Category Archives: Paso Robles Wineries

Derby Fifteen 10 and Red Snapper

Another night, another dinner, another bottle of wine.  Actually, we don’t have wine every night with dinner.  And not every dinner is gourmet.  Unless you consider burritos and tuna melts and sloppy joes as gourmet.  Tonight wasn’t really gourmet either, but somewhere in between.  Red snapper (wild, locally caught, and that sound you hear is Lori and I patting each other on the back for that), bok choy and Israeli couscous.  The red snapper was sautéd in some olive oil, seasoned with lavender salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme and paprika.  At the very end of the cooking, fresh garlic, lemon juice and white wine were added.  Not gourmet, just a casual night of pulling ingredients and having it all work out well. 

We needed a bottle of wine to go with this.  Sometimes the wine cellar is first in, first out, when we’re going for the older wines, and sometimes it’s last in, first out, especially for the white wines.  There up front was the 2010 Derby Wine Estates Fifteen 10, their white Rhone blend from the Paso Robles area.  The blend for this year is 34% Roussanne, 27% Viognier, 21% Marsanne, 9% Grenache Blanc and 9% Picpoul Blanc.  I have no clue about that last varietal; never heard of it before.  But whatever the blend, this was great with dinner.  Nicely balanced, enough acid to really work with food, enough fruit to add to the flavor mix in the mouth.  And it’s still great after dinner, maybe even better. 

Another case of going to the winery (see our post from visiting this past summer), enjoying the tasting, buying the wine, and enjoying it again when opened.  We’re going to have to figure out how to get more of this wine. 

L’Chaim,

Larry

Paso Robles Wines in San Diego Grand Tasting Tour

Good news, if you love wines from Paso Robles and live in Southern California.  The Paso Robles Wine Country, one of the nation’s premier wine producing regions, hits the road for its 2010 National Grand Tasting Tour with the first stop scheduled for February 22-25, 2010 in San Diego. Wine producers from the nationally acclaimed wine region will showcase their wines in a number of tasting events, including winemaker dinners, wine retailer tasting, a trade tasting and two consumer tasting events. This expanded marketing approach gives wine enthusiasts more opportunities to take in a Paso Robles Wine Country experience.

“It’s been two years since our Grand Tasting Tour visited San Diego,” said Stacie Jacob, executive director of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. “This is an exciting city with an amazing epicurean movement that is a perfect pairing for the style of wines produced in Paso Robles; we are thrilled to kick of our 2010 Tour in San Diego.”

The 2010 Grand Tasting Tour is the region’s 6th annual tour dedicated to bringing the Paso Robles Wine Country experience into top cities across the nation. San Diego was chosen as the only stop in Southern California with only three total Grand Tasting Tour events scheduled for the year. More than 40 winemakers will converge on San Diego with a variety of winemaker dinners and wine retailer tastings at many marquee restaurants and retail locations. Complementing these smaller events, two walk-around style consumer tastings will take place, each focusing on different audiences, including a late night tasting geared to attract the millennial generation.

The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance will also hold a seminar and tasting exclusive to the wine trade of San Diego. The many wine brands of Paso Robles utilize this outreach to expose wine buyers and influencers within the region to their brands. The complete schedule of events, venues and ticket prices for the Grand Tasting Tour – San Diego will be available by early January.  Click here for more information.

Wine Retailer Tastings – Monday, February 22 – Thursday, February 25, 2010
Winemaker Dinners – Tuesday, February 23 – Thursday, February 25, 2010
Trade Tasting – Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Consumer Tastings – Wednesday, February 24 – Thursday, February 25, 2010

If you live in Northern California don’t fret, the second leg of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance 2010 Grand Tasting Tour includes a visit to Northern California the week of April 19, 2010.  Cities include – Sacramento, San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.

The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance represents wineries, growers and businesses in Paso Robles Wine Country. Centrally located between San Francisco and Los Angeles, along California’s Central Coast, Paso Robles Wine Country is California’s fastest growing wine region. It encompasses more than 26,000 vineyard acres and more than 180 wineries.  For more information, please click here.