Now that the car is unloaded, dinner finished (an excellent home-made pasta dish) and about half a bottle of Nebbiolo down it's time to catch the blog up to date. Long before the movie Sideways Pookie and I have made an annual trip up the coast to do some wine tasting. While we have done the Napa/Sonoma rounds, I think I enjoy the wineries in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties more than the more celebrated places further north. Over two days we visited 10 wineries and tasted a little over 80 wines (and even a couple of beers... it was Saint Patrick's Day weekend after all).
After waking up a little after 4 AM on Friday, we hopped in the car and headed to our destination, the wineries around Los Olivos. Our first stop was at Bridlewood Winery, one of the most beautiful properties in the area. Truth be told, over the years I have found their wines inconsistent. This year's tastings though found all they presented very solid, enjoyable wines. We left with several bottles of the 2002 Estate Syrah and their Vinter's Selection Viognier. Next up was my personal favorite, Brander Vineyards. One of the original vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley, Brander had never let me down with their product and this year proved no exception. They have just released their wonderful Cuvee Natalie as well as their well regarded 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. I was also happily taken with their 2004 Merlot. I used to hate Merlots, but that was before I tasted those of the central coast. To me, most Merlots are watery and have no "legs". My first trip to central coast showed me there was hope for these and I was taken enough with Brander's that I bought a few bottles of it (so if you like Merlot, come on over). We added to our Brander list a couple of bottles of Cuvee Nicolas and we were ready to go (that completed our first case). We asked Nancy for some place off the beaten path to try and she said we should try Beckmen Vineyards. We took her advice and slowly, carefully made our way to Beckmen (amazing how fast wine tasting affects you when you haven't eaten for almost 6 hours). Beckmen's practices bio-dynamic farming and they have several maps in the tasting room to show you how they put their philosophy into practice. Their wines tend to be "Rhone style" which I truly enjoy. We came away with a few bottles of their tasty 2004 Grenache and a wonderfully blended 2004 Cuvee Le Bec. By this time we really needed something to soak up the wine. The choice was to go to the restaurant featured in Sideways (NOT!, though the food really is fantastic I just could not stand to hear one more "Oh it's just like in 'Sideways'" comment) or to a fine little dining spot just around the corner from Los Olivos cafe, this one NOT featured in Sideways, Patrick's Side Street Cafe. Their open face prime sandwich really hit the spot and after about an hour slowly savoring a fine lunch we were ready to go back out into the vineyards. We went by the tasting room of Fess Parker Winery where last time we got to spend a few minutes in the presence of Fess Parker himself (hey, if you grew up on Disney's Davy Crockett it would be a big deal to you too), and finally got to our last desination, Gainey Vineyard. Gainey has one of the best spots in the central coast to relax with a glass of wine and are known for their events held throughout the year. This year presented us with some difficult decisions on what to buy (we were running out of room and we still had Paso Robles to go), but after much agonizing we wound up with their bright Sauvignon Blanc and their just newly released Riesling (so new it's not up yet on their Web site).
By this time we had tasted about 45 wines and felt it was time to head to the hotel. After a nice little 90 minute nap it was time for dinner. We dressed and decided to head into Santa Barbara. Unfortunately CHP had different plans. It seems there was a car jacking in SLO resulting in a 70 mile chase down the 101 resulting the death of the car jacker. CHP had closed off 101, so we decided not to be reverse snobs and head to The Hitching Post where we were treated to a choice steak dinner and another sampling of local wines (as was stated in the movie this place does have its own label). After salad, soup, duck, steak, and a healthy slice of key lime pie (and a smattering of their own wine) it was time to head back to the hotel and tuck in for the night. Unfortunately for me, I discovered the new Doctor Who series on Sci-Fi and was mesmerized by it (in case you don't know, my home does not have television coming to it... a conscious decision made many years ago). I am not quite sure what I think about it yet, will probably have to wait and buy the series and watch it before making my decision. Only after watch the first two episodes was I able to fall asleep.
Saturday morning took up up 101 to Paso Robles. We went first to the only "big" winery on our trip, Meridian Vineyards. As luck would have it, we arrived during the 14th annual Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival, so in addition to their normal tasting they were offering barrel draws of their new Zins along with some scrumpy chocolates. After tasting some excellent wines and chocolates, we left with a few bottles of their limited release Paso Robles Syrah (some of their last bottles) and their just released limited edition 2004 Sangiovese. We next went to a very nice property that specializes in Italian style wines, the Arciero Family Estates, home of EOS wines. This is one of the most "butch" wineries, where else can you see a formula one racing car on the tasting grounds. We tasted some nice Italian style wines and walked off with some bottles of their 2004 Vin Rose and a fantastic blend under their Novella label called Synergy. From here it was just a short hop, skip, and slightly erratic drive to my favorite Italian style wine maker, Martin Weyrich where we dined on some delicious free BBQ while tasting some fantastic wines. By the time we were done we left with a case that included the aforementioned Nebbiolo and a "you gotta get some" Insieme, a great blend of seven different grapes in lip-smackin' proportion. After getting quite full on smoked meat and some of the finest red wine I had that day, we jumped across the 101 to Grey Wolf Cellars. Unfortunately we met up with our first wine tour bus and had to suffer several drunk people. Luckily, having to navigate through the inebriated masses didn't take away from the nice wines and BBQ tri-tip we tasted. After about 30 minutes we came away with a few bottles of their well-balanced 2003 Meritage and their 2003 Roussanne. We figured we had time for one more winery and we decided to try the "Dam [sic] fine wines" of Castoro Cellars. Unfortunately we encountered the largest congregation of wine tasting tours (perhaps due to the fact that their tasting sheet allowed 15 wines for sampling). We tried 13 (including a nice little port), but left with two very nice fruit-forward wines, a Petite Sirah and a fantastic little wine they call Primitivo.
By now it was back to the hotel in Buellton. After a quick stop in SLO, we went back to the hotel and took a short nap. That night we had dinner at a nice little restaurant. By now we were full of wine so we sampled their beers (simple but nice) and after a filling dinner retired back to the hotel.
That takes us up to this morning. After a long but uneventful drive back to San Diego and spending an hour at the gym, I now see that my glass wine, like my evening entry, is at an end. Now, I just have to think up how to get all of you over here to try them out...
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