Oceanside CA— While San Diego may be well-known for its craft beer, Oceanside, the County’s northern most city, has been making waves recently by expanding into the wine scene. From sea and sky wine adventures to stylish new tasting rooms, there are plenty of reasons to sip and savor in this Southern California beach town.

Sea, Sunsets and Beachy Wine

For sea, sunsets and award-winning local wine visitors don’t need to go farther than Oceanside Harbor where Oceanside Adventures offers a Harbor Wine Cruise on the first Saturday of each month. The 90-minute cruise aboard the luxury catamaran includes scenic exploration of Oceanside’s coastal waters, selection of appetizers and three tastes of wine from Oceanside’s award-winning Beach House Winery. Located in the hills of Oceanside, Beach House Winery is the region’s first vineyard by the sea, produces all wines onsite and features a tasting room where visitors can experience additional varietals. Cost of the wine cruise is $39 per person.

Wine Down After Being Sky High

Waverider Helicopter Tours takes the concept of wine adventure up a notch with its Helicopter Lunch and Wine Tour package. Visitors will feel like they are living a real-life episode of the Bachelor during this experience, which includes a 20-minute flight from Oceanside Airport that cruises along the picturesque coastline before turning inland toward Temecula. Guests land at Temecula’s Thornton Winery where they are greeted with a glass of champagne and can enjoy a two-hour lunch and wine tasting before being whisked back to Oceanside by helicopter. The excursion is $599 for two people with lunch and wine tasting priced separately.

Sips Around Town

For those who prefer to stay on terra firma, Oceanside’s downtown boasts new urban tasting rooms that serve local sips in re-invented spaces. Coomber Craft Wines opened this summer and features a 3,500 square-foot urban winery and tasting room complete with expansive back patio. Exposed brick, wood beams, vintage accents and roll up doors give the space a hip, urban vibe from which to enjoy its collection of 16 varietals. Just down the block from Coomber, wine enthusiasts can discover Orfila Vineyard and Winery’s new Oceanside tasting room. The location not only features 22 varietals from the San Diego winery, but also a full menu of chef-created delicious, simple and healthy food. Large windows, recycled wine bottle succulent planters, metal-wood furniture and a curated collection of artwork for sale enhance the ambiance.
Other noteworthy wine venues in Oceanside include The Miller’s Table, named one of Yelp’s top 25 wine bars in the U.S; Privateer Wine Bar, a favorite South Oceanside neighbor establishment with rotating selection of wine and adjacent farm-to-table pizza restaurant; and Holmes Estate Cellars, a lively, pet-friendly tasting room. For more about coastal wine tasting in Oceanside, visit https://visitoceanside.org/blog/coastal-wine-tasting-in-oceanside.
For more information on Oceanside and all of its events and attractions, visit www.visitoceanside.org.