Paso Robles Wine

2011, Page 12

After endless weeks of nothing but hard work, we decided to take a break for my birthday week and go to the Paso Robles area for a little wine tasting and some r&r.

Monday

We loaded up the van and made the trek up I-5, I-405 and US 101 stopping first at Refugio State Beach, just a little way north of Santa Barbara and right on the ocean.

It was a little chilly and a little rainy but still, it was good.

Tuesday

The next day, our first stop was Latitia Winery.

Next we, checked in at the Wine Country RV Resort and then went directly to Le Vigne Winery which is just up Airport Road from the WCRV Resort

It is an interesting place complete with a nice selection of food goodies and a couple Pullman Railroad cars out back.

Here are the RR cars

Yes, when we "camp" at an RV Resort, we are usually the smallest vehicle around. This place has a pool, spa, billiard room, work-out room, store, showers and bathrooms and sewer, water and electric at every spot. Not only that you can literally walk to a couple wineries. Location, location, location...

Wednesday

Winery number one was J Lohr, one of the larger producers and one which we had not visited on our previous trips for that very reason.

We surprised and impressed by their wines as well as the friendliness and attention of their tasting room staff.

Yes, they make a lot of wine for mass consumption, but they also make some very nice higher end wines with limited availability.

Eberle was next

We stopped to say hello to fellow PSU Alum, Gary Eberle, who has been making wines here since the 70's.

Of course he was busy somewhere else but we had a nice visit and got to talk some Penn State stories with some of the staff as well as taste some fine Eberle wines.

Keeping to the east side we next stopped at Pear Valley. The Paso area is divided into "east" and "west" sides by Rte. 101 and the "terrior" varies greatly from east to west and thus the wines do too

The Pear Valley tasting room sits on a hill (not a valley!) with some great 360 degree views.

The owners put a lot of money into the tasting room and the surroundings.

All these photos were taken in the area around the tasting room,

There is sort of an outdoor wedding chapel up a small hill from which these were taken.

This is the "chapel"

Sculptures and everything!

That's it, J Lohr, Eberle and Pear Valley - three wineries and then off to town to check in.

Paso Robles Inn

If you're ever looking for a decent place to stay in Paso, as long as you don't mind virtually no sound insulation between rooms, I highly recommend the Paso Robles Inn. I'm pretty sure about the sound insulation thing because we could hear the guy next door snoring. The grounds are beautiful and the location is perfect for walking to the shops, restaurants and tasting rooms in town.

The Paso Robles Town Square (some of it)

Thursday

We had an appointment at 11 AM for a tasting at Changala Winery on the west side.

Changala wines were good and reasonably priced and we had a great time with Heather (of Changala) and another couple who joined us.

The other couple were in the wine industry and gave us a lot of insight to the area as well as some recommendations of where to visit next. Heather also was very helpful. We must have been there for an hour and a half and ended up joining their wine club.

We had a nice visit to Chateau Margene but it got a little rainy. We had lunch in the van before heading back to Paso.

Friday

Daou Winery is building a brand new tasting room. We'll go back when it's done. The views are great and their wines are very nice, "French"-style blends and varietals.

Whalebone was a fun spot.