Why so much love and enthusiasm for Paso Robles?
How can you not love the concept of this? What’s not to love?
This is from Niner Vineyards in Paso Robles.
Let’s talk about the great wine and good times in Paso Robles.
There is an embarrassment of riches! There is so much to be enthusiastic about!
Let’s be honest. Paso Robles is not the first place people think of when you say California Wine Country. Probably not the second, either.
Wine country is not just the wine, or the food, it is the whole mindset of people who look to savor life through good food and wine.
If they are in Paso, wine enthusiasts want to spread the word! When traveling they love to share where to go and occasionally, not go.
This is an example of how wine enthusiasts will suggest where to go. The orange highlights and the writing are from separate individuals who wanted to share where we would find the best or most delicious or prettiest wineries around.
Of course, this further enlarges your must see, drink and to do list. I had personally overreached to begin with.
My advice:
Try to take advice from people who may share your wine philosophy.
If someone has great suggestions for fun places with a welcoming attitude and possibly delicious wine, I’d hop on board. If you don’t subscribe to this way of thinking, hop off.
If you are reading this and you think cost is the way to determine quality, you and I do not have the same wine philosophy. Just saying.
I met people who wanted to find obscure grape varieties that you couldn’t find elsewhere. That was fascinating, but not my goal.
Everyone does not agree on what is delicious, and fun to drink. At all. My favorite wine drinking buddy (AKA, my husband) and I generally agree. I am really lucky about this.
However, one thing wine enthusiasts all agree on is that they are all enthusiastic about wine. Common ground.
Just to recap: there are vineyards, and wineries and tasting rooms. Some are all together and some are not.
In Paso, sometimes there are tasting rooms at the vineyard, and another one in Downtown Paso.
Unfortunately, some of the downtown tasting rooms have limited hours.
Further recap, I had made a totally unrealistic list of wineries to go to in the first place.
In some cases, the wineries weren’t open on the days we wanted, the hours weren’t workable, the driving too mountainous, and the days just not long enough.
However, I choose to focus on the great wine we tasted, the beautiful views to be had, and the great people we met.
My list of must sees or at least should sees was ever growing, so our inability to see all of them is no reflection on the people who made suggestions. There just is not enough time.
Here is what made the final cut of what we saw and sipped:
I spoke about Justin Winery in a previous post. After the less than enjoyable driving to get there (although well worth it), I opted for more highway for future days.
We did get to Tablas Creek before I opted for highway only visits.
Tablas Creek is known for their Rhone Style Wines.
It was a lovely place to sit, and enjoy a tasting.
They have an impressive collection of the varietals that are included in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The story of how long the wine cuttings had to stay in quarantine before they could be planted was fascinating. It reminds you how at the base of all wines is farming.
You can have a choice of 3 flights for a tasting.
Classic (red and white), red only, and white only are offered. Many of these wines would benefit having them with food. Just a suggestion.
On to the wineries and vineyards that did not require mountain drives:
The wine was really good, and we had a fun time here.
But wait, there’s more.
The gentleman who poured the wine for us gave us other suggestions for wine tasting.
As you can see, many weren’t even listed on the map.
He was also the wine enthusiast who helped highlight my other map.
This is one of the many reasons I love wine country!
Tobin James has a Wild West feel to it.
There is an historical bar, and that is the place to be. We met some great people there. They were very helpful and friendly wine enthusiasts. We are told that it is quite the party atmosphere late in the day. If you note the 11:05 on our tasting sheet, that is AM, and the bar was full.
You can choose from any of these wines to taste. You have an hour to do so. Many people suggested we flip over the list to taste the reserve wines.
We loved the name of Chateau Le Cacheflo! They do not take themselves too seriously. The wine was good too.
View of Eberle from the tasting terrace.
You can also have a cave tour!
WE DID!
I am very particular which winery wine clubs I join. I have to really love them to commit.
All the wines we tasted were so delicious joining was the thing to do.
These are great!
The Pear Valley tasting room and the view outside.
We really enjoyed the wines, but do we really need all the wine notes?
Some of the descriptions didn’t reflect how delicious the wines were.
We found out they don’t deliver to New York at all. Interstate liquor and wine rules are mind boggling!
How can you not love Austin Hope? They greet you with rosé, and you taste their great wines sitting comfortably in the vineyard.
More delicious wines in a vineyard setting with enthusiastic wine lovers.
A great downtown tasting room!
This was the only downtown tasting room we made time for. When the vineyards and wineries are so much fun, its hard to break away for in town tastings.
This was worth it. We had a great time, with delicious wine and fun people.
Ok. I have to admit that we ran out of time and did not give Tin City the love and enthusiasm we should have. At all.
There was a lot to see and taste.
We could have easily spent the day here if we only had more time.
There is a very long list of what we did not get to. While the enthusiasm and love can take you far, there is not enough time to drink and savor and enjoy.
