Well several months ago Troya and I found some sweet deals at The Paso Inn and Hotel Cheval so Doc went to work researching wineries with Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre blends.His findings took us to some new wineries we’ve never been to along with a few that we always hit when we’re in Paso. Paso is one of my favorite places to go tasting, there are soooo many wineries and it’s beautiful. To top it off many of these wineries are smaller and more personable but even the larger wineries are very friendly and not snooty, a big plus for me.
We started the day off at Kukkula where Brax and I are members. The 2009 Sisu(GSM) was pretty amazing and I enjoyed the 2010 Aatto. This winery is sustainable, organic and only dry farms. They also offer some food to enjoy along with the lovely wine and scenery. The next on the tour was Alta Colina, a small family owned winery. For me I didn’t find anything that fit my taste but to each his own.
Villa Creek was the next on our list. I really liked two of their wines, Avenger and High Road but thought it was a bit over priced, $100 for High Road. On to Hearthstone, here I like the 2010 Pearl(Roussanne, Viognier), fruity nose, floral but not too sweet with a rich finish. They also had a Pinot, GSM, Mourvedre and Cab. Next to our last stop was Windward, purely Pinots here, the 2008 Pinot was very good. Our last stop of the day was L’Aventure, owned by a frenchie, so this was interesting to see his take on American winemaking. Two wines I liked here, Optimus2010(Syrah,Cab,Petit Verdot) and the Estate Cuvee. Since this was our last stop we headed to the Paso Inn before dinner. Good thing we got a good deal because I wasn’t impressed. We upgraded to a king room with the natural sulfur spas. Well I’m not exactly sure what health benefits sulfur spas have but not sure it’s worth the stink. As it turned out, the water in the spa wouldn’t heat up. The rooms were spacious but very bare in decor. The bathroom was very big with nice counters but the shower was small for the amount of space in the bathroom. The grounds at the Inn are very pretty and the front desk clerks were helpful, we got our money back for the upgrade since the spa didn’t work.
For dinner we went to Villa Creek(same as the winery), great atmsophere, the food was really good, Brax’s lamb shank was fabulous and I don’t like lamb usually.
Monday we started out at Kenneth Volk where you pick 6 out of 19 wines to taste. We went home with the Tannat 2009 and the Mourvedre 2009. From there we went to Niner where Troya and Doc planned on joining. This is a beautiful tasting room! They also do cooking classes there so they have a professional kitchen with beautiful,quaint dining area. The Cab was the only wine I really like, very drinkable, not a lot of tannins. We next went to Zenaida Cellars. They had a few really nice wines, the 2010 Zin was good as well as the 2010 Wanderlust(GSM) and the 2009 Fire Sign. Pipestone Vineyards was our next stop, a bit of a drive back in the hills and looks very farmy, horses in pastures, goats, goose and a duck in pens with a very friendly large dog to greet you. This is a fully solar-powered, sustainable, and organic winery. The use draft horses to work the vineyards which I think is pretty cool. The wines were surprising decent, particularly the 2008 Rhone Style Red Wine and the 2008 Syrah was very good.
My fave of the day and the trip was Terry Hoage Vineyards. Leanne from L’Aventure had recommended we go here the day before and I am so happy we did!!! All of the wines were excellent but the 2010 The Pick(GSM) and the 2010 5 Blocks(Syrah Cuvee) were outstanding. I think we may end up joining the wine club. I definitely recommend it!
We ventured back to town to walk around and try a couple of tasting rooms in town that Doc and Troya had been to before. The first was Bodegas, they specialized in Spanish varietals. For me, I didn’t find anything that did it for me. We then went to Parrish Family Vineyards. The 2008 GSM Rhone Blend was very good.
By the time we finished tasting for the day we were starving! We’d decided to get pizza and some paninis at the cheese shop next to Hotel Cheval so we could hang out by the fireplace in the courtyard. Hotel Cheval is spectacular!!! Very quaint and elegant. The rooms are beautiful and the courtyard with several fireplaces, tables and lounges set up around them make it very inviting. So we enjoyed our Marv’s pizza, which was excellent, along with the cheese paninis and wine and played cards for several hours. A great end to a fanTASTEtic couple of days!!! Until our next adventure……