Being a Lush Ain't That Bad - Or Wining/Winding Our Way Through California's Central Coast, a TR
Sep 3rd, 2007, 12:57 PM
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Being a Lush Ain't That Bad - Or Wining/Winding Our Way Through California's Central Coast, a TR
After little planning and much longing, we finally made it back to the Central Coast to do some winetasting.
Day One: Leisurely drive southbound, stopped off at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo for a quick lunch, made quicker by their water pipe having broken. We were given bottled water and wipees for our hands.
On the road again
, we decided to stop off at Los Olivos, the small town made famous by the movie Sideways
Our first stop was the Los Olivos Tasting Room and Wine Shop where they were serving the wines of smaller vineyards that have no tasting rooms of their own. Included were Au Bon Climat and Fiddlehead, two wines that I had wanted to try. Then we moved along the street and stopped off at Consilience's tasting room and Longoria's tasting room. We tasted about 25 different wines at the three places. Unfortunately, our tasting experience in Los Olivos was anything but stellar. It was roaringly hot that afternoon and the wines seemed to have been at higher temperatures than they should have been. In addition, they tasted younger than even the barreltasted wines in Sonoma County.(... and we didn't drink out of the dump buckets either to get this impression!) We decided against stopping off at the Andrew Murray tasting room, even though it came highly recommended. Los Olivos has all its tasting rooms lined up in about a block and a half (main street is probably three blocks long), so if you go you can get a lot of winetasting in a very small space. Tasting rooms are nicely decorated.
Off to Ventura to meet with friends and to stay overnight at the Ventura Marriott. This hotel is right on the beach but has no ocean facing rooms! Who was the nutty architect who designed THIS hotel? We had dinner at Eric Ericson, a seafood place. It was OK. The opah (moonfish), although advertised as "fresh" turned out to be frozen and it was waaay overcooked to where the fish was dry. Nice view of the sunset over Ventura Harbor. We didn't have any wine with dinner, since our tongues were already fuzzy from the day's tastings.
Day Two - Staying on the concierge level, we got free "breakfast" - cereal, watery eggs, bacon, selection of cereals, nice fresh fruit plates, yogurt, and lots of things to drink. We took several bottles of water for yet another hot day. At the beach in Ventura the temperature was a nice 76ish, but inland it was going to be in the 90s-100s.
We decided to go to some individual wineries in Santa Barbara County along Santa Rosa Road and arrived at the Mosby Vineyards just as they were opening up at 10am. The wines we tasted at Mosby were much, much better than what we had had the day before in Los Olivos. Our spirits lifted. Being the only visitors that early, we chatted with the friendly lady and she gave us some of the Mosby labels, specially designed by the Italian artist, Robert Scherer. These labels are true works of art and we plan to frame the set and place them somewhere in the dining room. If you're interested, you can see some of the labels here:
http://www.mosbywines.com/
Mosby does exclusively Italian wines and mostly northern Italian varieties.
We especially enjoyed the 2004 Primativo and the dessert wine, Sofia, which had a raspberry finish.
Next along the same road, we stopped off at Alma Rosa, just as they were opening up at 11am! Alma Rosa is the old "Sanford" vineyard. The Sanfords sold some of their vineyards and their label to a Chicago(?) interest and so the new Chicago-owned Sanford winery is much further down the Santa Rosa Road (about 4 miles westward) while the Sanfords themselves retained this "old" winery and renamed it "Alma Rosa". From their website: "In Spanish alma means soul; so the name Alma Rosa reflects the Sanfords’ view that their wines are a reflection of the soul of the rancho." Very pretty name!
http://www.almarosawinery.com/
If you visit the website you'll see the guy who served us - he's the one in the cowboy hat!
We also liked Alma Rosa for another reason: they do organic farming.
Their wines that we liked were:
2005 Chardonnay, El Jabali Vineyard
2005 Pinot Noir, El Jabali Vineyard
2005 Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard
BTW, the winery itself is Alma Rosa, but the different plots of land are given different names. Each plot of land has its own terroir, so even though it may be "pinot noir" made by Alma Rosa, the taste will be different depending on which plot of land the grapes came from. You'll find this pretty much characteristic of much of California's wines.
At Alma Rosa, we also met Christopher Long, who owns the Nectar Winebars, one in Burlingame and one in San Francisco. Of course, this opens the door to more winetasting in the Bay Area!
Onward and forward to our last winery on Santa Rosa Road: Lafond. What can I say? We liked everything we tasted there that day. This turned out to be our favorite winery of the trip. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down what we were tasting. Anyhow, Lafond makes great wines!
http://lafondwinery.reachlocal.net/
By this time, having tasted 25 or so wines, we were ready for lunch and thought we would go over to AJ Spurs in Solvang for some steak. Unfortunately AJ's is open only for dinner. Asking around, we were told that the Red Barn in Santa Ynez would have good beef (yes, I confess to being a red meat devotee, a veritable carnivore!). What a find! The Red Barn was serving sandwiches and other lunch entres, but they made an exception for us and served us their dinner filet mignon with lunch fries, shoe-string fries. We ate up everything, every last single shoe string fry! Yum! Yum! A real cowboy place, with "No Sniveling" and "No Whining" signs prominently displayed.
OK, fortified with red meat and stuffed with so many shoe string fries they were sticking out our ears, we were ready for more wine tasting.
Somewhere, someone had said, "Try Brander Winery", so we were on our way. Brander was just OK, nothing excited us, despite one of their Syrah's having gotten 90 points on Wine Spectator. We were told Brander had some wonderful Sauvignon Blanc, but they were keeping it hidden from us! Lovely building with a Swedish flag on one side and an Argentinian flag on the other and the US flag in the middle. You'll have to visit their winery to get the whole story on the different flags! Hard to find on Refugio Road, the sign is almost totally obscured; however, the winery is well-worth a visit.
http://www.brander.com/
Next stop: Bridlewood. We really liked the wines at Bridlewood and bought an entire case of their rose wine which was on sale. Not because it was on sale, but because it was the wine we liked best.
Bridlewood is a beautiful estate, which used to be famous for thoroughbred horses. The man pouring said that it is still a place for horses, but that they also makes some great wines!
In the back are picnic tables and a small lake, perfect for picnics, if you should ever get out that way.
http://www.bridlewoodwinery.com/
After leaving Bridlewood, the rest of the day was a bit downhill. We tried to do the famous Foxen Canyon Trail but managed to find Koehler's open only on weekends and the place deserted.
Our last stop was Zaca Mesa. Not a good experience. For the first, and fortunately last, time we met with indifferent and surly pour staff ("poor" staff?). One person would pour one wine and wander away, never to return. We would look around expectantly and finally another person would come behind the counter, pour another wine with absolutely no explanation and wander away! When we asked a question about their wine, the pourer looked at us with such a blank stare we thought one of us was from Mars!
Nice picnic tables. Huge chess game. Great rosemary plants. "ack" wine experience.
By then it was 4pm and as we continued along Foxen Canyon Road, no other signs appeared showing any other wineries were open - except Tres Hermanas! which winery wasn't showing up on any of our maps, so we gave it a pass.
We were exhausted by the heat anyway and coming around a bend, there was an overturned truck with produce spilled all over the roadway and workers frantically shovelling the produce to the side of the road. Cops everywhere! Turned out to be a truckload of green tomatoes. Just what we needed! Not!
Back at the hotel, we had so much "happy hour" food that we decided to open our own bottle of Napa champagne and just picnic in our room. No more dried out opah tonight! Just delicious cheeses, rolled meats, spring rolls and other tidbits.
Bedtime and I'm out like a light.
Day Three. Today we have to go home, so decided to stop off at some San Luis Obispo wineries on our northbound route home.
Once upon a time one of us had had a very, very good Wild Horse wine, so the Wild Horse winery became our first stop of the day. This trip we especially liked their '06 Malvasia Bianca. Got a half case of that.
http://www.wildhorsewinery.com/
Since we did not have a real dinner the night before, we decided on an early lunch in Templeton. Tried the AJ Spurs in Templeton, but it, too, opens only for dinner. Grrrrr. Asking around again, McPhee's Grill was recommended. Nice find. Had halibut and ribs for lunch, both were good. Very, very long bar to one side of the room, kind of mod Western, if you know what I mean.
Last stretch and we decided on going along Vineyard Drive.
First stop: Turley Winery. Holy Cow! This place looks really familiar! I've been here before, but Turley? Never heard of that name.
I'm saying this out loud as we enter the tasting room and a lady who's hauling a case of wine overhears me and says, "Yes, this used to be the old Pesenti Winery". Pesenti! Pesenti! Of course! They used to make one of the best tasting Muscat wines in California - in half gallon jugs! We used to buy cases of their jug Muscat!
Well, the lady sniffs, we don't make JUG wine here. Our wine isn't sold anywhere except here at the winery and - she adds - sometimes you might find our wine at a restaurant.
I'm surprised she didn't say, "exclusive restaurant".
The prices were about three times that of the other wineries. I'm sorry, but I'm not that hoi-poloi, so their wines tasted about the same as the other wines. You'll have to judge for yourself on this one, whether their wines are truly that great.
Next stop Donati Winery. Well, I must have been shell-shocked from the Turley visit, because I can't remember a thing about Donati.
Next stop: Opolo Winery. This turned out to be our second best liked winery.
We liked their
2005 Viognier
2005 Summit Creek Zinfandel
2005 Mountain Zinfandel
2004 Merlot
2004 Fusion
The 2004 was supposedly sold out but they managed to find a couple of cases left, so we made off with half a case, along with some Viognier, Merlot and Zinfandel.
http://www.opolo.com/
It was getting late and we still had a long drive home, so we started back on Peachy Canyon Road. One more stop: Calcareous Winery on Peachy Canyon.
We liked their
2005 Viognier, Paso Robles
2004 Syrah, Paso Robles
2004 Twisted Sisters Paso Robles
2005 Pinot Noir, York Mountain
Beautiful newer winery, way up at the top of a hill with panoramic views.
http://www.calcareous.com/
Well, that's it for this trip! We had a great time, laughing all the time! Great and friendly people in all the wineries except one. Wonderful food! Some marvellous wines!
Santa Barbara County: mostly "lighter" wines such as Pinot Noir and Syrah. A lot of Sangiovese, Zinfandel and Rhone blends. On the whites: lots of Viognier, Roussanne (a new one for me), Pinot Grigio, and some Chardonnay, Pinot Gris/Blanc and some Rhone blends.
San Luis Obispo County: same wines as SB County, except that "heavier" wines like Cabernet Sauvignon showed up as well. Tastewise, the Cabs were not quite as good as the Cabs in Napa and Sonoma Counties.
Wine tasting was anywhere from $5 - $10 per person. Each pour was about 1-2 oz and by the time five pours were drunk, that's a whole glass of wine! So, trying out about 25 wines meant drinking about 4-5 glasses of wine in the morning before lunch! Of course, there were the dump buckets...
Most places offered a glass for free along with the price. We ended up with a nice selection of wine glasses. One place even offered Riedel glasses - plus wine - for $5. Best liked glass: Bridlewood with a pair of horses on the glass.
Well, this really is the end! I highly recommend you go on your own Central Coast winetasting trip. Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County have so many new wineries, it's dizzying. A lot of good wines, some great wines.
Try your own winetasting trip and think happy thoughts!
Day One: Leisurely drive southbound, stopped off at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo for a quick lunch, made quicker by their water pipe having broken. We were given bottled water and wipees for our hands.
On the road again
, we decided to stop off at Los Olivos, the small town made famous by the movie SidewaysOur first stop was the Los Olivos Tasting Room and Wine Shop where they were serving the wines of smaller vineyards that have no tasting rooms of their own. Included were Au Bon Climat and Fiddlehead, two wines that I had wanted to try. Then we moved along the street and stopped off at Consilience's tasting room and Longoria's tasting room. We tasted about 25 different wines at the three places. Unfortunately, our tasting experience in Los Olivos was anything but stellar. It was roaringly hot that afternoon and the wines seemed to have been at higher temperatures than they should have been. In addition, they tasted younger than even the barreltasted wines in Sonoma County.(... and we didn't drink out of the dump buckets either to get this impression!) We decided against stopping off at the Andrew Murray tasting room, even though it came highly recommended. Los Olivos has all its tasting rooms lined up in about a block and a half (main street is probably three blocks long), so if you go you can get a lot of winetasting in a very small space. Tasting rooms are nicely decorated.
Off to Ventura to meet with friends and to stay overnight at the Ventura Marriott. This hotel is right on the beach but has no ocean facing rooms! Who was the nutty architect who designed THIS hotel? We had dinner at Eric Ericson, a seafood place. It was OK. The opah (moonfish), although advertised as "fresh" turned out to be frozen and it was waaay overcooked to where the fish was dry. Nice view of the sunset over Ventura Harbor. We didn't have any wine with dinner, since our tongues were already fuzzy from the day's tastings.
Day Two - Staying on the concierge level, we got free "breakfast" - cereal, watery eggs, bacon, selection of cereals, nice fresh fruit plates, yogurt, and lots of things to drink. We took several bottles of water for yet another hot day. At the beach in Ventura the temperature was a nice 76ish, but inland it was going to be in the 90s-100s.
We decided to go to some individual wineries in Santa Barbara County along Santa Rosa Road and arrived at the Mosby Vineyards just as they were opening up at 10am. The wines we tasted at Mosby were much, much better than what we had had the day before in Los Olivos. Our spirits lifted. Being the only visitors that early, we chatted with the friendly lady and she gave us some of the Mosby labels, specially designed by the Italian artist, Robert Scherer. These labels are true works of art and we plan to frame the set and place them somewhere in the dining room. If you're interested, you can see some of the labels here:
http://www.mosbywines.com/
Mosby does exclusively Italian wines and mostly northern Italian varieties.
We especially enjoyed the 2004 Primativo and the dessert wine, Sofia, which had a raspberry finish.
Next along the same road, we stopped off at Alma Rosa, just as they were opening up at 11am! Alma Rosa is the old "Sanford" vineyard. The Sanfords sold some of their vineyards and their label to a Chicago(?) interest and so the new Chicago-owned Sanford winery is much further down the Santa Rosa Road (about 4 miles westward) while the Sanfords themselves retained this "old" winery and renamed it "Alma Rosa". From their website: "In Spanish alma means soul; so the name Alma Rosa reflects the Sanfords’ view that their wines are a reflection of the soul of the rancho." Very pretty name!
http://www.almarosawinery.com/
If you visit the website you'll see the guy who served us - he's the one in the cowboy hat!
We also liked Alma Rosa for another reason: they do organic farming.Their wines that we liked were:
2005 Chardonnay, El Jabali Vineyard
2005 Pinot Noir, El Jabali Vineyard
2005 Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard
BTW, the winery itself is Alma Rosa, but the different plots of land are given different names. Each plot of land has its own terroir, so even though it may be "pinot noir" made by Alma Rosa, the taste will be different depending on which plot of land the grapes came from. You'll find this pretty much characteristic of much of California's wines.
At Alma Rosa, we also met Christopher Long, who owns the Nectar Winebars, one in Burlingame and one in San Francisco. Of course, this opens the door to more winetasting in the Bay Area!
Onward and forward to our last winery on Santa Rosa Road: Lafond. What can I say? We liked everything we tasted there that day. This turned out to be our favorite winery of the trip. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down what we were tasting. Anyhow, Lafond makes great wines!
http://lafondwinery.reachlocal.net/
By this time, having tasted 25 or so wines, we were ready for lunch and thought we would go over to AJ Spurs in Solvang for some steak. Unfortunately AJ's is open only for dinner. Asking around, we were told that the Red Barn in Santa Ynez would have good beef (yes, I confess to being a red meat devotee, a veritable carnivore!). What a find! The Red Barn was serving sandwiches and other lunch entres, but they made an exception for us and served us their dinner filet mignon with lunch fries, shoe-string fries. We ate up everything, every last single shoe string fry! Yum! Yum! A real cowboy place, with "No Sniveling" and "No Whining" signs prominently displayed.
OK, fortified with red meat and stuffed with so many shoe string fries they were sticking out our ears, we were ready for more wine tasting.
Somewhere, someone had said, "Try Brander Winery", so we were on our way. Brander was just OK, nothing excited us, despite one of their Syrah's having gotten 90 points on Wine Spectator. We were told Brander had some wonderful Sauvignon Blanc, but they were keeping it hidden from us! Lovely building with a Swedish flag on one side and an Argentinian flag on the other and the US flag in the middle. You'll have to visit their winery to get the whole story on the different flags! Hard to find on Refugio Road, the sign is almost totally obscured; however, the winery is well-worth a visit.
http://www.brander.com/
Next stop: Bridlewood. We really liked the wines at Bridlewood and bought an entire case of their rose wine which was on sale. Not because it was on sale, but because it was the wine we liked best.
Bridlewood is a beautiful estate, which used to be famous for thoroughbred horses. The man pouring said that it is still a place for horses, but that they also makes some great wines!
In the back are picnic tables and a small lake, perfect for picnics, if you should ever get out that way.
http://www.bridlewoodwinery.com/
After leaving Bridlewood, the rest of the day was a bit downhill. We tried to do the famous Foxen Canyon Trail but managed to find Koehler's open only on weekends and the place deserted.
Our last stop was Zaca Mesa. Not a good experience. For the first, and fortunately last, time we met with indifferent and surly pour staff ("poor" staff?). One person would pour one wine and wander away, never to return. We would look around expectantly and finally another person would come behind the counter, pour another wine with absolutely no explanation and wander away! When we asked a question about their wine, the pourer looked at us with such a blank stare we thought one of us was from Mars!
Nice picnic tables. Huge chess game. Great rosemary plants. "ack" wine experience.
By then it was 4pm and as we continued along Foxen Canyon Road, no other signs appeared showing any other wineries were open - except Tres Hermanas! which winery wasn't showing up on any of our maps, so we gave it a pass.
We were exhausted by the heat anyway and coming around a bend, there was an overturned truck with produce spilled all over the roadway and workers frantically shovelling the produce to the side of the road. Cops everywhere! Turned out to be a truckload of green tomatoes. Just what we needed! Not!
Back at the hotel, we had so much "happy hour" food that we decided to open our own bottle of Napa champagne and just picnic in our room. No more dried out opah tonight! Just delicious cheeses, rolled meats, spring rolls and other tidbits.
Bedtime and I'm out like a light.
Day Three. Today we have to go home, so decided to stop off at some San Luis Obispo wineries on our northbound route home.
Once upon a time one of us had had a very, very good Wild Horse wine, so the Wild Horse winery became our first stop of the day. This trip we especially liked their '06 Malvasia Bianca. Got a half case of that.
http://www.wildhorsewinery.com/
Since we did not have a real dinner the night before, we decided on an early lunch in Templeton. Tried the AJ Spurs in Templeton, but it, too, opens only for dinner. Grrrrr. Asking around again, McPhee's Grill was recommended. Nice find. Had halibut and ribs for lunch, both were good. Very, very long bar to one side of the room, kind of mod Western, if you know what I mean.
Last stretch and we decided on going along Vineyard Drive.
First stop: Turley Winery. Holy Cow! This place looks really familiar! I've been here before, but Turley? Never heard of that name.
I'm saying this out loud as we enter the tasting room and a lady who's hauling a case of wine overhears me and says, "Yes, this used to be the old Pesenti Winery". Pesenti! Pesenti! Of course! They used to make one of the best tasting Muscat wines in California - in half gallon jugs! We used to buy cases of their jug Muscat!
Well, the lady sniffs, we don't make JUG wine here. Our wine isn't sold anywhere except here at the winery and - she adds - sometimes you might find our wine at a restaurant.
I'm surprised she didn't say, "exclusive restaurant".
The prices were about three times that of the other wineries. I'm sorry, but I'm not that hoi-poloi, so their wines tasted about the same as the other wines. You'll have to judge for yourself on this one, whether their wines are truly that great.
Next stop Donati Winery. Well, I must have been shell-shocked from the Turley visit, because I can't remember a thing about Donati.
Next stop: Opolo Winery. This turned out to be our second best liked winery.
We liked their
2005 Viognier
2005 Summit Creek Zinfandel
2005 Mountain Zinfandel
2004 Merlot
2004 Fusion
The 2004 was supposedly sold out but they managed to find a couple of cases left, so we made off with half a case, along with some Viognier, Merlot and Zinfandel.
http://www.opolo.com/
It was getting late and we still had a long drive home, so we started back on Peachy Canyon Road. One more stop: Calcareous Winery on Peachy Canyon.
We liked their
2005 Viognier, Paso Robles
2004 Syrah, Paso Robles
2004 Twisted Sisters Paso Robles
2005 Pinot Noir, York Mountain
Beautiful newer winery, way up at the top of a hill with panoramic views.
http://www.calcareous.com/
Well, that's it for this trip! We had a great time, laughing all the time! Great and friendly people in all the wineries except one. Wonderful food! Some marvellous wines!
Santa Barbara County: mostly "lighter" wines such as Pinot Noir and Syrah. A lot of Sangiovese, Zinfandel and Rhone blends. On the whites: lots of Viognier, Roussanne (a new one for me), Pinot Grigio, and some Chardonnay, Pinot Gris/Blanc and some Rhone blends.
San Luis Obispo County: same wines as SB County, except that "heavier" wines like Cabernet Sauvignon showed up as well. Tastewise, the Cabs were not quite as good as the Cabs in Napa and Sonoma Counties.
Wine tasting was anywhere from $5 - $10 per person. Each pour was about 1-2 oz and by the time five pours were drunk, that's a whole glass of wine! So, trying out about 25 wines meant drinking about 4-5 glasses of wine in the morning before lunch! Of course, there were the dump buckets...
Most places offered a glass for free along with the price. We ended up with a nice selection of wine glasses. One place even offered Riedel glasses - plus wine - for $5. Best liked glass: Bridlewood with a pair of horses on the glass.
Well, this really is the end!
I highly recommend you go on your own Central Coast winetasting trip. Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County have so many new wineries, it's dizzying. A lot of good wines, some great wines. Try your own winetasting trip and think happy thoughts!
Sep 3rd, 2007, 02:01 PM
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Wow.. you sure covered a lot of territory in a short amount of time! Glad you enjotyed the trip... although sadly, it sounds like you may have missed out on Gainey Vineyards, Rancho Sisquoc, Foxen and a few others like Talley in SLO and Tablas Creek outside of Paso. To be fair, there is no way you could get to them all and you got to many more than most! Come back again soon!
Sep 4th, 2007, 02:24 PM
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Hi, moneygirl: Yes, we missed a lot!
I had been to Gainey on a previous trip. The road to Ranch Sisquoc was blocked by the spilled tomatoes. Foxen didn't have a sign out!!!
So many wines, so little time!
ttt for Paula: Hi, Paula!
I had been to Gainey on a previous trip. The road to Ranch Sisquoc was blocked by the spilled tomatoes. Foxen didn't have a sign out!!!
So many wines, so little time!
ttt for Paula: Hi, Paula!
Sep 4th, 2007, 04:51 PM
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easytraveler-Wow you really covered alot of ground. There is no way I could taste at that many wineries and still be driving. But I am such a lightweight! Sorry that the Los Olivos Tasting Room wasn't good for you. Maybe it was just the heat because it was a miserable weekend anywhere that wasn't close to the beach. Next trip you make, we should plan a Fodor Winetasting Party. Get some of the Fodorites from the Central Coast and maybe a few more from No. and So. Cal and meet in the middle (well almost the middle)! Or we could meet in Cambria/Paso Robles. This is an area where I want to try some of the wines.
Sep 5th, 2007, 04:40 PM
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Glad you enjoyed the central coast and sorry you didn't have such a great experience in Los Olivos. Too bad you didn't get to eat there. It was exceptionally hot this past weekend, though. I love Opolo, too~great winery. My DH and I are heading up to Paso at the end of the month for a weekend of wine tasting and looking forward to it. Definitely come back and we will have a wine tasting GTG as Paula suggested. PS... did you try any cake at the Madonna Inn? So yummy!
Sep 5th, 2007, 05:26 PM
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Great write-up ET!
Heat and all! =)
If your trip was this past weekend, it was only about 1000 degrees here! I even shucked the BBQ. Ice was hot.
I like Opolo winery too, along Vineyard Road starting at Templeton. I like it more for the drive and their cab/merlot Rhapsody blend.
You were very near Justin Vineyards and that is one of my favorite stops along the trail. It's a gorgeous spot and they make a good cab.
We go each autumn as that is one of the few places along this part of the coast to see some fall colors. (sad)
Too bad about Zaca! I stop there mainly for the hike up the hill behind the winery. It's a great look-out point and on a cloudy day paints awsome shadows over the hilltops.
I have been drinking Pinots from Lattetia(sp?) lately and really enjoy them. That is just North of Nipomo. I know the champaigne and wine makers there personally (father and son) but just recently started drinking their Pinots. Right now visitors can take tours of their wine making process.
Thanks again!
Heat and all! =)
If your trip was this past weekend, it was only about 1000 degrees here! I even shucked the BBQ. Ice was hot.
I like Opolo winery too, along Vineyard Road starting at Templeton. I like it more for the drive and their cab/merlot Rhapsody blend.
You were very near Justin Vineyards and that is one of my favorite stops along the trail. It's a gorgeous spot and they make a good cab.
We go each autumn as that is one of the few places along this part of the coast to see some fall colors. (sad)
Too bad about Zaca! I stop there mainly for the hike up the hill behind the winery. It's a great look-out point and on a cloudy day paints awsome shadows over the hilltops.
I have been drinking Pinots from Lattetia(sp?) lately and really enjoy them. That is just North of Nipomo. I know the champaigne and wine makers there personally (father and son) but just recently started drinking their Pinots. Right now visitors can take tours of their wine making process.
Thanks again!
Sep 6th, 2007, 08:13 AM
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Paula: that's a great idea! How about this month! Either the weekend of the 22nd or the weekend of the 29th! Let's just try for somewhere around Paso or Solvang. Will we be able to call a GTG this quickly? I'd love to go winetasting with you!
Scarlett: Hi! Glad to amuse! How's the Yankee and Pup?
laurenzo: Yes, let's do a GTG! Well, I'm not giving up on Los Olivos as yet. There are a number of other tasting rooms there. I just can't get over how friendly everyone was!
bear900: we missed ya for our SF GTG earlier this year! But if we have a Central Coast GTG, will you come?
Scarlett: Hi! Glad to amuse! How's the Yankee and Pup?
laurenzo: Yes, let's do a GTG! Well, I'm not giving up on Los Olivos as yet. There are a number of other tasting rooms there. I just can't get over how friendly everyone was!
bear900: we missed ya for our SF GTG earlier this year!
But if we have a Central Coast GTG, will you come?
Sep 6th, 2007, 08:32 AM
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Hey easy...GREAT trip report. We've done lots of CA but haven't done the Sideways area. Funny, lots of people say to only do 3 or 4 wineries in a DAY. Forget that! You do have to be careful about what you try, use the bucket, have good meals, etc, but you still can get 6 or 7 in if you try. Especilaay for those of us who come from EST and are raring to go at 7 am!
Sep 6th, 2007, 08:32 AM
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Great TR easyT! You covered a lot of "wine territory" in a 2 night/ 3 day trip! We got a couple of great sandwiches to go once from the Red Barn, and want to get back there again. Also, there's an italian place in SY I want to try (saw it on Giada's weekend trip show).
Sep 6th, 2007, 12:01 PM
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Hi ET,
I came very close to FedExing a rubber chicken to present to the SF GTG group in my behalf. I just didn’t have the time.
Regarding a September Central Coast GTG…a visit to Justin Vineyards (between Paso and Templeton) sounds nice that time of year.
http://www.justinwine.com/vineyards.php
Kal once forewarned me of a visit next time he trucked down to the SLO area. It would be fun to knuck heads with him. Looks like we’ve both been gone awhile so who knows?
I like to read and research here when I can or need to, and that’s why I came back last night.
I can't resist poking fun and bantering a bit. I don't take anything whimsical here seriously or personally.
I could explain it: “Oh! Look at all these nice people! What? You heard about this place on Fodors too?”
Plus…I’m really shy…. heh
I came very close to FedExing a rubber chicken to present to the SF GTG group in my behalf. I just didn’t have the time.
Regarding a September Central Coast GTG…a visit to Justin Vineyards (between Paso and Templeton) sounds nice that time of year.
http://www.justinwine.com/vineyards.php
Kal once forewarned me of a visit next time he trucked down to the SLO area. It would be fun to knuck heads with him. Looks like we’ve both been gone awhile so who knows?
I like to read and research here when I can or need to, and that’s why I came back last night.
I can't resist poking fun and bantering a bit. I don't take anything whimsical here seriously or personally.
I could explain it: “Oh! Look at all these nice people! What? You heard about this place on Fodors too?”
Plus…I’m really shy…. heh
Sep 6th, 2007, 06:19 PM
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easytraveler,
I am game for a gtg either weekend. If we do it the last weekend, I will already be in Paso with DH for my belated bday getaway wine tasting. I plan to try Justin, haven't been. Keep me posted!
I am game for a gtg either weekend. If we do it the last weekend, I will already be in Paso with DH for my belated bday getaway wine tasting. I plan to try Justin, haven't been. Keep me posted!
Sep 6th, 2007, 07:58 PM
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Hi, Linda! LOL! Yes, trying more than 3 or 4 wineries IS possible, but one can't be a lush, just have to dump those wines that are not attractive. I'm still working on the October GTG for the Bay Area, but haven't heard from starrsville on what is an appropriate date.
trippinkpj: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the Red Barn as well. We were really happy with their food! Hope you will come to one of our GTGs in the Bay Area!
bear900: Had you sent the rubber chicken it would probably have been consumed with gusto, along with everything else.
I don't know where Kal is. He hasn't posted as often as before - or else he and I are just not going to the same threads. I'm certain you could keep each other entertained for hours! BTW, your humor is very much appreciated!
If we try for Justin, will you come?
laurenzo: that's really GREEAT! I have to drive down to LA anyhow and will stop off in Paso. Maybe we should plan a Fodors GTG at Justin's?
How about if we start a separate thread on a Central Coast GTG?
trippinkpj: Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the Red Barn as well. We were really happy with their food! Hope you will come to one of our GTGs in the Bay Area!bear900: Had you sent the rubber chicken it would probably have been consumed with gusto, along with everything else.
I don't know where Kal is. He hasn't posted as often as before - or else he and I are just not going to the same threads. I'm certain you could keep each other entertained for hours! BTW, your humor is very much appreciated!
If we try for Justin, will you come?
laurenzo: that's really GREEAT! I have to drive down to LA anyhow and will stop off in Paso. Maybe we should plan a Fodors GTG at Justin's?
How about if we start a separate thread on a Central Coast GTG?
Sep 7th, 2007, 07:10 PM
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laurenzo: will do!
I;m already herding cats for two SF GTGs, so another one wouldn't be that much of a burden!
Will post something on Monday when everyone comes back online - via their work computers, of course!
Have a great weekend!
I;m already herding cats for two SF GTGs, so another one wouldn't be that much of a burden!
Will post something on Monday when everyone comes back online - via their work computers, of course!
Have a great weekend!
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