First Paso Trip-Need a little help

WINE TALK
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Follow up after our first two days.

Clos-was a great way to start off the day. The tasting was really good but we just didn’t love the wines enough for the price point. Someone mentioned cheese with the pairing, we did not get cheese.

MFN at Booker-I joined MFN before heading to Paso and luckily their MFN cab was one of our favorite wines of the day. We enjoyed the tasting and the wine host poured a couple Booker wines for us too.

Niner- We enjoyed our lunch here and the wines for the price point. They brought the wines out all at once which allowed us to taste back and forth, which we liked but the wine host left us and didn’t really discuss the wines at all.

Brecon-this was the surprise hit of the day. We loved everything we tried and joined the wine club. They were the only winery to give us a little extra for celebrating our honeymoon. (Was not expected but really appreciated)They gave my husband his tasting for free and brought out a couple of extra pours based on our discussion of the wines. We really loved our wine host and thought this was the best all around tasting.

Tablas-we thought the wines were decent for the price point. Not our favorite wine but thought the overall tasting was our second favorite of the day. Our wine host here was great. And based on things we’re discussing he kept being out more tastes as well. We picked up their Rose here and typically I’m not a Rose fan at all.

Madrone-Our last stop of the day. This was my biggest disappointment as I had high hopes for this but just didn’t care for the wine. I will say after the extra pours at Brecon and Tablas I may have just been wines out by this point. We did get a spot with two Adirondack chairs and it was the perfect relaxing spot/tasting to end the day with music in the background. Unfortunately I missed the burgers were lunch only when I scheduled our stops.

Thank you for the above food recs we had the Hatch and loved it. I want to go back again for their shrimp and grits. The cornbread was fantastic too. Night before was Ill Cortile and we did enjoy the meal but weren’t blown away. The pasta parpadell was fantastic but the steak was just okay. We had a high bar set from the steak we had at Roy’s in Pebblebeach.

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I just realized I never followed up with the rest of our Paso trip. Our thoughts for anyone who might come across this post for an upcoming trip.

Denner-this was one of our top overall spots. I thought the Comus area was absolutely beautiful. Our wine host was great, this was by far one of our top informative tastings.

Jada- cheese pairing was fantastic, overall we enjoyed the stop but not one we will rush to get back to.

Calcareous- stopped for the views and lunch. We did think it was absolutely beautiful but the service wasn’t very good and we didn’t particularly care for the wines. This was the only stop we didn’t buy anything.

Herman Story-as expected this was big and bold wines. Nice experience with our tasting. It’s downtown so if you’re looking for picturesque this isn’t it, overall we liked it and can’t wait to see how the wines turn out once they have a few years to settle.

Zenaida-small boutique winery that was a wine club I joined before visiting based on how they run the staggered wine club discounts. We really liked our first shipment and was excited for this stop and they didn’t disappoint. The manager Kenvin was fantastic and really took care of us and went into great detail on the wines/ winery. My husband said had we not already been members he would have wanted to join.

Last stop of the day was TH estates and was the only reservation we ended up running late for. I called while still at a prev winery to see if we could still come or if we would loose our reservation. The wine host said to still come. This ended up being one of our favorite stops. Even though we obviously were making ( I think it was) Will’s day longer than it should have been he was nothing but patient and still took his time discussing the wines with us and even took my email to send suggestions for a future trip. I really can’t say enough about him and this winery. A definite highlight.

At one point we had some extra time and called Dilecta to see if we could stop in last min. I ended up loosing my cell signal so we stopped in and couldn’t find anyone. While on our way to another stop 20 min east they had called and said to come in 10 min. Was impressed they were willing to make the effort to squeeze us in. Unfortunately our next tasting was another 15 in the opposite and I just didn’t see how we could make it work timing wise. Another winery recommended them to us as well so they are top of my list to check out on the next trip.

Epoch was a very nice tasting and would probably get the top spot for prettiest winery. I really loved their tasting room and outside area. Well worth the trip outside of town.

Lastly we hit Levo on our way out of town and so glad we did. This was our other pleasant surprise. We ended up having a tasting with the wine maker and joined the club. Between my husband and I we really liked all the wines we tried. I liked the Grenache and Syrah and he liked the red blend and Petit Syrah.

Thanks again everyone for prior input, we had a really wonderful trip and came home with a couple of cases. I’ve got a return stop list already going and we are really hoping next time to bring some couples along for the ride. I’m not sure how i’ll ever make it out to Napa/Sonoma now as I completly fell in love with Paso.

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Great notes on your trip and so glad you had fun at Paso. It truly is a magical place. Appreciate the detailed notes and there are some now that I have to go visit next time I can go to Paso.

Glad you got to meet Bret at Levo-- he’s such a nice, friendly and great guy.

[cheers.gif]

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Denner is one of our favorites. we have been members for about 5 years. Love the Ditch Digger and Dirt worshipper. The grenache and viognier are excellent as well

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We missed being able to taste the Dirt Worshipper by 2 days on our visit so i’ve been hesistant to pull the trigger on buying that one as I’m a member of the 2 bottle club. Our favorite was Mother of Exiles (over the Ditch Digger) and I had their 13 Syrah a few weeks ago that was heavenly.

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Adam,

Agreed - Bret is awesome - and makes nearly all of his wines from Santa Barbara County fruit IIRC [snort.gif]

Cheers!

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Yes, Larry. He’s been sourcing from vineyards in Santa Barbara County for majority of his vintages. Vineyards like Kimsey, Slide Hill, etc.

However he’s starting to get more options for sourcing in Paso (Westside Paso, I believe). He did a recent Members Only release of a Cab made from Denner grapes.

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Adam,

Thanks for the update.

Cheers

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I’ll add my vote for McPrice Myers and the Cuvee Kristina. Really good wine.

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Jaffers and Lost Blues. Lost Blues Good Fences has a unique flavor profile. The Los Blues Walking Boss is a really big 100% Syrah. All worth trying if you’re in Paso. Often times these wines can be found at local grocery stores, which is convenient.

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Epoch has a BEAUTIFUL outdoor tasting area! Very far west so there are a lot more trees and a more mountainous feel in general than a lot of the other Paso wineries.

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Tablas wines are fine low 90s, high 80s for me but I got some closeouts on this wine a few years back for $6 a bottle so it is a great QPR!
2016 Tablas Creek Côtes de Tablas Blanc

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Denner is a favorite of ours as well. Nice setting and a top notch tasting.

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Just wanted to shoot out a quick thank you to everyone who has contributed on this thread (and others) re: recommendations in Paso Robles. My wife and I visited Paso for the first time last weekend. We’re in the Bay Area and more often than not visit wineries in Napa (mostly trying to get off the beaten path). The new challenge was having our almost 4-month old son and dog tag along with us. We didn’t end up visiting/tasting at as many places as I would’ve liked, but the quality was great. Tasting notes are not my forte but here are some impressions:

Day 1 (7/22)

  • Torrin - based on everyone’s recommendations, this seemed like a can’t miss visit. The tasting at Torrin was top-notch from accommodations for our motley crew to the quality and variety of the wines. We tasted through a couple different Pinot’s under the Lagom label as well as three Torrin wines (Le Devoir, Maven, and Banshee). Everything in the lineup was well-made, although our favorite was Banshee. I will say that my experience with Rhône blends is limited and I trend towards more new world style, but this was a great starting point.
  • *Justin (visit/non-tasting) - this was not on the intended list but since it was 104 degrees out, we skipped the original plan of L’Aventure and/or Tablas and stayed indoors until things cooled off a bit. We found ourselves in a wine-tasting purgatory of 4:30 p.m. (too late for any tastings and too early for dinner) so we drove up to the Justin winery to check it out, since I knew they had the restaurant up there as well. Long story short, we showed up around 5:30 and were allowed to purchase a bottle and sit on their patio to enjoy the ambiance and have a drink. While I won’t speak to their wines, the hospitality was great and this hit the spot for a nice experience in an otherwise dead spot in the day.

Day 2

  • Clos Solene - this was the highlight of our trip from a wine-tasting standpoint. The tasting was excellent across the board with the standouts (for me) being the Harmonie (Grenache 72%, Mourvèdre 14%, Syrah 14%) and Hommage a nos Pairs Reserve (Syrah dominant blend). We joined their membership as we enjoyed the wines and they have some exciting projects coming up. The wines are not inexpensive (reds in the 78-98 range) but, IMO, the quality is there to back it up.
    Knowing our lean towards Bordeaux style wines, our host/wine educator recommended the owner’s separate project in Tin City, Benom. After we showed interest, she made the call and set up an appointment for us.
  • Benom - we hadn’t intended to visit Tin City given our semi-inflexible traveling entourage but I’m glad we did. As many have pointed out, i’s a cool concept and interesting area for up-and-coming winemakers/wineries. We didn’t explore a ton but seems like you could make a full day (or two) making the rounds there. The tasting at Benom was a great fit for our palates. We tasted through their lineup of Rhône/Bordeaux blends made by the same winemaker as Clos Solene. The wines had flavor profiles and tannin/mouthfeel similar to what I’d say you find from some hillside wines from different locations throughout Napa Valley, but with the Rhône influence making them more distinct and approachable young. This place was a pleasant surprise and I would recommend it for people who enjoy “bigger”, young wines as a fun transition/intro into GSM blends.
    Both Clos Solene and Benom were accommodating and great hosts for baby and dog as well.

Again, thanks to all who have contributed to the Paso threads. It helped us navigate and really enjoy our first visit. We will definitely be returning.

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