Wine Tasting Rooms, A Bike Tour & A Beekeeper In The Local Saloon
I had driven by it dozens of times on my way from Los Angeles to Carmel and Monterey, but not until I got an invitation to spend some time in Paso Robles did I ever actually stop.
And I’m glad I did, too!
Paso Robles is about 2/3 of the way to Monterey (or about four hours) from Los Angeles along the rolling golden hills of Central California.
It is not along the coast of the magnificent Highway 1, but rather a few miles inland from Hearst Castle along the all-too-underrated Highway 101. Its attraction is its many wineries (or, in my case, the wine tasting rooms downtown), which makes it the centerpiece of Central California’s wine country.
It is an area rich in reds and is renowned in particular for its Pinot Noir wines.
I had been invited by Paso Robles Tourism to sample some of those wines (via those handy downtown tasting rooms) and to take a bike tour through the countryside to a lunch at a winery with Paso Robles Bike Tours.
My accommodations were not some new swanky hotel but the traditional Paso Robles Inn. When I pulled up here late in the afternoon and saw its steeple-like facade and brick main building, I knew this was the place for me. And so that turned out to be the case; this place has great old-school character with modern class and comfort.
Plus, it had the distinct advantage of being right across from the town square. And that was good because I threw down the bags and headed immediately to my first appointment at Burbank Ranch Winery & Bistro.
It was the first of several wine tasting rooms on the day’s schedule, all located at or around the town square, and by the end of it as well as a Happy Hour and a visit to a dive bar, let’s just say I’m glad the Paso Robles Inn was located in close proximity to everything.
Burbank Ranch proved to be a nice place with nice wine; inside it has nice big leather booths for lounging with your wine and your snacks (it was too hot to sit on its small patio and yes, it does get hot in Paso Robles). Because it was so warm and it was my first stop of the day, I opted for the white wine flight. Perfect!
I then went to Clayhouse Wines where I had a couple of whites and reds, then to Pianetta Winey, where I had several reds. I was supposed to have a friend – somewhat of a wine expert – with me, who was taking Amtrak from L.A. But she had yet to arrive for some mysterious reason.
Eventually she did arrive and not only that, she had met some locals at a place called the Pine Street Saloon. There was no wine here; this was a cowboy beer-drinking, whiskey kind of joint. I met a girl here, a very attractive independent gal with a cowboy hat, Daisy Duke shorts and boots who pulls roots at the wineries and doubles as a beekeeper.
My kind of girl!
The next day, my friend and I (as well as someone she met on the train; and yes THAT explains it) went on the Paso Bike Tours ride. We had a personal guide, the town’s former postmaster, who took us across Highway 101 and through green fields and some of the area’s wineries.
Man, was this beautiful! It was also refreshing, something that was needed after the previous day. I had kind of expected this was a rolling winery tour on bikes but I’m glad it wasn’t; it was just a nice ride through very the pretty countryside.
Just about the time when we were ready to say “we need a DRINK!,” we turned into Red Soles Winery. While we went inside to do some wine tasting (included with the tour) our host set up a picnic for us at an outside table.
Thankfully, he drove us back to town in his van so we didn’t have to ride.
On his recommendation, we went to the Pony Club, a neat restaurant and bar off the town square, for Happy Hour wines. It’s best to describe the Pony Club as upscale rustic.
We topped off the trip with another visit to the saloon, where I spent most of my time buzzing around the beekeeper.
Paso Robles indeed proved to be a great place to stop and at just four hours from Los Angeles to the south and San Francisco to the north, it’s a very desirable California destination.
Cheers!
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