News
"Passport opens Carmel to hassle-free wine tasting" from the Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/28/5597065/passport-opens-carmel-to-hassle.html
CARMEL – Can there be enough vino? Not for us Californians. Though all 50 states have wine production to some degree, we rule – and we take advantage of it.
Wine tasting is a way of life. But tippling and traveling can be time-consuming, costly and exhausting, and no one really wants to be thedesignated driver.
We found a more relaxing option here when we stopped by the visitor center and bought Wine Walk by-the-Sea "passports" for a self-guided walking tour (with map) of 11 tasting rooms in town, representing 10 area wineries and one winery in Napa Valley.
The Wine Walk is much more hassle-free than climbing into a tour bus, hauling into the nearby Santa Lucia Mountains and burning a day winery-hopping.
For one thing, strolling from tasting room totasting room happily involves exploring Carmel's warrens of shops, mysterious alleyways, hidden courtyards, vine-covered walls, vibrant gardens and fascinating architecture.
For another, lunch in town is all about options, as one-square-mile Carmel bulges with 60-plus restaurants.
Longtime vintner Jack Galante was the first to open a wine-tasting room in Carmel, in 2005, featuring his estate reds from the Carmel Valley. Other wineries soon followed.
"At first there were six of us (vintners) with tasting rooms who developed the Wine Walk concept," said Galante. "It was a way to bring more attention to Carmel as a wine destination and introduce visitors to the growers and wineries."
The program has had a noticeable impact on Carmel, said Galante, who favors jeans and cowboy hats. He's a longtime rancher, the great-grandson of Carmel co-founder J.F. Devendorf. "We're getting a younger demographic, which has always been needed. We even have a nightlife now, and some of the bars have live music."
Helping the cause in January was Wine Enthusiast Magazine's "10 Best Wine Travel Destinations 2013," which included Monterey County, the sole California destination.
Our tour was a condensed marathon of walking and sipping over two days. A better plan is to savor a few rooms now and save the others for later, as the passport has no expiration date.
The program is simple: Follow the map and serendipitously walk from room to room, where attendants stamp the passports. Each passport buys flights of three to six tastes at each room.
Though the area is known for its pinot noir and chardonnay, tasting-room varietals change as new releases are introduced and as the wineries rotate their inventories. The flight you get one week may differ from the one you get the next.
Tasting rooms vary from small and homey to large and efficiently professional. Some have deals with neighboring restaurants: Bring in a bottle of wine from the tasting room and the restaurant will waive its corkage fee.
Manzoni, Blair and Shale Canyon are all in the Paseo San Carlos center. Though the evolving Blair and Shale Canyon wineries are independent of each other, they share a room, and there is crossover in their flights.
Vino Napoli owner and restaurateur Rich Pèpe does not own a local winery, but is hands-on involved with every step of the production process for his proprietary estate wines from Antica winery in Napa Valley. His wine-tasting room also serves wines from Monterey County and Italy.
As for munchies, most rooms offer complimentary palate-cleansers such as breadsticks, while others sell intriguing small plates.
For a dash of romance, many couples buy bottles of wine at the tasting rooms for impromptu picnics on the beach. They can add edible provisions from two top choices – the Cheese Shop in Carmel Plaza at Ocean and Junipero avenues (choose from 225 cheeses; 831-625-2272,www.thecheeseshopinc.com); and Salumeria Luca on Dolores Street between Ocean and Seventh avenues (mortadella, salami, house-made sausage; 831-625-0264, www.salumerialuca.com).
The tasting rooms are within casual walking distance of each other, but we mapped our journey to get in some steps. The rooms are listed here in the order of our progression.
The passport program isn't a race; take your time, sip slowly and ask questions. And keep in mind what the wise Benjamin Franklin said: "Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance."
Silvestri
Note: The new Silvestri tasting room opened after our Wine Walk weekend. This information is from a winery spokeswoman.
Vibe: "A lot of wood in a cozy space with a homey feel."
Flight: Choose four pours from six wines: pinot gris, pinot blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir rosé, pinot noir and syrah.
Signature wine: 2009 pinot noir
Munchies: crackers or breadsticks
Where: Seventh Avenue between Dolores and San Carlos streets
Hours: noon-7 p.m. daily
Information: (831) 625-0111, www.silvestrivineyards.com.