Dubost Ranch – Paso Robles Wine

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We made an appointment to go see Dubost Ranch. Kate Dubost was glad to have us and spent time telling us about their winery. This is a family-owned and operated winery. The Crew consists of Kate, her Husband Curt, and Son Jacob Raines. They are located way out on the West Side near Justin Vineyards. Dubost has a long history in Paso Robles. The winery is very interesting. The wall are made of hay that has then been faced with cement. This keeps the cellars temperature perfect.

Dubost produces wine and olive oil. Their wines consist of Grenache, a very nice Rose, Tempranillo, and Syrahs. These are very nice, handcrafted, limited quantity wines. It is well worth the drive to go visit Dubost.

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Four Vines Winery – Paso Robles

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We met Billy Grant, a partner at Four Vines Winery in town. Billy invited us to stop by his winery. We stopped in a saw Nicole who has a great knowledge of all things Four Vines. She expertly led us through the awesome selection of wines. The tasting room was extremely busy. They are obviously experts in customer retention. They have a rocking tasting room with funky apparel, glassware, and cool stuff.

They wine lines are called Four Vines with bottles like, Naked Chardonnay, Biker/Maverick/Killer Canyon Zinfandels. They also have the Freak Show line with Anarchy, Heretic, Loco labels.

They are on the Westside and they have a real nice gourmet deli out front right on Highway 46 West. This is great because there are not many places to get lunch on the Westside. Four Vines also has nice picnic area. You can get a sandwich, buy a glass of wine and sit outside and relax.

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J Dusi Wines – Paso Robles

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We had contacted Janell Dusi of the famous Dusi family and she invited us up to the Dusi Estate for a visit. This 80 year old estate is one of the most famous vineyards in Paso Robles. There is a long history of the Dusi family in Paso Robles. There are four generations of Dusi’s currently working the vineyards.

The Dusi Vineyards produces a most memorable grape. Because of the varying elevations, the different age of the vines, and the soil & weather differences, you will find different characteristics within the grapes on the estate. Many wineries buy from a specific location but others, like Janell’s own J Dusi Wine, select grapes from all regions of the estate to get a true Dusi character.

Most of the grapes are sold to producers like, Tobin James Cellars, Four Vines, and Turley. Janell Dusi has created her own wine. Consumer winemaking is not the norm for the Dusi family. The J Dusi wines are incredible (as I sip a glass of ’08 J Dusi Zin) – We are now proud members of the J Dusi Wine Club.

Thank you Janell for spending the time with us. We will remember sitting in the back yard tasting your wine.

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Buona Tavola – Northern Italian Cuisine in Paso Robles

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Tony Beecher

Today is Mary’s birthday. She picked her favorite Downtown Paso Robles restaurant, Buona Tavola –  - We ate here a few years ago and had a great meal. They have 2 restaurants; the other is in San Luis Obispo. Last time we were here we invented vanilla gelato with Tobin James Liquid Love on top. Liquid Love is a Late Harvest Zinfandel.

We started our meal with two glasses of Prosecco by Enrico. After that we each had a glass of Wild Horse Chardonnay that was perfect.

For starters we split a salad:

Insalata al cuore di Cesare - fresh hearts of romaine lettuce served with rosemary garlic croutons, and shaved parmesan cheese in a homemade Caesar dressing

The salad was very good. We were glad that we split the salad because it was big. It went very well with the Chardonnay.

I saw an interesting half bottle of wine on the menu, La Capilla Vineyards – by Daou – 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel Reserve. A very, very nice bottle of red.

I ordered the Tortelloni:

Tortelloni bufalina - homemade tortelloni stuffed with fresh mozzarella and finished in a light tomato sauce

Another winner! This was light and perfect.

Mary saw the Gnocchi on the menu and read no further:

Gnocchi Novaresi al pesto - homemade potato dumplings in a light creamy pesto sauce

This was delicious. The Gnocchi had the perfect texture and the sauce was great, not overpowering.

The restaurant wanted to give Mary a desert for her birthday. She was so stuffed that she could not eat anything else. Well.. The waiter showed up with a small glass of house-made Lemoncello. Oh My!!! The perfect ending to the perfect meal.

If you find yourself in downtown paso for dinner, stop in to Buona Tavola. They are located right next door to the Paso Robles Inn on the City Park.

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Dinner in Downtown Paso

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We decided to have cocktails at the Paso Robles Inn Bar. This is a rustic cowboy bar where a couple of people have actually ridden their horses up the stairs and burst into the bar. I had the best draught beer ever, a Firestone -Walker Double Barrel Pale Ale -I plan on visiting their brewery while we are here.

After cocktails we decided to walk through downtown to find a place for dinner. We found Lombari’s Pasta Familia – What a great place right on the City Park Square in Downtown Paso. We did not want a fancy meal since we will be celebrating Mary’s birthday tomorrow. There are plenty of great dining choices in Paso Robles. We looked at the menu and thought that this would be the perfect place.

We started with a bottle of Opolo – Sangiovese. This is a great Italian grape that has been produced very well in the Paso Robles region. On the menu was an appetizer called – Vegetarian Antipasto… What??? Check this out –> Layers of provolone topped with mixed greens, roasted red peppers, red onion, tomatoes, beets, artichoke hearts, pepperoncinis and our creamy Italian dressing. Oh Yes! This was incredible! But… it was huge, too. We finally had to stop eating it to leave room for the rest of the meal.

I ordered what I call a Green Margarita Pizza. This is the typical Margarita Pizza with a pesto base. This was a real treat because the crust was as thin and crunchy as a cracker. it was no thicker than a tortilla. When I get home I am going to try making a pizza with my tortilla press.

Mary ordered Fettuccini Alla Lombardi. According to the menu it was simply fettuccini with Alfredo sauce, fresh mushrooms and artichokes. Here comes my 8-inch perfect pizza and Mary’s 5 pound of pasta on a huge platter! When she was full it looked like she had not touched it.

Next, dessert was offered. They have a plate with some really gorgeous desserts but all we could do was hold our bellies and laugh. We will certainly be going back to Lombardi’s!

Well… 2 days later, we did go back to Lombardi’s! We had a large green margarita pizza ans a caprese and bruschetta appetizer. Another unbelievable meal! We never go to the same place twice on a visit but we had to, it was so good! Be sure to ask for Ashley and order a green margarita pizza!

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Twin Coyotes Winery at Zoller

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tony Beecher

While we were visiting Zoller Wine Stylings – http://www.zollerwinestyling.com – Steve Thompson, owner of Twin Coyotes Winery came in. Zoller produces and sells his wine. Steve poured his wines and explained his winemaking style. We especially enjoyed his Vermentino, an amazing fruity/floral wine. This wine will be outstanding with Thai food.

We thank Steve for spending the time with us. Steve Thompson is another typical Paso Robles Winemaker, a nice, friendly, soft-spoken man with a passion for wine.

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Zoller Wine Styling Visit

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We arrived at Zoller – http://www.zollerwinestyling.com – which was very nice since they are normally close today. We had met Signe Zoller at Yanni’s Bistro in Poway – http://YannisBistro.com – (I manage Yanni’s website) – Signe spent about an hour with us discussing the Paso wine lifestyle. Zoller specializes in crafting smaller lots of wine where the producers just can’t economically produce their own wine. Zoller assists them in creating their wines. Zoller also has a tasting room and offers these wines to customers.

About Signe Zoller – http://www.zollerwinestyling.com/who_we_are.php

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Barr Estate Winery Visit

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We went out and visited with Greg Barr at Barr Estates Vineyards. http://www.barrestatewines.com/ – We had met Greg and Tealy Barr at Yanni’s Bistro in Poway – http://YannisBistro.com – (I manage Yanni’s website) – We loved their wines and were really looking forward to visiting their property.

They are growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Albarino. We walked around the vineyard with Greg and received an education on Wine 101 – The quick course from Start to Harvest. We inspected the different varieties and discussed the grafting process. The Barr Estate Vineyard is gorgeous! They are located 7 miles east of Highway 101. The land consists of rolling hills. This is an 80 acre vineyard. Recently they have planted four Tuscan varieties of olives.

Barr Estates use Zoller Wine Styling http://www.zollerwinestyling.com to produce their wine. Zoller bottles and sells Barr Estate Wines at her tasting room. Greg called Signe Zoller and arranged for us to go meet her at her complex in downtown Paso Robles.

We thank Greg Barr for his hospitality and his willingness to share his knowledge with us. This is typical of the Paso Roble ‘People of the Grape!’

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Monday Morning in San Luis Obispo

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We had a good breakfast at the Embassy Suites. They provided a free shuttle to the San Luis Obispo Airport where we picked up our Avis car. When I got out to the lot to get in our Impala I saw a new 2011 Hyundai Sonata. I have been obsessing over this car and really wanted to drive it. I went back in and traded keys. MUCH more on that later this week.

We drove the long way through the hills to Paso. We were trying to find the French Camp Vineyards but it was hiding from us. We did get to drive through some incredible twisty bits of road as we snuck into Paso from the Southeast. We have an appointment with Barr Estate Vineyards but had time to head into town for lunch. We found a great little deli on the city square in downtown Paso. The place is called the Red Scooter Deli on Pine Street http://www.redscooterdeli.com/ – The actually have a little red scooter out front. The dudes working there were typically friendly and made a great sandwich.

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From San Diego to San Luis Obispo

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tony Beecher

We decided to take the train to Paso instead of driving up. It costs about the same as driving without the wear and tear on my body. We will rent a car in San Luis Obispo and drive it home.

The train ride was great. We went with the business class. We shared a 4 person seat with a Mom and her Son. He is going to UC Santa Barbara and they were going up for orientation. We had a great time.

The train follows the coastline for much of the trip. At times it sails along right on the beach! This is a very relaxing way to start a vacation.

I was able to catch up on podcasts, TV shows, and eBooks on my MacBook.

In San Luis Obispo we stayed at the Embassy Suites. We called and a driver came to the train station and picked us up. We tried to give him a tip but he refused. Wow!

We had dinner in the Green house Grill & Cafe at the hotel. What a treat! We expected just regular hotel food and drink. We got a great bottle of Tobin James Zinfandel. They had the very best garlic hummus and grilled pita bread. Mary had a perfect caprese salad and I had a salad with Stilton and Brie cheese with apples and cranberries. There was a cheese croquette the size of a huge meatball. The croquette had Stilton, Brie, and cranberries in it. It was an incredible meal. The server, Howard was the best. We really did not expect this level of excellence. What a great start to our vacation!

We are in a very nice 2-room suite. We pick up our rental car in the morning and start our quest.

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