{"id":1631,"date":"2020-08-31T17:23:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T17:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2020-08-31T17:23:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T17:23:13","slug":"los-olivos-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1631","title":{"rendered":"Los Olivos, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Power Tasting<\/em> has frequently extolled the virtues of in-town tasting<\/a>.\u00a0 But we were thinking of towns like Healdsburg<\/a>, Yountville<\/a> or even far away in Montalcino<\/a> in Italy.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very different but equally pleasurable experience to go wine tasting in a village that\u2019s not near a major airport, has lots of local wineries, not one of them that could be called a palace.\u00a0 If that sounds attractive to you, find your way to Los Olivos in California\u2019s Central Coast.<\/p>\n

There are many wineries and vineyards in the vicinity of Los Olivos.\u00a0 Among the best known are Firestone, Beckmen, Fess Parker and the fabled Bien Nacido vineyard.\u00a0 We suggest you visit these, but we particularly urge you to pull into \u201cdowntown\u201d Los Olivos.\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s not a lot to it: three blocks of Grand Avenue and two of Alamo Pintado Avenue that together host 32 (!) tasting rooms.\u00a0 (A few of them specialize in beer, not wine, but that\u2019s okay too.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cDowntown\u201d Los Olivos.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of www.losolivosca.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

With all of these establishments to choose among, it\u2019s a good idea to have a game plan when you visit Los Olivos.\u00a0 Given enough time, you can at least in theory try all them all.\u00a0 But for most wine tasters there\u2019s probably only one day to sample among the town\u2019s riches.\u00a0 The usual rule of thumb of one hour per winery doesn\u2019t apply here, not with one tasting room cheek by jowl with the next one.\u00a0 So we suggest a walk down the two avenues to get a feel for the place.\u00a0 Take note of the tasting rooms, but also enjoy the \u201clittle American home town\u201d atmosphere.<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re at it, eat some food<\/em>.\u00a0 If you plan to return home that day, a degree of temperance is absolutely necessary.\u00a0 Even if you stay overnight, you need to be selective.\u00a0 There are a few places to eat, one of which were briefly featured in the movie Sideways.\u00a0 In fact, one not very good reason to visit Los Olivos is to brag that you went where the movie was shot.\u00a0 That was a long time ago and many of the wineries have changed since then.<\/p>\n

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Refugio Ranch Vineyards tasting room on Grand Avenue.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Central Coast Uncorked<\/em><\/p>\n

This being Central Coast, you will find a lot of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.\u00a0 The Pinots in particular have some real aficionados.\u00a0 And if you are a red wine drinker, save some room for the Syrahs and Rh\u00f4ne blends.\u00a0 We have found some of these to be excellent.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy the wine you taste in the first, somewhat randomly chosen location, ask the server about other tasting rooms that might have similar wines.\u00a0 There\u2019s no guarantee that the server knows what you enjoy, so there might need to be a few visits until you hit your groove.\u00a0 Another approach is just to choose the most attractive tasting rooms and enjoy the wine without concern for top quality.\u00a0 To be honest, you are likelier to have the pleasure of discovering wines you never heard of in these tasting rooms than to finding the next Screaming Eagle.\u00a0 Either way, you should have a good time in Los Olivos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Power Tasting has frequently extolled the virtues of in-town tasting.\u00a0 But we were thinking of towns like Healdsburg, Yountville or even far away in Montalcino in Italy.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very different but equally pleasurable experience to go wine tasting in a village that\u2019s not near a major airport, has lots of local wineries, not one … Continue reading Los Olivos, California<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}