Quote:

---

I don't know if it was because my mouth was coated in tannin and it didn't bother me as much, but some time helped it.

---

This. Some studies have shown that it's our palette that changes over that two hours rather than the wine.

We're headed to Charlottesville, VA, next weekend and I hear there are lots of wineries there. Any recommendations?

Our daughter just moved there and hasn't had time to research.

Any lodging or restaurant recommendations for Paso Robles?

We're going to fly into Santa Barbara in late June and drive up to Paso Robles over the course of a couple days, visiting wineries & tasting rooms along the way. Then we'll spend a few days in Paso and fly home from there.

Lots. I will type out all my recommendations on my laptop tomorrow afternoon, because I could almost write a book on places there.

There is a studio apartment on vrbo next door to Bistro Laurent that I thinknis called Park Place. It's a very nice little one bedroom apartment. If you are looking for good views, quiet, and solitude, this is not your place. But if you want to be able to experience everything within walking distance of the square in Paso and not having to get behind the wheel, this is your place.

HTownAg98 said:

---

Lots. I will type out all my recommendations on my laptop tomorrow afternoon, because I could almost write a book on places there.

There is a studio apartment on vrbo next door to Bistro Laurent that I thinknis called Park Place. It's a very nice little one bedroom apartment. If you are looking for good views, quiet, and solitude, this is not your place. But if you want to be able to experience everything within walking distance of the square in Paso and not having to get behind the wheel, this is your place.

---

Awesome! Thanks!

awesome sauce said:

---

Any lodging or restaurant recommendations for Paso Robles?

We're going to fly into Santa Barbara in late June and drive up to Paso Robles over the course of a couple days, visiting wineries & tasting rooms along the way. Then we'll spend a few days in Paso and fly home from there.

---

Where are you going along the way? any types of wine you prefer?

bularry said:

---

awesome sauce said:

---

Any lodging or restaurant recommendations for Paso Robles?

We're going to fly into Santa Barbara in late June and drive up to Paso Robles over the course of a couple days, visiting wineries & tasting rooms along the way. Then we'll spend a few days in Paso and fly home from there.

---

Where are you going along the way? any types of wine you prefer?

---

For both reds and whites, I prefer dry/savory wines - cab sauv, sangiovese/chianti, rioja/tempranillo, some merlots, & sauv blanc. I don't care much for fruit-forward cabs or merlots, shiraz, or zin. I've found roussanne, marsanne, and viognier that I like but have tried many chardonnay (oaked, unoaked, French, American) and have not found any I really liked. Having said all that ... I'm interested in trying anything with an open mind.

Still working on my itinerary but I'm looking at...

Santa Barbara:
The Valley Project
Kunin
Au Bon Climat

Los Olivos:
Sunstone
Dragonette
Stolpman

Paso Robles:
Eberle
Cass
Still Waters
Adelaide
Halter Ranch
Tablas Creek
Daou
Paso Underground

awesome sauce said:

---

bularry said:

---

awesome sauce said:

---

Any lodging or restaurant recommendations for Paso Robles?

We're going to fly into Santa Barbara in late June and drive up to Paso Robles over the course of a couple days, visiting wineries & tasting rooms along the way. Then we'll spend a few days in Paso and fly home from there.

---

Where are you going along the way? any types of wine you prefer?

---

For both reds and whites, I prefer dry/savory wines - cab sauv, sangiovese/chianti, rioja/tempranillo, some merlots, & sauv blanc. I don't care much for fruit-forward cabs or merlots, shiraz, or zin. I've found roussanne, marsanne, and viognier that I like but have tried many chardonnay (oaked, unoaked, French, American) and have not found any I really liked. Having said all that ... I'm interested in trying anything with an open mind.

Still working on my itinerary but I'm looking at...

Santa Barbara:
The Valley Project
Kunin
Au Bon Climat

Los Olivos:
Sunstone
Dragonette
Stolpman

Paso Robles:
Eberle
Cass
Still Waters
Adelaide
Halter Ranch
Tablas Creek
Daou
Paso Underground

---

Here goes nothing.

The best wineries in Paso are generally bound by Adelaida Road to the north, Vineyard Drive to the west, State Highway 46 to the south, and US 101 to the east. That being said, I would consider switching out Eberle for something else. Both Daou and Halter Ranch will have better Cabernets. If you are looking for some other places, here are some of my recommendations.

Thatcher. The winemaker used to be a brewer one San Jose and mentored under (I think) Justin Smith of Saxum. Good balanced wines and very reasonably priced.

Paix Sur Terre. Really small place making some excellent whites and Mourvdre based reds. The winemaker trained under Matt Trevesan at Linne Calodo.

Linne Calodo. May be the best winery open to the public, and I would strongly recommend you go here. Matt Trevisan is doing some amazing things to Rhone reds. The wines are not cheap, but are priced fairly.

Clos Selene may be doing the best Old world style wines with Rhone reds besides Tablas Creek. Worth checking out if you like French style reds.

I don't know what your budget is, but the Tailgating experience at Adelaida is fun. If Glen does your tour, just ask him as many questions as you want. He pointed us to several places that we really liked.

Try Edmond August at Paso Underground for sure. Jacob Toft is his winemaker, and he's able to hold the Rhone reds for a while so they can get a little age on them. And they're good. Really good. The other three places in Paso Underground are good too, but Edmond August stood out to us.

We've been to Il Cortile, Bistro Laurent, Artisan Bistro, Somm Kitchen, The Hatch, Fish Gaucho, and can recommend all of them. La Conchesa has the best cocktails, and Fish Gaucho has an awesome tequila list.

The absolute best place to drink wine in the evenings is A Taste in the Alley. Larry and Kitty will pour just about anything on the shelf by the glass, and are a wealth of knowledge about Paso. We spent every night there. They're just good people to hang out with and have wine with.

If you have any other questions, please ask.

cool trip. funny about our palates because I think of most Cabs as being pretty sweet, even though they might be tannic. sounds like you like oaky-er reds which should be good in Paso. I liked Adelaide a lot on my visit.

Not familiar with your SB and Los Olivos choices outside of ABC and Stolpman. Love Stolpman wines, some good syrah and rhone whites, for sure.

There is some badass pinot around there, but doesn't sound like your preference, so I won't bore with suggestions.

Some things I forgot: visit Sanguis in Santa Barbara if you can. They make big wines, but they are well structured and suited for aging, so they're not fruit forward.

You can spend all day in Tin City walking from warehouse to warehouse. My recommendations include Desperada, Aaron, ONX, Jacob Toft, Monochrome (especially if you like crazy white blends), Brian Benson, Turtle Rock (they and Jacob Toft are my two favorites in Tin City), and Field Recordings should be open by now. Tin City Cidery is good if you want to take a break from wine. There is usually a food truck on Saturdays and Sundays, but otherwise there isn't any food there. Some of them (like Monochrome and Jacob Toft) request reservations.

Turley near Paso Robles in Templeton is awesome.

If you're in Los Olivos - make a stop at Saarloos & Sons.

Love their wines and Keith and his staff are amazing. Unpretentious and amazing.

https://saarloosandsons.com/

gigemags87 said:

---

Turley near Paso Robles in Templeton is awesome.

---

He said he didn't want fruity wines. That is predominately what Turley is. They're good, but they are heavy in the fruit.

Double post

HTownAg98 said:

---

gigemags87 said:

---

Turley near Paso Robles in Templeton is awesome.

---

He said he didn't want fruity wines. That is predominately what Turley is. They're good, but they are heavy in the fruit.

---

I'm not usually into them either but Turley is awesome. I've been on their list for 10+ years and never been disappointed. Very full bodied wines with deep fruit.

Thought the board might find this article interesting:
https://www.wired.com/story/your-next-glass-of-wine-might-be-a-fake

Using chemical analysis to create knockoffs of popular but expensive wines.

Things got a little diverse at my folks house Friday night

HTownAg98 said:

---

gigemags87 said:

---

Turley near Paso Robles in Templeton is awesome.

---

He said he didn't want fruity wines. That is predominately what Turley is. They're good, but they are heavy in the fruit.

---

Zin definitely has a high fruit profile, although one can argue all good wine has a high fruit profile, but that is another topic. Turley does a broad range of zins well, for sure.

I just discovered Chateauneuf-de-pape (sp?). I've had two different ones now. Both unrememberable French names. One was spectacular the other was really kinda bland.

Any recs for really good not crazy expensive ones?

The best cab I've tasted in quite a long time: 2013 Maybach Materium (from a half bottle). Popped open and recorked at 8:00 and drank that night. Holy smokes good!

CDP is a big range and can include a bunch of grape varieties. I've no specific recommendations, other than to drink through a bunch and let us know!

GBMont3 said:

---

Thought the board might find this article interesting:
https://www.wired.com/story/your-next-glass-of-wine-might-be-a-fake

Using chemical analysis to create knockoffs of popular but expensive wines.

---

nothing in that story is surprising. the large wine distributors/retailers do the same thing. how do you think they make every vintage of 600,000 case production taste exactly the same? only difference is they don't have a master somm trying to duplicate good wines, they take large tasting focus groups of the average moron and make wine to their taste. Ta Da!!! stocked grocery shelves!!

MooreTrucker said:

---

I just discovered Chateauneuf-de-pape (sp?). I've had two different ones now. Both unrememberable French names. One was spectacular the other was really kinda bland.

Any recs for really good not crazy expensive ones?

---

a lot of CdP wines out there and as you've discovered, plenty of them are bad

bularry said:

---

GBMont3 said:

---

Thought the board might find this article interesting:
https://www.wired.com/story/your-next-glass-of-wine-might-be-a-fake

Using chemical analysis to create knockoffs of popular but expensive wines.

---

nothing in that story is surprising. the large wine distributors/retailers do the same thing. how do you think they make every vintage of 600,000 case production taste exactly the same? only difference is they don't have a master somm trying to duplicate good wines, they take large tasting focus groups of the average moron and make wine to their taste. Ta Da!!! stocked grocery shelves!!

---

Sort of. This takes it to a different level. Interesting article, but kind of shallow. When trivial details are wrong (e.g. the "California rules" allow 15% from a different vintage - that's a federal rule) I have to wonder about all of it. also, I don't unless you remove the resultant lactic acid, just adding back malic acid won't be at all like a non ML wine.

It entirely possible that one hundred years from now we can (a la Jean Luc Picard) sit in front of our wine replicator and say "Chateau Lafite, 1962, 61.5 degrees F" and then drink up.

The matrix that they're trying to replicate is unimaginably dense, though. Current thinking is some 60,000+ polyphenols in nature. It's unknown which even do what to taste, texture, etc. So precise replication is a long, long ways away. However, given that our palettes are so individual, I'm sure they'll make some decent wine. I do think that starting with really good wine would be easier than starting with plonk. It's kinda like sculpture. You start with a block of perfect marble and you can create anything, but with a flawed block, not so much.

MooreTrucker said:

---

I just discovered Chateauneuf-de-pape (sp?). I've had two different ones now. Both unrememberable French names. One was spectacular the other was really kinda bland.

Any recs for really good not crazy expensive ones?

---

Le Clos du Caillou makes a pretty good one for a reasonable price. Their Cote du Rhone "Les Quartz" would be a cdp if people hunting their land when the surveyors for the cdp boundary came around hadn't run them off.

bjh19 said:

---

Headed out to Yountville tomorrow fo three days. Plan to add 10 lbs before sunday in food and wine.

---

That's a damn good plan!

A nice end-of-vacation treat for dinner to compliment the fish we caught today.

Just got back, great time as always. Highly recommend Ciccio's in yountville if anyone headed out that way.

I'm not gonna stop doing it, but this makes a lot of sense...

Storing wine on its side is bull****

Nevermind, apparently six years of Nuclear Engineering leaves me stupid enough to being unable to figure out how to post a pic from photobucket...

Try imgur. That's what all the kids are using these days.