Summer Road Trip: Santa Lucia Highlands

"Pinot Noir is a wonderful varietal that produces intriguing wines of great complexity.” ~ Veteran Winemaker Joel Aiken

Ah yes, thinking back to the summer of 2013, it seems like it was so long ago. Those were simpler times, were they not? This blog was riding a crest on unquestionable popularity, a rising tide of opinionated chatter taking the form of first hand reporting from the vineyard rows of the wine world. You could count on views of wine news, commentary, analysis and pure, unadulterated gushing or in some cases pandering without pay. Be that as it may, fast forward to 2019 and I decided to brush off another older post, give it a fresh coat of paint, and "thousand miles an hour" taped down the seat covers. It's important to know where you've been, so you can clearly see where you're going. 

Okay, so here it is, the start of a post written originally as I said in 2013, enjoy. As Spring has sprung, and summer vacation planning is in full swing for many of us, that means it's time for a road trip or two. I'm no exception, and not so long ago, I packed the blog-up to take on the road with me to the beautiful Santa Lucia Highlands. It is one of California's premier wine-destinations that I've always talked about visiting but had somehow never made the time until I booked, put my money where my mouth was, so in 2013 my wife and made the trip, the wines and vines were epic.

So I'm about to scratch this one area off my list with a short visit coming up in a couple of weeks. I couldn't have been more excited. I lined up a few places I'd like to stop during our stay, but with so much to see and do, there's barely enough time to plumb the depths of this region even with a full week of free time, I had to plan wisely.

Prior to my visit, having written more than a few articles of the excellent wines to be found there, I found the price of admission to be well worth the hype. Interestingly enough, the one varietal which seems to excel here is Pinot Noir, but unfortunately, average vino-sapiens who prefer brag wines to share on various social media platforms this AVA flies under-the-proverbial-radar. However, there are more than a few wine-geeks like myself who are quite excited about this region already and are happy to talk about its many wonders. In this brief post, which preceded my trip, I was hoping to shine a bright light on this region, from the small platform I pontificate from, relatively unknown wines for the everyday garden variety vino-sapiens who may possibly be looking for something new.

The video above gives just a small taste of the sights and sounds I've had the pleasure of getting to know better via an 'in real life' visit, with that said I hope you enjoy it. Until then and as always remember "life is short" so sip long and prosper cheers!

Comments

Popular Posts