The weekend of Oct. 14-16 is Harvest Wine Weekend in the varied sub-appellation areas
surrounding Paso Robles. The final major event on the Paso Robles Wine Country
Alliance schedule for 2016, it is an unstructured opportunity to pick what
you'd like to do at 140 wineries in the area. From dinners and various more
casual daily food events, to music and art, there is bound to be something for
you to enjoy.
The local Cabs
of Distinction will hold a Grand Tasting at the Allegretto Vineyard
Resort. Offering more than seventy wines made with Bordeaux varietals, it is a
perfect kickoff to your weekend, running from 4 to 6 the afternoon of the 14th.
Small bites are included and most participating wineries are represented by
owners or winemakers. Details to this and what the wineries are doing for this
special three days can be found via the PRWCA web site, pasowine.com. You can
search by day, winery or activity or scroll through the full alphabetical
listing. Where tickets are involved, information is on the individual web sites
shown on the details pages.
November 11-13 is the weekend for
the 6th rendition of that barrel of monkeys known as the Garagiste Festival. Some great background to this group, the
garage band of winemaking, is on their website californiagaragistes.com, which
also gives you the opportunity to sign up for "The Dirt" newsletter
and to purchase tickets. My review of last year's event is in the archives of
this blog.
There are over
200 wines and more than 60 producers of small lot and hard to find wines being
poured. Friday night features a dinner at the Carlton Hotel in Atascadero.
Saturday starts with a morning seminar from 11 to 12:30 at the Paso Robles
Event Center, where the remaining events will take place. The panel will
discuss "Illegal Blends" that test the boundaries of tradition. The
Main Event tasting runs from 2 to 5 with the always fun After Party kicking off
at 5:30. Hope to see you there. Also check into the free-wheeling Sunday
options as many of those pouring on Saturday are putting out the welcome mat at
their wineries.
