Food, Wine & Friends-Page 129
A MONTEREY PICNIC
We got an early start on a Sunday in July to drive down to
Monterey County for a picnic and some winery visits.
It was unclear as to the meaning of this road sign...
This old parcel of Chenin Blanc was planted in 1919!
And we were right on time for some winetasting!
I had not visited the Chalo9ne facility since the late 1970s,
well before they had electricity and phone service!
Today they're working in 21st century conditions!
We tasted some nice wines, including a few barrel samples, thanks to our host,
Honorio Della.
Chalone has a $5 tasting fee for visitors, by the way. They offer a bunch
of their "estate" wines, not their high-production, lower-priced
bottlings.
After our Chalone visit and tasting (lots of nice wines,
frankly...the Pinot Blanc is lovely and the basic Estate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
and Syrah wines are very good...perhaps not as dramatic and heavily-oaked as
they'd made a decade, or so ago, but still quite good), we drove across the
valley to Paraiso Springs.
This winery is now called, simply, Paraiso.
No tasting fee, by the way.
The winery is not located in the same place as their tasting facility.
We tasted some good wines and this winery seems to be on a nice curve of
improving the quality of its products.
We then availed ourselves of a picnic table in the shadows of the Santa Lucia
Highlands...
Pierre, Felix and Clementine Si-Briskie.
Paraiso's 2005 Pinot was a nice accompaniment to our picnic!
Clementine was delighted with the Poulet Diable, while her big brother went nuts
over the Pasta con Pesto.
Fresh summer fruits topped with whipped cream.
Aviva enjoyed the vast array of delectables...
We them motored way over to the Carmel Valley...
With temperatures in the 80s, it was difficult to taste the wines of
Talbott...most are over 14% alcohol and they're served too warm...the place did
not have an air conditioner functioning, so it was a bit uncomfortable, frankly.
The tasting fee for 4 Chardonnays and 3 Pinot Noirs was $8.50.
We then went over to Joullian and tasted some nice wines.
This place is air-conditioned and the wines are served at a more
enjoyable temperature. Further, the two fellows in this tasting room were
enthusiastic to share a bit of knowledge about their wines. A flight of
wines is $5.
Despite her lack of interest in tasting wine, Clementine was having quite a
lovely day.
Amy, on the other hand, was ready to taste, taste and taste some more!
We wound up the day at Bernardus, tasting a splendid Sauvignon Blanc, a nice
Chardonnay and an oaky, woody Cabernet Sauvignon.
And then we braved the traffic, returning home on a day when hundreds of
motorcycle enthusiasts were in Monterey for racing at Laguna Seca...
Still, it was a nice day of wine and food...
Clementine says: "Hi Alanna! I hope you are having much fun in
Denmark. We had fun today touring Monterey wineries and Uncle Gerald
prepared a nice picnic for us. And we had a Jenga game that Felix and I
played! It will be great to see you when you return home!"
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