We first learned about Holman Ranch during a #PinkSociety #PinkParty (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PinkSociety%20%23PinkParty) in June. I was fortunate to try out their Susan’s Saignee Rosé during the chat. As I swirled and sipped the wine, I found out more about the 400 acre ranch in Carmel Valley. One of the questions was about the tasting room in Carmel by the Sea. Not only are there many tasting rooms to enjoy in this town, it’s also “by the sea” and beautiful. Well, I was convinced to include Holman Ranch’s tasting room in Carmel by the Sea in our Sideways Wine Tour. We left Paso Robles, driving along route 101 up the California coast, and along the dark and windy roads until we arrived at our cabin in Carmel By the Sea.
You’ve heard that we went on a Sideways Wine Tour of California and this entry will be a continuation of that series. Have you been to Buellton, CA? Any superfan of Sideways probably has and this was actually our second trip out there. No trip would be complete without visiting The Windmill Inn (now called Sideways Inn), The Hitching Post 2, and maybe you’ve even gone to see those pesky ostriches that nipped at Jack?
We began our Sideways Wine Tour in the Wine Ghetto, Lompoc, CA. First stop was Pali Wine Co., thanks to a recommendation from our AirBnB host, Edward. He was previously part of the wine industry and happily suggested Pali wines. I’ve heard of the Wine Ghetto but was open to places we should taste in the area. He told us about it since we wanted to try some local Pinot.
During a set of recent Instagram posts, I found out that Neil and I have tried quite a few Languedoc wines. This came as a bit to a surprise to me. We know that we always enjoy trying new wines but who knew that we’d been gravitating to a specific French wine region? I’d say part of the reason we were unaware of these wines all carrying a similar trait is because Old World wines are labeled pretty differently than New World wines.
We’ll be celebrating 5 years of WineAndCheeseFriday all month long! We’ve tasted a lot of wines along the way (see the comprehensive list in our slideshow entry) and have compiled our top 5 wines each. As you can imagine this was a task but it’s always fun to go back and reread some of this older entries! Also it’s a great way to identify those wines that we should look for again.
During our time in Massachusetts the weather was very unpredictable. I lived there my whole childhood so you’d think I would be expecting that. So many days we watched the weather wondering if it would be sunny or rainy and what we could do to enjoy the day. This Sunday in particular, the forecast kept showing sunshine and low 80’s. We all knew it would be a great day to have a picnic in the park. We had our wine and picnic lunch all packed and ready! We’d bring a Pinot Noir rosé that we purchased at Wine 101 Hamden, and it even had a screw top. Our cheese this week was Edam, because surprisingly we’d never tried it before. Just needed to pack up the car and keep our fingers crossed that the weather predictions were correct!