Los Angeles to San Francisco - wine related tips?

Good afternoon,

After I received great recommendations for NY dining I thought I try my luck for our holiday in California next year. The wife insisted on renting an RV to drive from LA northwards (I hate those vehicles), so I negotiated a few wine related stops. Where could we go and do a few tastings? Any Restaurants that should not be missed on the way? We have about a week, so enough time for a short detour.

Many thanks
Christian

Hi Christian,

It depends of course on what route you go (5, 101 or 1). If you go through Big Sur on Highway 1 - an absolutely stunning drive - Nepenthe’s is a more-casual restaurant with gorgeous views, and a very good wine list. The Post-Ranch Inn is 4-5 miles further up North, is virtually mind-blowing (if very expensive - $1,000/night for a room) - but you can eat at the restaurant, including for lunch or dinner, with an extremely good cellar, without having to stay at the hotel, and the restaurant offers extremely good value for what it is. The restaurant is a glass box perched on the cliffs overlooking Big Sur. (Lunch actually is probably about the same price as Nepenthe’s - it’s just that few know about it.)

Big Sur, apart from being incredibly beautiful, also has a cultural history, with Henry Miller living and writing the Tropic of Cancer there after living in Paris, the Beats living and writing there, and Esalen (which is still there), giving birth to the human potential movement. The Henry Miller Library is right near Nepenthes.

Theo

Get yourself a book on the pacific coast drive, there are a number of them on Amazon.

FYI - you don’t need a motor home for the drive, a nice van and stay at the small hotels along the way. I understand that others in your party may feel differently.

Wine related stuff. You’ll drive right through Santa Barbara and then Santa Ynez, santa Rita Hills, and Solvang wine areas. This is a must stop so start by searching the forum for past threads on the area.

Next wine stop would be Paso Robles. You’ll be driving up the coast to Cambria and it’s a great stop. Use that as base camp for the beautiful beaches, hearst castle, etc. But Paso is just 30 miles to the east from Cambria so it’s to pop over a few days while actually staying at the coast.

Great, thanks for the tips.

How does it work for the winery visits, I understand the larger ones have tasting rooms where you pay a fee and can taste through the wines ?

Many thanks
Christian

Christian, Many wineries are open to the walk-in public with no reservasions. Good places to start are:

Santa Barbara: http://www.sbcountywines.com/

San Luis Obispo: http://www.slowine.com/taste/wineries.php

Paso Robles: http://www.pasowine.com/

You will find info on many producers at the above links. You can do a search of trips to specific areas with many other reccomendations. I have found many diamonds in the ruff by asking the people pouring at a winery that I am visiting who do they reccomend visiting.

Another great resourse is board member Ken Zinns’ reports on grapesnutz.com. His list of reports can be found here Winery Visits and Wine Tastings by Ken Zinns

Have a great trip.

If you are interested in a great choice of tasting rooms with no driving, check out the town of Los Olivos. Just off 101 north of Buellton.

http://www.winecountrythisweek.com/maps/los-olivos-wine-tasting-map

Christian,

I purchased this book for my goddaughter. She’s planning our trip up the coast this spring. Good overview of all the points along the way and very reasonable.

http://www.amazon.com/Scenic-Routes-Byways-Californias-Pacific/dp/076278105X

This is a link to the Santa Barbara Vintners Association, they have a guide you can download in PDF form that covers most wineries, restaurants, and lodging for the area. This is a pretty good resource and it is free. If you have any questions about Santa Barbara wines just shoot me a message, I know most of them pretty well.

Kevin

This is great advice, particularly Nepenthe. Be aware that the Highway 1 from Cambria up through Big Sur is very windy, with heights and steep cliffs down to the ocean in places. But driving north is the best way to do it, that way you’re on the inside of the highway, and your passengers won’t feel like they’re hanging over a cliff Nepenthe can get crowded, and there will likely be a wait, but it goes quickly, and is well worth it for the atmosphere and view. They have a pretty decent bar and wine list, and it will give you courage to help in driving the windy road Kidding, of course. You can kill the time browsing the very eclectic shop downstairs.

As for wine, in Paso Robles you could stop in the Turley tasting room.

If you haven’t taken this trip yet, there are a few “must do” tasting spots. Turley is quaint, friendly staff and all, but Larry’s wines seem to have taken a directional shift. Not sure how to explain, but with the explosive growth, came a lesser product IMO. Booker, Denner, and Linne Calodo are absolute musts. While I enjoy Tablas Creek (calif offshoot of Beaucastel) I found the tasting experience to be mundane. Robotic 20somethings repeating the same script. No passion, and certainly no belief in the juice they’re hocking

So very many wines to try, best to get yourself a guide book and dig up the threads here for comparison.

I would stop in at Herman Story. Russell makes fabulous wine.