{"id":8025,"date":"2005-06-25T11:14:02","date_gmt":"2005-06-25T18:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/06\/25\/koa-2005-the-wine.html"},"modified":"2005-06-25T11:14:02","modified_gmt":"2005-06-25T18:14:02","slug":"koa_2005_the_wi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/06\/25\/koa_2005_the_wi.html","title":{"rendered":"KOA 2005 – The Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two wine trips this year whilst on our “camping” trip to Paso Robles<\/a>, one short, one long …<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

My folks were going to have to go down to California early, so they wouldn’t be around for the Sunday wine trip, so instead they went on Saturday, and I, um, volunteered to go with them. Out of fillial duty, of course …<\/p>\n

\"\"Our main visit was to Tablas Creek<\/a>, which we’ve visited pretty regularly while up here. It’s always been one of the more professional setups, with good wine and a welcoming tasting room. They’ve been very generous dealing with groups of a dozen or more.<\/p>\n

This year was no different (aside from the group size). They had a fine array of Rhone-style wines for tasting, and I found I liked them a lot more than last year. Some of the blends had changed, which may be part of it. But some really tasty stuff.<\/p>\n

And then my folks decided that they were going to join the wine club (“VINsiders”), since it only ships twice a year. And I was thinking about how the oddities of Colorado wine shipping laws meant that I couldn’t do the Sunset Wine Club any more (Colorado is a reciprocal state, but requires that you have actually visited the winery or a tasting room to receive direct shipments, which is okay for a winery you’ve visited, but not for a generic wine club), and I thought of how I was enjoying the wine, and I said, what the heck. So I signed up, too.<\/p>\n

Which meant a discount on the wine I’d already bought, and another tasting back in the cask room, where there was some still yummier stuff (including an absolutely, rapturously incredible Vin de Paille<\/a>, which is like drinking apricots).<\/p>\n

More bottles of wine (nicely discounted) later, including a couple for dinner that night, and we were set.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Justin\"Smallish group hit the road on Sunday — Margie and me, Mary, Lori, and Di (yes, it was me, a fast car, wine, and four lovely ladies — eat your hearts out).<\/p>\n

First stop was Justin<\/a> — which has been another regular to visit, but which I’d have given a pass on save that it was a must on Lori’s plate. Justin’s wines are good, but for their prices they should be excellent. <\/p>\n

The place feels transplanted straight from Napa, for good and ill — a lovely atmosphere (along with a restaurant and B&B), picnic supplies you can buy, and a snooty attitude, both at the hoi-polloi tasting bar (anyone can come up and plunk down their $5) and at the “Members Only” tasting bar (separate yet visible, demarcated by tasteful velvet roping).<\/p>\n

The overall feel is that you should be honored to be tasting there, and honored to be paying those prices for the wine.<\/p>\n

I’m not, and I’m not. And their glasses (which you get for the tasting fee) are cheap. So there.<\/p>\n

Feh. <\/p>\n

Definite pass next year, unless others insist.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Went back to Tablas Creek at that point, at which point I was able to use my new VINsider perks to get everyone in for the nice(r) wine tasting. Folks enjoyed it, and I bought quite a bit of wine at the others’ behest.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We took a trip down Peach Canyon Rd., which we’d never really done before. First on our list was Nadeau Family Vintners<\/a>, a small winery along there specializing in “big” Zins.<\/p>\n

It’s a fun place to taste — the tasting room doubles as a lab during off hours (so plenty of flasks and beakers about), but there’s also a lot of decor of classic “cheap” wine — Ripple and Thunderbird and Boone’s Farm and the like. The tasting was free, which was nice, and moderately friendly.<\/p>\n

The wine? So-so. Standard mix of local varietals. One of their Zins was sold out, but the other two were pretty good. We ended up with a couple of bottles. Recommended for a visit, but not an absolute necessity.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We then continued down the road to Stacked Stone<\/a>. This is another small winery, only recently selling, and still very starting up. They had a wide array of wines for tasting (for free), and the owner trotted out from one building on their grounds to greet us when we arrived and escort us over to the tasting room.<\/p>\n

Good stuff. Some interesting ports (which we picked up), and a nice array of other varietals. The owner was friendly, welcoming, and engaging, and it was a fun visit. I had the sense that this is an up-and-coming winery, and would like to visit again.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"LinneThe group was interested in a bit more when we were done there, so we wandered over to Linne Calodo<\/a>. My conclusions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Their wines taste better at home (where they are quite good) than at the winery (where they are okay).\n
  2. That’s due, in part, to their tasting only a small, odd lot handful at the winery.<\/p>\n
  3. And, in part, to a lackadaisical approach to engaging folks who come in for tasting. Friendly, but not friend<\/em>ly, if you follow the difference. This year it was a pair of kids up from Cal Poly SLO, who were okay and polite, but didn’t do much to make us want to, well, buy wine.<\/ol>\n

    These three factors have been true the last three years or so, which makes me think LC won’t be on the visit list in the future — but that we’ll remain members. The sense I get is that they are a lot more interested in wine making <\/em>than wine selling<\/em> — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but may make getting the word out about the wine more difficult.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    We were pretty much done by then — except that we had a serious need for a pit stop. So, on the way back up, we stopped at Dover Canyon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Huge bathroom.<\/p>\n

    Margie and I had tasted there before, and they’re noteworthy for having a huge tasting list of which you have to choose 5 — which, with a big group, is open to abuse\/confusion, compounded by the various ones that weren’t open for tasting. The guy manning the table was sort of, “Eh, I have something better to do when my shift is over,” though he did his job well enough.<\/p>\n

    We did come away with a couple of bottles (including the best under-$10 red we’d encountered), but I have no more desire to go there again than I did, well, this time. For the wine, at least.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Note for next year — bring food, and\/or do some olive oil<\/a> tasting<\/a> along the way.<\/p>\n

    All in all, a good year for wine … <\/p>\n

    Not even counting all the stuff we tasted at the KOA dinner …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Two wine trips this year whilst on our “camping” trip to Paso Robles, one short, one long … Saturday My folks were going to have to go down to California…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-drink"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38051,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/30\/wine-country-safari.html","url_meta":{"origin":8025,"position":0},"title":"Wine Country Safari","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 30-Jun-13 5:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Wineries we visited during our recent trip to Paso Robles, California.Edmond August (http:\/\/www.edmondaugust.com\/) - Boutique winery, pouring at the Paso Underground downtown (off of the central park \/ square). Nicely crafted Rhone-style wines, not-inexpensive but worth it. Bought a few bottles.Dubost Ranch (http:\/\/www.dubostwine.com) - Nice setting, palatable if pedestrian red\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37875,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/23\/much-paso-robles-wine-tasting.html","url_meta":{"origin":8025,"position":1},"title":"Much Paso Robles wine tasting …","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 23-Jun-13 4:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Much Paso Robles wine tasting has ensued. Full report... in a few days. #invinosleepitas","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21365,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/29\/koa-2012-recap.html","url_meta":{"origin":8025,"position":2},"title":"KOA 2012 Recap","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Jun-11 9:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So last weekend was our annual KOA \"Kleerup Organized Activity\" (vs Kampgrounds Of America) camp-out back in California. We ate, we drank, we slept in tents, and we overall had a great time ... Weather: \u00a0We've been camping up at Lake San Antonio in Monterey Co. (on the inland side,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2437,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/06\/25\/travelogue_7.html","url_meta":{"origin":8025,"position":3},"title":"Travelogue","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 25-Jun-02 5:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"We got off to the airport on time, despite the usual last-second flurry o' stuff. About a year ago I started building a \"Going on a Trip\" checklist on my...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10820,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/06\/24\/wine_tasting.html","url_meta":{"origin":8025,"position":4},"title":"Wine Tasting","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 24-Jun-07 4:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Stan, Margie, Ginger at Gray Wolf, Paso Robles....","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1203\/615659446_0e34329734.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10809,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/06\/27\/winetasting_in_paso_roble.html","url_meta":{"origin":8025,"position":5},"title":"Winetasting in Paso Robles","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 27-Jun-07 7:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, the rest of the trip was a lot of fun, too.\u00a0 Let's get to the nitty-gritty. 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