ALTERNATING WINERIES AND ART ALONG THE CENTRAL COAST: Paso, San Luis Obispo, and Sensoria

September 24, 2022

WE MISS RUBY!
(and yes, we passed this up and found a "cheaper" one: $5.29!!)

Our next few days alternated between visiting wineries and experiencing art along the Central Coast and in the Paso Robles AVA.

On Wednesday we found a new winery we liked so much we bought a case of wine! Keith had read about it and suggested we check it out. Located in Tin City, Giornata specializes in French varietals. Besides the delicious Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Gemellaia, we were introduced to "orange wines", sort of the wine equivalent to sour beer. Fruity and orange in color it was new to us. The server reminded us of our niece, Karen and was very knowledgeable and the owner/vineyard steward came by and talked to us.

Tin City, in Paso Robles, is an interesting collective of wineries, breweries, and shops all made out of tin. I wondered if they all fried in the hot weather the week before. It is designed to be a place where small-batch wineries can make their wines and have tasting rooms.

"Karen" introduces us to orange or amphora wines

A great pizza oven using wine barrels for fuel!

From Tin City, we went to an old favorite, Still Waters, for music in the vineyard. The setting was as lovely as we remembered and the Earls of Tuesday (even though it was Wednesday!) provided a great backdrop of music to accompany the wine and cheese. Dave was able to adjust our fall shipment and it was nice to get to enjoy some of the "perks" of being wine club members.

Pictures don't do Still Water justice. It is truly one of the prettiest places on Earth!

We sent this picture to the Wassums and reminisced about Keith's "save" of the wine glasses as he tripped up the hill nearly 20 years ago!

On Thursday we gave up wineries for a day to visit the town of San Luis Obisbo or SLO. The students had just come back to Cal Poly and it was hoppin'. We did a gallery crawl by asking the docent at the Art Museum to suggest a gallery, and then asked the gallery owner where to go next and after several hours and about a half dozen galleries, we were exhausted! We stopped in a pub for a beer and had fun people-watching. After the third bride and her entourage walked by, we began to wonder what was going on; and then we realized we were across the street from the courthouse! I failed to take any pictures of them! Darn.

After resting up a bit, we stayed for the street fair which is a regular Thursday night event. It was then we decided that SLO is the Greenville SC of the Central Coast. The street fair was a lot of fun with great food, produce, arts and crafts, and music. I bought a book from a woman who had a stand called "Blind Date with a Book!" Her books were all wrapped in brown paper and it was sort of a "grab bag" idea. I thought it would be great for our book exchange at our December book club meeting!

Not exactly art, but written up in "Things to Do": Bubblegum Alley.

Yes, each dot is someone's gum! Yewww!

Deb rests beside a great fountain in SLO

Produce and Flowers at the Street Fair

Friday, we combined wineries and art! We visited two of our "old favorites": Sextant and Piedra Creek. Margaret was still serving wine at Piedra Creek and had handed the vineyard and winery over to her grandson. She has built a tasting room in the "garage" and no longer has to host on her back porch. We enjoyed talking to her and being served her delicious brownies with dried cherries. We reminisced about sitting and drinking wine with her husband Romeo on their porch 20 years ago.

At Sextant, we were served in the "Club Members' Lounge" and again got to enjoy some of the perks of being in the wine club for almost 20 years! They were crushing petit syrah right outside the window and we had the ultimate "floor show" for our tasting.

Sextant's new tasting room

The grapes go from the top of the hopper, get de-stemmed, and are crushed. The stems are in the bottom box and go to recycle, the juice goes to large vats through the hose in the upper left.

Dumping the grapes!

SENSORIA

We ended our day with Sensoria, a permanent light show in Paso Robles. Our friend from Ella's safari, Maxine, suggested it. It was sensational, yet very different from our expectations. While it's doubtful anyone reading this will go (well, maybe the Wassums on a trip to see Kate), our advice is DON'T spring for the VIP tickets, unless you are bringing a group and want a cool place to hang out. When the lights come on at dusk, that's all the "action" there is. We were expecting a light "show". Instead, it's very quiet and understated. In the VIP seats, you do get an overall view of the 15-acre valley of lights which is magnificent. But the extra $44 each ($88 total!) does not justify the one glass of wine or beer, the "private" bathrooms, and the heaters (we didn't need them). The REAL experience was walking through the field and getting immersed in the lights and seeing the wine barrels of lights at the "far tree". The walk is a half mile with only mild hills and plenty of places to stop and sit and enjoy the lights. David commented that he was expecting the lights to be dynamic (and they do subtly change colors), but instead, the dynamics come from the people as participants, wandering through the valley.