Just got back from a trip to Pismo Beach. Weather was great. Sunny and 70s. We always love staying at the Kon Tiki Inn right on the beach. The place is dated, but they have free breakfast, location is great, and the prices are low ($200 a night for beach front).
We arrived on Tuesday the 7th flying from Seattle to SLO. We were planning on going to dinner at the Region Wine Bar but it was closed. Ended up going to Buena Tavola instead. Great food and decent well priced wine list.
On Wednesday we went on a vineyard / cellar tour at Tablas Creek. They just finished bringing in grapes in the last few days so things were humming the cellar. Everyone was super friendly and interested in showing us around. I would recommend the tour. I always love the wines here as I find them not over done and extracted like many other producers in Paso. We had a picnic lunch here. Our next stop was Adelaida. Tasting room and the staff were nice. I didn’t care for any of the wines here. Not sure why half of their estate vineyard was planted with Pinot Noir in Paso. It was a cotton candy mess. Reminded me of why I refused to buy any California Pinot for years. Also they were charging $125 for a cabernet that was nothing special. Real turn off for me. We ate dinner at Giuseppe’s in Pismo which is always great.
On Thursday we went to Talley. We always have a great experience here as I love the wines, the tasting room in nice, and the staff is top notch. Brian Talley even stopped by to chat. We ate lunch at Jaffa Cafe in Arroyo Grande. Very good. Our second stop was Kynsi. Wines are pretty good here and the prices are reasonable. Tasting room manager always treats us like VIPs. We ate dinner at Ember in Arroyo Grande. Excellent. One of the better restaurants in the area. Get the fried green tomato appetizer.
On Friday we drove to Los Olivos at stopped at Tercero. Larry wasn’t there yet but the tasting room host called him and told him our son Paul was here and wanted to say hello. He headed over and spent quite a bit a time with him. We always love visiting with Larry. He comes across as authentic and is a great host. So much snobbery and judgement in the wine business. You get none of that from Larry. His wines were excellent across the board. We had sandwiches from Panino. Excellent. Our last stop was at Stopman. A great laid back experience. Great wines and the tasting host was excellent and got along with our son Paul as she used to be a special ed teacher. Flew out of Santa Barbara late in the afternoon.
Pinot Paul gave the trip 100 points.