I’m a bit behind on what’s happening in wine country. The weekend of March 18-20 was Vintage Paso Zinfandel Weekend and we chose to partake. On Saturday (the 19th) we headed over to Barton Family Wines, home of the Barton label as well as the Grey Wolf Cellars label.
Annie and our friend Lisa tasted some of the wines while I went for a glass of the 2013 Sentinelle (45% Roussanne 45% Marsanne 10% Ugni Blanc). We sat out on the patio and enjoyed a bottle of Rose with this sandwich and this salad from Jeffry’s Catering at Barton’s Kitchen Window. As usual, the food was awesome.
It was one of those perfect days. The weather was great, they had live music out on the patio, we ran into other friends, the wine was perfect…a Paso perfect wine country way to start this event weekend. From there we decided to head right down the road to Four Lanterns Winery. They’ve done such a great job making the outside area so inviting. It feels like you’re enjoying a beautiful backyard, not sitting at a winery.
Here’s what we tasted at Four Lanterns:
2014 Sunset: Rose (Syrah based) $28.00
2014 Lamplight: Viognier $28.00
2013 Shadow: (Grenache/ Syrah blend) $48.00
2013 Firelight: Syrah $62.00
Aurene: Late Harvest Viognier $38.00 (I believe this is correct price, there was a glare on my photo of the menu)
The wines were nice and we enjoyed chatting with Steve (owner) for a bit. The Rose and Viognier were my personal favorite that day and I think that had something to do with the nice Spring weather. They also had a food truck there Saturday but since we had just eaten we decided to go back on Sunday to try the food truck because the menu sounded that intriguing.
On our way home we had to stop in and say hello to the folks at J. Dusi Winery. Another beautiful stop on Hwy 46 West. And these recent Spring days really make me think of J. Dusi’s Pinot Grigio. Their back patio is another of those that I could sit on all day. Overlooking vineyards and rolling hills…doesn’t get much more peaceful.
So that was our Saturday on Vintage Paso Zinfandel Weekend. On Sunday morning Annie and I took Sammy over to Cambria’s Moonstone Beach to run around and play. Once we worked up an appetite we headed back to Paso on Hwy 46 West to meet up with our friend Lisa to try out that above mentioned food truck, called The Hurricane Kitchen.
As I mentioned, the menu intrigued us. There were things like duck confit, venison, rabbit, and lamb along with tri-tip skewers, salmon, and more. I had the tri-tip skewers, Annie got the venison burger with Brie, and Sammy had the BBQ salmon sandwich. The sides were jalapeno cole slaw, potato cakes, and fusilli pasta salad.
I loved the skewers and I tried some of Annie’s venison burger, it was SO good. The sides were all great but I especially liked the cole slaw and potato cakes. We definitely need to keep track of where this food truck is going to be and you should too. The three of us shared a bottle of the Four Lanterns Rose and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. Such a peaceful oasis. You can see some photos of the outside area in the slideshow below.
So there you have it, that’s how we got our Vintage Paso Weekend on. All great stops. Always nice to be out on the wine trail.
Steve and Jackie have really done a fantastic job there. Did they have any of the unfiltered Viognier left? That was a great wine!