A Short Trip To Paso Robles and Pismo Beach

It’s been a few weeks since we visited Paso Robles and the surrounding area. My brother Steve won a raffle at a fundraiser that included accommodations in Paso Robles and three wine tastings. Wine tasting nowadays can be super pricey because wineries figured out a revenue stream from tastings could be lucrative. Tastings often come with food pairings in lovely rooms, but out of the three places we visited, it was the last place — Derby Wine Estates — that had the “Elevated Experience.”

I’ll start there and work backward to when we started the trip. Since the term “elevated” is about going to the top of the Derby Wine’s building (built the year my father was born…and that’s 1922 if you’re wondering. He died decades ago, but Derby’s building still stands), that’s exactly what we did.

Up the elevator we went at 11 a.m. to do some wine tasting. For the record, doing a wine tasting so early in the day feels weird because, well, it’s 11 a.m. I’m not much of a day drinker, so it just felt wrong to be popping corks and swishing wine around our mouths even though we all had breakfast and were well caffeinated.

When we got to the top, there was a table set with cheese to pair with the wine:

I took some notes (as did Steve) on the wines and cheese. So, instead of having you struggle with my chicken-scratch handwriting, I’ll decipher my notes for you — which you can read below:

• Pinot Gris was paired with a Kokos Coconut Gouda. “Nice compliment with the coconut flavor of the cheese.”
• 2017 Project España RED paired with a Mango Ginger Stilton: “Creates a smooth finish. The sweetness of the mango offsets the crispness of the wine.”
• 2017 PINOT NOIR paired with Lamb Chopper: “A very ‘Paso’ nose and a very balanced finish.”
• 2017 ‘FIFTEEN 10’ Red paired with an OG Kristal cheese: “Brings out the tartness of the wine” (I’m kind of a getting sloshy at this point in the tasting).
• Bouchée D’or a dessert wine — meaning it’s sweet. I noted that my friend Cari would like this as she often says that when she drinks wine it has to be “Candy wine.” This one fits the bill.

Since I’m going backward, we did get a tour of parts of Derby with the guide — who was kind of hesitant with us until I got his Monty Python reference and he found out we were huge music fans. After that, he was super friendly.

Here’s Steve in their wine library:

And us getting a tour of where they put the wine in large caskets to age:

The night before Derby, we drove out to Pismo Beach for dinner. It’s a 45-minute drive from Paso and almost all downhill to the ocean. That part of California is really nice and I can see why people want to live there. Because it’s absolutely beautiful, it is also very expensive to live there. But, as a visitor, it has a really wonderful vibe. We dined at a place called Vista Steak and Seafood. Now, you’re going to pay a pretty penny to eat there, but the food is quite good. What you’re really paying for, however, is the view of the ocean. [I didn’t take this picture, but someone posted it on Open Table].

I ordered the pork chop — which on the menu has this descriptor: double bone, red wine wild mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, vegetables. Well, because people tend to give each other a taste, I gave Steve and Julie a sample, and Steve was over the moon with it. He thought it was the best pork chop he had ever had. I was pleased with it, but I think he was thinking, “I ordered poorly.”

When we got back to the hotel, it was about 9:30 or so, and we were pretty wined out from the long drive from the Bay Area and two wine tastings. Before we headed back to Paso, we stopped off at the pier at Pismo Beach where, you know, we had to take some photos and shoot some video:

We stayed at the very fancy Allegretto Vineyard Resort in Paso Robles. It’s quite the place! It has a California Mission design, with a lot of eclectic artwork scattered throughout the first floor. The courtyard looks like this at night (they have a couple of fire pits where you can warm yourself while enjoying the stars above. It’s quite lovely, but we were beat, so we turned in early.

We did have a wine tasting there, but, for some reason, we weren’t all that impressed with the wine. I think part of it was that we were really hungry and there’s only so much wine you can sample before saying, “You know, I’m kind of wined out for now.”

I asked Steve to pose in front of some of the pieces they had in the hotel. Here are a couple:

Before we checked into the hotel, we stopped at the first winery. It’s a small place called Bon Niche. The person who owned it forgot we were coming, and was off the property. But her dad was there, and he handled the wine pouring — and boy did he give us some generous pours!

I can’t remember the order of the tastings, but I do remember the Malbec Rosé “Brava”. I’m not a big Rose fan, but this was pretty distinct in terms of the nose and the flavor. I believe we tried a Syrah and a Cab, but I’d be hard-pressed to remember which ones we tasted. However, visit their online wine shop and check out their selections. I would say that if you want a distinct wine, Bon Niche has some excellent ones to choose from. The soil and climate really give the wine a nice character — both on the nose and on the palate.

So that was our trip! A birthday gift from Steve. I told everyone last year that I wanted experiences for birthday gifts because I couldn’t think of any items I wanted. Steve came through with this trip. He also rented a car using what I call the “Even Steven” method. What I mean by that is that Steve almost always gets really great deals. Our trip was from a raffle he entered, the rental car had the insanely low price of $35 a day. The car was a 2023 Subaru Solterra electric car. It was interesting to drive one. There were two features that stood out: one was the acceleration. When you hit the accelerator on an EV, these things really take off. The other was the EyeSight® Driver Assist Technologies. This is close to self-driving. Basically, when you’re on a road that doesn’t have a lot of traffic, you can engage this feature and the car will drive on its own. But…you have to keep your hands on the steering wheel. Julie said that she could tell when I was driving and when it was in drive-assist mode. Why? Because when I was driving she said that it was a much smoother ride. When the computer was driving, it was more herky-jerky.

Range is another thing. With a gas-powered vehicle, the miles per gallon do vary, but unless you’re driving like a maniac, you’ll probably get what you expect from the full tank of gas in terms of range. With EVs, the miles per kilowatt is really all over the map. We started with what was a full charge, and only a few miles into the trip, it went from saying we had 280 miles to 220 (or something close). Charging the battery up to 70 percent took a little over 20 minutes on a fast charger. Finding a place to charge also varies. You don’t want what they call a “trickle charger,” so looking for a fast charge that’s not a Tesla charger can be a challenge. But on the way down, we found a fast charger after looking for one in a couple of places. Traveling back, we found one in Gilroy at the outlets. So, the wait to recharge means that a long-distance drive in an EV is a different experience than a gas-powered car. I think EVs are probably best as commuter cars — where your daily trip is more predictable. For road trips, either gas-powered or hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars are the way to go. The fill-up time for both gas and hydrogen is about 5 minutes. If you live in California, the hydrogen fueling stations are pretty sparse statewide — with the majority of them concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and the L.A. area. So, it’s clear that in the EV vs hydrogen vehicle race, EVs are currently winning. But I think we’ll need more than just an EV option if we’re going to phase out gas-powered vehicles. Having a long-range vehicle that can fill up quickly is an option we shouldn’t overlook. Currently, the only two hydrogen cars on the market I’m aware of are the Toyota Marai and the Hyundai Nexo — both start at $50,000-$60,000. Not cheap, but if more companies get into the hydrogen market, the price will drop.

Whew! I can’t believe that I’ve spent so much time on cars, but we spent so much time in an EV going down and back from Paso and Pismo Beach that I guess I developed some opinions on the matter.

Overall, though, the trip was a fun quick getaway. I’d love to go back and spend more time in the area and kind of hang out at Pismo Beach like Bugs Bunny always dreamed of doing — but never did because he should have made that left turn at Albuquerque.