SOLVANG, CA- Coming to you live from California wine country, here is the first of two specials we have coming your way.
So I’m not really a wine guy. I’ll occasionally enjoy a nice Malbec, but on the few occasions I do still tie one on, I’m strictly a Bud/Coors Light guy.
But where we are is spectacular. The hills and mountains are picturesque. This particular town we are in is essentially a replicated Danish town. All the shops are either Danish this or Copenhagen that. Definitely gives off a feel like you are in another country.
One thing I will say is that it gets cold here at night. We came home from a night of boozing last night and it was freaking 48 degrees. It’s the first day of summer for FFS! It gets hot enough during the day,but shoot that temperature drops at night. I’m not complaining, it is what it is, just not used to it.
One thing I will complain about is that things close early around here. Ace and I went to a place called The Good Life which served wine and local micro brews. We had come from a Tiki Bar where I had two Coors Lights in a cottle (half can/half bottle) and I didn’t want to bop back over to wine. So I tried one of the microbrews which wasn’t terrible. But instead of sticking with that one I tried another which Lord forgive me, I couldn’t get past the smell of it.
I excused myself and went to look for a store where maybe I could get a water to clear my palate. Instead I found Fitzpatricks Pub!
I was saved!
I went in and felt like I was at home. Good music on the speakers, ball game on the tube, beer I recognized in the cooler. I texted Ray and Karl telling them where I was and got ready to settle in for a night of pounding.
That’s when I heard Sam, the blond, mohawked, kilt wearing Canadian transplant, say to someone on the phone “Yeah well we’re closing at 9 tonight..,”
Exsquese Me???
When Sam got off the phone, I confirmed what I thought I heard. He assured me that we could stay and drink till he was done cleaning up and cashing out. Don’t get me wrong Sam was a prince, but what Irish bar closes at 9 PM on a Friday night?. I get it, NY is is one of the few places in the world where the bars stay open till 4 AM. Also being this is wine country, people probably do their drinking during the day, so there is no need to be open at all hours.
But I’m sorry, 9PM is too damn early to close a bar named Fitzpatricks.
Problem was most of the rest of the town was closed as well. It was like the town had a curfew. We managed to find a steakhouse that stayed open till midnight, so we were able to grab dinner. But the rest of the place was a ghost town.
But other than that, it was a nice little town. And the places we went for the wine tastings were real nice. On Friday, we hit two places..
Andrew Murray Vineyards- This was Ray’s pick.
In the movie Sideways Paul Giamatti remarked that Andrew Murray knew what he was doing. Ray also read an interview with him and that piqued his interest.
The grounds were nice, not a ton of great views. But we had a very nice server, Michele. Michele not only knew her wine, she immediately picked up our NY accents and confessed she was an Angels fan. Being that the three of us are Mets fans, we appreciated that second class citizenship feeling she described,
What I quickly found out is that they serve the wine first, then by the time you are nice and mellow, they serve you the really good shit. The last of the 6 bottles we tasted was amazing, which at $100 a bottle you figured it would be.
The first couple of wines Michele served, I couldn’t really tell the difference. The third wine she’s described having a cinnamon taste. That I definitely picked up on. Either I was getting better at this, or I just chew a lot of Big Red.
We had 6 tastings at Andrew Murray. The last of the 6 was the $100 bottle which of course was off the charts.
But it was time to go to the place I chose. Again, I know squat about wine, but I do know my 1960’s television/movie actors.
Fess Parker Winery and Vineyards
I remember several years back, watching a Daniel Boone marathon with my dad on the Starz Western Channel. The star of the show was Fess Parker, who also had starred, (probably more famously) as Davy Crockett in the 1961 Walt Disney movie.
According to Wikipedia, ol’ Fess retired from Hollywood and decided to take up wine making.
Now, Andrew Murray’s place was nice, but the scenery at Fess Parker’s place was amazing..
Our server at Fess Parker, Cyana looked like she could be on TV. She also acted as if she had somewhere else to be. She’d pour a taste of wine, gives you the 2 cent explanation, and head off. There was another server there, who was so much more into her job than Cyana was, on the way out I actually thanked the other server because she was so much more enthusiastic about the wine.
That said, the wine itself was very good, And again, we were surrounded by the hills of Los Olivos.
Before we left, I took a couple of pictures inside of Fess as Davey Crockett..
I was glad we got to see that.
After we left Fess’s place, we headed to Los Olivios for a late lunch. Most of you had probably finished dinner before we had lunch, but we are not only on California time out here, we are also on college hangover time out here. Breakfast at 11, lunch at 3:30 and dinner at 10:30 PM. Here’s a term we haven’t used in about 30 years. Living like a Rock Star.
After lunch, we headed back here to Solvang. Ace and I headed to the aforementioned Tiki Bar which had a TV playing clips from old tv/movies with weird music. If it weren’t for the Coors Light in the cottles, it might have weirded me out.
The TV at the Tiki Bar was playing some weird shit. Didn't realize they captured Ace and I commentary while I was filming LOL
From there Ace and I met Ray at the microbrew place, followed by the only Irish bar in the world that closes before your late local news.
We hit a third winery on Saturday afternoon…
Sanford Winery- We kind of stumbled upon this one. Andrew Murray and Fess Parker were featured or mentioned in the film Sideways, but this one we kind of drove past and decided to give it a shot.
Our server was a dude named Johnny, who was very good server and knew his stuff. I didn’t get the feeling that he has ever been outside of California that much.
The scenery at Sanford was even more spectacular than Fess Parker’s place.
Ace and Razor enjoyed the wine, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Plus, I was getting reports from Tara and Tim that it was hot in NY, but it was very windy at Sanford’s, and if you were in the shade it was downright chilly. The highlight of Sanford’s for me, was playing with the Alaskan Husky they had there, Copper.
Me and my friend Copper
We hit In and Out Burger for lunch because, well I’m in California and that’s something you can only do in California. I’m hoping to hit Jack in the Box before I head back east.
I’m now watching the Fox Game of the Week between the Mets and the Phillies. It’s 5:40 in the afternoon. The other night, we watched some of the Pacers-Thunder Game 6. That was really weird, that started at 5:30 PM out here. The time difference is both very cool and slightly discombobulating.
We will try to have another dispatch sometime tomorrow detailing the early part of this trip from Los Angeles.
Take Care Everybody
From California
Wild Bill
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