Annie’s birthday was December 29 and it happened to fall on a Sunday so our friend came to babysit Sammy so Annie and I could go out wine tasting for part of the day. Here’s what we ended up doing…
Our first stop was Artisan Restaurant in downtown Paso Robles for a champagne toast and a couple of appetizers around 11:30 am-ish. We had a great time there and as usual we sat at the bar. We’re of the opinion that no matter where you go, you almost always get better service at the bar…and we love the vibe that bars have, go figure.
Stop number two was Alta Colina Winery because the wine is awesome and Maggie is one of the coolest cats in Paso. If you’ve never been put it on your to-do list and if you have been you know exactly what I’m talking about!! You’re welcome.
Our third stop was actually right downstairs from Alta Colina…nope, we didn’t taste at Villacana Winery downstairs but we did hit up their booze…otherwise known as RE:FIND Handcrafted Spirits. We wanted to pick up a bottle of their Vodka but after tasting the Gin we ended up grabbing a bottle of that as well. Interestingly the bottle of Vodka does not say Vodka on it…it says Neutral Brandy and the bottle of Gin doesn’t say Gin…it says Botanical Brandy. It’s Vodka and Gin but due to certain California regulations they cannot label it as such to sell in the tasting room, read here for the info on that: http://www.refinddistillery.com/brandy.html. I thought it was pretty interesting.
After heading out from RE:FIND we headed down the road to Adelaida Cellars. Our main purpose for going there was due to not having been there for about four years. It’s nice to revisit places after not going for some time…as you probably already know. So here’s what we tasted at Adelaida:
Version White Anna’s and Glenrose Vineyards 2012 (Grenache Blanc 33%, Picpoul Blanc 24%, Viognier 25%, Roussanne 17%) $35.00
Rose 2012 $16.00
Pinot Noir Doctor’s Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands 2011 $40.00
Version Red Anna’s Vineyard 2010 $36.00
Syrah Anna’s Vineyard 2011 $32.00
Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah Reserve Viking and Anna’s Estate Vineyards 2009 $48.00
Zinfandel Michael’s Vineyard 2011 $36.00
The Don Port Style Wine Bobcat Vineyard 2008 $35.00
I enjoyed the wines but if you flip their tasting menu over you’ll see a ton of wines they are not tasting in the tasting room…they are for purchase however and if you’re comfortable buying some wines you have not tasted it’s quite the list. We picked up a few unique varieties like 100% Picpoul Blanc, 100% Cinsault, and so on. They have some other interesting ones like Nebbiolo and Cabernet Franc. Anyways…good times, good wines, and cool facility.
After tasting a fair amount of wines we decided a beer was in order to cleanse the palate so headed to downtown Paso Robles again to hit up The Pour House. It’s a funky little joint but always has an impressive list of beers on tap. If you’re a beer lover…go there…if not, don’t.
So that was our outing. It’s always fun to plan what wineries to hit up on an adventure like that because there are so many directions to go with so many wineries. It’s hard to go wrong no matter what direction you head off in. We intended on hitting a couple of other wineries but thought the two wineries and RE:FIND were good enough for one day.
Thanks again to Pat and Steve for meeting up with us for part of the day and here’s one last Happy Birthday to Annie. Now get up off your butt and go partake in all that amazing Paso juice! Cheers!
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