Reviewing local vineyards from a different perspective.
For those that are interested in ‘OLelo Wine, today’s woot has it on sale.
http://wine.woot.com/offers/lelo-paso-robles-merlot-6?ref=w_gh_wn_10_d_ph
I have never tasted nor reviewed this wine so this one is outside of any recommendation that I may have.
I have talked about this before, but I don’t mind mentioning again that preserving wine for the VERY casual wine drinker is hard, it would almost be better to only ever taste a winery’s to ensure that the wine your drinking isn’t to old and that you consume only the amount that you mean to.
Today Woot, mentioned before here has a deal on wine preservation spray, I cannot recommend this as I am not a user of this style of preservation, however if you are maybe the following link will be of interest to you. Remember this is a one deal for one day type of site so if you don’t happen to pick this up today April, 14, 2016 the deal will be gone.
If anyone is a fan of Sextant you may be interested in today’s WOOT.com deal. Click the link below to view/buy sextant wine, potentially at a discount. I’m not able to recommend this wine as I haven’t yet tasted at Sextant, maybe that will be the next on my list.
http://wine.woot.com/offers/sextant-mixed-zinfandel-6?ref=w_gh_wn_10_d_ph
If you see this after the woot has closed, it is a one day deal, check out Sextant Wines site at the following link, wherever woot wine got their discount figure doesn’t add up ordering direct is always fun.
http://www.sextantwines.com/
Realizing the content produced on this website I have to say you may think the author a bit of a lush, I hope that this is really not the case, in all practical nature wine isn’t a part of my every day experience and due to some family situations not usually a part of any event as well. Wine is something that I like to experience for the tastes and experience at the winery it self.
Sure a good wine with a good meal is nice, however when my electric cellar is near empty after 3-4 years of storage of a bottle that I know I once liked has been stored and finally enjoyed. It’s so hard to open the wine that I have in my collection, for one reason and one reason only. I don’t drink more than 2-3 ounces in a night and never finish the wine that was even poured for me at a tasting room. Why not? I just don’t like the feeling of loosing even a little control.
That said I still would love to be a wine club member at a couple of locations without risking my resolve to never have more than 2-3 ounces in a night. Finishing a entire bottle of wine is nearly impossible to do before it starts tasting more like vinegar and a lot less like the wonderful bottle of wine than I purchased and brought home to enjoy. Why do all of the bottles of wine have to be so big?
Tasting room design I feel has much to do with the over all acceptance of that winery in the community. Who wants to go and see a place that is also the place that the wine is made in? If I’m on a tour the answer is yes I would love to see the winemakers workplace. Often however people are out tasting for the atmosphere and if anything is learned about winery design I hope that the lesson isn’t to little to late.
When opening a winery it is absolutely necessary that a good looking tasting room also be designed. Something removed although not far removed from the large stainless steel vats in which the wine that you are enjoying is made.
In Oregon I’ve been to a couple of winery’s built into the side of the hill that have the grape processing room viewable through some glass structure wise offering a great view of the processing room, its machinery and steel drums often used for white wines neatly organized even when in use.
Summer Wood winery in west Paso Robles offers the same type of view on the winemaking room, though not quite a much of a birds eye. It’s tasting rooms like these that combine the experience of the making and the tasting of the wine that have it right. Wine is an art not a science, lets have a space to celebrate the art instead of looking at the science of all the drums and vats that are used.
For the last couple of years Tobin Jams has been one of those weird places that I wanted to try wine at, but just got the opportunity recently. Their decor is quite different than the lush landscapes that are put together at other winery’s and their choice of colors for their buildings are not indicative of other wineries, using bright colors that are quite noticeable compared to the landscape. One of the other major things that I find different is their lack of a large tasting room building, with vaulted ceilings or other interesting design ideas.
Tobin Jams reminds me more of an old western town bar than a winery, don’t get me wrong, they certainly know their business, it’s just very different to not walk into the almost sterol environment that is most tasting rooms. The staff is very nice and their wines were actually fun to taste, I’m not sure though that the quality matches some of the other wines that I’ve tasted.
Will I be back to Tobin James? Actually this isn’t likely as there are many other winery’s that I have yet to taste in the Paso Robles area.
Did I find a wine that I would stop in and take to a party or special event? Actually the only wine that I was completely impressed with was their desert wine.
Thanks Tobin James for a great location and an inexpensive tasting experience.
It’s hard to mix people’s want for dog friendliness and wine. Some would want to keep their best friend with them as the are actually at the bar tasting the wine. Yet others would want to drink their wine in a completely sterile invironment free of distractions of other people’s pets.
Where does the line truely get drawn? What would you prefer? comment below
Perhaps I will check next time before making a recommendation. I was asked recently to recommend a wine to someone who really doesn’t like wine and with recent experience my first thought was of Chumeia Winery, a weird name for a great and friendly winery, unfortunately this review is going to come to late to save the winery. Best red wine, if you had asked before their closing, in the Paso Robles area according to me was the Barbera both 2006 and 2007 years from Chumia Winery.
The person who I gave the recommendation to proceeded to drive the 2+ hours from their home to the winery in hopes of getting a bottle of this wine to share with a friend of theirs who is somewhat a wine snob. That didn’t work out due to their unfortunate closing, I don’t know what bottle or where they ended up going but info hope that it worked out and that good times were had around the dinner table.
There’s no real way to tell if a place will close before you are able to get backs high is one of the reasons that I taste the wine while I’m there that way I can take home a bottle or two of my favorites to enjoy while it lasts. If I have the opportunity to get back all the better but don’t ever count on having more of a specific year without having that specific wine and year on hand, something that a casual drinker would never really do since even opening a bottle of wine is a rarity.
When you can’t decide which wines you want to open, open two instead. This would only apply if you are in a group of people that may accept more than one wine as a rule. For just me it’s one bottle of wine at a time due to the fact that it takes me nearly a week of half a glass at a time to finish a bottle of wine and the last thing that I want is wine going sour while trying to enjoy it.
The first a 2009 Niner Wine Estates Petite Sarah was made to go with a lean piece of meat, in this instance a Santa Maria Tri-tip from a local market near Pioneer, Ca. As a side note I will at some point be exploring the wines near Pioneer, Ca as I hear there are a number of really great white wines available in the area. If you are looking to make a trip to someplace outside of the Central California Coast and would like to visit the Pioneer area I would suggest a stay in Volcano at St. George Hotel, it’s a great place and really isn’t to far from Lake Tahoe if you’re just passing through on your way to ski Lake Tahoe or enjoy the Casino’s there.
The Sauvignon Blanc was equally impressive with a very fruity dry taste. It was almost sweet enough to be enjoyed as a desert wine, in fact I didn’t have any of this wine until I was into my fresh Central California Strawberries that were served as a side to the tri-tip mentioned before. I can’t wait to see what else Niner has to offer with their spring shipment of wine for the club members.
Awards mean a lot in the wine world, if you are into looking at awards and the person who did the tasting, maybe your tastes have been taught to be a snob, that’s okay however beyond that what do awards mean. Though there are certain criteria with wines made in different categories there is really no solid scientific way to grade wine so the award the wine won only means something on that day, time and place for that specific set of tasters.
Awards are displayed proudly by vineyards and their wine makers however is there a point at which you can make since on what you should really be tasting? Some of the awards may have been from prestigious tasting galleries and some may have been from the local county fair which I don’t have a problem with however you may not know the tasters and the tasters may not have the best pallet. I’m not saying that I have developed the correct pallet for wines, but I do know what I like and it’s not what the next person may like.
Awards, great as they may be, should be talked about in reference to the wines that you’re tasting and the wines that you can buy or get by being a club member, if your interested in history this should be offered by the vineyard or maker as a history book, but it’s not likely that you are going to find any of those wines still for sale, unless you are a collector with a highly developed pallet with money to spend on wine that has long since disappeared from the casual wine connoisseur electric cellar.
There are vineyards that wine a lot of awards, but how many compared to the one down the street? Which winemakers won them? How many years in a row?
Awards establish vineyard reputation but really what you want to know is about the maker and their pallet.
