Central
Coast Wine
Expedition Two
day tour of the natural &
cultural history of California’s
magnificent Central Coast and the
amazaing wines of its seven
spectacular wine appellations.
Circumnavigate Santa Lucia coastal
range Photos,
left to right: J. Lohr
talks about his wine; Paso
Robles Templeton Gap;Teresa
Burke, OrdmanWine; and, J
Lohr Wine Club members
enjoy a taste
preview. Where
each sip takes you to a place like
no place on
erth. Arroyo
Seco • Santa Lucia
Highlands •
Paso
Robles • Cambria •
Narrated
and Escorted
Where
wine tastes, once again, like old grapes
grown in great earth. Not
the usual sip-and-go wine tour, our
multi layer Big Sur Wine Expedition
makes time in between wine tasting,
fine dining, and seminars by local
experts to: •
Trace the local history of the grape
from Franciscan padres in 1771 to
the present. •
Explain how the unusual calcareous
and limestone soil, up thrust from
the sea floor 30 million years ago,
influences the wine in your glass
today. •
See how plate tectonics crinkled the
land into meso-climates to shape a
region like nowhere else on
earth. •
Experience the topsy-turvy
40-50-degree diurnal temperature
change that gives Paso grapes that
juicy boost. •
Traverse the Templeton Gap, a dip in
the coastal range (where soil
compares to the Rhone Valley of
France) that ushers cool coastal
fogs into 100-degree valleys to pump
fruit full of flavor on extra long
growing season. On
this heady down-to-earth
wine adventure you will
meet, talk and shake hands
with innovative vintners
who dare to blend Old World
passion with New Age
technology to create
world-class artisan wines
with lush mouth-filling
flavors. You
will visit eight select
artisan wineries to enjoy
private, informed tastings
of wines little known
beyond the region, always
sold in private wine
clubs. You
will delight in discovering
small Tuscan-like wineries
that stay small on purpose
to focus on creating
original critically
acclaimed handcrafted wines
in limited
release. Your
tastebuds will never forget
that first taste of those
fruit forward, bursting
Syrahs, Cabernets, and
Zinfandels. Or
delicate Pinot, crisp
Chards, and Chenin
Blanc. In
this realm of the senses,
you will touch good dirt,
inhale salty Pacific air,
sweat in hot Paso heat,
shiver in coastal fog, and
understand why the wine of
Paso Robles tastes so good
in this, the new American
terroir. And
each sip takes you to a
place like no place on
Earth. Rick
Carroll
WINE, FOOD
& HISTORY Typical
Central Coast Wine Expedition
Itinerary Leave
Carmel 9 am –
Gourmet
croissants with locally grown fruit, greens and
locally made cheeses for breakfast with
sparkling Merlot mimosas en route to Carmel
Valley – Nature and Culture History narrative by
your guide continuous on the way 9:30
Arrive Heller
Estates
wine grape growing orientation – Chenin Blanc,
Chardonnay, Meritage, Merlot and Cabernet
Sauvignon tasting 9:50 Short
walking tour of wine and art in Valley Village
with tasting at Georis, Bernardus, Talbot,
Parsonage, Boekenoogen, Dawn’s Dream, Joyce,
Holman Ranch, Chesbro and
Silventri. 10:30
Special Chardonnay that earned a Wine Spectator
96 rating and sublime Rhones from their Lucia
Highlands vineyards 11:30 am
Arrive Cachagua Valley Heller Estates organic
vineyard for tour, barrel tasting and
lunch 2 pm Hahn
Estates vineyard in Lucia Highlands for terroir
talk by vineyarist and tasting overlooking
Salinas Valley and clear out to Pinnacles
National Park On our way
to Paso we visit Mission Soledad, see a Spanish
land grant adobe, and hear stories of the
Indians and the Padres where California wine
making began in 1771. Further on
we stop at the Rios Adobe and San Miguel Mission
for a special peek into an old cultural
clash. 4:30 pm
arrive Paso Robles, for check in –
Paso
Robles Historic
Inn
– Settle in your
Deluxe
Mineral Spa Suite overlooking the
gardens 6 pm Free
time walkabout Paso Robles square – cheese and
olive oil tasting – visit from selection of 18
wine tasting bars on the square. We meet in the
bandstand/gazebo in the Plaza Park for an
orientation with our recommendations for wine,
cheese, olive oil tastings and three restaurants
for dinner. 7 pm
Dinner (independent of the tour) at
Artisan,
Bistro
Laurent,
Thomas
Hill,
or Villa
Creek
restaurant 9:am Ride into Templeton
Gap Breakfast at Mt. Olive
organic farm Mt. Olive organic farm 10:30 am
Barrel Tasting with the
winemaker Adelaida
Vineyards and Winery 12:15 Tablas
Creek
Vineyards
& Winery Tasting 2 pm Calcareous
Winery
vineyard tour and talk with vineyardist, tasting
and Lunch prepared by our chef with view of the
appellation 4:30 pm Grand Finale
Tasting in the seaside Treebones Organic
Garden
Paso
Vino “In
a state known for
Cabernet Sauvignon
and Chardonnay, the
new crop of vintners
in Paso Robles are
self-described ‘Rhone
Rangers,’ plumbing
limestone soils of
the Pacific Plate
with Syrah, Grenache
and Mouvedre vines
from the southern
Rhone region of
Chateauneuf-du-Pape.” “Paso
isn’t Napa yet. But
that’s one of its
prime
virtues…“ “Paso
already plays host to
many well-established
names like Justin, J.
Lohr, and Tablas
Creek. But there are
also little jewels –
the boutique wineries
– waiting to be
discovered.” “…
a topographic map
reveals many parallel
east-west canyons,
like a child’s
fingers digging in
sand, running
crosswise from the
ocean through the
hills
…” “Look
for wines from
California’s Central
Coast to take their
place alongside the
hallowed bottlings of
Napa and Sonoma
valleys. No
viticultural region
in America has
demonstrated as much
progress in quality
and potential for
greatness as the
Central
Coast.”
Calcareous
Wine Maker
Jason Joyce
talks about
the rare
soils and
climates of
Paso’s
Templeton
Gap Your
guide is
Jack
Ellwanger,
founder of
PelicanNetwork
–
a
popular
natural
and You
will learn
about the
astounding
biodiversity
of the Santa
Lucia
coastal
range where
pre-historic
condors
swoop over
sea otters
and
Carribean
tapioca
thrives
beside
redwood
trees. This
nature
preserve is
home to more
than half of
all native
plants in
California
and many
creatures
once thought
extinct.
Where
each sip takes you to a place like no place
on
earth.
Now
accepting passengers for
May, June, August,
September and October
expeditions
Experience
why the critics are so excited about
this
amazing wine region
The
coast of Big Sur is the
western side of your
circumnavigation;
to a place like no other place on
Earth”
Calcareous Vineyards and Winery on top of
the great limestone mountain of Templeton Gap – where
Dave makes lunch for us on
Thursday
Our
adventure begins on the fabled Monterey
Peninsula and ends in sublimely rustic
Carmel Valley. We circumnavigate the
coastal Santa Lucia mountain range – where
the deep canyoned sea, more than mile-high
mountains, and corridors of coastal
valleys combine to create the most unusual
vineyards in the world.
Thomas
J. Rice, Ph.d & Tracy G.
Cervellone Paso Robles, An
American Terroir
Limestone soils nurture
Paso Robles’ vineyards
Friday
Saturday
Boeknoogin tasting room,
Carmel Valley
Cost for Central Coast Wine
Expedition
For parties of one to eighteen
2 days – all meals except one night in Paso Robles
“feee time”
including one night deluxe mineral spa lodging
May, July, August, September, and October $379
per person double occupancy
What
media and critics
sayy“There
are now a half dozen
or so properties
producing revelations
of elegance, finesse,
complexity and flavor
concentration … and
each year the quality
improves. Paso Robles
remains a work in
progress, but I
believe the region
already shows some of
the most striking
potential in all of
California.”
–Robert
M. Parker Jr.
“The
Promise of Paso
Robles” Food
& Wine
–Tracie
Cone
“Paso
Robles: The Best Wine
Region
You May Not
Know.”
Associated
Press
-Alan
Farnham
“The
Next Napa” Forbes
Magazine
–Leslie
Jacobs
“Taming the
Terroir of Paso
Robles”
Elite
Magazine
-Mary Baker
“Paso Robles: A
Linguistic Geography
of Wine”
appellationamerica.com
-Robert M Parker
Jr.
Food & Wine
Wine tasting at Thomas
Hill Organic Market with
Opolo
Vineyard
cultural
history
advocacy for
the Central
Coast.
Olive tasting
Big Sur nature
photographs by Margie
Whitnah and Jack
Ellwanger
Condor over
Coast photograph by
Daniel
Bianchetta