Orfila Tasting Room

Nice people, good tasting deal {6 for 8 dollars including glass), undistinguished but palatable wine. Glad to have visited, but not likely to return.

They can get busy but the vast amount of wines offered makes it worth while. Their best red wine is Ambassador’s Merlot bar none. Be careful because some of their wines, the grapes are not from San Diego county and you want to experience what local wines taste like.

I love this place. The wine is absolutely fantastic and the lady is extremely sweet, polite and accommodating. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ recommend this place. :)

You receive your wine glasses to take home after tasting! My favorite was the Gewürztraminer, which we bought a bottle to take home.

Really enjoyed our wine tasting, nice and relaxed, Kathy very knowledgeable about the wines, would come back again!

We went during a busy time. Nice selection of wines. They were good, really enjoyed the tawny port. As the crowd grew bigger it took longer to get served but the staff were still very courteous and explained the wines well. They close at 5 so get there early. Would definitely go back.

Staff was nice, tasting experience was so so. Didn’t gain much knowledge from Lili or her counterpart but in their defense they were busy with a constant flow of customers.

I’m so glad we came here, it was such an amazing experience. They have such a calm well lit environment and are so knowledgeable and kind! I loved all their suggestions, their white wines are INCREDIBLE! Their Gewurtztraminer, Suss is delicious! And their reds were so smooth! The price is reasonable and a great way to choose what you like in a wine

I have visited Orfila in Escondido, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was visiting Julian and came across this tasting room. Compared with the other location, you won’t find anything too different, however dogs are welcome in the tasting room here! (which was my gripe about the Escondido location) Tastings are $ 10 for six tastes and are definitely generous pours! I tried the Sparkling Moscato Bianco, Viognier, Gewürztraminer Suss, Pinot Noir Benign Neglect, Sangiovese, and Ambassador’s Syrah. My favorites had to be the Sparkling Moscato and Gewürztraminer Suss, but maybe because both are pretty sweet and perfect on a warm day. I also loved the Ambassador’s Syrah. The day I visited the tasting room wasn’t particularly busy, but offered a nice opportunity to chat with the staff. The gals behind the tasting bar were so nice and helpful. They even offered to let me retaste any of the wines I had already tried.

WINE TASTING in Julian!
They offer snacks like meat, cheese, & hummus, to enjoy with your wine but we had gotten pie at Julian’s and the worker let us enjoy our pies with our tasting
There are a few tables inside to enjoy your wine, just get your pours at the counter and then migrate back to your seat
The wine? Not bad but nothing I fell in love with enough to buy

Crowded. When we were finally able to get a glass, the lady who poured for us didn’t care to explain any of the wines so we just picked and payed. But she sure had plenty of time to go back to the gentleman that were on the end of the bar and have a friendly chat with them.
Too many kids running around with no supervision made the experience worse. I almost dropped my glass twice from kids bumping into me. It’s not the fault of the winery, but maybe post a sign to make the parents aware. Didn’t even finish our glass and just left.

Me and my lady went to Julian for a day trip and we decided to go into every store and shop. We were pleasantly surprised with this place. Kathleen greeted us and offered us 6 tastings of wine to $ 10! This was my first time doing this and not being an avid drinker, I had no idea what I was doing. Lol Kathleen was very knowledgeable and told us the differences between the wines. Very pleasant experience. Will definitely be back if we are in the area again.

Unfortunately, this wine tasting visit was unpleasant.
My husband and I walked into Orfila — pleasant hosts but their reds were not my favorite. Out of the 6 wines we tasted, we liked maybe 2. They taste very start up like they just started making wines — very rough around the edges. We had just walked down the street from Blue Door Winery and we kept comparing the rich flavors of Blue Door Winery to Orfila’s — we actually went back to Blue Door Winery and bought two bottles of their reds.
Sorry Orfila, we will not be returning.

Having never been to Julian I was super excited to be here. Then we decided to do wine tasting at Orfila Winery. We had such a great time with Kathy! She is so knowledgeable and personable! I loved her vivid descriptions of the wines. The wines were great. and so was the hospitality!!!

Stop what you’re doing in Julian, get out of line at Mom’s Pie Company, put away your bag of candy at the Cider Mill, cross the street and follow the steps up to Orfila Tasting Room! You’ll thank me later. I’m pleased to say it is a DOG and KID FRIENDLY tasting room. It is located right on the corner of the olive green building.
This location has only been open for a year now. I’ve been a customer at the old location so I couldn’t wait to visit the new one. If you make it up or down the stairs to get here, you deserve a glass of wine. We had the stroller and it was not that bad.
We were greeted by the Orfila ladies and helped by the elegant Lili. She explained our options and we opted for the $ 10 wine tasting which included 6 tastes of your choice. The menus were very easy: 1 was whites and the other was reds. The wines were listed in suggested tasting order. Plus, yes you guessed it, you get to take home your glass as a souvenir.
I highly suggest to taste the following if you like sweet or harmonious flavors: Sparkling Moscato Bianco, Ambassador Chardonnay, Lotus, Gewürztramner, Pinot Noir Sequestered (Award winning), Ambassador’s Syrah, and the Tawny Port if you like very rich sweet Port.
Lili suggested chocolate before the sip of port and she handed us a couple round chocolates. She also suggested Blue Cheese and Port which she said its like Ying and Yang a must try.
We met some other couples and it started to become a party in there. Everyone was really friendly and helpful. Another couple was sharing their cheddar cheese slices with us and informed us Orfila serves not just a few slices but a whole block of cheese. Great for in between wines to clear your palette.
Besides bottles of wine for sale, they also have some really unique merchandise in little sections of the room.
Overall, Orfila is a casual but classy spot for locals and visitors to taste some of the award winning wines and provides the opportunity to take bottles home with you to keep enjoying your favorite wine choice. Thanks Orfila!

Stopped in here after lunch at Jeremy’s to check it out. We did the 6-​pour tasting. The ambience leaves a bit to be desired with flourescent shop lights on the ceiling (c’mon guys, fix this up! get some can lighting! it’s wine tasting!) The service was terrific, even though it was the end of the day, the lady who served us gave lots of attention and information. And very nice pours! The wines themselves are ok, some of the bolder cabs were pretty good. It was only $ 10 for six pours, so it was quite a deal. The moscato, which I don’t usually like, was quite lovely… oh, yes, I bought a bottle!

In walking around Julian, we were so excited to stumble upon this tasting room! When we arrived it was packed, but we were quickly welcomed in and we opted for the $ 10 tasting for 6 of their wines, plus you get to keep a souvenir wine glass! Both women working behind the bar were super friendly and super attentive to everyone. Our favorite white wine was the Ambassador’s Chardonnay and our favorite red was the Cabernet Sauvignon.

What a wonderful, charming experience in Julian! Kathy, the wine server, was superb and top notch — very friendly and knowledgable! Great wine and service! We will return!

My boyfriend and I went up to Julian for the day and ended up going wine, cider, and mead hopping. This was our first stop. We were greeted by a lovely lady named Christine. She recommended a few of her favorites and we tried them all. «Girls are meaner» was one of our favorites and we took a bottle home. The fact that she had a nickname for the hard-​to-​pronounce wine was hilarious! It makes the whole place more inviting to us non-​wine connoisseurs. I can’t wait to go back and visit again!

Kathy was a wonderful host. She taught us about each wine and made sure we were in love!!!
My favorite was the petite syrah!!! Such a big red! Love that they let you revisit your favorite and keep your glass. Thank you for staying open for us!
This tasting room also offers snacks for sale if you need a bite to hold you over until dinner.

This was our second time going to this winery and service again was terrible. Both times, first time was a gentleman, second time, a lady — both people were not friendly and we’re trying to either not provide service, or hustle us out of the winery. Julian is a place that lives off of tourism so it’s odd that this place seemed to have so much hostility towards all of the tourists in this establishment. I do not recommend coming here. Blue door winery was great and there are others outside of the downtown Julian area that are a better bet.
Soups and such next door is a wonderful place to get something to eat, just as an aside.

In love with this place. Customer service, wine, and cheese all in one place. Lilli and Christine are the best! Thank you for providing excellent customer service!!!

It was a warm and welcoming spot. The place is small, standing room only with minimal seating with 2 small tables. The tasting went well, and they had about 20 or so offerings. I especially liked all the wine related gifts and souvenirs.
They do allow children as I brought mine, but we were out of there in about an hour to take in the rest of Julian.

Totally bought a Groupon randomly one night annd surprised my friend with a little road trip and tasting. When we got there it was nice and quiet. At first we were a little «mehhh» about it. then once Christine came over to us and started talking to us. THAT’S WHEN THE FUN HAPPENED! Christine was SUPER sweet and knowledgeable about every selection we made and even had great suggestions for future tastings. and oh yes, she definitely convinced me to sign up for the wine club considering they have another location in San Diego which I am FULLY stoked to visit. The wine club has really cool perks that I look forward to taking full advantage of. Thanks Christine! I hope to visit again and I am 100% glad that I couldn’t sleep and ended up buying the Groupon!

Had such an amazing time. Kathy was our host and made our time there so much fun! Thank you for an awesome Saturday afternoon! Can’t wait to come back and visit!!!

Great place to taste wine and relax on a Sunday afternoon. Kathleen was an amazing host who definitively made me feel welcome. Would come again!

Great tasting room. $ 10 for 6 generous pours and you keep the wine glass as a souvenir. The tasting room is quaint with a large tasting bar plus several tables for sitting. AND a large window seating area. I like to sit and taste my wine so this was ideal.

Best Wine Tasting! Kathy was our server, she was friendly and she had excellent knowledge about they wine she was serving. It was nice to finish off our experience with a dessert wine, I had never tried that before. Delicious with the little chocolate and it warmed us right up for the cold weather! I would definitely return for more wine and will recommend the wine tasting to friends. Thank you for the wonderful experience and Thank You Kathy for your excellent service!

Great place with trinkets for purchase. Nice deal on their wine club. They are also located in Escondido. Friendly staff and 6 tastings for $ 10 and you get to keep your glass. Great selection. Quaint store.