Paso Robles Recommendations

I'm planning a visit to Paso with wine savvy friends second weekend in June and have a (short) list of wineries we want to visit. Only one, Tablas Creek, is unanimous; not unexpected. I've proposed a fairly diverse list which includes Tablas Creek, Lone Madrone, Calcareous, Opolo, Hug, Barrel 27/McPrice Myers and Paso Port. There are some other suggestions including Jada, Turley, Daou, Epoch, Halter Ranch, and Roxo Port.

I'm trying to plan the trip so that we have tasting appointments at two or three wineries per day (e.g. Reserve Tasting at Tablas Creek) including one that either has a wine and food option (e.g. Opolo) or allows a picnic so that we get some food in the middle of the day without having to go back into Paso. If time permits we might fit in "belly up to the tasting bar" visits at one or two others along the way/day, but I'm trying to limit us to a max of 5 wineries/day as we do have dinner reservations in the evening with some excellent (non-Paso) wines.

Does anyone have any comments on the plan and/or suggestions as to which wineries are must visits as well as overrated. We are more interested in getting an idea of the spectrum of the better Paso wines as opposed to visiting all those that just make Rhone style, or big Zins/Syrah, or have great views etc.

Thanks,
Mike

[Jenise]

Mike, hardly an expert on Paso AND it has been awhile since I was there. That said, I can endorse Tablas, Halter Creek and Hug. I also liked Pipestone quite a bit for the charm of the location, the wines and the mom-and-pop owners/winemakers. I have no experience with the others you mention except Opolo, and I have to admit I don't have a favorable impression of them. A friend used to belong to their club and therefore the wines showed up often at various functions--and they were always jammy and overripe. Unless their direction has changed, and I acknowledge it could have, in spite of your admirable desire to cover the spectrum, Opolo strikes me as too, oh, crowd-pleasing a style to reward your time.

Agree with Janice on Pipestone. Also, and many will expect, we recommend Tobin James if only because they have the best tasting room I've ever been in.

[Jenise]

Ah, I have had a Daou:

http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50119&p=411553#p411553

Villa Creek wines and restaurant were both impressive. Great views from the Daou winery, but they don't pour their top wines (only for members).

Still planning the Paso trip.

Anyone know much about Booker, Denner or Linne Calodo?

Thanks,
Mike

[Jenise]

Mike, I'm not familiar with the first two but 'Linne Colado' was one of the don't-miss wineries everyone I respect raved about and that I had to miss anyway (lack of time) on our last trip to Paso.

Mike, I'm not familiar with the first two but 'Linne Colado' was one of the don't-miss wineries everyone I respect raved about and that I had to miss anyway (lack of time) on our last trip to Paso.

Jenise,

Thanks. Just set up a tasting at Linne Calodo. We have tastings at L'Adventure, PasoPort, Calcareous, Tablas Creek, Lone Madrone, and Linne Calodo plus probably bellying up to the tasting bar at Hug, Barrel 27/McPrice Myers, Turley and Paso Underground, and a few others if time permits

Mike

Hey Mike - a little late to the party here (just got posting privileges). The TR you have set up are solid (IMHO) but I'm a he fan of emerging stars as well. Thus I'd respectfully offer / consider -

Nicora - Nick Elliiot is making wonderful rhone style wines. His web page is http://www.nicorawine.com

Booker - Eric Jensen has been hitting home-runs for a long while now (less emerging - more All-Star!!). Web page http://www.bookerwines.com

Since you're on Anderson Road - think about Brian Benson as well. Web page http://www.brianbensoncellars.com

Law Estates - Scott Hawley (Torrin wines - if they had a TR you would have to go there!!) makes the juice and makes it well. Web page is http://www.lawestatewines.com

Clos Selene - love the story and the wines are highly rated (though I've yet to jump in and try / buy, I'd very much like to!!) Web page http://www.clossolene.com

Herman Story is a winner.

Linne is top shelf all the way.

Get your CC ready

Best

Michael

[Robin Garr]

Hey Mike - a little late to the party here (just got posting privileges).

Great first post, Michael! I didn't even have time to step up and give you your personalized monogrammed wine mug!

Seriously, welcome to the forum, and special thanks for jumping right in with a helpful post.

Hey Mike - a little late to the party here (just got posting privileges). The TR you have set up are solid (IMHO) but I'm a he fan of emerging stars as well. Thus I'd respectfully offer / consider -

Nicora - Nick Elliiot is making wonderful rhone style wines. His web page is http://www.nicorawine.com

Booker - Eric Jensen has been hitting home-runs for a long while now (less emerging - more All-Star!!). Web page http://www.bookerwines.com

Since you're on Anderson Road - think about Brian Benson as well. Web page http://www.brianbensoncellars.com

Law Estates - Scott Hawley (Torrin wines - if they had a TR you would have to go there!!) makes the juice and makes it well. Web page is http://www.lawestatewines.com

Clos Selene - love the story and the wines are highly rated (though I've yet to jump in and try / buy, I'd very much like to!!) Web page http://www.clossolene.com

Herman Story is a winner.

Linne is top shelf all the way.

Get your CC ready

Best

Michael

Michael, many thanks. We will try to fit some of your suggestions in.

Mike

Hey Mike,

How'd it go? Any favorites from the trip??

Cheers,

Michael

Hey Mike,
How'd it go? Any favorites from the trip??
Cheers,
Michael

Exceptionally good experience of wine and food. Paso has grown considerably in my estimation. Due to an unforeseen situation we didn't get to as many wineries as we might have liked although we did get to those where I had organized tastings. The unforeseen situation was due to someone (who shall remain nameless - not me) telling the wineries I had selected that we had a winemaker (who wanted to remain nameless) in our group and to treat us well. That meant that the wineries were expecting the winemaker to turn up with his group and me with mine. Confusing to say the least. But it did result in several lengthy discussions between winemakers, often laced with slang and abbreviations that only winemakers seem to understand! But we did get to see a few wines in barrel that we would not have seen.

Best all round winery: Tablas Creek (no surprise)
Best wine: Tablas Creek 2010 Esprit de Beaucastel (although I preferred the Panoplie)
Biggest surprise: L'Adventure (the Côte á Côte is as seductive as a wine can get)
Biggest let down: Where is the QPR? (Admittedly we were tasting at the top end but even so it was hard to see how some of the wines can justify their prices)

If I can find the time, I'll try to post more detail later.

Mike

Thanks Mike for the follow-up.

There's definitely been growth with both the intended and of course, unforeseen consequences. Many great winemakers are combining the best of the weather, dirt, topography, and clones to craft world class juice.
And as I'm also in the camp that has Paso growing tremendously and in some instances, too much so, I wish some of the pricing was more reflective of the earlier years. Some big money has moved in and now you see bike racing jerseys, comforters, and sweatshirts all with logos in the "Tasting Room / Merchandise Shoppe"! Often, the Staff knows only what is written in the TN on display. Sad deal IMHO. On the plus side, there are wonderful culinary opportunities that didn't exist 5-10 years ago and then there's always that amazing elixir terra uvae sucus...vinum....

I need to spend more Paso time rather than just driving in and picking up shipments....

Cheers

Hi Mike,

I have been to Tablas Creek and Turley in Paso Robles. I concur with the consensus on Tablas Creek. My tasting experience there was exceptional. Very accommodating and knowledgeable staff plus great wines. Turley was also nice, but they made you buy a glass for the tasting while I was there. If you want to buy some of their zins then by all means go, but they are more crowd oriented in my experience than Tablas Creek. The main advantage of tasting at Turley is that the waiting list to get on their mailing list (at that time in 2009) was over 6 months. So, the only way to get some of their wines was to go taste at the winery. Excellent zins, but some were very high alcohol (> 15%).