WINE IN THE PINES
June 11, 2011
On Saturday, June 11th, while many of you were enjoying the L.A. Winefest, I headed North for the 1-hour drive to Pine Mountain Club to enjoy Wine In The Pines (www.wineinthepines.com). Unfortunately, my wife Karen was unable to accompany me, so I was joined by DiMaggio Washington of The Cellar Wine Bar & Restaurant.
Wine In The Pines is one of my favorite events. Not only is the wine terrific and the food delicious, but I defy you to find a more beautiful venue anywhere!
The wineries and food purveyors were an excellent representation of Central Coast producers…
Wineries:
Arroyo Robles
Autry Cellars
Brucher Winery/Golden Bear Winery
Byron Winery
Cambria Winery
Christian Lazo Wines
Costa de Oro Winery
Dave Dean Cellars
Herman Story
Hug Cellars
Lafond Winery
Laetitia Vineyard & Winer
McKeon-Phillips Winery (booth was in memoriam to Ardison Phillips who passed away on June 1)
Melville Winery
Oso Libre Winery
Rancho Sisquoc
Rio Seco Vineyard & Winery
Riverbench Vineyard and Winery
San Liege Wines
Stanger Vineyards
Summerwood
Vaquero Cellars
Vines on the Marycrest
Vista del Rey Vineyards
Tolosa Winery
Chien Tachete
Tejon Ranch (debuted their Zin and Cab)
Stanger Vineyards
Santa Maria Brewing
Shanty Irish Brewing Company
FOOD:
Cafe Med (Bakersfield, CA)
Hitching Post (Casmalia, CA)
Trattoria Ulivetto (Orcutt, CA)
Chef Rick’s (Santa Maria, CA)
Rooney’s Irish Pub (Orcutt, CA)
Santa Ynez Olive Oil (Santa Ynez, CA)
Pine Mountain Pizza (Pine Mtn Club, CA)
While the event is popular and it was fairly crowded, lines were short and I was able to visit almost all of the winery tables. I enjoyed them all, but the standouts for me that day were:
Herman Story
Sans Liege
Stanger
Vines on the Marycrest
The food was great as well. I especially enjoyed the selection of pizzas provided by Pine Mountain Pizza, the chicken in pita by Café Med, and the meatballs from Trattoria Ulivetto.
There was also a country band playing in the Gazebo, Von Cotton (www.voncotton.com). Per Clarice Smith, co-chair of the Wine In The Pines event: “They are a great group of guys who travel with us (Kern County Wounded Heroes). We will be visiting Balboa Naval Hospital on June 23, to BBQ for our wounded heroes and their families.” They certainly added a festive element to the event, as well as getting many people up on the dance floor.
Michael Perlis provides outsourced controller services to businesses that do not need a full-time controller. He balances this with his interest in wine: reading and writing about it and, of course, drinking it. He is still trying to figure out how to combine these two pursuits. Feel free to contact him about either at mcpfinancial@aol.com or michaelthezinfan@aol.com.
