Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 5-Paso Wineries

On Thursday we toured some more wineries, this time in the Paso Robles area. Our first winery was the Eberle Winery. John had setup a tour of the facilities because they have caves to age their wines that are unique.

After some initial tasting, which is always a great way to start the day, our tour guide took us down the stairs into the caves. The caves were drilled into the hillside and then reinforced with concrete. There are many corridors which lead to other corridors, with barrels lining each side of the wall.

The caves are very narrow so that all of the movement of the barrels is by hand. Since the caves are located under the fermentation area, they are all filled using gravity which has less impact on the wine.

There are 16,000 sq. ft. of caves under the winery. The winery and tasting room were built with recycled redwood to create a beautiful setting in the midst of the vineyards. Here we are relaxing after the tour and enjoying the ambiance of the tasting room.

Eberle is known for great red wines. They make a very good Zinfandel, a full bodied Cabernet, and a unique Rhone blend called Cotes-du-Robles. We enjoyed all of the wine we tasted. And many bottles of wine were purchased.

After leaving Eberle, John took outlying country roads. Our first stop was for an olive/olive oil tasting facility. There were many different and unique products to taste including salad dressings, olive dips, and many different types of olive oil.

Our next winery was Adelaida Cellars. This was just a tasting event and we enjoyed the different wines. John was a little disappointed in the quality of the white wines, but the setting on top of the mountain was great and the tasting room is done is the Craftsman Style which John loves.

Down the road was a little piece of France in California. The Tablas Creek Winery is owned by the famous Perrins family who own the famous Chateau du Beaucastel estate in France. They brought their own grape cuttings over to plant in their vineyards which added new varieties to the area. In fact, they started a nursery and are selling their cuttings.

Most of their signature wines are blends in the french style. Their hallmark red wine is Espirit du Beaucastel, a richly dense wine based on the Mourvedre grape. They also produce some unique varietal wines. John bought a bottle of Tannat wine which was rich and ripe with plum overtones. It was a truly different wine tasting experience.

Our last winery was the Justin Vineyards & Winery. Justin is more than just a winery, it's also an inn and restaurant. John knew that Linda would like this winery because of the gardens and the winery dogs.

We tasted some fantastic wines including their signature red wine blend, Isosceles. It's named after the triangle and produced from three different grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. This wine is consistently rated in the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wine List.

However, the hit of the tasting for our friends was the port like wine, Obtuse. It's made in the traditional style, but made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. We were lucky to be able to buy it as it was almost sold out.

Here's a view of the vineyards surrounding the winery and inn.

For more pictures of the day click on this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/CentralCoastWineTourDay5Wineries

After we left Justin, we stopped a the grocery store and bought some steaks which we proceeded to BBQ back at the motorhomes. It was another great Happy Hour, with great conversations and fellowship.

Tomorrow we move North again to the Monterey area.

Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 2-Wineries

On Monday we spent the day visiting wineries in the Santa Barbara area. Our first stop was the Sanford Winery, which was one of the highlights of the day. We were originally scheduled for a tasting, but after our arrival the sales manager gave us a personal tour! The tour started in the vineyard where we learned all about the cultivation of the Pinot Noir grape which is famous in the Santa Rita Hills area we were exploring. Then we moved on to the production facilities which included a very beautiful barrel aging barn which was built from old growth fir recycled from a lumber mill in WA.

They had a unique fermentation area which was outside, but under cover. All of the tanks are open top, with chilling jackets to control the temperature. All of the racking and movement of wine is by gravity flow.

We then tasted some delicious Pinot Noirs. It was a great start to a wonderful day.

Our next stop was the Bridlewood Winery. It is further inland and therefore has a warmer climate which favors Syrah. The style of the winery hearkens to it's earlier role as a rehabilitation hospital for Thoroughbred horses. We tasted some different Syrahs and a nice Viognier. We were disappointed in the reception we received from the tasting hosts, but the tasting room and grounds were beautiful.

Our next stop was the Beckmen Winery. This is a small winery off the beaten path, down a dirt road. They also produce a Syrah, but also have some nice whites, a great Cabernet Sauvignon, and a lot of different variations of Grenache. The vines are originally from the Rhone area of France. Another nice feature of the winery is a pretty pond with picnic tables around. We used the area for a nice picnic and a break from tasting all of the wine.
After the lunch break we made a quick stop at the Roblar Winery. It has a timber frame tasting room that includes a restaurant, deli and cooking school. Unfortunately, only the tasting room is open on Mondays. The wines here included a very good Semillon and a limited production Zinfandel.

Next up was the Firestone Vineyards. Yes, this is the same Firestone from the famous tire company. It was one of the first wineries built in the area, in 1972, and it was started by the father-son team of Leonard & Brooks Firestone. In September of 2007 the family sold the winery to Bill Foley, another area pioneer and owner of Foley Vineyards. Bill promises to keep the Firestone tradition intact and he adds his personal touch to the wines.

One of the reasons we chose this winery is the excellent tour they offer. We started in the vineyards, moved on to the bottling line, one of the few in the area, and then into the barrel room. It was interesting to contrast the smaller Sanford Winery to the larger Firestone Vineyards. It added a lot of information to compare and contrast. As you can tell from the picture, we had a really good time.

The wines at Firestone were interesting, good values, and they are generally available in many states. Their Cabernet Franc was the highlight of the tasting for John.

Our last stop was one of nostalgia. It was the Fess Parker Winery. Fess is the Davy Crockett of the wine industry. And you can buy a coonskin cap for your wine bottle!

Fess Parker and his family are a major factor in the Santa Barbara area, with many ranches, the hotel, a restaurant, and the winery. The winery features a large number of wines, including many different estate Pinot Noirs and Syrahs. By far their number one selling wine, though, is Frontier Red, and NV blend. It was interesting to view all of the pictures of the famous proprietor.

Click here to see more of the pictures of the wineries:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/CentralCoastWineTourDay2Wineries

We completed the day with a light dinner at the famous Pea Soup Andersens Restaurant. Most of us had the soup, and it was as good as John remembered it. The restaurant started in Buellton in 1924, and it's been serving the soup ever since. It fun to find a piece of history as we travel.

It was a long day, but everyone enjoyed it and learned a lot.

Back in SoCal

We moved back to Southern California to visit our family and prepare for our Central Coast Wine Tour. We are meeting our friends on 4/12 at Flying Flags RV Resort in Buellton, CA. Our friends are 3 couples from the Monaco Northwest group that we meant at rallies last summer. Two of the couples spent the winter in AZ, and one spent the winter in Indio, CA. Of course, being active RVers, they moved around the southern areas exploring different areas. The last place we saw them was in Quartzite, AZ, in January.

The first few days we were back we stayed with Linda's Mom, Lois, in her driveway. We also saw John's mother, Linda's sister Donna, and our niece Valerie and her little girl Iris. There's a lot of excitement in the air as Michael & Kathie are expecting their first boy in April, and Rick & Valerie are expecting their second girl in May.

On Sunday we moved close to Santa Barbara to complete the plans for the tour and get the agenda finished. We stay at a Thousand Trails park, Rancho Oso. It's a beautiful park, but it's located over a high steep pass, down a forest service road, and finally a one way road into the park. We were worried when we got there because it was windy and the daily high was in the 50s. At the end of the week it started warming up, and the forecast is for nice weather for the week.

John visited some wineries and setup the tours and tastings. Linda made reservations and planned meals. It's the first time we've done this type of tour, so we want it to go well. We'll give you a daily update after the tour's over to let you know what we planned.

So everyone gets here tomorrow. Wish us luck on this new adventure.

Ken & Donna Visit Portland

We spent the first day, Wednesday, driving around the city of Portland. Ken's firm had designed this unique retail & living building near the Pearl district. It was exciting to see some of his work and have him explain some of the processes to create this interesting building. These are balconies extending from the living spaces.

There's a park behind it that was part of the development and the kids were having a ball playing in the fountain. Naturally, Linda couldn't resist wading in and enjoying the beautiful day.
We visited Powell's City of Books where new and used books are shelved together and the building is 4 stories tall and takes up a complete city block. We also checked out the new Whole Foods market, and some interesting furniture stores in the area. We then drove down to the Keller fountain which is a landmark in Portland.

We drove along the riverfront park, and then we went by our old house in Tigard. The wall that Matt & I built was still standing, but some cleanup and painting needed to be done. It's still a great neighborhood though. Since we were on the westside, we decided to visit a few wineries in the area to finish up the day
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It was a fun day exploring the greater Portland area. If you would like to see more photos of the day, please click on the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/KenDonnaVisitTheCityOfPortland
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