Monterrey

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
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Headed to Monterrey in a few weeks. We go there at least once every other year. Always go to Passionfish, of course!!!) we have done a little wine tasting in Carmel, but nothing stood out. I saw a thread re Carmel from a number of years ago, but nothing newer. Recs for wine tasting or other restaurants?

Recs for Passionfish wine list? Last time we ended up with a Lange Nebbiolo which was great, but I felt perplexed by the number of reasonably priced options . . . It’s such an incredible list, I want something great this year.

interested in the most complex, reasonably priced wine there without limitation.

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Was just there and tried “Wrath” in Carmel

there were quite a few lovely btls. We had to rush out to dinner. But if you like Oregon / burgundy I think it’s a good Pinot producer in Carmel worth checking out.

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We just got back from a week long trip to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Carmel. I was going to post a small trip recap, but might as well do it here.

In Santa Cruz you should visit Madson, Birichino, and Samuel Louis Smith. Sam is one of the winemakers at Madson and is doing beautiful work on his own. Birichino makes an insane number of wines, and all of the wines we tried were tasty. These wineries are making more old-school wines, fresh and vibrant, without lots of wood and makeup. We also really loved I. Brand in Carmel Valley, and had some nice wines at Caraccioli and Domaine Messier.

If you get near Capitola, please visit Vin Vivant wine bar. It’s one of those rare wine bars that has cool, geeky stuff, but also has a great, casual vibe and Ryan, one of the owners, is very wine-knowledgable but not snooty. It’s a great place.

For food, we often do some casual, deli-type lunches and then nicer dinners. If you go all the way to Big Sur, don’t miss Nepenthe. The road down and back is twisty and has some steep cliffs, so I only had a glass of wine, but they have a really good bottle list. We had some really good casual lunches, with the best being Seabright Deli in Santa Cruz. If you are within 10 miles do not miss this place..some of the best sandwiches I have had in years. We also really liked Zoccoli’s in Santa Cruz, and Compagno’s in Monterey. The place looks like a dump, but it’s old school deli sandwiches and very tasty. For your own good order the half sandwich. No wine selection to speak of, but we had these sandwiches on our anniversary with a bottle of Schramsberg Blanc de Noir that we had at Lover’s Point Park in Monterey. It was a good time.

For nicer restaurants, we loved HOME in Santa Cruz, Passionfish in Pacific Grove (we ended up getting the duck and lamb dishes which were two of the best dishes we had on the whole trip), and La Bicyclette, VIN By the Sea, and L’Escargot in Carmel. If you’re in Carmel in the morning, the Carmel Bakery does really nice pastries, donuts and biscotti. If you like coast views, make sure you do Sunset Drive in Pacific Grove, down through 17 Mile Drive in Carmel. It’s lovely.

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I went to Passionfish 3 weeks ago or so and had the Gonon Chasselas.
Paired nicely with the seafood and not very often I see it on lists anywhere, so was an easy pick.
Think it was around 120 Dollars.

On that note, I visited them in 2023 and Jean Gonon said that the vines in the parcel that provides these grapes (its a field blend if I remember correctly) are on their last verse and that they do not have a lot of vintages left in them. So reckon its about enjoying the wines while you still can