This was the 20th annual Zinfandel Festival weekend in Paso Robles. Lots of activities at wineries, with the big Zin Tasting and Wine Country Auction on Saturday night. We got in a little early, witnessed some of the set-up as well as the CHP officer addressing the pourers about how to deal with overindulging festival attendees.
Per the website, these were the participating wineries:
Adelaida Cellars
Ancient Peaks Winery
AronHill Vineyards
Arroyo Robles Winery
Bianchi Winery
*Bon Niche Cellars
Calcareous Vineyard
Castoro Cellars
Cayucos Cellars
*Clavo Cellars
*Croad Vineyards
*Cypher Winery
*DAOU Vineyards
Eberle Winery
Eos Estate Winery
Gelfand Vineyards
Grey Wolf Vineyards & Cellars
*J Dusi Wines
J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines
Kenneth Volk Vineyards
Le Vigne Winery
Lone Madrone
Midnight Cellars
Minassian-Young Vineyards
Opolo Vineyards
*Peachy Canyon Winery
*Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery
Proulx
*Ranchita Canyon Vineyard
Rotta Winery
*Roxo Port Cellars
Sculpterra Winery & Vineyard
Sextant Wines
*Stacked Stone Cellars
*Still Waters Vineyards
*Thacher Winery
Treana and Hope Family Wines
Villicana Winery
*Westberg Cellars
Wild Coyote Estate Winery
Zenaida Cellars
*While I didn’t taste at nearly enough of them, my favorites of the ones I tasted are marked above with an asterisk.
There was also an entire section devoted to dessert wines.
And speaking of desserts, the food [including the desserts] provided by the various culinary partners was as good as the wine. My favorites were from:
Apple Farm [desserts]
Panolivo [desserts]
Two Little Birds Bakery [desserts]
Cattaneo Brothers Beef Jerky & Sausage [sausages]
Odyssey World Café [penne pesto pasta]
And special kudos to…
RB Smokin BBQ for outstanding ribs,
Robert’s Restaurant for delicious pork belly,
and Robin’s Restaurant for lamb grilled naan pizzetta that made me want to make a long-overdue return visit to Cambria, where Robin’s is based.
A great way to spend a “dark and stormy night”.
But the night wouldn’t have been complete without sharing a bottle of Turley Cinsault with Mike Ortiz in the hotel lobby before turning in.
To be continued….(Part 4, the final chapter, will run on May 5)
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.