This past weekend was the 31st Paso Robles Wine Festival and it was the first year in the last five or so that we chose not to go attend the main event in the downtown park. Instead, what we did was hang out at one of our absolutely favorite places…The Kilt (I know it’s officially called Pappy McGregor’s now but I just can’t do it). We got down to The Kilt shortly after 11am to snag a spot on their patio which looks directly over at the park where all the drunk fest…sorry, Wine Fest…would be happening. We ended up hanging out for 3 or so hours and had a blast. We chatted with a couple from down south that was attending Wine Fest for the first time and also so friends coming and going, so it was a great time. Sammy did awesome as usual. I swear, I think that kid likes being out and about rather than at home.
So, before I move on to the next part of what we did on Saturday…I really want to stress that The Kilt is one of the best spots downtown. The patio is awesome, the food is great considering it’s “just a pub” (I mean that in a good way, so often people overlook these types of places), and the people are awesome.
After we took off from The Kilt we decided to stop at this new place a few doors down called the Paso Underground. It’s a collective of sorts in that it holds four wineries sharing the space. Those four wineries are: Aaron Wines, Clos Solene, Edmond August, and Turtle Rock Vineyards. On this day we did not try all the wines because we were heading home to meet a friend and Sammy was getting a little cranky, so we will be back in and do a more detailed article on them.We did try the line up from Turtle Rock, a couple from Clos Solene, and a couple from Edmond August before we bailed and I enjoyed the wines across the board. I have no doubt that anyone could go in there and find some wines to take home. It was a cool little joint that has a back patio as well. I thought the overall vibe was awesome and it’s yet another opportunity to taste wines from small producers that don’t have tasting rooms of their own. In my mind that’s the great thing about Paso Robles, finding these hidden gems but it’s always nice when they make it easier on us by opening up a spot like this one.
It was a great Wine Festival weekend for us. On Friday I will fill you in on what we did Sunday as it was another worthy (and fun) outing.
Moral of the story…go hang out on the patio out front at The Kilt (Pappy McGregor’s) and then go over to Paso Underground to sip some small production wines. I would really appreciate it if you’d buy some wine as well…I’m tired of propping up the Paso Robles economy by myself! Cheers!!
We’ve been to the Wine Fest many times, and for the past few years we stopped going to the park and started going to the wineries instead. One downside of tasting at the park is that if you like a particular wine, you can’t buy it! It’s always hard to remember the next day which wines you liked! We actually skipped the Wine Fest weekend this year…had to stay home to see our niece graduate from USC!
We’ll be back in town in June.
Pat, congrats to your niece, that’s awesome. I agree, that’s another negative about the park…not being able to buy wine. I guess if you really like something you have to take notes. 🙂