Paso
Robles, 2012
Research
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In
addition
to this research, we searched for all award winners and high
ratings of Paso Robles vineyards in the past two years and built
another list of the places that appeared the most frequently.
Our
trip
coincided with the 2012 International ISSA (International
Security Systems Association) meeting, which was held at the
Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. I won't elaborate on
what we gained from the conference other than it was dry, didn't
present anything innovative, and was essentially a sausage-fest
for InfoSec nerds (we ARE InfoSec nerds, as if there was any
doubt of that).
One
final
modification to our list came from a visit to a wine bar at
California Adventure, which back in the day used to be the
Disneyland parking lot (“back in the day” being the 70s). I
asked Elizabeth, the sommelier at the wine bar, what her TOP
THREE places in Paso Robles would be if she only had one day to
visit.
Elizabeth’s
Top
3:
One
of
her choices was on our list already but her other two choices
were not. More on this later …
After
the
conference, we made the four-hour drive north, through heavy,
Friday afternoon, Los Angeles traffic, to Paso Robles.
Justin Vineyards
Our
first
stop on Saturday morning was Justin Vineyards, which was the
place that first inspired our desire to visit Paso Robles and
was the furthest point on the map. The road leading to Justin
was barely a road, winding through hilly, winding farmland. We
accidentally drove past the entrance to the tasting room and
arrived at the vineyard. Normally, if the vineyard has its
tasting room at a separate location (as Justin does) the
vineyard doesn't have anything intended for guests at the
vineyard, itself. However,
Justin's vineyard has an “elite” tasting room reserved for its
wine club members, where they only serve their reserve vintages
– with cheese plates and couches rather than soda crackers and a
stand-up bar.
Our
host
informed us that we had found the wrong tasting room but after
we told our story about our inspiration for coming to Paso
Robles, she convinced us that we needed to join their wine club.
Club membership allowed us to use the “elite” tasting room as
well as receive biannual shipments of Reserve wines.
Of
all
the tasting rooms that we have visited, we have not yet
found one where every wine that we tasted was outstanding.
Our visit to Justin changed this. Every wine that we tasted
was amazing in a different way. This was also surprising
considering that this was the first vineyard that we visited
in the morning; a time at which our palates are at their
most “skeptical”.
An
interesting
piece of information that we heard about Justin later on our
trip was that the owner had been going through some kind of
personal turmoil (divorce, swarms of locusts, etc.) and that
the quality of the wine had declined in the past couple of
years. We were surprised because if the wine that we tasted
was an example of reduced quality, it must have been
orgasmic in better days.
Favorites:
An
interesting
geological fact about Paso Robles is that a majority of the
land consists of limestone. It turns out that this is ideal
for growing Rhone varietals, which is very similar to the
conditions in the Rhone region in France. The main
differences in Paso Robles are the warmer weather and the
fact that wines are made for quicker maturity and high
volume. The French make wine that is intended to mature at a
much slower rate so that they survive across generations.
Tablas
Creek
only makes Rhone varietals. They imported all of their vines
from France and are using all of the 13 Rhone grapes in the
wine that they make, although in more modern strategies. I
have to admit that I have issues with most French wines,
including Rhone varietals. Most of the time I find them to
lack vigor but I think that this is because I am so
accustomed to the bolder styles of California, I lack the
sensitivity to appreciate the subtleties of Rhone varietals.
Either that or I am an uncultured hillbilly, which is the
characterization that a French winemaker would likely make
of me. In any case, we did find at least three that were
sufficiently excellent and within our price range to
acquire.
 |
Another
interesting
aspect to our Tablas Creek visit was that they were
the only ones out of any vineyard that we visited
that sold cuttings of their vines. I thought about
buying a couple but even if I got them to grow, they
would never grow usable grapes in the Arizona heat. |
Favorites:
Our next stop was Villa Creek. This was one that I almost removed from the list because I could not reach them by phone to confirm tasting room hours, whether they could ship to Arizona, or whether they would be open when we visited. I'm glad that we risked visiting there anyway because we were not disappointed. Villa Creek also made Rhone varietals but with a more stringent approach to French tradition. What was most surprising about this place was that the outside looked like an abandoned service station but the quality of the wines was completely in diametric opposition.
They
had
a standard list of wines provided for tasting but we went
ahead and tasted some that were on the “other” list. One of
these “others” sprung from my observation that one of the
wine barrels in the tasting room had “Tokaj” printed on the
barrel. Our host commented that they imported Hungarian oak
barrels for aging their Mourvèdre. We tried the
Mourvèdre and found it to be amongst the best that we
had ever tasted.
Favorites:
Niner Wine Estates
After
lunch,
we were close enough to Niner, one of the optional sites
from our Sommelier contact at Disneyland, that we stopped
in. She had mentioned that Niner had beautiful grounds and
architecture, which I assume was the sole reason for her
recommendation because everything else was a disappointment.
The tasting room was very busy when we arrived and we had a
difficult time keeping the attention of our host to guide us
through the wine flight. She really did look like she was
trying but it was really busy and she had to help several
people at once. The wines were OK but not outstanding. We
probably would have bought a couple of bottles of Syrah if
we had been able to get our host's attention but it would
have taken too much time that we didn't have so we left
without buying anything.
Part
of
the landscaping that was unique was the big heart made of
trees grown into the hill overlooking the tasting room.
Depending upon your perspective, I suppose it could look
like a giant butt.
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L’Aventure Winery
Our
next
stop was another optional stop off of the 46 named
“L'Aventure”. This place made our list because of multiple
appearances on “recommended visit” lists. This turned out to
be a huge disappointment and a waste of time because the
tiny tasting room was completely packed with tourists. We
didn't even try to go in, which was probably a good idea
since another van load of people was on its way in as we
were leaving.
Calcareous Vineyard
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We
drove
back up through the winding Peachy Canyon trail and
made our way to Calcareous, which was a
recommendation from our friend Keith. The tasting
room sits at the top of a hill at the end of a road
that winds up around the hill. The peak is at a
place that has a spectacular view of Paso Robles
(just look past the two nerds and you will see the
view in the background). |
Keith's
recommendation
was to try their Roussanne but unfortunately they had
completely sold out.
Favorites:
We
had
some extra time after that and went to Tobin James,
which was another that was recommended by our Disneyland
Sommelier contact. The architecture of the place looked
like a Hawaiian lodge. The inside had some history,
including an authentic, old-western bar that the owner
supposedly bought from an old ghost town tavern and
moved to its new location. Unfortunately, the
architecture and history were the extent of anything
that was worth visiting this place. First, the place was
almost completely packed with drunken tourists.
Normally, I would have left but they place was spacious
enough and we actually got a spot at the bar and the
attention of one of the hosts right away. Secondly, the
wine was ordinary. The prices were lower than other
places but there was nothing that we tasted that we
couldn’t have gotten the same quality of at the local
Bevmo.
We
heard
from others later on that Tobin James makes some decent
reserve wines but we saw no evidence of anything but
their standard line-up (nor was anything offered) when
we were there.
Anglim
Winery
Our
last
visit on Saturday was to Anglim, which was a place that
our friend Keith recommended as a definite must visit.
Steffanie, the owner, was the sole host of this small
tasting room in downtown Paso Robles, next to the train
station.
She
mentioned
that she and her husband had started making wine at home
as a hobby and liked it so much that they started doing
it professionally. Whatever they figured out, they are
doing it right. Most of the wines that we tasted were
exceptional. Their Mourvèdre was particularly
tasty and probably the best that I have had yet,
rivaling my current favorite from Jaffurs.
Turley
Wine Cellars
On
Sunday
morning, we headed south toward Santa Barbara but made a
stop at Turley Wine Cellars based upon a recommendation
from Keith to try their Zinfandels. We were not
disappointed. Turley had several different Zinfandels
from different vineyards, each of which were
outstanding.
Favorites:
We
drove
south toward Santa Barbara but stopped in Pismo
Beach to visit the Sans Liege tasting room based
upon another recommendation from Keith because of
their Rhone varietals. Although I’m not a huge fan
of Rhone-style wines and particularly not of
Viognier, we liked just about everything that they
made, including the Viognier. We didn’t buy anything
on this visit but we did join their wine club, which
included biannual delivery of a 6-pack assortment;
once in the Fall and once in the Spring.
Jaffurs
Wine Cellars
We
continued
our drive south and ended our trip at Jaffurs,
one of our favorites in Santa Barbara.
A
couple of years ago we took a “wine train” trip
from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Our little
group had a guide from the area who took us to
some of the tasting rooms in town. We quickly
suspected that the guide was getting kickbacks
from his friends at the tasting rooms because
the quality of the wines ranged somewhere
between abysmal
and craptacular
so we fled the group and struck out on our own.
We called our friend Tana, who was familiar with
the area, and she strongly recommended a hike to
Jaffurs (we were on foot), which turned out to
be about 5 miles away from where we stepped off
the train. The hike was worth it. We loved their
Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Petite Syrah and
bought a few bottles.
Just
recently,
we finished the last bottle of Mourvèdre
from the wine train trip and added Jaffurs to
the tail end of our Paso Robles trip to get
more.
On
this
trip, we found that they had just sold out of
Mourvèdre. They still had plenty of Syrah
and Petite Syrah, which was just as good as we
remembered. We ordered a few of each and joined
the wine club so that we could get some
Mourvèdre delivered when it was ready.
Ocean,
our
host (yes, that is really his name), recommended
that we have dinner at Opal, which was a
restaurant on State Street in downtown Santa
Barbara. It so happened that Ocean worked there,
too. Of all the places at which we dined during
our trip, Opal was by far the best restaurant.
Favorites:
|
Vineyard |
Most
remembered for |
|
Justin
Vineyards |
Everything
they make is outstanding |
|
Tablas
Creek Vineyard |
They
sold cuttings of their Rhone varietals |
|
Villa
Creek Cellars |
Most
unassuming tasting room compared to the
amazing quality of the wine |
|
Niner
Wine Estates |
Most
beautiful property compared to the
disappointing quality of the wine |
|
L’Aventure
Winery |
Smallest
and most crowded tasting room; didn’t
get a chance to taste the wine |
|
Calcareous
Vineyard |
Highest
point and most beautiful view of Paso
Robles |
|
Tobin
James Cellars |
Most
suited for large groups that are more
interested in getting hammered on cheap
wine |
|
Anglim
Winery |
Husband
and wife team and best Mourvèdre |
|
Turley
Wine Cellars |
Best
Zinfandel |
|
Sans
Liege |
Beautiful
view of the ocean and great Rhone
varietals |
|
Jaffurs
Wine Cellars |
Best
Syrah and Petite Syrah ever |
Other
Observations