sit there. In addition I wasn’t impressed by any of the wines. Will not be coming back here.

This isn’t based on the wine because we changed our minds about tasting. 4 of us walked in. The hostess/​server looked our way and we said hi. The place was empty except for a man at the bar. We sat down and looked around wondering if we should grab a menu. One of us got up and grabbed a menu. Still no help or courtesy from the server. She finally asked, after we all looked her way, if we wanted a tasting. We said yes. Long story short, we were going to all do the $ 20 flight and were in the middle of asking the server a question when a lady walked in. The server addressed the lady while one of us was in the middle of saying what we decided, completely ignoring us. I mean, did we smell bad? She didn’t turn back to allow us to finish our request. Mind you, this was our first stop. We decided we were in Solvang to have fun and left. Went next door to Dascomb Cellars and received great hospitality and felt welcome. Anyway, we had been looking forward to Lion’s Peak but will never go back no matter how good the wine is. It was the single worst and weird service we have ever received at any winery or vineyard ever!

I was visiting Solvang with my husband and son and stepped in alone and asked if they were toddler in a stroller friendly. The woman said well, no we aren’t. I could recommend sending him next door for some chocolate to keep him entertained.
I can respect the rules of every business to be kid/​dog friendly (and several are), but do not recommend to send my kid alone to a chocolate shop so I can do some wine tasting. A simple yes or no would suffice.
I went next door and did some tasting in a kid friendly establishment.

Heidi is AMAZING!!! Went to 3 other wineries with boring wine pourers and she just took us by surprise! So friendly, so welcoming and so fun and enthusiastic! Would recommend her to anyone!!! Wine is great too!!!

Wonderful wine tasting room with beautiful Italian blown wine glasses and wine stoppers. Heidi behind the bar is such an outgoing an fun person I highly recommend this place! Ohhhh and the wine is really good too.

Very welcoming and enjoyed our wine tasting! Good selection of wines. For white wine, my favorite was Lulu and Sisters. For red wines, my favorite was BFF and Pinot Noir.

The wine was okay but the owner is awful. She practically kicked us out for not sitting at the bar. She is rude. And discriminatory. I was so offended. I will never return to this place if they payed me.

The owner was extremely rude. She told my friends they could not sit at a table. The wine is decent but with all the choices I would opt for somewhere else

5 stars for the very knowledgable and sweet Heidi. Very easy to talk to and such a wonderful personality. She adapted the tasting menu to meet our needs and showed us options for joining the Lions Peak wine club. One of the best tastings we have had yet!

The wines are above average but not great the grapes are grown in Paso Robles and the wine is made in Santa Maria. The tasting fee is steep and not forgiven unless you buy «3» Bottles. Stick with the main stream Paso wineries better quality and value.

Super friendly wine tasting. Tasty wines however you are supposed to get $ 10 off tasting if you buy a bottle and we only found this out AFTER we paid & left :(

Wine = 3 Stars
Service = 1.5
WINE
I came in because they made a really great Barbera wine several years ago (2009ish) that I liked a lot. Even though I haven’t had anything I really liked since then, I keep coming back here in hopes they produce another delicious wine that I can take home and order a few cases of. (I ordered cases of the Barbera, it was so good)
The tasting was mediocre and their wines are not exactly my style. There was a very good wine on the list called MOURVEDRE. The rest I didn’t care for. I would have really liked to get a bottle to take home, however when I have bad service I just don’t feel like spending money on anything.
SERVICE
Our server, a young blonde girl, was way more caught up in her social life than providing a good experience for our party of 2. The older woman next to her was much friendlier towards her clients and had greeted us originally, but then the blonde girl came rushing from the back room to serve us instead. (Guess it was her turn, unfortunately for us.) I wish we had had the other woman as she was much warmer and more descriptive about the wines. I informed them immediately that I had been a long time customer and about my preferred wines that they’d made, and that conversation ended the second I stopped talking. Wow. Ok? Just thought that might be interesting to you since I’m asking about a specific wine you make, or maybe you could recommend something on par with my taste. Guess not.
As for our server, she made some attempt at starting up some fake chit chat and asked a couple generic questions about my life without any real interest in the answers. (Wish she had asked relevant questions about my taste in wine instead.) She asked a question and cut off my answer mid-​sentence when the local town DJ walked in so she could ask him about his plans later that evening. Literally, I had to wait for her to flirt with this guy and just stand there drinking my wine while she told him to «hit her up later.» Meh, not that interested in your bootycall action lady. She never got back to me for my answer to her inauthentic question, so I dropped it and just stood there quietly waiting for her to move on to the next wine. It was so rude and so unbelievable, it had the entertainment quality of a train wreck. She needs to find some level of interest in her job or get another job.
I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
PS: Had a 2 for 1 tasting card that was apparently not good on Friday but she kept it anyway and didn’t give us the deal. Weird.

NICE CUTE & FRIENDLY BARTENDER
I went here today for a tasting and was greeted with the cutest little blonde bartender. She reminded me of a cute little bunny rabbit and was wearing an adorable dress or shirt that looked like a little blue pillow case.
She was fun and humorous and knowledgeable about the wines. Such a sweet girl I’m glad to know such nice and good people like her exist in this world.
When I encountered her I felt happy inside and reinforced my faith in humanity.
5 stars wine was really good too and the bartender was really down to earth and not snobby at all yet she was educated. I really liked this tasting.
It was reasonably priced as well and they have a 1997 cab I highly recommend.
The desert wine is really good too!

Lions Peak is a fantastic tasting room located right in the heart of Solvang. They are well known for having many perfectly blended wines and a wonderful story behind each name. Some of the best Marsanne, Viognier, Mourvèdre and Cabernet Sauvignon in the valley. My experience there was top of the line, Jackie was assisting me the whole time and was really passionate about the wines. After a while the owner Jennifer came out from the back and started telling me the story behind The BFF wine and showed me all the names slightly visible on the label. I will most definitely be coming back and bringing my wine friends with me. Nothing beats great wine, fantastic atmosphere and passionate wine associates.

Decent wine, HORRIBLE OWNER! Too bad because the lady helping us was friendly. As we were about to sign up fr the wine club the owner popped out of the back, was rude to her employee in front of us, then when we tried to «lighten the mood a bit» with a comment about the wine she told us bluntly, «I don’t drink». Really? You own a winery and you’re going to look a customer with disdain like I’m an alcoholic because I’m tasting your wine?! Unbelievable. We made our purchase and left… we were close to just walking out but the Brenda (who helped us) looked so dejected that we all just felt bad for her. The Lulu was nice as was the Marsanne, Mouvedre and Petite Sirah.

I have to admit, we stopped in here just to get the souvenir glass.
Its a lion & lioness. We’re Leo’s. So obviously what better way to end our trip in Solvang than with our own personal glasses.
This is a quaint little shop in the middle of Solvang and they have great looking glasses. That’s pretty much all I can say about this establishment. The wine wasn’t memorable and the woman helping us knew little to nothing about the wine. I don’t think we’d come back… unless our glasses break.

Stroll into Lions Peak as the guitarist enchants you with his solemn, relaxing, somber tunes by the door. Sit down at the bar, a tall table, or lounge in a comfy couch. Be greeted by the friendly owner or other knowledgeable staff as your glasses get filled with exquisite, award-​winning local wines with unique names and meaningful stories. Refresh your palate with the complimentary pretzel crackers, or coffee grounds, or truffles and chocolates to go with the dessert wines. From whites to reds to desserts, you will get to taste them all, and at a heart-​calming price. For your birthday celebration, get treated to a personal melody, and make sure to tip the talented guitarist as you leave on your journey.
I would say that I am an intermediate wino but I have been to other tastings before and I really did enjoy the wines here.
Come with friends and loved ones or a whole self-R&R day to this truly unique store.

I tried… I really did. The tastings are overpriced and the people working there were not very personable. We made the best of it. The place looked cool though and they have a neat logo. Don’t pick a wine because of it’s logo. I done learned my lesson.

I did the white tasting, my friend did the red tasting — we were both very pleased!
They have some unique wines here. I loved the Lulu, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier and Muscat. Good stuff. I did purchase a bottle of that, along with their Port.
The man helping us was very friendly and helpful. This was a great little tasting room, one of my favorites of the day!