Tag: Winery

Chumeia Vineyards Tasting

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.

Off the beaten path

Off The beaten path.

It’s hard to find and try new wines without just happening on the location along the road. Thus far we have to yet really get off of the highway much and explore new winery locations. In Paso Robles, if your not on the main roads you may as well forget it unless you have someone out promoting you someplace. All wine and winery’s that I’ve tried away from major thoroughfares we’re suggestions given by other enthusiast.

Pear Valley is almost the only winery that I have tried that was really off of 41, though it really wasn’t that far down Union from Tobin James, another winery that I had yet to try at the time. Pear Valley was recommended to me by a friend who really enjoys their desert wine, Orange Muscat, which I continue to return for and enjoy on very rare occasion.

There are many winery’s down Union just east of Paso Robles I would encourage you, along with myself, to head down Union sometime, there are even touring maps for Union that you can pick up at many of the local winery’s.

An Unfortunate Recomendation

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.