Tolosa Wines and Arte Cafe

 Friday, June 25, 2021

Not sure why Richard keeps having these wine dinners on Friday nights.  Really prefer the old day of Thursday. I expected the place to be packed and it was only about half full and part of that was due to a band playing on the outside patio.  Tolosa is a winery in the Edna Valley area inland from Pismo Beach. Take Price Canyon Road out of Pismo, drive 20 minutes and the valley opens up.  A lot of good wineries in the area. 

Dina the wine rep was there with her "board" of information. But no raffle prizes. Maybe a new trend ?  Also noticed that the waitstaff was not as generous in the pouring of the first wine. Usually we end up with 2 to 3 glasses of the cheaper offering. Today only one unless you stood up and flagged someone down. Maybe they are trying to keep the price of dinners down to make them more attractive to more people. Tonight's dinner is $65,  4 courses and dessert , 4 wines.  With inflation setting in I can understand. You still have to have that margin of profit to stay in business. Cut back or raise prices. 

Started out with a Shrimp Kabob with mushrooms,. zucchini, celery. Excellent flavors but my shrimp was just this side of raw.  Tail was pink but flesh was still grey. If the waitstaff had not been running ragged I would had sent it back. But I have eaten raw shrimp before.  A 2018 Tolosa "No Oak" Chardonnay was the wine selection. I have had this wine at the winery before and really liked it but tonight if the bottle had not had "no oak" on the label I would put money on it that it was barrel fermented. It smelled and tasted oaky to me. Made me wonder if there was  a label mix up at bottling. 

Second course is a Mediterranean watermelon salad with greens and Feta cheese.  Very good   and a nice refreshing taste after the rich shrimp kabob. Paired with a 2019 Tolosa Rose of Pinot Noir. Nice, very slightly sweet wine. More on the dry side but not overly. Went very well the with watermelon and feta.

Third course is a Spicy Chicken Flatbread. It had a bit of a bite to it but not much. Loads of flavor. A 2017 Tolosa, Edna Ranch. Syrah was poured.  A good pairing.

Main is steak with garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. Good flavors but nothing special.  Richard said the steak was a New York but I have big doubts on that.  A 2016 Perinet, Priorat,  Red Blend,  (Merlot, Syrah, Grenache and Carignan). Apparently Tolosa has bought this winery in Spain.  It was a nice wine and went  with the beef.

Dessert is a Brownie with a cream sauce and a light custard. A bit dry, I did not finish mine. Was not impressed. 

OK dinner, decent wines, good company so no real complaints.