the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem

[rone]

Of course, the problem with that is that you can rephrase the problem in such a way that it's no longer a problem.  Blink twice if you understood that.

Anyway, the original problem could be that it is impossible for me to show restraint in the face, er, taste of wine.  Before our trip, Kim and i agreed that we would only buy wine that blew us away.  So how did we end up with 22 bottles of wine?  Is there truly that much great wine in the Paso Robles area?  Did visiting 11 wineries in two days overwhelm our gustation and diminish our judgement?  Are there evil wine gnomes sitting on our shoulders, whispering irresistible suggestions?

I'm going with "gnomes".

Anyway, here's the wine, in order of winery visited:

• York Mountain 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon (5 bucks!  could be crap by now, but `91 was a good year, so it's an easy gamble; we've been advised to let it breathe 90-120 minutes)
• Linne Calodo 2003 Problem Child (mostly zinfandel)
• Opolo 2003 Grand Rouge (mostly counoise; 2 bottles)
• Norman 2003 Vino Rosado (60% grenache, 40% syrah; a gift for my mother-in-law)
• Norman 2002 Old Vine Zinfandel
• Norman 2002 Mephistopheles™ Zinfandel
• Halter Ranch 2002 Estate Syrah (they'd opened their tasting room a mere four weeks ago; the grounds are beautiful and the service was warm.  they only have three wines right now [two syrahs and a syrah-heavy blend, all good], but they'll have more next year, including a couple of cabs)
• Justin 2003 Justification (69% cabernet franc, 31% merlot)
• Justin 2002 Isosceles (mostly cabernet sauvignon; "That's a right triangle, you moron!" "D'oh!")
• Wild Horse 2003 Blaufrankisch (a German grape you'll not find elsewhere in California)
• Wild Horse 2002 Cheval Sauvage Pinot Noir
• Wild Horse 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon
• Wild Horse 2003 Tempranillo (we joined the wine club to get this, as well as next year's négrette, as it ran out a little while ago [curses])
• Martin & Weyrich 2000 Il Palio Sangiovese (which i've had before)
• Eberle 2002 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
• EOS 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon
• EOS 2001 Zinfandel Port
• EOS 2003 Tears of Dew Late Harvest Moscato (tasting this after a series of average muscats was sublime)
• Tobin James 2003 James Gang Reserve Zinfandel
• Tobin James 2003 Liquid Love Late Harvest Zinfandel
• Tobin James 2003 Charisma (i forgot what was in it; we bought it as an anniversary gift for palecur and amywithani, and they already picked it up, so i can't check)

Most of the above were recommended by the fine folks in wine and in_vino_veritas.  Linne Calodo, Norman, Eberle, and Tobin James had canine greeters, which is a plus for any winery.  We probably could've skipped the Problem Child, but the `01 was so good, it deserved another chance.  I walked away without the two wines i expressly wanted to purchase on this trip: Wild Horse's négrette (which was sold out) and York Mountain's black muscat (which sold out six months ago and will no longer be made because the source vineyards were ripped up and the land was turned into housing [WTFF!!!!]).  I wish we'd had the chance to pick up a bottle of Turley's charbono, but we tested the limits of our endurance, monetarily and toxicologically, as it was.  I noticed that the wineries on the west side of 101 had, on average, more expensive wines than the ones on the east side (Justin and Linne Calodo would fit in, pricewise, at Napa).  We saw a lot of roussanne, but none of them are worth mentioning.

In the future, i think we really ought to stick to four wineries per day, topping out at five only if it's a one-day trip.  Even with sharing one tasting instead of having one each, pouring stuff out, and drinking plenty of water, we definitely got wine fatigue.  At Tobin James, our final winery, my mouth was fuzzed out by tannins and no amount of miniature breadsticks and water could fully clear them out (their wines all had the most amazing nose, though).  And now, the final challenge is finding space for all this damn wine!

Comments

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

And now, the final challenge is finding space for all this damn wine!

Ehh, kick out one of the kids and turn their room into the wine cellar. Isn't one of them old enough to be out of the house anyway?

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

All are technically "old enough".

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

Well, then it's a matter of deciding who goes first. "Sorry, honey. We need to put the wine somewhere!" ;)

Sounds like a great weekend, BTW. I'd love to do that sort of thing with tongodeon.

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

You guys would have fun! You could ride your motorcycles along those country roads. I can imagine that would be very enjoyable. Sometimes, in the tasting rooms, we see leather clad riders come in and taste. It's like Easy Rider meets Sideways. Whooooot!

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha. When I'm riding, I allow myself ONE drink every other hour. With tasting, though, you're only taking a few sips here and there, but if I really like the wine, I get greedy. Could be hard to restrain myself. :)

I wonder how many bottles we can fit in tongodeon's Givi cases (http://www.sporttour.com/luggage/givi/e-36-case.htm) ...

[tongodeon.livejournal.com]

We'll be finding out how many bottles of Havana Club I can fit in my Givi cases the next time we ride to Canada.

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure they have Havana Club in Mexico as well.

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

You could always go with us sometime. Then if you run out of room in the cases, I have plenty of overflow space in the back of my Passat wagon.

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

So you can drive off with our wine? I DON'T THINK SO! :-P

[tongodeon.livejournal.com]

The problem with drinking and motorcycles is drunk people on motorcycles.

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

Same with drunk people in cars, except that motorcycle riders are perhaps more vulnerable.

When we do a tasting, we share so that we aren't tempted to drink too much. It usually amounts to two ample sips each. If, after the first sip, we know we don't like the wine, or like it so much we don't need a second drink, we dump the rest. This way, we can get through several tastings without getting tipsy.

Until you meet this woman:


This is the evil woman pouring at the Tobin James tasting room. She kept pouring and pouring and pouring. And she was so nice and interesting to talk to. A very fine sales woman, indeed. You gotta watch out for people like her. We met her male counterpart at A Dozen Vintner's in Calistoga. Both times, Ron and I had to walk it off after the tasting, giggling at each other because of our tipsiness.

Too drunk to drive after wine tasting? Take a hike, or a nap. Either works for us.