The Grape Juice Plus Wine Tasting Group once again headed south for the weekend to attend the 20th Annual Paso Robles Wine Festival on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19 in beautiful San Luis Obispo County. Hosted by the Paso Robles Vintners & Growers Association, Saturday's event is the largest outdoor winetasting in California. Local wineries set-up tasting booths all around Downtown City Park from noon to 5:00pm allowing approximately 15,000 visitors to sample over 150 wines of the area. Tickets cost $30 each, and got you eight tastings and a commemorative wine glass. On Sunday, the wineries held special events at their tasting rooms with food, entertainment, barrel samples, and vineyard tours.
For the second year in a row, the morning began with breakfast at Kelly's. According to the thermometer, the temperature couldn't make up its mind whether it was hot or cold. We picked a good site to pitch camp. It had sun; it had shade; it had birds of prey. Throughout the day, the group hit the yearly stand-bys of Grey Wolf Cellars and Wild Horse Winery & Vineyards. We didn't even know they were going to be there until we arrived at the park that day. It just wouldn't have been the same without them. A couple of admired wines from wineries we hadn't tasted from before were the 1997 Barbera at Mastantuono, and the 2000 'Vineyard Tribute' Reserve Zinfandel at Castoro Cellars. Dessert wines were as popular as ever with half-glass pours of the 'Tears of Dew' Late Harvest Muscat Canelli at EOS Estate Winery popping up again, as well as the 'Liquid Love' Late Harvest Zinfandel at Tobin James Vineyard, but many of the group missed out on the 'Kathleen' Late Harvest Cabernet Franc at Carmody McKnight Estate Wines. A new addition to the favorites of the festival was the 'killer wines' of Hunt Cellars. Their musically inspired Zinfandels made us all sing a new tune. When the wine stopped flowing, Grape Juice Plus headed to their favorite post-tasting dining facility, Senor Sancho's Mexican Restaurant & Bar, to feast on lobster tacos. The day ended with those staying in San Luis Obispo going to check out the changes to the campus of Cal Poly, and those staying in Paso Robles catching an opening weekend screening of Attack of the Clones.
If graphed, Sunday would look like two lines zig-zaging across each other multiple times. The group staying in Paso Robles (Nicole & Adam, Sandy & Matt, and Jill & Chad), in an attempt to get one extra winery in before meeting up with the group staying in San Luis Obispo (Marge & Mike, and Michelle & Chad), headed to Mastantuono. The Barbera, Merlot, and Muscat Canelli all earned some praise, but nothing really stood out as great. With a half-an-hour still left to burn before meeting the San Luis Obispo group, the Paso Robles group decided to squeeze a trip to Hunt Cellars into the program. Little did they know that this stop would have so many good wines to taste. The list of talked about wines was long, and included numerous Zinfandels, some whites, and two Port-styles that were sampled right out of the barrel. Finally, the Paso Robles group bought their wine and headed over to Wild Horse Winery & Vineyards where the San Luis Obispo group had been waiting for over 30 minutes. The tardiness of their compatriots did not stop them from enjoying the splindid Italian varietals, bold Rhone varietals, and consistant standard varietals that the winery offers up every visit. The Paso Robles group tried to catch up, but alas the San Luis Obispo group was too far ahead on the menu and decided to move on. Convinced by the unanimous praise, the San Luis Obispo group felt compelled to try out the place that had delayed their friends so. Once at Hunt Cellars, they sampled all the great wines that the Paso Robles group had tried earlier, except they got gypped out of the barrel-sampled Ports, because Jill wasn't with them. The two groups met up again at Grey Wolf Cellars where the sausage and cheese were as popular as the wine. A lot of time was spent here enjoying the sun, the wine, the food, and the big half-breed dogs. The San Luis Obispo group decided to hit EOS Estate Winery before heading home. The Paso Robles group tried out Castoro Cellars just up the road, before sobering up and heading home themselves. All in all it was another beautiful weekend in the Paso Robles wine country.
Matt, Sandy, Jill, Rex, Nicole, Mike, Marge, Chad, Michelle, Adam, & Chad enjoying the wines at Grey Wolf Cellars.
Here's everybody's thoughts on the day:
- Chad N. - It seemed to be a Port-style year for me. There was a pretty good Barbera-based Port at Mastantuono, as well as the Zinfandel-based and Cabernet Sauvignon-based Ports at Hunt Cellars. Throw those in with the Late Harvest Zinfandel at Grey Wolf Cellars, and this year's festival was sweeeet. Although Wild Horse and Grey Wolf were as good as always, I would have to say that Hunt Cellars was the winery of the festival. There were a lot of great wines that stood out this year, but I'm going to say my favorite was not the greatest Zinfandel in the world, but just a tribute. The "Tribute" Zinfandel at Castoro Cellars was excellent and garnered many refills.
- Adam S. - A brief summary of wineries to note...
Mastantuono: This was one of the first wines tasted on Saturday, and because of their Barbera, warranted a visit on Sunday. To our surprise, the tasting room dude told us that the Barbera that the were pouring at the festival was not yet for sale. But, with a little prodding, we were able to purchase the young Barbera... nooch. Other than that Barbera, there was not much else good to say about the wine, although I did pick up a bottle of the Sangiovese for kicks. Word to the wise... just because "Tequila Wine" sounds good, it doesn't mean that it tastes good.
Hunt Cellars: What can I say? This winery has somehow eluded us in years past, and was really the most pleasant surprise of the day. If there was only one thing "wrong" with this winery, it would be the prices... yikes! The winery had excellant wine with Napa pricing. Although it was tempting to join their wine club, we're going to have to wait for an economic boost in our personal finances first. I'm looking forward to revisiting this winery next year.
Wild Horse Winery: Very good and consistent as usual. Some wines of note... Besides, the standard favorites (Cab, Merlot, and Pinot Noir), the Dolcetto was very good, the Negrette was very drinkable, and the Syrah was also a very pleasant surprise... I'm not usually a Syrah fan. One wine that was missing from the growing Wild Horse portfolio was he Claret... this has been a favorite in previous years, but they had not yet bottled it. Looking forward to it.
Grey Wolf: Always a favorite, but this winery held the biggest disappointment for the day... after sampling all of their delicious wine, I went to go purchase some of our favorites (the Zin-Cab and the Alpha Cab being our favorites). Having had quite a lot to drink by now, I just handed over the credit card and didn't take inventory. When we got home, we realized that they messed up, and gave us all Zin-Cab and no Alpha Cab at all! Crap on a crutch! I'll have to remember to check before leaving next time. Anyhow, the was good, but Grey Wolf ripped us off.
Castoro Cellars: I remember being there. I don't have a clue what I tasted, and by that time, it all really tasted the same (it's really hard for a winery to come after Grey Wolf). I do remember liking the "Tribute" Zin at the festival, but I can't be sure that I actually tasted it on Sunday.
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