Day 6. Paso Robles day two
Justin – Have to admit that I had not tried a Justin wine before visiting. From what I read I expected to find things here not my style. Yet I found that I liked if not loved everything we tasted. I did not find the wines hot or out of balance at all and most had a nice acidity to them. I was floored by the reserve tempranilo as well as the chardonnay. We enjoyed the 2008 Isosceles with some steaks we grilled after a four-hour decant and it was wonderful. Since we stayed at Justin, we probably met 15-20 people who worked there and all were friendly all willing to stop what they are doing to answer our questions and discuss Justin with us. By the end of day two, most of the winery staff was greeting us in the morning and saying good bye when they left at the end of the workday. Really made us feel like part of the team and made this a great time.
Pasolivo – A lot of wineries also make and sell olive oil. Pasolivo is an olive oil producer that also makes and sells wine. We passed on trying the wine but liked the olive oils. Also has vinegars, herb blends, salts, etc. A great change of pace stop
Windward – per suggestion of Justin staff. Until this trip, I really did not know much about Paso wineries so had no idea that Windward was making only Pinot Noir in the Tempelton Gap region of Paso. They poured four different Pinot bottling and while three were nothing special the 2007 Gold was a revelation. Its pricey at $62/btl but found it more interesting than a lot of what I tasted while in the SRH.
L’Aventure – Also per suggestion of Justin. I stopped subscribing to the Wine Advocate years ago so had no idea this was a WA darling. All I can say is wow. This is usually not a style that I favor. Its huge. Its not for the AFWE. But I could find no reason not to love the wines except maybe the pricing which only slowed me down a little. I hope it taste as good at home.
Carmody McKight – This was an impulse stop that I expected to be awful. The story is some actor from a TV series before my time married a Miss America also from before my time and somehow ended up in Paso Robles with a winery and art gallery. The sign is an obnoxious green and pink monstrosity, which does not make me feel any better about the wines to come. As anticipated, the wines are not anything I care for but I actually liked a painting or two. If I understood correctly, the actor is also the winemaker and painter.