Monday, December 3, 2012

RESOURCES (PART II) FOR PLANNING TOURS & TASTINGS ©


Here are more of the sources and descriptions for helping you enjoy the Central Coast mentioned in Part I, a recent post.   

          Central Coast Winegrowers Association (ccwga.org) - Over 200 wineries from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties are affiliated with this organization. Primarily an education and best practices innovation resource for vintners and viticulturalists, they do offer some events of public interest. They also promote understanding of the industry and offer seminars of interest to even the hobby wine maker.

            San Luis Obispo Vintners Association (SLOwine.com) - This group promotes what is locally referred to as "south county" (Paso being "north"), and the focus is from Cambria and down the coastal area and inland wineries around SLO and Arroyo Grande. With twenty nine current members - including the Cal Poly wine program's winery - it is a great area for lovers of Pinot Noir. Nearly everyone in the group makes Pinot, as opposed to Paso where higher temperatures limit vineyards that can be used for that variety. Since the hours and availability of public tasting vary, plus the much less dense winery population over a large area, be sure to check the web for making your plans.

            Monterey Vintners & Growers Association (montereywines.org) – Includes 40 members of the approximately 85 wineries in the county. This is a great source of information on the unique aspects of the AVA (and the various subsets) as well as for travel tips for this very popular area. One feature is "Three Perfect Days" a long weekend type of getaway that is pre-planned to maximize all the area has to offer, including great food, a world class aquarium and lots of delicious wines, spas and a wide selection of lodging options.

            S.B. County Vintners Assn (sbcountywine.scom) - There are 111 wineries, some of which double dip into the Paso Robles PRWCA as well. The area is so active, large and diverse that there are subsets in the region, as noted below. It is easy to spend a day or several in such clusters as Lompoc, Santa Ynez or north county for example. A popular weekend getaway location, the region has a wide variety of hotels, spas and restaurants to chose from and a (usually) quick drive from L.A.

            Urban Wine Trail (urbanwinetrail.com) - This is a group of 16 wineries is located in downtown Santa Barbara. They offer a way to do a walking tour of the town while enjoying wines, some of which also have tasting rooms at the actual winery location and others who have production facilities in town.

            Foxen Canyon Wine Trail (foxencanyonwinetrail.com) - This group includes nineteen wineries north of Hwy 246 and east of Hwy 101. I had difficulty in making the mapping feature work, it isn't a map per se but a Map Quest linkage to the listed wineries, showing individual wineries vs. the entire trail. It may be easier to check the site for wineries of interest and then go to their individual web page for details and directions.

Stay tuned for Part III - More regions, outside of but on the way to, the Central Coast and more resources for general wine touring suggestions and information.

Villicana Clarification


I meant to edit the last paragraph of my prior post on the grape based brandy offerings from Villicana. Just to avoid confusion, the idea they have regarding planting rye as a vineyard cover crop would not become a rye based spirit. They are only allowed to make products from grape juice. The rye in this case, as with any botanical products, could only be used as a flavoring ingredient but not used to produce alcohol as is done with rye based whiskey.
My apologies for any confusion.