What’s the best place to go on a warm sunny day? Sip some wine at the central coast town Paso Robles. Just a 3.5 hr drive from LA, it’s the best destination if you are looking for a short trip and a good wine tasting experience. Here are a few of the places we visited last weekend. Must say, it was a spirited trip!
Our first stop was at the Firestone Walker Brewery Company. We enter, and see this bar with their famous brews on one side and some souvenir T-shirts and mugs on the other. I am not the beer types. But we took the standard beer tasting for $6. The tasting room had a normal bar look with pictures of beer bottles and barrels all over. The set of four beers given for tasting had their most famous Pale31 among them. One had a Pineapple flavor the other had toffee flavor, another had some sweet nector in it! They said the hop that they add to the brewing process gives the beer its unique flavouring. The presentation was also very unique. The four glasses were actually these little wine glasses served on a wooden holder. Need to look up what such holders/trays are called. My husband enjoyed the variety of flavours, and I enjoyed their aroma.
We were next off to get something to eat. Deciding to try true Paso food we stepped into a restaurant full of people called ‘Touch of Paso’. We got seated in the patio, and after a long wait we were nibbling at pork chops and grilled sandwich and split pea soup. The place was set up for Halloween. Jack-o-lanterns everywhere and twinkling lights, made a good welcoming sight. Well, we didn’t like the touch of the food after all. We could see that people in the area loved it ‘cause there were very few tables vacant. I guess its just the difference between authentic American food and the generalized American food we get normally in the food chains. Or may be we just picked the wrong kind of food! We have still got to adapt ourselves to it! We wanted to try the cake of the day but they didn’t have any that day! So we moved on and headed to the tour at the Firestone Walker Brewery at 1:30pm.
We were first introduced to the history of how the company was started and the awards they have got. One secret we gotto know was that the 31 in the name Pale 31 of their famous brew came from the fact that California was the 31st state inducted into the union. Mr.Firestone was from CA and Mr.Walker was from England and thus the Bear and Lion respectively on their logo. We then saw how they actually made the beer. The process, the grain, the hop, yeast, etc. Its interesting how this small place could produce nearly 250 bottles a minute! That is apart from the fermenting process of course. To make their DBA(Double Barrel Ale) beer, they use two kinds of fermentation. Part of the beer is fermented in white oak barrels, which induce some vanilla and oaks flavours into it, and most of it is fermented in steel tanks. These are later mixed to form the resulting DBA drink.
Our next stop was at Vina Robles. It’s a swiss owned winery and as a harvest weekend special they were serving swiss pairings like gourmet swiss mac and cheese and swiss sausages with the wine! Tasting was free and had 2 whites, and 4 reds. We loved the Red4 and ended up buying it. The ambiance was lovely and they had a range of souvenirs. Also on display were wedding albums of those who chose to get married here. They also have an art gallery showing paintings, photography and a few sculptures. An interesting layout with pieces priced from $2400.
Bianchi was supposed to be among the best wines in Paso. It had a big tasting room with a bar against one wall and a few souvenirs. The garden had a pond with a waterfall at one corner. A pretty picture really. $5 for a choice of 6 wines including the glass. They had a wide variety of choice from whites, reds, and their reserves. These wines were not as impressive as we expected. I liked the Sauvignon Blanc and Barbera amongst the 6 I tasted.
Tobin James, a world in itself it is. The old look on the exterior, full of hustle on the inside with loud music, and the most friendly hosts it has. They had free tastings too. We tasted 3 reds and one dessert wine. We loved the Sangiovese of them all. All of them were very good! It was a splendid experience. Something different, something exciting… The place just lifted our spirits to a new level! We also got a souvenir Sun sticker for having tasted. They had all kinds of souvenirs, from wall hanging, to hats, T-shirts, they had this small arcade with some games too. You could just feel the fun even before even smelling your glass of wine! They also have a man doing airbrush tattoos! Halloween theme, James theme, or anything else, this is a fun place to be!
Our next tasting was at Bear Cave in downtown. This is a modest office that looks the least like a tasting room. Not a very attractive place for wine tasting, but, but, but, but, the wine at Bear Cave is superb! Surprisingly fresh and crisp. They mostly have wine that’s high in alcohol content giving a meaty flavor to it. The host is the wife of the owner who is never tired of talking to her guests and introducing us to the way her husband works and creates these master pieces. Their dog Maestro is also there entertaining guests, and singing away with his tennis ball in his mouth, looking for company to play with. They have all red wines, that ask for some heavy food to go with them. There is one wine on the tasting list that is just a drinking wine the host says, thats the ‘Just Red’. We got the just Red. It was just $10! What more do you need? She had wines from 2006 onwards and they were all a mouthful.
We needed to eat something after tasting so many glasses of wine. So we got to the Odyssey World Café just around the block. It was a nice calm place and the food seemed quite nice. The day ended, It was getting dark and we decided we should head back home. So tadaaa!! Will see you again next time…
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