Central Coast Superstar

After the Winemakers' Celebration, Doug & I had the pleasure of meeting our friends Adam & Angie at a charity tasting in Seaside. Now, you've heard me talk about Adam before....Adam LaZarre, our favorite winemaker, & the former head winemaker at Hahn Estates.

Adam's got a new gig...he's now the winemaker for Villa San-Juliette, just outside of Paso Robles. You might not recognize the name, so I'll clue you in. The American Idol producers, Nigel Lythgoe & Ken Warwick, bought the place in 2006 & had that reality show "Corkscrewed: The Wrath Of Grapes". I didn't watch it, & the fact that the AI guys bought it holds little to no merit for me. I mean no offense - I'd feel the same way if Jeff Probst, Tim Gunn, or even Kenny Chesney decided to own a vineyard. Having said that, they obviously either did their research or Bacchus was smiling on them because hiring Adam as their winemaker was the smartest thing they could've done! (And hello, 6 degrees of separation!)

After tasting his new wines at the Seaside tasting, I, for one, am completely on board.

We sampled the Sauvignon Blanc, Cab, Merlot, & Petite Sirah, & we loved every one of them. If I have to choose a favorite, I'm torn between the Petite Sirah & the Merlot. They're both terrific. Adam describes the Petite Sirah as "blueberry motor oil", & that just makes me laugh, so I guess that puts it over the top for me...but I reserve the right to change my mind! Let's face it, though -- I'll buy all of them often & be proud to share with my friends.

I'm happy to report that these wines are yet another incredible value, perhaps one of the best. Most of the wines are under $20! Unfortunately for us & everyone else in the St. Louis area, Villa San-Juliette wines aren't available to us yet...but they WILL be, once distribution gets settled. This should be soon, especially now that these wines are making big waves everywhere else in the country.

As a special bonus, Adam also had 2 wines from his LaZarre label at the tasting - the Pinot Blanc & one of his 2 Pinot Noirs. Delectable stuff & hard to find...in fact, he gave us a bottle of the Pinot Blanc, & we are the only people in the freakin' state to have it. (I know, we're that cool, thanks for acknowledging it.)

(I love that picture!)

(That one...not so much. But it did inspire me to change my hair!)

Adam had to leave for Nashville the next morning, so we headed back to our hotel & got ready for the next day -- in Paso Robles!

More on that in a bit...