Winos Anonymous

I first met Victor Abascal, winemaker and owner of Vines on the Marycrest, on my birthday at Corkbar in LA. He was sitting next to Beau and I at the bar and we, as per usual, had ordered WAY too much food. There was no way we were going to finish all of our cheese gougeres (or cheesy poofs, as I like to call them) so I offered some to Victor. He gladly accepted and we got to chatting… and it turns out he makes “My Generation”- one of my favorite blends at Corkbar! I promised I’d come visit his vineyard in Paso Robles and this past Sunday I made good on that promise!

Vines on the Marycrest is truly (more…)

Hey gang! I had the most WONDERFUL day trip to Paso Robles yesterday, so stay tuned for some posts about Paso later this week. In the meantime, I thought I’d share with you the video I took of Victor Abascal, winemaker and owner of Vines on the Marycrest, giving my buddy Derek and me a tour of his beautiful property. Warning- it turns out I am unable to use a camcorder and sound remotely intelligent at the same time. My bad. Just listen to Victor and Derek sounding smart and ignore my outbursts and squeals. Enjoy, winos!

I was introduced to the 2006 Barrel 27 “Right Hand Man” Syrah by the trusty folks at K&L wines, where it sells for $14.99, which honestly is a steal because this wine drinks like a $25-and-up bottle of wine.

Before I get to the tasting notes (more…)

Confession: Last week I was on my way home from a long day at work, about to pay rent, and needing just ONE glass of wine to take the edge off before I passed out to sleepland. Since I knew I shouldn’t spend more than 10 bucks on an “it’s-that-kind-of-a-night” bottle, I stopped off at my good friend Trader Joe’s and did something I NEVER do- I bought a bottle of wine for under $5. And you know what? I didn’t HATE it. It was light bodied, fruit forward, a little jammy with notes of blueberry, dark cherry, and a little pepper. It was a little sweeter than I like but hey, for $4.99 it did the trick and if I didn’t know how much it cost I never would have guessed it. NOTE- DON’T buy this wine thinking you’re going to get your mind blown- it’s not gonna happen… but for $4.99 it definitely didn’t suck, guys. Cheers!