A bit delayed, as I work back on all the past trips!

After a great day with the Central Coast Jeep Adventure (see post here), we headed off for day two. Emily and I had planned a little ahead of time, making a list of places to visit and made two appointments for the day with the intent to share in the AM so we one of us could drive and then park back at the rental and walk around town to taste some more.

Sunday was a nice mix of larger producers and super small, as you can see through the pictures we visited: Sextant, Linne Calodo, Niner, Booker, Herman Story, Paso Underground (tasting the wines of Copia, Aaron and Aequorea), Clayhouse and Grizzly Republic.  After all was said and done, I realize these mega days are too much even when we split tastings.   I also became very aware that purchasing wine after 5pm also is not a good idea!

Coffee and a Map…

Entrance to the Sextant Tasting Room http://www.sextantwines.com/

When visiting the new tasting room, there are glass windows into the production below. Since it was just after harvest, so of the red wine grapes were in the fermenting process. The view gave a different view into the process, normally visitors see things from the ground not above. http://www.sextantwines.com/

Sextant also has some great picnic tables out and around the tasting room. http://www.sextantwines.com/

On the drive from Sextant to Linne Calodo, we passed through an amazing area of the fall leaves changing on the vines that had just been harvested

Vineyards in Fall 2014, love the color change

Vineyards in Fall 2014, love the color change

Vineyards in Fall 2014, love the color change

I love the architecture of the tasting room! It was behind a gate and as we drove up I was amazed! http://www.linnecalodo.com/

When we arrived at the tasting room, there was a personalized menu as as well as the preset glasses for the Linne Calodo and Slacker Wines tasting. http://www.linnecalodo.com/

Loved the bar in the tasting room and all the glasses lined up with the samples poured for the comparison tasting and opening! http://www.linnecalodo.com/

We had a bit of time between Linne Calodo and our appointment at Booker, so we had heard good things about Niner so we stopped in to split a tasting. http://www.ninerwine.com/

Overall, Niner was a disappointment and reaffirmed our desire to mainly stick to the smaller vineyards. The tasting room was busy and even while standing at the bar with an empty glass required multiple actions to try the next wine. I don’t remember much of the wine since it was such an effort to try the wines. We were not a comped tasting or with a group. http://www.ninerwine.com/

Love the way the sun creates the shadow! http://www.ninerwine.com/

Near the entrance there were a variety of soil and rock samples from the various vineyards they own and purchase from. As always, Emily was in love! http://www.ninerwine.com/

Admiring the sun and the soil samples. http://www.ninerwine.com/

Our third stop of the day had us at our second and last appointment. We had been to the area of Booker before as our last trip we visited Caliza their neighbor. http://www.bookerwines.com/

Booker is appointment only and only on the weekends. We tried 4 wines as part of the tasting: a white, 2 reds and a sweet. One of the different things that Booker had two versions of the same wine, Remnant and Remnant 24. The 24 was aged for 24 months in French oak but was the same wine as the Remnant. http://www.bookerwines.com/

Booker Wines looking green http://www.bookerwines.com/

Tasting Menu at Herman Story http://hermanstorywines.com/

Herman Story is a bit off the beaten path of the downtown area tasting rooms, it is on the other side of the 101. Well worth the walk! The funky names and bottle art are matched with the great flavors from the mostly blended wines from various vineyards. http://hermanstorywines.com/

Copia Vineyards http://www.copiavineyards.com/

We had the opportunity to taste two different labels from Aaron Thompson- Aaron and Aeqourea at the Paso Underground. Since we love and value the small production wineries, we had a great time tasting! Plus the wines were great! http://www.aaronwines.com/pages/aequorea-wines

Aeqourea had this awesome chalk map above their tasting table at the Paso Underground. http://www.aaronwines.com/pages/aequorea-wines

Clayhouse wine was forgettable but the tasting room staff was super nice and had this AWESOME pumpkin! http://www.clayhousewines.com/

Grizzly Republic Wine – so I am sure some of the wine here was great, but I think my palate was shot and the one I ended up purchasing tasted like liquid smoke. http://www.grizzlyrepublicwines.com/