Meredith and I have been wanting to go wine tasting, but with things being closed it has been difficult to figure out what is open, if you need reservations, and if you have to order food with drinks as well. I started doing some research on places near us that have wine tasting or are popular for their wine selection and planned us a day!
Our first stop was Cornell Winery & Tasting Room which is only 20 minutes from us. We did this little trip on a Thursday and arrived around 2pm which was when they opened.
We arrived to this rustic adorable place and couldn't find any employees. Finally I called and said we were there and this gentleman came up, who we soon learned is the owner, and he showed us around! They are not doing tastings right now, so we bought a bottle of wine and were able to go outside and pick a place to enjoy it.
While finishing our glasses, we walked around the grounds.
After this we headed to Cielo Farms. Thankfully we went during the week, otherwise they recommend having a reservation. The winery is up on a hill overlooking Malibu Hills.
The views were breathtaking and the area to hangout was beautiful too. It was very relaxing and they have great music playing, Fleetwood Mac everyone's favorite. The staff was really friendly, but we were greatly surprised at the price!! 1 bottle of wine is $100...the cheapest one... so we recommend buying a bottle rather than a glass...trust us!
Next stop was The Malibu Café which was adorable!! You can order food and then pick any spot to sit and enjoy drinks and food. Since I could not eat bread (gave it up for Lent) we could only order certain things. We settled for the broccoli and cauliflower which we highly recommend!
We even got free drinks! There was a photographer taking pictures of everything including their specialty cocktails. When the photographer left they handed out the drinks for free! After we ate our food we walked around the grounds.
After this we went to another place called Boar Dough Tasting Room. Crazy enough, we did not take any pictures here...I know, shocking! It is a cute bistro with lots of comfort food. We both loved our wine and it seemed like a popular place to have dinner. The original plan was to go to Malibu Beer and Wine Garden, but they were closing so we went to the HQ Gastropub - Woodland Hills. The food and cocktails were amazing! They had great 90's music and a really nice patio area with propane heaters to keep you warm.
Then we ended the day! In the end, we technically did not go wine tasting because of restrictions... but we loved it all!
We actually ended up going to Cornell Winery & Tasting Room another time on the weekend. It was much busier than when we went on Thursday, but still just as cute and rustic as before.
Meredith and I got to talking and I remembered we wanted to go to the Malibu Beer and Wine Garden! So we headed over there and it being a Saturday, there was a 30 minute wait. We ended up driving home, changing into warmer clothes and getting an Uber back so we didn't have to worry about driving. We arrived back right on time and we are so glad we went!
The lights on the willow trees made this experience very relaxing and the staff, drinks, and food were all great too. They had what seemed like a permanent food truck there with pizzas and salads. We ordered the pizza with prosciutto on it and it was delicious!
We both said we would love to go back here, especially with a group of friends. Meredith and I had so much fun exploring these adorable random places in the area and I am sure there will be more to come!
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