Most wineries want you to learn their name. Serial wants you to learn the map. The whole concept is a series of wines drawn from hidden-gem vineyards across the eleven distinct growing districts of Paso Robles, each bottle a window onto one specific corner of the region. You taste them in the Serial Tasting Lounge, a striking space inside the historic Odd Fellows building downtown, all reclaimed materials and industrial finishes, and what you are really tasting is a guided tour of Paso terroir, district by district, glass by glass.

A wine built to explore the region

Serial Wines was conceived in 2015 by John Anthony Truchard, founder of John Anthony Wine and Spirits, together with executive winemaker Jeff Kandarian. The idea was less a brand than an investigation: Paso Robles is officially divided into eleven growing districts, each with its own soils, elevation and climate, and Serial set out to bottle that diversity directly. The wines are crafted as district-designate and single-vineyard expressions, so each one reveals a unique slice of the region rather than blending the differences away.

Kandarian is the right person for the job. He started his winemaking career in Paso Robles and has a deep, lived understanding of its terroir, and his roots in wine run deeper still. He grew up in agriculture on his family farm, surrounded by raisin and table grape vineyards, and his Portuguese grandfather always had homemade port on the table. Watching that passion turn grapes into wine lit the spark, and that combination of farm-kid practicality and genuine love of place is exactly what a project like Serial needs.

Serial is built around a simple, nerdy thrill: how different can the same grape taste from one Paso district to the next? The wines are the answer.

Downtown Paso and eleven districts

The Serial Tasting Lounge opened in 2022 in the historic Odd Fellows building in downtown Paso Robles, a space designed by craftsman Richard Von Saal using reclaimed materials and industrial finishes. It is one of the more design-forward rooms in town, a luxe, discovery-minded setting that matches the concept of the wines: come in, sit down, and travel the region without leaving the square.

The content of the tasting is the region itself. Paso Robles spans eleven sub-appellations, from the cool, high, calcareous west side around the Adelaida and Willow Creek districts to the warm, alluvial east around the Estrella plains, and many points between. Serial seeks out under-the-radar vineyards across this range, so a flight here can move from a cool-climate site to a warm one and let you taste, side by side, what the ground actually does to the wine. It is the closest thing to a Paso Robles geography lesson you can drink.

The wines: district by district

Because Serial is organized around place, the lineup is a collection of distinct expressions rather than a single house style. Many of the wines contain grapes grown in only one specific district, which lets you isolate the signature of that ground: the structure and minerality of the high west-side limestone, say, against the riper, rounder fruit of the warm eastern plains. It is a format built for curiosity.

The wines themselves span the grapes Paso does best, with the focus always on revealing the diverse terroir behind them. Tasting through a Serial flight is genuinely educational and genuinely delicious at once, and the knowledgeable pours in the lounge help connect what is in the glass to the map on the wall. For anyone who wants to understand Paso Robles beyond a single famous winery, this is one of the smartest stops in town.

What to pour it with

Because Serial spans many districts and grapes, the pairing depends on the wine in front of you, but the logic stays the same. A structured, tannic red from a cool, high west-side site wants red meat: the tannin binds to protein and fat, so a ribeye or lamb tastes rounder while the wine cuts the richness. A riper, softer red from a warm eastern district is happy with barbecue, burgers and grilled sausage.

For any whites in the flight, lean into the acid: a crisp white slices through butter, cream and fried food, so grilled fish, oysters and roast chicken come alive. Across a tasting, charcuterie and hard aged cheeses are the reliable companions, since salt rounds tannin and lifts fruit in nearly every wine. The fun of a district-designate flight is noticing how the same dish flatters one site and fights another, which is the whole point of the place.

Serial Wines: common questions