Wow, we are really behind on these posts… our time on the Central Coast of California was way back in MARCH! However, we remember that experience as if it were yesterday (which, at this point, is a minor miracle — we are constantly asking each other which thing happened at which campground at what point in time). We had been to Napa Valley a long time ago (pre-Chase), and really enjoyed our time there (especially the part where we snagged a reservation at The French Laundry!).
This time around, over two decades later, we enjoyed Napa less. It felt much more built up and exclusive— the tastings were expensive and less accessible. Plus, since then, we’ve realized that we’re not really red wine drinkers…and Napa is all about the reds! We did find one fabulous tasting room in downtown Napa—Rebel Vintners—where we asked the owner if it would be possible to do a tasting focused on whites and roses. He took us up on the challenge, and we spent a lovely rainy Sunday tasting a delicious range of their non-red wines while we played a very competitive game of Scrabble (Andrew won, as usual).
On the other hand, we loved the Paso Robles/San Luis Obispo area. First of all, our campground Sun Outdoors Paso Robles was one of the nicest ones we’ve experienced. The layout was terrific, the sites nicely spaced, the amenities fabulous, and the views extraordinary. Plus, because it was early in the season, the place was pretty deserted—felt like we had it all to ourselves! It was a terrific home base for exploring the region.
One of the things we make sure to do in a new area is to visit their farmers’ markets. San Luis Obispo’s Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market was terrific — they block off a whole section of downtown for farm and food vendors and entertainers. One of the highlights of that evening was watching the students from Cal Poly College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences show off their knowledge and demonstrate (very loud) farm machinery!
In Paso Robles, we discovered a very cool area called Tin City that is home to a number of wine, cider, and beer tasting rooms (thankfully, they also offer food). At Tin City, we enjoyed a tasting of California whites from Monochrome Wines. And since the tasting is free if you purchase bottles of wine…we had to buy some!
After our experience in wine regions like California and Arizona, we’ve realized that the downtown tasting rooms are the way to go for us. There’s often a wider range of wines (Rebel features the wines of three different groups), the experience can be very personal, and some of the tasting rooms have really fun and funky vibes. For instance, woman-owned Cottonwood, AZ Tantrum Wines has created a tasting room that feels like a 1950’s parlor, and Cellar 433 across the street from Tantrum is currently tarot-card themed. In both places, we were the only patrons in the place, which meant lots of great chatting time with folks who were experts not only in wine, but in the local area.