Paso Robles is possibly the best wine region in all of California. In fact it could be the best in the world. Paso Robles offers all of the important things to a wine region.
- Great Wine
- Beautiful Views
- Friendly People (Very Important)
- and you can't forget Great Restaurants
SIP included 1 hour of lecture from 4 of the most experienced wine makers and wine growers in Paso. Interesting facts and new (for us) terminology was presented in front of 150+ persons. The second hour was presented by a couple of wine tasters explaining the difference between 4 of Paso's primary wines, Viognier , Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel , and Syrah. 2 sets of each of the 4 varietals were staring at us for 90 minutes. Then, finally, the tasting began.
After hearing the lecture about the four S's Swirl, Smell, Sip, and Spit. We decided to change the 4th S to Swallow. How could anyone waste good wine.
Once the speakers were finished, the wine wasn't. In the back of the room were 4 tables. One for each varietal. Each table contained a dozen different wines from wineries all around Paso. So maybe I should have Spit...
Some time in the afternoon...
After the morning event our first stop was to get some cheese. We didn't want just any cheese so we chose to re-visit Di Raimondo's Italian Market and Cheese Shop, 822 13th St., Paso Robles, CA 93446 805-238-1268.
After choosing some delicious cheese, we stepped across the street to Silver Stone Wines. Besides great Pinot Noir wines, Silver Stone is dog friendly.
From here we went to what feels like a home away from home... CASS Wines. Cass Wines is all about hospitality that's like family. Wine tasting at Cass is about relaxation and being pampered. I'll take an afternoon at Cass over a day at the SPA any time. Here we enjoyed a wide array of wines from Cass as we enjoyed our selection from the Cheese Shop.
We decided to continue on to Still Waters Vineyard who had a BBQ Oyster event. While the Oysters were slow to come off the grill, the quality wine kept your mind on other things. The grounds at Still Waters consist of rolling hills over looking 2, 3, or more different grape varietals. Each with leafs of different fall harvest colors. A return visit is a must.
As the day was over and the evening setting in we showed up at my favorite restaurant in Cambria... The Sea Chest. There is not enough time or space to talk about The Sea Chest now, but there will be more about about it in the future.
Saturday
Saturday was full of places to go and wineries to visit... Except, Kathy hadn't had any feedback on the trip yet. Sorry.
Can you believe it? The ultimate vacation planner trusted me to a vacation. Well OK for a short weekend. Long story short, the day was re-organized by the color coding queen. In a matter of minutes our map was full of pink, yellow, and light blue highlighting. The day was now planed and laid out with a purpose.
Our first stop was going to be at Arroyo Robles Winery for some pancakes and four different Vermont Maple Syrups. Just what I needed after the full day yesterday. What was I thinking... A winery make good pancakes? Well, they may have been good, however, standing and eating breakfast wasn't what we had in mind. We also wanted to have more then one pancake each. It didn't seem to be a well organized event. We turned around and had breakfast at a bakery instead. We will revisit this winery to taste their wine a trip in the future.... just not for pancakes.
We ended up first visiting Bella Luna Winery. They had a guest winery of Fortitude Cellars. Fortitude's wines were very jammy, full bodied, and had a great nose. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Petite Sirah are their grapes of choice. We walked off with a few bottles from Fortitude. I'll be posting reviews of this wine for sure when we open them.
The day continued with a trip to Chateau Margene. They were busy with crush going on at the time. It must have been too busy with crush in fact. The service at Chateau Margene was less then creditable. The problem is the quality of service in this case lead to a displeasing experience with their wine too.
So dump the glass and let's continue on to B & E Winery. Nestled in the South East of Paso Robles, B & E Winery sits on top of a hill in the middle of the vineyards (From what I can recall that is...). It was however a cute Ranch style building with cheerfully laid back people ready to serve you wine. I lost track after 7 exactly how many wines we tasted there... All of which were good. We will be re-visiting B & E in the future.
The middle of the afternoon was approaching and we hadn't had the crab cakes yet that Cass Wines was serving up this weekend. Well of coarse we went for the wine too. Once again not only was the wine great... the hospitality at Cass is top notch too.
While at Cass we took a hayride around the estate not only for the view of all the lots of vines, but for the pleasure of speaking one on one with Steve Cass himself. It was a pleasure hearing about how he became a wine grower and wine maker. Stories like this is the encouragement that we all need to help live our dreams.
Well the night was drawing near and there was one more place that we wanted to squeeze in based upon recommendations from Cass in the past. So we finished our Saturday with Gelfand Vineyards. Immediately after arriving at Gelfand we could tell that this was a close family winery. Well let me tell you... The wine was as my Mom would say... awesome.
The family at Gelfand Vineyards continued with their hospitality the entire time we were there. A bonus before leaving was tasting their 2006 Syrah. That's right... 2006. This "juice" was still in the initial fermentation processes. The yeast had just been added a day ago and ti was already packing a punch. This is a wine that I'm looking forward to drinking in the future. Yes you guessed correctly... we walked away joining another winery.
What a day. Best of all it was spent with my best friend and wife, Kathy.
Sunday
Sunday's schedule was more toned down. Our main event was at Eagle Castle Winery. Eagle Castle was hosting a wine blending educational course.
We started with a tour of the estate which I won't get into right now. Keep an eye out for a review on my new blog called Vineyard Review. The main event was two stories below ground in their barrel room. Here 20-30 people grouped around tables in groups of 4-6 per table. Kathy and I were lucky to be at a table of 4.
The event started by discussing white vs red and what if, just what if a red and a white were to be blended? We took a Vioginer and a Petite Syrah mixed 95%/5% respectively. Kathy loved it. I can't say it was bad either. However that was just a demonstration of what a 5% difference in a blend can make. It was also our 5 minute crash course in wine blending. Now it was our turn.
We were given a bottle of Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah. From these 4 wines we were tasked with blending our own wine. Over the next hour and a half the 4 of us each made ~4 different blends. We also tasted everyone's blend. You do the math...
Once we decided on our favorite blend the winery made a bottle of our own blend for us. Cool!!!
It was funny how close we both came to the same blend. However they are still way different wines.
Kathy ended up with a 2004 75% Zinfandel, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Petite Syrah.
I came up with a 2004 60% Zinfandel, 30% Petite Syrah, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Mine is better :-)
The day could have been complete at this time. However on our way home we stopped by a few other wineries for a taste.
Next stop Denner Vineyards. 1st things 1st. They need to figure out how to position their entry signs. We as well as everyone else behind and in front of us past by the winery because it was so poorly marked. That aside the architecture of the winery is out of this world. It blends smoothly in with the hills all around it. Very impressive.
It could have been because of the amount of wine we had already tasted that day or it could have been the crowds at the counter. What ever it was the wine tasting experience wasn't anything that wow'd me. I don't want to give up on this winery. I will be returning to see it again the beginning of December. Let's see how this experience goes.
One last winery was on our list for the day and weekend. Adelaida Cellars. We had tasted their Vioginer on Friday at the main SIP event and decided that this was definitely a place to visit. Ends up Adelaida had a barrel tasting happening that weekend too. They had samplings of most of their wines available. Can't say I'd say no to any of them. Then the last tasting was of a future Cabernet.
There were two barrels to taste from. One barrel had a Heavy Toast and the other had a Light Toast. You first tried a taste from the Heavy Toast Barrel followed by the Light Toast Barrel. And yes you can tell the difference. Both were good. However, then you received a mixture from the Heavy and Light Barrel into one glass. Now that was a great Cab. One would think that you could just go with a Medium Toast Barrel. However like any type of wine making it's not that simple. They explained how the wine maker wouldn't be doing a 50%/50% blend. Thew will create various blends and decide what to make from here. However this won't be considered a blend as all the wine came from the same grape varietal. In this case they even came from the same lot. They explained that the left overs from the non even mixture will either be used to create a bottle on it's own or be used for blending with other wines that year.
All in all it was a great weekend. Very educational. We will be returning next year.
