SLO Wine Harvest Festival

Took off the morning of Friday, November 7, 2014 for Avila Beach. Tried to consider Friday morning work traffic with the need to be in Buellton about noon Got on the road about 8:40 and was in Buellton by noon. Had two wine pickups to make today as these wineries would not be open on Wednesday when I planned on doing all my pickups. With really good, cold nights and decent daytime temps I would not have to haul the cases of wine into my room, on the 4th floor of the resort. Had time to stop at Trader Joes in Arroyo Grande to get a few items to last me a couple of days. Everything is going good today. Had time to check in, clean up and rest for a ferw minutes before heading back down the road to the Sycamore for dinner at the Gardens of Avila.

Wine reception was held at 5:30 and we were seated at 6:15 for dinner. Sat at Mike Sinor's table, he is the wine maker at Ancient Peaks and has his own label, Sinor-LaValle. We had the noisiest table in the room. 5 women and Mike. Two of the women were out from the south, Kentucky, Alabama or someplace. Came out for a wedding and they were in a parteeeee mood.. All wines at this dinner were from the San Luis Obispo County. They had decided to brown bag the wines and have a contest to see which table won.

Started out with a Garden Squash Soup, Brown Butter, Crisp Sage and See Canyon Apple This to me was the the best of the meal. Good flavor. The wine was a 2013  Ancient Peaks Blanco.Muscat and Chardonnay. I guessed the muscat but could not pick up on the Chard.

Salad was just a salad. Pepper Creek Farms Greens, Cranberries, Walnuts, Bay Blue Cheese and a Persimmon  Vinaigrette. Ok but nothing special. Paired with a 2012 Clairbourne and Churchill Estate  Riesling. Good wine. They also spelled Riesling wrong on the menu.

Next dish was a Sunburst Ravioli, Artichoke Kale Puree, Farm Egg Yolk, Servecchio and Sungold Tomatoes. This had the makings of a really good dish but it was served barely warm. Kitchen screwed up on this one. Wine was a 2012 Baileyana Halcon Rojo, Pinot Noir. Fruity Pinot. I frankly thought it was a Grenache.

Main course was presented. Braised Short Ribs, Glazed Purple Haze Carrots, Potato Emulsion and Natural Gravy. Everything was great about this dish, meat was tender, good flavor but oh so much salt. Ruined the dish for me. Paired with a 2012 Saucelito Canyon Estate Reserve Zinfandel., Very good pairing but I just could not get past the salt.

Dessert was interesting. Lemon Verbena Creme Brulee, Anise Hysopp Short Bread, Fig Jam, Flowers and mints. The brulee was very good. The shortbread was hard to break a piece off, fig jam had good flavor. Wine was a 2008 Center of Effort Chardonnay. So damm oaky. I did not even taste it. The oak smell was enough to turn me off.

It could have been a really great dinner but so many flaws. Company was good and that made up for the shortcomings.

Next day, Saturday was the festival on the grounds of the golf course next to the resort. Lots of wine and food, A cool day but very pleasant, Some fog this morning but it did burn off. Ran into  people I knew, they were staying at the resort also. Had happy hour with them in their room Saturday night. They were leaving Sunday and I will be here until Thursday.

Sunday was open house at all the wineries in SLO county. Heavy fog in the morning and It was not burning off. When I got to the Edna Valley about 1:00 the fog was hanging a little bit in the Valley. The coast was socked in. Only went to two places. I was wined out and I also knew where ever I went I would buy. So I was good almost. Bought 6 bottles at Sinor-LaValle and 6 bottles at Wolff.

The whole week was fogged in and cold. Did not go into Paso Robles. Did some Christmas shopping, hung out a few days at the Taste of The Valley Wine Bar in Pismo Beach. Was good. Only bought 5 wines here and 2 were for Terry.

Had a meal at Yanagi in Pismo Beach. A sushi bar. Ok but not overly great. Passable. Did hear about another sushi place in Pismo and will try that next year. Also did a dinner at Custom House in Avila., They are OK, nothing spectaculor\. I probably should have gone down to the Old Port Inn on the pier but you really could not see anything because of the fog.

Did have a decent dinner at Giuseppes just a few feet away from Taste of The Valley. They have a good menu but I opted to do appy's. I ordered a half bottle of 2010 Damilano, Levinguevigue Barolo. Decent but not exceptional. Maybe I should had ordered a glass of Stolpman Sangiovese. I would have been happier. Started out with a basket of bread and a dish with grated parmesan cheese and chopped garlic. They then stirred in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This was a really big hit with me. Then I ordered the Stuffed Mushrooms. Five mushrooms topped with cheese sitting in a cheese garlic sauce. This was good. I soppped up the sauce with the bread. Next was a Beef Carpaccio. The meat might have been good but it was covered with halved cherry tomatoes, and greens. On top pf the carpaccio was a lemon dijon sauce with capers, shaved parmesan and balsamic. I want my carpaccio plain so I can taste the meat. Put all the other stuff on the side so I can decide what I want to eat with it. A big disappointment. I then ordered a plate of Spinach Gnocchi. This was excellent but I did not consider it an appetizer. The portion was large. Had them box it up and took it with me. Ended up eating the balance Thursday afternoon when I got home.

This was a good trip, relaxing because I did not go and push myself. The fog kept me from doing a lot. Left Avila about 7:10 in the morning and got back to my place about 11:30. Traffic bogged down to a crawl between Desoto and the 405 fwy. At 10:00 in the morning you would have thought this was late afternoon work traffic.

Have a dinner tonight at Delius - looking forward to it. Next week 3 wine dinners scheduled.