Thoughts of a Middle Aged Man

We made another trip up north to pick up my wine shipment from Tablas Creek this last weekend. We left Friday evening and stopping for a quick meal in Camarillo, we made it to San Luis Obispo relatively early. We have some generous friends who lent us their condo that they bought in town with the intent to retire there, but currently it is empty except for two beds, a dining room table and wireless internet access. What else do you need?

Thanks to my niece’s recommendation, who is going to college in town, we started Saturday with a nice breakfast at Louisa’s Place, a very small cafe in the main part of town. My niece didn’t lead us wrong, the breakfast was a wonderful meal of home made corn beef hash, and a great big feather light biscuit. It was a nice base for the wine tasting we did in Edna Valley, a wine area just south of SLO. We hit 4 wineries, with only one showing some quality wines. The last time here, we went to Claiborne and Churchill and like the wines they had. We went back and tasted more and found they make some great Alsacean style wines. The Dry Riesling and Gewürztraminer were outstanding. Red wines from grapes from the valley were non descript and not worth recommending. Whites seem to do better in the relatively cool climate, so if you see Edna Valley on the label, stay with whites and look farther south or north for reds.

A quick nap back at the condo and then we were off to Paso Robles. In town we stopped at Edward Sellers tasting room. A new winery specializing in Rhone style wines and the guy knows what he is doing. Good full bodied wines that will age, but are drinkable now. Up the hill we hit Tablas Creek for their wine tasting and food paring. The food was good, but we missed the stew they served last time. This time the hit was the Elk. A drive back to SLO and a good night’s sleep made for a pleasant drive back home. We did make one stop Sunday at the Magic Castle in LA for Brunch as we were invited to join our friends and his Greek family for a family meal. Think “Everybody Loves Raymond” meets “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” An entertaining end to a wonderful weekend.