I've just returned from a fabulous trip to Cayucos, a small beachside town on the central California coast. Indira and Kirkleton joined me for a long weekend of doing... nothing. That's the beauty of it all. D.'s folks were very kind to let us use their vacation house and the view from the deck was incredibly seductive. That is, it seduced us into sitting around and gazing at it all day long.
After a brutal drive on Wednesday afternoon (Los Angeles traffic can kiss my ass), we spent Thursday roaming around the area and filling up the fridge for cooking at home. First, we visited a couple of wineries out in the hills of Paso Robles.
Justin was our first stop. I had been to Justin before and it was a good visit. This time, it wasn't that great. Service was excellent and we were greeted by two adorable pooches, a Lab and a basset hound. However, the wines were very meh. I loved their '05 Tempranillo, though. Enough to shell out 45 clams for a bottle.
We ended up at Adelaida next, because our other choice, Tablas Creek, had a $10 tasting with mostly reds. Adelaida is a great winery. Beautiful location and fabulous service.
Sally, who was manning the tasting room, let us taste an additional four wines on top of the tasting menu. As she put it, the wines were "nicely balanced". Even the vignoier, which I typically don't like, was very good. I loved their '05 Rhone-style red. Indira bought the '06 Rhone-style white and Kirkleton invested in the '05 Cabernet Sauvignon.
And here's a shot of their orchard. Beautiful! Two days later, I found myself heading back to Adelaida after running errands in Paso. The whole drive from along Adelaida Rd. to Paso Robles is totally worth it. 5 miles of lush valleys and distant vineyards.
Last stop was at Pasolivo for olive oil tasting. Yum. D.'s parents had given me a bottle of their Meyer lemon olive oil for Christmas and I was excited to try the rest of their offerings. This is a great place to finish off a day of wine tasting. Kirkleton bought their California varietals oil and I bought their dukkah seasoning and black button sage honey (produced by Katz & Company) to go with my lemon oil.
More trip reports to come! Also, there will be a couple of posts from the culinary delights of D. and J.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Central Coast: Wineries
Labels:
Central Coast,
report,
trip,
wineries
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4 bites:
I'm sorry you missed us at Tablas Creek! Just for future trips, we do have lots of whites (we make about 10 whites each year, including some really unusual varietals) and are happy to customize any tasting list to suit the interests and likes/dislikes of the group.
Also, the $10 tasting fee is refunded on any purchase (even just one bottle) so most people don't end up paying it. It's really there to discourage the bus tours and other groups who are more interested in drinking than tasting.
Anyway, I hope you make it out on your next trip.
Jason
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Jason Haas
General Manager
Tablas Creek Vineyard
http://tablascreek.typepad.com
http://www.tablascreek.com
Hi Jason! Wow, talk about customer service... you found my blog! I should also add that Indira, my best friend, couldn't have too much red or else she'd develop a raging migraine due to the sulfates. We'd had a red-dominant tasting at Justin and, since she was DD, we didn't want to take any chances.
Our weekend was fabulous and we'll be back as soon as our schedules allow. Tablas Creek is still on the list, so we'll be back!
Thanks for the comment!
You're welcome!
You (and your friend) might be interested in a recent post I did about sulfites, headaches and wine. It turns out that sulfites aren't the problem for most people, and many people who suffer from headaches when they drink red wines can solve the problem with an over-the-counter antihistamine.
If you're interested: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2008/01/sulfites-in-win.html
See you next time you're in town!
-Jason
---
Jason Haas
General Manager
Tablas Creek Vineyard
http://tablascreek.typepad.com
http://www.tablascreek.com
I just went there yesterday and bought the dukkah seasoning and the tangerine olive oil! I am planning on using it for my salmon tomorrow! But I loved the Olive bar! It was a nice change from all the wine tasting all weekend!