First Paso Trip-Need a little help

WINE TALK
21

On your question:

“*Th Estates-would I be better off with Law, Caliza, Epoch or Linne Calodo instead?”

TH Estates and Epoch are the two best here, I’d ask for the full tours. Linne Calodo wasn’t much of an “experience”


Here is what we did in 2018 (with my notes):

General advice: Book as early as possible to secure dates/times. I did months in advance. For every place I contacted I asked for the most involved tour they offered, and that was the best decision I ever made. Unlike Napa that is very “exit through the gift shop”…cough…Hall Wines… everywhere I went in Paso for the most part was so down to earth and engaging. I got the sense they enjoyed talking wines with fellow nerds than getting stuck with something more typical like a Bachelorette party, lol.

COVID specific advice, no clue, I went two years ago

Day 1
• Drive to Paso Robles from SFO
• Lunch: In-N-Out Burger (meh, over-hyped. The fries are GARBAGE with the texture of packing peanuts)
• K&L Wine Merchants (Redwood, amazing selection, check out online ahead of time)
• Stay: Thatcher Vineyard VRBO House (Amazing place to stay, direct view of Paderewski vineyard, can’t recommend this place enough!: VRBO#766112)
• Dinner: La Cosecha Bar and Restaurant (Good almost tapas style plates, had some Law on the wine list)

Day 2
• L’Aventure (fun tour, but the tasting in the caves/cellar was really the highlight of the experience).
• Lunch: Kitchenette (God I loved this place, coffeehouse/brunch joint.)
• Booker (make sure to ask for the tour out and about on the ATV, was the highlight. Good tasting experience too)
• Turtle Rock (Don is the man, good wines and good people. Cool tasting room, make sure to wander around Tin City)
• Dinner: Il Cortile Ristorante (Great Italian, had them truffle everything to death)

Day 3
• Epoch (One of the better tours, they spent FOREVER showing us around, it was amazingly thorough. Tasting from the tank, you name it)
• Lunch: Red Scooter Deli (it was a sandwich, nothing more or less. Meh, fine).
• Linne Calodo (underwhelming tasting experience in the sense it’s not really any different than if you bought the wines and tried at home. No vineyard tours. Wouldn’t repeat, but love their wines).
• Herman Story (A really fun and lively tasting, got to trying a wide range of wines, sadly Russell wasn’t there)
• Dinner: Grilling at home

Day 4
• TH Estate Wines (Also one of the best tastings in Paso, got Phil himself so that was amazing. He spent FOREVER with us tasting everything imaginable. Blown away.)
• Lunch: Grey Wolf Cellars (everything was closed, out of desperation, would NOT recommend).
• Villa Creek (Tasting only, quaint small tasting, very nice very accommodating)
• LAW Estate (No tour of the winery offered, which was dumb. I believe you have to be a member first, which we are now. The wines are amazing, but I bought them in spite of being ticked they wouldn’t show us the winery itself without prior membership. Black label stuff is fantastic. Tasting was very nice.
• Happy Hour @ The Hatch (this place is amazing, what an awesome whiskey list. Service here is just top notch, had fun geeking out with the bartender over whiskey. The food was also incredible, should have eaten dinner here)
• Dinner: Fish Gaucho (Somewhat overpriced and a touch mediocre. Should have eaten at The Hatch, what a mistake)

Day 5 Napa
Day 6 Napa

Day 7
Return trip to Paso for Saxum Tasting
• Saxum - I can now die happy, it was like being in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Thankfully I didn’t fall in a chocolate river. Wines were incredible, chatting with Justin and Don was a blast. Hands down the best tasting of the trip. Honored to have done it.
• Thomas Hill Organics - Mediocre and overpriced from what I remember.

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Wow so much great feedback. Thank you everyone!!! We’ve added Tablas based on the overwhelming yes’s and i’ve given in and added Clos. We decided to say screw it and if we hit more of the higher end instead of middle so be it. Who knows when we’ll get back so it will be our wine splurge trip. We have some wedding $ - what better than to spend on wine, right :slight_smile:

We will hit Tin City on our way out of town, and i’ll try to tackle that one here soon. I was hoping that would be a good reason to come back and spend a whole day there but my husband really wants to hit Desperada so we’ll do that and another one (maybe two) before we head back towards the airport for the night. Since we are hitting Clos I’m leaning toward nixing Benom and replacing with Aaron since I am a sucker for a good Petite Sirah.

I have one last slot that i’m now debating on the Full Draw vs TH Estates if anyone has strong thoughts, otherwise I don’t think we can’t go wrong with either. Epoch we are going to try and hit on our way into town from the West Coast.

Good to know on the burgers, I did have Madrone booked for the burger Sunday in case my husband wanted to try–now it seems he MUST try it. And I have LPC as a must for dinner one night.

Thanks again everyone for the advice, I really appreciate it and have a great list already going for a return trip.

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Sounds like a solid plan. I would vote Fulldraw over TH Estates (I went here a few years ago and it was good–not great). Fulldraw is very small team so it’ll either be Gary (Wine Club/Online person) or Connor (Winemaker) doing your tasting which is pretty cool. Then again I would look at both websites for their wines and see what you and your husband gravitate towards in terms of style.

If you like Petite Sirah, then Bret at Levo (Tin City) makes some of the best in the central coast. He uses it in his blends as well as a 100% Petite Sirah. So you could do Desperada, Levo, then Aaron in your Tin City adventures.

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If you call TH estate, ask for the most involved tasting they have and get Phil it was probably the best tasting we did (minus Saxum).

Ask for going big or going home, I would, visit the best Paso has to offer. Why not :slight_smile:

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Always like to visit Aaron but prices have gotten quite high. He started out just making PS which he does really well.

Have not been to Thacher but bought some of their Cinsault at a local tasting.

Tablas is always a must stop and nearby are Halter Creek with an AMAZING tasting room and Adelaida.

I like to go way out east by Creston, it is so beautiful there, Cass is a good stop out there.

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If you like Petite Sirah and do go to Tin City, check out MCV, they are just few streets outside of the core Tin City. Matt is also focused on PS and does a pretty good job with it.
Another one that came to mind (will be tasting there tomorrow, so can report) is McPrice Myers.

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Only been to Epoch there, but another vote for that. Great winemaker and a beautiful spot.

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Report on McPrice Myers. Wines are definitely very good. My favorites were 2017 Sel de Terre Grenache (was told it is from the Paper Street and Shadow Canyon vineyards -very respectable) and 2016 Les Galets Syrah (from a cool climate vineyard, owned by Laetitia). Experience was a standard+: professional, knowledgeable, couple of off the list wines.

One more thing. There is a new Paso Market Walk opened just a few blocks from downtown. Think smaller scale spanish mercados: food (burgers, ramen, etc., not really tapas) , wine, beer, olive oil, gelato. Really worth a visit.

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HiJacking this real quick,

Are there any other Rhone based wineries in the region that are not super extracted high abv?

I’ve been to Tablas before and enjoyed it. Was wondering what else is in the same vein.

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Will add Daou to the list for an overall experience not to be missed.

Big fan of Herman Story, big wines, bigger experience. Kudos to Epoch both for the wine and having suggested Herman Story.

Last, Desparada Wines - related to Herman Story.

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Are there any other Rhone based wineries in the region that are not super extracted high abv?

Without actually doing research and checking numbers…
Hubba, Brecon, and Desparada may all fit. Many winemakers would not call their wines super extracted.

To be fair, extraction is a winemaking choice, but abv isn’t, if you are considering low intervention winemaking. Most of the Paso wineries mentioned in this thread do not make wine from unripe grapes, heavily water down their ferment, or de-alc the fermented wine, which are the 3 ways to lower abv. The blessing and the curse of west side Paso grapes is high acidity from the limestone soils. When the grapes are ripe and the acidity down, the grapes have high sugar which produces higher alcohol in the wine. Which can be a well made great balanced wine without heat or alcohol taste. Simply having a high abv is not a flaw.

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The Farm Winery tends to make lower alcohol wines and does have some Rhones (their winemaker and co-owner is Santiago Achaval, of the Achaval-Ferrer fame). They do not have a tasting room though.

Ecluse tends to be south of 15% as well.

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Halter Ranch right next door? A little richer than Tablas, still with some restraint.

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Epoch was great when they were in a trailer/modular unit. I can only imagine now.

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I like Terry Hoage and of course Saxum. I know I’m in the minority here, but I didn’t care for the Tablas style. Cheers!

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I like Terry Hoage and of course Saxum. I know I’m in the minority here, but I didn’t care for the Tablas style. Cheers!

Minority? Maybe, but certainly not alone.

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I don’t dislike Tablas, but it often doesn’t do a ton for me, especially compared to the bigger wines (e.g., Saxum, Torrin, Clos Solene, etc.) that Paso is currently more known for. I’m sure there’re a lot of people who feel this way.

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Just came back from Paso a few days ago. Really enjoyed Fulldraw Vineyard, as well as Clos Selene.

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Yet another +1 for Tablas, but… if you enjoy beer at all, stop by Firestone Walker. Pub atmosphere for lunch with a lot of their hard to find releases on sale (Parabola, Parabajava being two I picked up).

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Bill,

Interesting thoughts as usual, and you are certainly in the driver’s seat up there, knowing what most of the folks are up to up there. As we both know, there are plenty of folks up there who use ‘the tools’ available to tweak wines - from micro-filtration to remove VA to de-alcing and all kinds of other things.

Yep, it is warm up there but as some have shown, it is possible to produce interesting wines at alcohol levels that do not lead to spontaneous combustion [wow.gif] [snort.gif] champagne.gif

Cheers.