So while out at kOa (I’ll maintain that captalization standard unless ordered not to by the super-sekrit Approval Commitee For Next Year’s Invites), Jackie and I had a chance to visit a number of Paso Robles Wineries, which we did for most of Saturday and a couple hours on Sunday. Here’s a break-down, notes, and few personal bits:
***Boring wine-talk ahead.***
Justin Vineyards was the first stop on Saturday and… well, it sure is proper wine-making — just ask them. Even the t-shirts and caps are pricey. Justin takes itself very seriously; it’s a lovely place and has decent cabernet (and notably first dessert wine I’ve ever liked much (also the first wine that Jackie and I both enjoyed, so we got some just to commemorate the event :). We decided to get Justin a hat from the place, with the dessert wine’s logo on the front and the name of the winery and wine-in-question’s name on the back…
So it’s a black hat with a goblin face on the front in red and the words “Justin” and “Obtuse” on the back. Appropos on two or three levels. Heh.
As I said, I liked the cabernet (though probably not enough for Jackie to have someone sneak back and buy me a bottle, bless her for it), and we both liked the Obtuse, but it certainly wasn’t my favorite stop.
Tablas Creek, although what seemed a largish operation, was really more my speed; they don’t put on airs and they have a really interesting ‘patter’ during the tasting. These guys are, if I understand it, unique in that they don’t grow grapes from the same vines varieties as everyone else in the valley: they went through the laborious process of importing vines from France (Italy? can’t remember) through US customs (something like a 3 to 6 year ordeal). Very good wine (I remember liking their whites a lot more than I thought I would), which is a plus: I don’t remember what we got here, but I think we got something. If nothing else, you can order from them online (which we tried to keep in mind when deciding if we should ‘buy now and cart home, or order later’).
Linne Calodo was our next stop and… well, didn’t do much for me. It’s a small operation and they definitely have a goal in mind with the stuff they’re doing… and more power to them. Nothing here appealed to me in the least, however. I would have liked a “Problem Child” t-shirt to go with the “Justin Obtuse” hat, but they didn’t have any. :)
We ended the day (maybe? there was a lot of wine-tasting going on, so I might have forgotten a stop :) at Bonny Doon, which has some great wine and (promotionally speaking) great attitude. Jackie likes so few wines that she decided to get a couple of anything she liked — this ended up being a number of white Rieslings and dessert wines, most of which came from Bonny Doon; between gifts and stuff for her and me, we ended up with nine or ten bottles. (They’re online, and some of their mainstream stuff is available in Denver, but frustratingly they can’t seem to ship direct orders to Colorado. No idea why. This is probably the first-place, blue ribbon location for both of us in terms the overall attitude, wine, and sense of fun. Great stuff.)
On Sunday, we wrapped up some tubing and abortive water-skiing attempts with a run to a few more wineries.
Penman Springs didn’t sell us any wine (though I’m pretty sure that someone with us got some stuff here), but I got Jackie some great Garlic Oil… lots of the wineries also have great herb gardens (Bonny Doon is one) and do a fair side-business in selling those as well. Penman Springs had some great stuff in both oils and vinegars. A quiet little place.
Clautiere Vineyard isn’t. They describe themselves as Edward Scissorhands meets the Mad Hatter at the Moulin Rouge. It’s not inaccurate; the place is a lot of fun — the tasting room is a purple-and-checkerboard motif, you wear colorful wigs during the tasting, photos are taken, and the wine is pretty good too: I got a cabernet… Jackie got a t-shirt. It leads the pack in fun atmosphere, certainly, though I think Bonny Doon had a stronger (certainly broader) selection of wines.
The third place we went was closed up already — we got some ice cream cones there instead… no idea what it was called.
We swung by Bonny Doon for a second to pick up some (more) gift-ish wine for folks, then we finished up at Peachy Canyon.
Peachy Canyon’s motto should be “We can relax a little on the selling, because we’re really friggin’ good.” In the end, I think the most accurate thing I can say is that while I subjectively liked Bonny Doon juuust a bit better, I objectively think Peachy Canyon has just a leettle bit better wine.
Maybe. Probably. Probably maybe. It’s really close.
So are the two vineyards, by the way: about five minutes from each other; we shot over to Peachy Canyon from Bonny Doon and spent about an hour there drinking various really good wines.
How good? Well, I bought a bottle of port, something I swore (not so very long ago) I would Never. Ever. Do. Also, I liked the Cabernet so much I tried to get Jackie to try it, which is just Crazy Talk.
Long story short: they sold everyone a lot of wine. (Though not as much to Jackie and I, since Peachy Canyon (a) ships to Denver and (b) can be ordered online.)
And that’s it. Very educational couple of days, assuming I didn’t kill off the brain cells that learned stuff.
