I know, it's been a while since I've updated this thing. Shame on me! Well here's a quick look at my trip to Paso Robles, CA for some good food and wine.Went to Paso Robles, CA for the first time with my wife. I guess you could say it's the "lesser Napa" of California. We ended up going the hottest weekend of the entire year, where temperatures were between 104 and 108 degrees, but we still had a fantastic time. We found lots of great wineries there that I highly recommend you check out if you're in the area.
First of all, we tried a service called Grapeline that picks you up from your hotel and takes you to a bunch of different wineries. The cool thing is they have lines all over the state of California, so check them out and book your tour today!
So during the time we were in Paso Robles there were four wineries that really stood out from the crowd for different reasons; Four Vines, Tablas Creek, Tobin James, and Justin.
Really quick, here's why:
Four Vines has a great branding campaign. Not only are their wines consistently good, but they are a wine with attitude. Go in and you'll get your own "custom" glass you can choose, each with aggressive looking logos or racy statements. A young, aggressive kind of feel with attitude - sort of like if a custom chopper shop or tattoo parlor sold wines. It's refined wine for the unrefined masses.
Tablas Creek does not have an aggressive marketing campaign, but they have great wine and they let you do wine tours there. They were really helpful and nice, and I recommend you check them out if you get the chance.
Nearby is Justin, who is known as being a very upscale wine, and they've got the winery to go with it. We ate at the restaurant they have there, which was delicious. They are famous for a brand called Isosceles, which they were unfortunately out of at the time because it's so popular. However we tried it at a fantastic restaurant named Artisan later during the weekend and it was FANTASTIC. But it's got the price to go along with its amazing flavor.
The surprise of the trip was Tobin James. It's a larger winery, off the main highway 46, and I thought it would be a bit touristy. Our Grapeline tour took us there and I was very pleasantly surprised. The inside looks like an old saloon, and apparently the main bar really is an old saloon that they renovated for the place. It's kind of kitchy, kind of fun, but the wines are surprisingly good and very reasonable. I particularly recommend their Chateu le Cacheflo blend.
Three great restaurants to try if you are in Paso Robles: Bistro Laurent, Villa Creek, and Artisan. All have great food and great service and we will be going back to them the next time we are in Paso Robles.
As for pictures, the grapes were not particularly plump at the time we went, but I got some wine barrels and an interesting shot of an oil field that is off highway 46 on the way to Paso Robles. You can see it under Fine Art about halfway through the photo series.
