Tasting Paso Robles Friday: Le Vigne and Pear Valley

This is Le Vigne Winery's temporary tasting room. I took one look at these towering barrels and said If we have an earthquake, RUN! People tend to think Well the heavy stuff is heavy and it won't fall.

What every person in the world should know is during a strong earthquake (you never know how strong it will be until it's too late), weighted things that are not tied down sufficiently can and generally will become airborne. This includes heavy machines like bulldozers. That's right. A giant bulldozer can fly weightless in a strong earthquake.

So see these barrels. If there is a rumble, there may be a tumble. Move your bottom out the door just in case.

That said - I liked the ambiance.

Here is the new and unfinished tasting island. Looks nice. They replaced the tall bar with lower belly-ups. I like that. It was always weird to taste wine feeling like a child standing at grownups furniture. I'm five-two. That isn't that small -geez.

And on the way home, another winery had actual people climbing on the high tension towers. So we had to go tasting at Pear Valley Winery too.

All I could think was if I were doing that job, what would I do if I had to go pee.

Wine Fest Weekend

Rasmussen Vineyards tasting room

We celebrated Wine Fest weekend this year by visiting some of the wineries on the eastside. On Saturday we did a quick loop into town for taco makings, and came back the back way to see if the Rasmussen Vineyards were open for tasting. Yes they were.

We found them accidentally on Zin Fest weekend a month or two ago when we went to Gelfand Winery in search of an old fashion Zin. I was mildly disappointed at Gelfands, so we went over to Sculpterra.

Gelfands tasting room

Sculpterra was having a Greek Festival, so the place a zoo! From too little to too much. I was really disappointed. Leaving Sculpterra I made a friend with my spirit animal.

a Burro

And we saw an open gate at Rasmussen and decided to go for it. So for Wine Fest on Saturday we thought to revisit Rasmussen and had a lovely time.

On Sunday, we went to brunch at Villa San-Julliette. They served us cold quiche, cold fried potatoes, and a slimy fruit bowl on the shady cold upstairs patio. There was a breeze too. The mimosa was made with white wine not bubbly.

I'm not normally a complainer, but sometimes you have to change channels. So on our way out I said let's go up the hill and visit Ranchita Canyon Vineyards for the first time. And another lovely surprise. I'm beginning to think of reasserting the "no plan rule."

Villa San-Juliette wine tasting room

Picnic at Pear Valley Vineyard

We decided to have a picnic at Pear Valley Vineyard yesterday. I loaded up my large cat box with a super salad for each of us, and we bought a bottle Cab Franc in the tasting room, and headed for the hills. There is a ridge between two vineyards with a picnic table, and except for an occasional gush of wind that threatened to blow the wine glasses over, the afternoon was picture perfect.

The place was really crowded down on the patio, but we had the hill to ourselves. A little elevation really is a deterrent to most people, or maybe they didn't wear the right shoes.

B & E Vineyard

This is B & E Vineyard wine tasting room. As you can see it is fashioned after an old Western saloon. It has a single room with a hardy air conditioner and a wood bar. There are benches both inside and out. 

It's located on Creston Road, east of Paso Robles. Grouped with the Back Road Wineries, this tasting room has a small personal feel. In fact, there is no way to be anonymous here, but that was okay because the pourer was a really nice people person.

 Like so many tasting rooms, we go right down the list starting with the chilled rose, then the lighter reds, and finally the stronger reds. Usually we just go along seeing how it is scripted and if interrupted, well now, spontaneity is not always a good thing. When we got to the stronger reds, we were very happy.

B & E makes some damn nice red wine.

I joined their club and look forward to visiting them again on Harvest weekend coming up soon.

Cheers!

Lone Madrone on Highway 46 West

We headed out to Highway 46 West to visit Lone Madrone Tasting Room. It also had the added attraction of an Fat Cat Herb Garden Nursery.

It should be noted that Wine Tasting Rooms are not necessarily The Winery. The winery could be in another part of the state.

Such was the case for Lone Madrone. There was even another winery sharing the tasting room, Kenneth Volk Winery.

The day was a pleasant late summer Sunday. As we entered, a band was playing folksy music, kids were harassing penned up chickens, and there was an overly strong whiff of bathroom cleaning liquid coming from the front and center loo. Bad design, but it may have been unavoidable.

The herb garden was sweet. I think it is nice to have a mix of things, so if you find a nice wine, you can get a glass and wander around. We wandered first however, and tasted second.

We went through some double doors and landed at the Volk tasting bar, long and lonely. A women appeared and informed us that for ten dollars each, we could taste six wines off this list and we would get the glasses too. Big “Volk Winery” etched on the 16 oz wine glasses. We were also informed that just around the corner, for an additional five dollars, we could taste Lone Madrone wines.

Now I’m not good at this. It feels a little like walking into someone’s house and refusing their hospitality. Shiny huge glasses and a lengthy list of surely delicious wines, what’s a girl to do?

Turn to her hubby and say, “Whadda ya think?” He smiles brightly and replies, “Let’s wander around.” And that’s my cue to turn to the glasses, wine list, and woman, and say, “We’re going to wander around a bit before tasting.” And then we leave.

I feel like saying, “Don’t take it personal, but 10 bucks for 6 tablespoons of wine doesn’t float my boat.” I think The Mister might add, “We don’t need anymore GIANT wine glasses either.”

So we wander the gift shoppe and find much of the same stuff we saw at EOS (on Highway 46 East) a few weeks ago.

Around the corner was another long bar, this time with people, where Lone Madrone was pouring. I think if you’re going to have the capacity of the long bar, having some people laughing and sipping feels much more inviting.

So we belly up and study their list. A bearded young man came over and started us off on the pre-plan run. This is the way these days. It used to be you were asked, what do like? Reds or whites? Or a particular varietal?

But not anymore. Now they assume you want it all. First a white, then a rose, then a red, then another red, then yet another red. My palette gets a little confused after four tastes, so I want those tastes to be what I want. At this point our pourer disappeared. I looked to my companion and said, “I want to try the Syrah.” It’s on the list, I see, but apparently it’s not on the tasting program as I learn when I ask another pourer. She tells me if I was going to buy 6 bottles, then maybe they would let me taste it, but no… Hmmm.

Wrong thing to say, Lone Madrone. I love a good Syrah, and if I tasted it, and I liked it, I’d buy a case.

She then offers up “the very funny and delicious Zin that everybody likes and has such a funny name. hohoho.”

We tried it, and it tasted fine like the big bold Zin it was with a high alcohol and a touch of Barbera. But what an unfortunate choice for a name.

Barfandel.

It’s not that funny. I mean who hasn’t had mean red wine hangover?

At this point I was thinking of having my tongue scraped when I noticed that up on top of their wine list, it was printed that there is a ten dollars tasting fee. Gee. No one asked us for money when we first started, so I was wondering if they would ask us now. What would we say? Sorry left my wallet at home, in the car, in my other pants. Or just shrug and walk away? Or do you want your Barfandel back?

It didn’t matter. We were done. Unimpressed with this tasting room and the unremarkable wines (and being force to taste Rose. The horror.)

On the way home we discussed the finer points. I do understand that the wine tasting competition along both 46 East and West is fierce. That having an angle is paramount to getting an audience and the repeat audience, and clearly this tasting room’s “hooks” are outdoor music and kid friendly activities, though I think barnyard animals should not be handled all day long. The herb nursery was cute, but what did it have to do with the wine tasting. And one winery held up to the charge for tasting and the other did not. Is that fair? They were three feet from each other.

It was like three companies came together but did not intertwine. An odd vibe all the way around.

We were six years old when we got together, and a stop at Eos.

For ten years or so we have been avoiding this winery. Not sure why. Perhaps we didn't like Arciero wine.

It was bought out by Eos Estate Winery years ago, and still we thought Eos was the upper end label, you know, so the wine was all the same. And also the winery is on 46 East which knocks it down a few notches because of the people it markets to. (Longer discussion about that later.)

Turns out the wine tasted pretty good today, and although there was no race car museum as we always thought there was in the front building (Indeed there was three cars there at one time.), we enjoyed a small picnic and a couple glasses of wine after our complementary tastings.

They had paid tastings as well, but judging on our free ones, it didn't seem worth it. Plus it was 100 degrees out and I wanted to go home. So a bottle of their finest Syrah and away we flew.

It is our 25th anniversary today, and I think we both felt like we wanted to do something even though we have oodles of books to read and hate the heat. So Arciero now Eos Estate Winery was a fine mini diversion of yet another winery we wanted to visit.

Sculpterra

One of the advantages of living in wine country is enjoying the various wineries at leisure. No need to hop from one to the other down the road getting rather blotto in the process.

We just single out a winery for inspection. Is it inviting? In a friendly and free sort of way? Some wineries, as you may know, charge to taste. This practice made popular by the bigger well-to-do wineries reek of crass commercialism. I refuse to taste at these places unless they have a clause that if you buy something then the tasting is free. I almost always buy at wineries.

One sunny weekend morning we took to the backroads to visit Sculpterra. Mainly because I had seen a fellow local picture's on myspace and thought "How bizarre!" That is usually enough for me.

And indeed How Bizarre!

The gardens are full of very large sculptures of animals.

Since I kind of knew what to expect, we strolled around the gardens before entering the wine tasting bar. I would recommend the opposite course of action.

Also there was bee bushes lining the walkways, and the bees were quite happy doing their bee business. Millions of bees buzzing back and forth, all at knee level. I kept on telling The Mister, "This is bee hell !" He suggested a drink.

Inside there was more sculptures. These were for sale too.

Only $5,400 if I remember correctly.

This was a smaller version of the one outside that I didn't get a picture of, but there is a picture of it in this picture.

All in all, this was a fun winery, if a bit gimmicky. The grounds were limited, yet the wine was tasty and the shop was unusual. I would go back with friends and relatives, maybe enjoy a picnic and a bottle of wine on a cloudy day.

All Hail Bacchus!

We were sitting around Sunday morning trying to decide how to spend the day. I said to him Let's go wine tasting! There's a new winery open a few miles down the road. It'll be fun, oh come on. 

He was reluctant. So I knew I had to work on him. 

I said Dude, I need something to blog about, plus it will be super quick, just sip and click, and back again. 

He dug in his heels. 

I said Okay but whether we go or not, I'm blogging this. 

And that was the ticket. He does not want to look unfavorable on my blog. Isn't that a gas!

So we jump in the truck with my camera in hand and rolled down the road.

The winery is brand new. The tasting room has only been open for one week. They are still putting in landscaping even. The outdoor deck was nice. I definitely could envision a catered event in the grand hall.

After we tasted about 20 different wines, I joined the wine club and bought six bottles to take home with me. Outside we decided to climb the hill and take in the view. We also discovered redmaids. 

The first of this year!