So Cal with Val 7 18 25 Guest Kyle Meyer Episode #12

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Ah Su are vacation. Some are in southern California. There's
just something about that, isn't there being at the beach
and the sunshine and the sand in your toes. Well,
whether you're lounging with friends, you're planning a weekend beach picnic,
or you're grilling up something amazing for family or friends,
this is the season where memories are made, summers with

(00:45):
family and friends. And let's be honest, everything is definitely
a little better with a good glass of wine in
your hand. So today on so Cow with Val, we're
diving deep into the California Central Coast wine region, which
is an incredible region that produces some of the most
beautiful wines around, at least in my opinion, and we'll

(01:08):
get the opinion of our expert here in just a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
So you've heard of Napa.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
We talked about Napa already, but have you heard of
the Santa Lucia Highlands, the Edna Valley, passer roblaz wineries
like Sea Smoke. If not, you are in for a
real treat. And I think you can tell how excited
I am about this episode. Joining us, of course, is
our sponsor Kyle Meyer, the president and co owner of

(01:33):
the Wine Exchange and the man behind those wildly popular
daily wine videos.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
You know, he's the guy with the curly hair.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
If you're watching today, you can see that he's a
trusted voice in the wine community, a gifted storyteller, and
someone who makes wine approachable not just pretentious. And you
can't get enough of listening to Kyle Meyer if you
have any curiosity at all about wine.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
So today we're going to.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Talk about a little about pina noir, perfect summer pairings,
hidden gems, and how to enjoy it. Whether you're a
collector or you're just starting your journey, So sit back,
pour a glass of something you'd like to drink. And
whether you are a wine drinker or you're just a
little historian, or you're just interested about what happens in

(02:19):
the Central Coast of California, let's explore the wines of
the Central Coast. Welcome Kyle Meyer, our sponsor of so
Cali Val, to today's episode.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Thank you great to be back.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's great to have you.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Let's just talk a minute though, before we start our episode.
Let's talk about your daily videos. So how do you
decide what you're going to what your your video will
be about well.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know, a wine has to move us, you know,
so for us as wine merchants, it's not about give
me the cheapest thing of the cheapest price. You know,
we don't work that way. We work in a way
where we taste wines every day. We taste five six
thousand wins a year. And what we need for us
to include something in a daily video is a wine

(03:05):
that speaks to us, a wine that's comfortable in its
own skin, a wine that has a story to tell
so I can tell it, you know, so Tristan can
tell it. And so it's very important for us to
find a wine that that is brilliant, has a great story,
and something that will really appeal to our customers. So
it's a very intense criteria when you think about it.

(03:27):
We say six thousand winds a year and we'll run
you know, three hundred email offers. That's five percent.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
And do you do seasonal wines?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Do you do does that have an influence at all.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
A little bit a little bit right, because sometimes during
summer we'll focus more on you know, some brighter Christopher
White wines. We'll focus more on maybe some reds that
aren't quite as dense, quite as heavy in the context
of what everyone is eating in a particular time of year.
And then come November, you know, for example, with Thanksgiving,

(04:06):
you know, a wine like Beaujeulat goes great with turkey,
so we might focus more on wines that might work
towards turkey, or in December it might be towards like
a standing prime rib roast. Maybe a little more Bordeaux
comes into play that time of year. But in general,
those those are nuances. It's slight. It's more about best
foot forward all the time.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
And I know from being in your store, not often
enough from me, by the way, that there are always
wine merchants there lined up to get your attention, and
of course I'm sure they'd all like to have their
wines featured. But also the fun thing about your videos, Kyle,
is the.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Guests you have.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
So do you feature you schedule them, or they just
happen to be in town, or you know they're coming
and then you set up an interview in a video
with them.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Correct, we know they're coming, so we know a couple
months in advance if someone in particular is coming. But
you know, we don't just interview anyone. You know, it's
our interviews with winemakers and famous wine producers goes hand
in hand with what we sell, what we like the
experiences we've had with certain individuals. So it's not like
a large conglomerate can come in and say, hey, we'll

(05:15):
give you X if you do an interview of our person. Oh,
we don't work that way.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
No bribery allowed.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
No bribery, We're not on the take. It's all about
who we love, who we admire and respect in the industry,
and that we want to have a really great conversation
with plus folks that we know are going to be
good conversationalists. You know, we've we've probably done, you know,
three hundred of those interviews with famous winemakers. And you know,
once in a while someone come up like man, you know,

(05:44):
you think someone's going to be amazing and you put
them on camera and they just clam up right, And
so we've had that one.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
May try to wake yourself up during the interview, yes, yeah, yeah,
So we try to be diligent in our sourcing for
those interviews, not just because they're a famous name.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Because the famous name people really person could be could be.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Not often, so you must source them. Well, because anyone
I've met there has been very interesting. And when you
had a lady who actually they kind of did a
play a drama.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Remember, oh my gosh, that was great. Yeah, Laura Katana.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah that's right, that's right, amazing event.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
You did a great job and she did a great job.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
No, Laura is a is a whirlwind. She is a powerhouse.
She is a force in the wine industry. Laura Katana,
she's a you know, her day job is she's an
emergency room surgeon.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I had no idea.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
She is yeah, up and north, you know, in northern
cal And she is just she's a brilliant doctor. That's
her day job. And in her spare time she runs
Argentina's greatest winery. She's remarkable, just on the side, incredible force.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, we need to spend more time with her.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
We need to have an event with her. Maybe I
didn't realize she was so close. I thought she literally
was in Argentina. But she had a family background in
Europe somewhere, didn't she didn't the family come to Argentina
from somewhere, remember the originally on a vote or something.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, well, I mean a lot of the folks in
Argentina are expats. You know. I don't know the exact story,
but a lot of them do come from Europe and
find their way to Argentina over the years. But they're
at least I don't know, second or third generation parent time.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Amazing from what I know.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
But but she's just she came here to go to school,
I think at Stanford, to go to medical school and
then just stuck. Incredibly smart, you know, just a great
force in the industry. Incredible woman.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Great great evening.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
So let's be a great interview.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
And yet it was great interview and a great evening. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Absolutely, So let's talk about the Central Coast, now, is
it correct? Because a lot of us know about the
movie Sideways, right, and that's a Central Coast movie, right, right,
So and let's just get one thing clear. We're going
to talk about regions, but passive Roebliss is we're going
to consider that southern California, right because it's in the

(08:02):
Santa Barbara South area, correct.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, yes, right there at the break, you know. Or
it depends on what you consider the break. Passo could
be the break or Monterey could be considered the break.
It's right in that that is the Central Coast, you know,
so it's definitely part of it.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
It is so it kind of seems to fly under
the radar compared to Napa and Sonoma. What makes this
region a hidden treasure for wine lovers. There's an ocean influence,
there's a to our diversity, there's micro climates, there's the
wine making styles. Tell us just short description, what is

(08:38):
maybe not too short? What's the Central Coast?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, everything you just mentioned Bell, it's a it's a
it's a cornucopia of different with the French would say
tear wars, right, all these different elements, the weather, the
combination of ocean influence, soils, all these have an impact
on these different areas. And there's a multitude of these areas.
So and the funny thing is you start in, you know, say,

(09:04):
let's say the central Coast ends like at Monterey, you know, so,
like you said the Santa Lxea Highlands, Let's take the
Santa Lucia Highlands. This is a very interesting area because
the winds from Monterey County itself are super cool, they're
not the coastal influence comes in unobated on those vineyards
and it creates a very cool particular style of wine

(09:24):
where certain grape varieties can't be grown. Once you get
into the Santa Lucilla Highlands, which is this north south valley,
but the opening is towards the Monterey Bay, right, so
you get this coastal influence. You get this cold air
coming into the valley, into the highlands, but you also
have a small mountain range or a set of hills

(09:47):
which keeps some of the cooler weather and the more
oceanic weather at Bay, so it's actually a touch warmer,
but you get the cooling influence in the evening. So
for shardonnay and pinon water and to a certain extent
to ra this area works out perfectly. You get great
richness of flavor, your great intensity of flavor. You can
get cooler flavors. And then the northern section of the valley,

(10:09):
closer to the Bay Valley, well the highlands. The area
in northern the northerly area of Thehighlands, closer to the Bay,
makes cooler, more reticent wines. And then as you head south,
the wines pick up in intensity and richness because you
get you know, a way from that cooling influence. You
know eventually that the cold air abates, you know, as

(10:30):
it heads into the southern part of the sent of
the Sea Islands, and you get richer and more intense wines.
The soils are all kind of the same, but you
get this general richness and intensity from that area that
belies just how cool it really is. It's quite cool,
but the wines have a richness in intensity of character
to them.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
So you have and I know if you look.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
At the and not to do a commercial, but if
you look at the website for Sea Smoked Mine Sea
Smoke Wines, they have this beautiful scene of this fog
coming over the coast, you know, coming up from the ocean,
And how can you not think that the wine is
going to be equally as good, which in their case
it probably is so at any rate.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
So do you have these multiple micro climates in Napa
for example as well?

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Not as much with Napa. It's more about the hills,
you know, the mountains, Spring Mountain, mount Veeder, Hull Mountain,
et cetera. And then the valley floor, right, and but
you do have a difference in the valley floor from
south to north right, So around the town of Napa,
Coombsville Carneros near near the bay, it's much cooler. As
you head away from the bay and that water, that

(11:37):
coastal influence into Calistoga Way in the north, it's much warmer.
And it's the same way with a lot of these
central coast sites. You know, for example, San Lucia Highlands
is the north south with the cold influence coming from
the north. The Santa Rita Hills, where Sea Smoke is at,
is an east west It's a transverse valley, right, It's

(11:57):
an east west valley, so the western side of the
valley gets the coolest, the coldest weather, and as you
had east towards Solving, it actually heats up. And sea
smoke is kind of somewhere in the middle there, right,
so they get a little of that coastal influence. But
the sea smoke, while you love it so much, is
because it has the richness and intensity of fruit that

(12:18):
you get as you had eastern into the Santa Rita Hills.
So you know, areas like Santa Rita Hills to me
are much more diverse than say the Napa Valley. Napa
Valley is diverse, right, but it's mostly hills and flats
with the Santa Rita Hills as an example, you have
this westerly side which is super cold with white stones,
diet samacious earth. Then you had east and it starts

(12:41):
warming up and the soils change, you get more sand,
you get more So the east and west side of
Santa fried Hills are quite different from each other, as
opposed to Santa Lucia Highlands north, the south, which is
different but not terribly different, and then the Napa Valley,
which basically once you get north of the town to
Napa up into almost into sant Elana, it's almost like
the same kind of terroir, which I'll get yelled at

(13:03):
for that, but you will. It's well, we want we.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Won't invite them to listen to this episode. We'll just
put the coast wineries into this.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
It's so.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Now in this area there are if I if I'm correct,
part of it is where you'll find the Pinos de Mars,
and then there's another part that there you'll find maybe
some chardonnays and maybe some surahs.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Is that correct?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Well, For most of the central coast, the pino and
the chardonnay kind of grow together. For example, in the
santen Sea of Highlands, getting back to that area. By Monterey,
it's almost all Pino Ora and Shardenay in the northern
part of the San and Sea Highlands. In the northern
part of the valley. As you head south, you'll find
a little more Surrah coming in the play because it
starts warming up enough to ripen Sarah. In the Santa

(13:48):
Rita Hills over by, you know, north of Santa Barbara.
By solving in the west, you'll find almost no Serrads
too cold and won't ripen. But as you head east,
you'll you'll start finding Sarah. You'll start finding you Granache
because it warms up enough. Those great prieties can ripen,
as opposed to in area like Passo Robles, which is
the central coast, but it's interior, it's inland, it's protected

(14:09):
from the coastal influence and there is just hot so
there it's all about Zinfidel and Sarrah and Granach and
these sorts of things, because you don't get that oceanic
influence coming into Passo as much. So it's a really
it's a bit of a mix. You know. Some of
these areas, like the Santa Maria Valley, this is an
inland valley, that is cool but has its warmer areas

(14:31):
to the east, and there you have some sarrah, but
in general in the central coast outside of Happy Canyon,
which we can talk about if you want. You won't
get into caverny, savigno and or the word o varieties
very much.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
And what influence does the marine layers have on the
wines and on the grapes. Is it simply the moisture, Well.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
It's huge. What it does it keeps temperatures down, right,
So it's all about keeping temperature down. And what you
have is a situation where if you have lower temperatures,
it's a longer ripening season, and the longer ripening can
lead to potentially more pronounced flavors in the wine while
imparting elegance. Right. So the hotter it is, your growing

(15:14):
season is condensed, right, so you allow for less elegance,
you allow for higher alcohols, more richness and intensity in
the grapes. So it's a trade off. So what you
want is you want that pocket. You want that perfect
you know, the marine layer coming in the morning, but
burning off, you know, burning off eleven o'clock whatever. Then

(15:34):
you have this wonderful sun from twelve to five or whatever,
and then you have this cooling evening, so the acids
maintained in the grapes. Because it's too hot at night,
the acids drop out of the grapes, which that happens
like for example, the east side of Passo, where it
can be one hundred degrees in the day and like
eighty five at night. So like for the east side
of Passo, Robles, their main thing is maintaining acidity and

(15:56):
freshness in the wines, whereas the west part of the
Santaita hits near solving Lompop, their thing is about how
can we get more fruit into the wines because you
might not have enough degree hours in a day to
fully ripen the fruit.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
It's really interesting, and is the production, the actual production
of the wine about the same as a Cabernet seven
yon as a as a Knapa grape. And by then,
I mean do they all go into like either oak
barrels or or metal barrels, I mean alunin barrels.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
How did that work?

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Well? First of all, with pin and noir, peanu.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
And water much or technology on the barrels. Sorry, I
got it.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Well, from a barrel standpoint, you'll definitely, you'll probably use
less new oak with pano noire. Pin and noir, for example,
is more nuanced, so there's a lot more use of
what we call neutral barrels, older oak barrels that don't
impart as much oak character into the wine. Caberny, Savignon, Cabny,
Fronc Merlou they can withstand more new oak treatment. So

(16:59):
the Apple Valley they will use more new oak. It's
kind of like this polished this sheene on the Cabernet
to make it more kind of fontsi, you know. With
pin and noir, it's more about letting the terroir speak
the place, so you'll generally use less new oak with
pin and noir. Shardenay can go either way. Some of
the producers in the Central Coast we use an extreme

(17:21):
amount of new oak on Shardenay. Others will use almost
no new oak. And some of the most famous wines
are actually all stainless steel, like the Diatom you know
from from Brewer Clifton. That's one hundred percent of stainless
steel wine. It's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
So we know that we've talked about already, so we
don't need to go too far into this but when
c Smoke has certainly become legendary as far as pina
noir is concerned, what's the story behind it and what
makes it so sought after?

Speaker 2 (17:49):
And is it the most sought after in that region?

Speaker 3 (17:52):
You know, it is one of the most sought after
pin and noirs in that region. For sure. They started
out the right place at the right time. A great packaging,
beautiful concept and uh and and juicy wines. So the
Sea Smoke style is a is a not so reticent style.
You know, some of the producers in the central coast,

(18:12):
in the Santa Rita Hills or Santa Lucia Highlands, they'll
purposely go for a more leaner kind of French style
of pino noir. Right, they'll have the opportunity to make
something more European in style, more reticent, higher and acid,
less new oak and more potentially agible style. What happens
with the producer like Sea Smoke is they happened onto

(18:34):
the right style at the right time and and found
a large market immediately accepting of that style, which is
a more generous style of pino noir. It's it's it's richer,
it's a little more supple silky tannins. Classic, but classic
in a in a richer, juicier vein, which as you

(18:55):
head east into the Santa Rita Hills you'll see that,
for example, with wineries like Peak Ranch. You know, that's
another winery that makes a pretty bold style of pino noir.
Because they're on the eastern side, it's warmer, they can
make richer wines and sea smoke makes that style of
wine which gives you that immediate appeal. But it is
cool enough and reticent enough and elegant enough to let

(19:16):
people know they drinking pino noir and not Caberny savignon.
It's not trying to be a sarad, it's not trying
to be a Cabernate. It's distinctly panoir and that's part
of their success.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
And what are some of the other who are some
of the rising wine makers and boutique producers that we
would want to know about who deserve more attention.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
Oh, in the Santa Rita Hills, there's a few of them,
you know. It's some of them are pretty well established,
but there's some up and comers. The aforementioned Peak Ranch.
This is a winery that if you enjoy the wines
of Sea Smoke, you'll be a peak ranch fan. Those
wines are really generous, lush pino noirs. You should always
look for the wines of for example, Sandy So on
the west side of the Santa Rita Hills you have

(19:57):
Sandy Sa n d Hi. Those wines are made in
that more reticent style but approachable. So the wines have
this elegance, this finesse, but they're also quite juicy and drinkable.
Those are beautiful wines. And in the middle of the
valley you have some of those icon vineyards. You should
look for wines made by you know, made from the

(20:18):
Sanfred of Benedict vineyard. That's a very famous vineyard, may
arguably in those famous vineyards of Santa Arita Hills, you know,
planted in the early seventies. So if you see San
Fred of Benedict on the label, you know the wine's
going to be pretty amazing. As an example, on the
west side, you also have the Hilt, which is the
project of Stan Kronk, who owns you know, sports teams,

(20:42):
one of the richest people in America. This the Hilt
is his Santa Barbara property. To his other Santa Barbara property.
He owns Honata as well, the Honata Wines, which is
kind of eastern Santa Barbara, Sarrah and you know, Cabernet
and those things. The west side he owns the Hilt,
which is those and bent Rock vineyards, and the wines

(21:02):
from the Hilt are really really extreme. And he actually
makes a second label he doesn't talk about very much,
called the Pairing, which retails for around twenty five dollars,
which is the finest value I think in a central
coast Pinu wir in the market.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Right now, and we can happen to find all of
these at the wine exchange.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Off and on. Yeah, you know, you know us. We're picky,
so we'll choose. We'll choose them off and on. For example,
the Pairing is in stock right now. I believe I
have some wines from Signed the in stock right now.
Peak Ranch comes in and out. But these are just
some of the labels that you want to be on
the lookout for.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Are there in the Napa Valley. We tend to hear
names because maybe because they've been around. It's an older
established area. Are there like gallow type, You know, names
of people who've been around for a long time. Do
you find some of those families some of those dynasties
in the central coast also.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Oh, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
For example, take a winery like Sandford. You know, Sandford's
been around from the very start, some of the earliest
vineyard plantings in the Santa Rita Hills. So a winer
like Sandford, who's actually making great wines now, by the way,
Sanford got some new wine making a few years back,
and the wines are very impressive. But that's an icon
icon producer in the area. They've been around forever. Take

(22:17):
a name like Melville in the Santa Rita Hills. Melville
has been around now since the early nineties and the
almost thirty years, and the wines are tremendous. Chad Melville
is doing great work there. That's an iconic producer. In
the Santa Lucia Highlands, you have the Personi family, you know,
the Personi family with Lucilla and Roar and all these

(22:38):
wines are those are great, great wines. And the Personi
and the Franchioni families or some of the pioneering families
there in the Santa Lucia Highlands. So in Passer Robos,
you have well, I mean as far as the old
producers in Passer Robos, it's interesting because it's more about
older vineyards. Right. There's famous older vineyards like Dews and

(23:00):
Pcenti and some of these classic classic older sites. So
you have producers like Ridge and Turley producing Zinfidels from
these famous vineyards, you know, and those are icon producers
using world class old vines Infidel sites and Passo. But
then in Passo you also have this whole new brigade
of producers that started in the two thousands, like Saxon

(23:21):
and Lenny Klado and or Villa Creek. You know, this
whole new west side Passo posse that produced rolling style blends.
They're iconic and then make amazing wine. So they're like
the establishment now, you know. When I started out, they
were like the cool kids, the new guard, and now
they're like, oh yeah, those are the old guys, you know.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Oh is that right?

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Is that right?

Speaker 1 (23:46):
So yeah, this and so Justin is another name you
see if you go there, and and Turley is another
one that's a little bit maybe better known.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
So if we come into go ahead.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
You got Doo Andros right, Dow is huge, you know,
so their regular Cabernet is good and the reserve Winds
and up are very special. So I guess that's an
established name, but Dall is pretty new. Huh that was
what twenty years?

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I guess.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yeah, they're ubiquitous. You know, they're ubiquitous. It happens fast nowadays,
it does, and.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Twenty years isn't that long ago? Actually, those kind of years.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
So for someone who's walking into the wine Exchange or
they're browsing online, what's the best way for them to
explore the Central Coast wines without being overwhelmed?

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Well, you know, for us, we have the option, the
great search ability on the website, so you can you
can you can click on Santa Barbara as a search
option on our website and then and then fine tune
it to Pino Noir or to Sarah or to Roam
Blends or to what have you, and it'll pop up. Now,
we do keep we do keep some areas of the
Central Coast segmented. Right, so for us, Santa Maria Valley

(24:57):
down will be under Santa Barbara countyw Rollbos has its
own designation on our website when you search, So if
you want to search Passo, you just click on Passo
and they all come up. If you want to search
the Santolcia Highlands, you click on Monterey and they'll all
come up because we want to include because it is
part of Monterey County, so we want to include Monterey
and sant Lasia Highlands together from a search ability standpoint,

(25:18):
so you can break all those down. You can break
it down the pen no war, you can break down
the chardenae, you can break it down to the price.
You can find the ones that got ninety five points.
We can do all of that for you, so you
can find tune that search with us as much as
you want, or if you're feeling really sassy, you can
bring it old school and come on in and see
us because.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
We're Yeah, that would be great.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
And I have to tell you, anybody who hasn't been
to the Wine Exchange store, you're missing out on something. Honestly,
it is not a store. It is amazing. The first
time I walked in there, I I don't know who
these guys are or what they're doing, but this is
a place I want to hang around. I think at
the time you had like a like a little pool.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Table or something when you first opened, right, how was
there maybe before you opened. I walked in one day.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
I don't even know if you were open yet. Yeah,
and Tristan greeting me out at the front. This place
is way too cool. So if you're looking for a
traditional wine store where it's pretty boring and it's you know,
cold and dark and bricks and you feel like you're
down in the stellar, it probably isn't the right place
for you.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
But they have great wines. Anyway.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
If you're looking for something that's really cool and you
have a great write and somebody who's going to help you,
this is definitely the place you want to go. So
let's so let's let's demystify the label. Is there anything
that if I'm looking for wines from the Central Coast,
there any two or three things on a label that
I would look for.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Well, you're pretty You're pretty lucky in that respect, because
California does make it simple with label descriptions, so you
have to you know, most of the time the varietal
will be included, right, so it will say pinan noir
or chardonay or sarah or zinfandel. The appalation is usually
included on the front, so it'll say Santa Lucia Islands,

(27:04):
it'll say Santa Rita Hills, it'll say Passer Rollless or
Santa Maria Valley or you know, all of those that'll
be included on the label. If it is technically part
of that appllation, if it's made from grapes that are
sourced from outside the appalation or a mix of appellations,
then they'll just say maybe Central Coast, or it'll say
Santa Barbara County, Right, so Santa Barbara County might be

(27:27):
this catch all for Santa Rita Hills to the Santa
Maria Valley to Happy Canyon to So labeling there is
truth in labeling on California wines. And you know, if
it says the grape variety on there has at least
seventy five percent that grape variety. Right, So if it
says pin and wine and label that wine could technically
be twenty percent surrow, but it will be seventy five
percent pano worm. So the key thing is to just

(27:50):
kind of look at the label. The label will tell all.
The only time there might be a bit of confusion
is especially up in Passo Roboles. They do a lot
of roan blends, so there's a lot of like proprietary
names in Passo, and Passos very interested in breaking down
all the different areas within Passo Robles. So the only
bit of confusion there is Passo is fighting to get

(28:12):
more smaller ava's approved, you know, American viticultural areas to
say like will Creek District or could say Adelaida Adalaida District,
or could say Pomar Junction or and those are all
just basically Passer Robbves kind of going I'm from this
part of passor Robbles, you know what I mean. In

(28:33):
the end, it should still say Passo Robles on there
as well, but they'll get a little more specific on
you once in a while, so you have to be
on the lookout for that, especially those the Roone Ranger
guys on the west side of Passo. All their rhone
blends are just proprietary names, and you have to look
on the back. You got to turn it around to
get maybe the percentages of great varieties in there.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
One of the things that we talked about when we
talked about the Napa Valley is you said that it
wasn't very and I don't want to use the wrong word.
I'm going to get shot on my side too, right,
but you use the word that was I want to use,
not approachable. It was much harder to go wine tasting there.
Is that the case kind of with the Central Coast
as well.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Central Coast is easier. I think prices are lower to
go tasting. It's a little more casual ambiance in the
Central Coast for the most part. I mean there you
got your share of fancy wineries there. But you know,
in the Central Coast you can go wine tasting for
twenty five dollars. You know, you can have that experience
in Passo, you can have it in Santa Barbara. There's

(29:35):
there's actually a really cool place the kind of it's
kind of known kind of like as like the Gourmet Ghetto,
which is like almost like a series of ten sheds
out in Lompoc, and there's some fabulous wineries that all
their wineries are all on these sheds right next to
each other in this like semi industrial area. And there's
actually a great restaurant there. I believe it's called Industrial Leats,

(29:57):
so you can like have a great meal, you can
taste the two or three different small boutique wineries, and
it's all super casual. There's no no pomp and circumstance.
You know, it's all about the wines. And in general,
it's probably less expensive to go wine tasting in the
central Coast than I would say in the heart of
the Napa Valley, which requires a little more planning, a
little more time, a little more money, yeah, to have

(30:20):
that experience.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
But as I recall, we were there, and I think
that justin we could go or truly one of those
we can just go in and go wine tasting.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
We can bind taste right in their showroom, so to speak.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Yeah, you could half the time. Some of these places
you can walk in without an appointment, right, Some of
the smaller guys you always need appointment because sometimes just
the three person show. Sure, the larger Sandford you can
walk in. Justin, you can walk in. You know a
lot of these places, probably Melville you can walk in.
Dow you can walk in and get that experience and
they'll give you like a range of tastings, right, because

(30:52):
they make a range of wines. They can say this
is our twenty five dollars tasting, this is our forty
dollars tasting, this is our one hundred dollars tasting what
would you like to do today? And they'll present you
those options. Suppose you just walk into somebody's places in
the highway twenty nine and a half. But it's like
there's one tasting, it's one hundred and fifty dollars? Are
you in and all of a sudden you're like half
in the door at half out the door? You know
what I mean? You're kind you get a few more

(31:16):
options here.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
I think, is it a give us an idea of
something we might find there that's maybe a twenty five
dollars wine, but it feels or tastes like it's twice
as much.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Oh interesting, hmmm. You know, well the aforementioned pairing wine
from the hilt, that's an amazing value wine. I think
the uh, the entry level wines from Melville, just their
straight Centery to Hills bottlings are superb for the money.
Those are exquisite value from Melville. I think in Passo

(31:51):
you can bump into some some great, great value wines.
Adelaida sellers they're a Cabernet specialists. They're there, They're they're
intro Cabernet solving is really outstanding. So there are all
these wonderful bits and pieces, and then on the east
side of Passo, the pricing is a little different. It's
less less bougie on the east side of Passo, and

(32:13):
you get into those guys like Tobin James and Venye
Rollabilists and that kind of stuff where you can just
find some really really yummy, tasty twenty five dollars wines
on the east side of Passo, So you don't have
to worry about you know, is it's gonna be one
hundred bucks. You don't have to worry about that. You know,
there's some really great valley and east side of Passo
and yeah, in general because but you know, a lot

(32:34):
of these wines again we're getting into these are really
known demarketed areas. So a lot of these wines and
a lot of these wineries they're gonna start, you know,
at fifty dollars and go up for their single vineyard
Windes seventy five dollars, one hundred dollars. You're not in
that two hundred dollars, three hundred dollars, four hundred dollars
Napa territory, but you are comfortably in a lot of
these wine regions and that fifty to one hundred dollars

(32:56):
range for a bottle of wine, with their entry level
wines being in that twenty five. You can find some
stuff at twenty five, not too much. Forty is kind
of the kickoff point for a lot of these wineries.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Let's talk about age. It seems that the Napa, the Bordeaux,
those kind of wines you can age much longer. You
can drink them for twenty thirty years. Do we find
that in the lines from the central coast?

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Some of them you can, But I would say the
Pino noir and the chardonnay growing in the central coast
are built for more earlier accessibility with a shorter aging window.
They can still age, but it could be seven years,
it could be ten years in a cool cellar. Some
of maybe even longer, because you know, some of the
wines are unprecedented the west side of the Santa Rita Hills.

(33:47):
This is early days. You know, we've only been involved
in this area for fifteen years so, and the wines
are improving as they learn, right, So we don't know
the end ageability game for a lot of wines from
the western Santarina Hills. Yet it's time.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, yeah, good point.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Do you think there's any misconceptions that people have about
wines from the Central Coast.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Misconceptions? No, No, you know, I think it's I think
it's pretty clear. Maybe some people say, oh, the wines
aren't as prestigious as Napa. These wines are prestigious in
their own right. You know, these are some of the
greatest chardonnays and pin noirs produced in California. So the
key thing here to remember is, you know, just shardna

(34:32):
and pinanir doesn't command the same amount of money per
bottle assay, you know, King Kabernet, So the whole prestige
is wrapped around Kaberny. Savino is more expensive, but sometimes
isn't necessarily better And the answer is not necessarily. So
the beauty of the Central Coast in general, with the
San Lucia Highlands, with you know, is you are going

(34:53):
to hit that kind of like one hundred dollars cap
on shardonnay and pin noir, so you don't have to
worry about, oh I just three hund dollars for this
pen noir. Is it any good? That's that's not going
to come up very often in the Central coast. So
the value there in the context of the quality of
the wine visa the NAPA and Caberny Savignon is definitely there.

(35:13):
But as far as misconceptions, no, I mean, it's it's
pinan noir, it's chardonnay. Passal Rollbolfs makes these big roan reds,
the z Infandels, a little more cowboy wines, and I
think these areas are pretty pretty well delineated for what
they do.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Now.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
It's just about them gaining the prestige and notoriety and
improving in quality, which they are doing consistently.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
With wines like that, you'll find a NAPA you often
see and in other parts of the world you up
a deal label that you know, they're like a red wine. Right, So,
do you see those kind of wines in the Central
coast or are they specifically a pinot or a Sarrah
or a chardonnay.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Do you ever see something that's a blend that just
like a red wine?

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah? Yeah. Passo Passos where to get these blends, particularly
the West side of Passo, because because what these pioneering
guys in the West side of Passo learned early on
is they have these kind of chalky, limestoney, old seabed soils,
which worked very well with Sarah and grenache. And we're ved.

(36:19):
So these guys on the west side, they knew early
on that the blends were gonna be their thing. So
all these top guys, uh Epoch Levanteur, you know, all
these guys, the blends are where it's at. So these
guys are gonna They're gonna be proprietary red wines from
the estate, maybe with a vineyard attached to it, whether

(36:39):
it's Dinner or Booker or James Barry Yah or Maha.
But you know, all these, all these the west side
of Passo is very blend oriented, so the blends are
the norm, and single varietal wines from the West side
of Passo are the exception.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
I'd say, that's interesting. Yeah, I didn't know about that.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
So what are some of your top white or excuse me,
your summer wine picks for twenty twenty five. We'll save
the whites for a minute. Any fun or funky bottles
to look out for.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Oh, for summer. Yeah, you know, I'm completely enchanted with
the span you're talking about from the central coast or
just in general.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Well, let's try the Central Coast. Then we'll go.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Central Coast first. I'm a huge fan of that diatom
chardonnay from Greg Brewer Brewer, Clifton. I think it's the
best on Oaks Shardnay producing California, and I think that
wine's just exquisite for drinking. I love the Savigno blanc
from the pairing that we talked about earlier, that parrying
property at Stan Kronkey's place that his Savino blanc comes.

(37:44):
It's the barrel selection from their sixty dollars fancier Savigno
blanc program at Honada. So it's just, oh yeah, some
of the barrels make the cuts, some don't, and the
ones that don't go into the pairing Savigno blanc, which
is a twenty five dollars bottle of savino blanc, which
really really delivers gorgeous wine. Uh, that wine pops into

(38:04):
my head. There's actually funny enough. There's some folks in
the Passo area that are making fabulous Italian varietals. So
I have a terrific vermentino from Giornata. Geornata is the
name of the winery g I O r n A
t A Geornata and they do all calatal stuff, all
Italian varietals and there Vermentino is a beautiful crisp savori

(38:30):
yummy delicious bottle of white wine from the Central Coast.
That that that I adore. I think it's really really
good stuff like that is what for summer Central Coast,
some of those, but you know a lot of the
there's tons of great chardonnay, you know, from Santa Lucia Islands,
from Santa Rita Hills, from the Santa Maria Valley. So
that's it's there's a there's lots of opportunity.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
There and are pinos primarily there are harvest season is
the same as the as the NAPA.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Correct is this harvest season still in the fall? Well?

Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, still in the fall. But it's a really good
question because in these cooler areas like the west side
of Santa Rita Hills, the northern part of the San
Lucia Highlands, the Santa Maria Valley on the ocean side,
these areas have extended growing seasons because it's so cool.
Remember we talked about the fog we did that pushes things,
so a lot of times they'll be picking pin noir

(39:28):
after they've picked cabernet and napa. Because of this cooler,
extended growing season, the chardonnay tends to get picked early
enough a lot of times in you know, September or
you know, traditional harvest states. But sometimes the pen and
mar can hang and extend a very long time, depending
on their location within some of these cooler central coast sites.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
But then is there barrel time the same or.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Different matters winery to winery. Most are a minimum of
you know, ten to twelve months, but some folks following
this Burgundian model can can extend out eighteen months of
barrel time. I've seen twenty months, but you know a
lot of them are in that kind of thirteen to twenty.
The top guys we'll keep it in for more than

(40:10):
one harvest. The guys that are looking to are short
on space and short on money, sometimes they'll barrel age
for ten eleven months because they need to get all
bottled and out before the next harvest comes in, especially
the small guys, right, you know, so it does a
space constraint issue sometimes with how long you age in barrel.
But the hardcore guys with no space constraints, they'll go

(40:32):
fifteen months, sometimes seventeen months in barrel until their wine
gets to the point where they're like, yes's that wine's
in the zone. It's time to bottle now. And the
guys have the luxury of doing that make you know,
the different set of wines.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Are there any rosees from the Central Wine or at
Central Post excuse me? Uh?

Speaker 3 (40:49):
There are? There are a few folks make a little
bit of rose. The problem is we see very little
of that on a retail level because the rose production
is very small and a lot of times they're only
available direct to consumer from the winery. So so everybody,
I think does make a little bit of rose, but
they'll make one hundred cases and they'll put in their
monthly wine club to their direct to consumer customers. We

(41:11):
see a bit of that out there. And also the
you know, the whole rose fad is getting a little
more quiet now. Rose exploded a few years back, and
now we're seeing rose kind of recede a little bit,
not quite as popular. And then for the roses that
are sticking, a lot of the French ones tend to
be sticking, you know, the classic provenstyle rosees, ban Doll
roses et cetera. And a lot of our customers are

(41:33):
kind of like abandoning the whole. Oh that pin and
noir rose was fun, but no, I'm going to go
to the coat to provins because they've been doing it
better and cheaper forever.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
And how do Central Coast pino noirs compare with other regions.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
In the world favorably? The top Central Coast pin noirs
are right up there, particularly for the money. So if
you're going to compare a seventy dollars Burgundy to a
seventy dollars top flight single vineyard Central Coast pan and Nore,
they're really close their neck and neck. Nowadays, there's certain
things that Burgundy can do that the Central Coast can't

(42:08):
do with regards of potential, age ability, structure, you know,
some of those things that happen with those wines some
of the Central Coast areas can't do yet. But you know,
dollar for dollar under one hundred bucks, a lot of
these wines do compare favorably now, you know. So it's
it's things are growing, the vines are getting older, they're

(42:29):
getting smarter, they're learning, and like I said earlier, they're
constantly improving, constantly figuring out the nuances, what type of oke,
how long, how does the soil, you know, impact this
particular clone of pan and Ore in the vineyard. There's
a lot of work to be done. You know, it's
still early days. We're so impatient here in America. Where

(42:49):
in Burgundy, you know, they had a thousand year head
start with pin and Ore, right, you know, those Disturcian
monks were planting vineyards.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
They were absolutely were Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
Yeah, they already knew in the Middle Ages with the
best vineyards were We're still very early days here, but
I think the potential is there in a lot of
instances to produce some really really profound Pano war in
California and.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
Pino to Pino comparison, How does our Pino region compare with?
Are we one of the best peano regions in the world?

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Where do you get.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
We are? You know, certain areas in the Central Coast
are definitely top notch. So you know you have Oregon,
you have you know, it's funny. I had a great
conversation with a wine guy, a guy wine guy. I
thought he was super smart, you know, twenty five years ago,
and all he was talking about was like, oh, there's
only two places for peano war It's Burgundy and the
Central Coast and that's it. And I was like, well,

(43:43):
you're wrong, you know. And then so now this you
were tasting great pano noir everywhere. Germany has great pan
and noir, New Zealand, South Australia, of course, Oregon. You know,
all these areas are producing world class pano noir. Now, so, uh,
does California have a seat at that table? Qualitatively? Absolutely,

(44:07):
California is one of the top spots for pan and
noir in the world. But California also has to be careful.
They have to learn, they have to develop, and they
have to continue because all these other areas like Germany,
like New Zealand are going to be nipping at California's heels,
you know. Oh yeah, they have to they have to
continue to grow and improve. But yes, Si, California pan

(44:29):
and noir is right up there.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Well, let's have some summer fun. I'm going to give
you some scenarios and you tell me some wine.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
How about that?

Speaker 3 (44:37):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (44:38):
All right, So give us your go to pairing for
a backyard barbecue. It's a zoomer having Hamberger's misteaks.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Mmm.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
First thing pops into my head. I love California's infandel.
I love zinfandel with barbecue, the nice, rich, kind of jammy,
juicy flavors with barbecue with steaks. That kind of deal
to me, It just sings. I love that. I love
Rohane wines with barbecue, you know, the grenage, the chaps

(45:08):
enough to pops the coat. Du Rones, those wonderful barbecue wines.
And then lastly, I would say the Spanish wines, the
northern wines, the Temperannios from Rioja riberto Duero. Those are
fabulous wines for grilling, because there's a lot of grill
action in northern Spain. So those popped in my head first.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Okay, how about a seafood picnic.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
Seafood picnic picnic is outdoors. Picnic is white. It is crispy, white,
white tablecloth. I might tell you white burgundy or chardonnay,
something barrel aged, but when you're outside, I think. For example,
one of the ones I love is a French wine
called peak Pool, which is a southern French wine right

(45:50):
on the southern coast in the Languadoc. It's a great variety.
Peak Pool is the grape variety and they make this
wonderful stainless steel aged Peak Pool, which is like twelve
thirteen dollars a bottle. I love that. I love Portuguese
vigno vert the vigno Verta wines from Portugal, which are
just bright and crispy and bracing. I love Spanish Alberino

(46:11):
for picnics. Okay, Alberino grape from northwestern Spain. Those wines
are exquisite and beautiful to drink in a picnic scenario.
And of course, you know in Orange County, Sansara is
getting hot, so you know the Savino blanc from the
Loire Valley in France, those Sensera wines are also really popular.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
All right, how about a beach bonfire at sunset?

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Beach bonfire at sunset? That could be anything. Again, it's
kind of like the food that kind of deal. I'll
tell you what I do is is me and my
family will vote to Hossam Bistro and get the host
some chicken salad, that red ginger chicken salad, and we'll
bring recently.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
And go to the beach on the Balbo Peninsula.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Yeah. Really, the whole sum red ginger chicken salad is
one of the greatest salads in Orange County has down.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
We'll have to try it.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
Yeah, the host the hohost Some. The chicken salad is
hohs Some. And then we'll bring restling ice, cooled griestling
and those little plastic cups, and we'll go to the beach.
We'll eat host some salad and drink gristling, and the
bonfires are starting, we watch the sunset. I could drink
greastling forever in that scenario. For some reason, white wine,
fruity white wine tastes great at the beach. I love that.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Okay, well that sounds good.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
So how can someone you know, wine is so personal
and people go to the store and they you know,
they're only taken by the label.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
They don't know what they want. I mean, what do
you suggest Somebody comes in.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
And they're a value buyer, and I've told them they
should come into the wine exchange instead of go to
the grocery store. So they just kind of don't know
where to start. And you always say, well, drink what
you like or buy what you like. But I don't
know what I like because I don't know what's inside
those bottles.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
So do you start with a budget, start with a budget.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
I never roll over twenty bucks a bottle unless somebody
specifically says no, go higher. So if you're walking the
store for the first time, I'm going to serve you
some great wines and kind of like that twelve to
eighteen dollars a bottle pocket. Right, I'm going to ask
you what did you enjoy before? What if you drank
in the past, that you dug anything any style and
he labels anything. I'm going to try and glean information
from you like a detective, and then work towards kind

(48:20):
of getting you some great bottles at the start, right,
so you're always going to find something interesting. I'm going
to send you mostly towards Europe, and mostly towards the
values in Spain, the values in southern France, the values
in some areas of Italy that create great, great value wines.
I'm going to work you more in that pattern because

(48:41):
those wines are food friendly and their juicy, and they're inexpensive. California,
we talked about this earlier, is not necessarily the haven
for value on the world front. California does not make
value wines at the same level that Europe does, not
even close. So for if we're on a budget twenty bucks.
I'm sending you to Europe and we're going to go

(49:02):
through and do that process and find you some bottles,
tell you to take pictures of the ones you love,
come back to me, and then we'll continue to find tune.
That's the first steps.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Well, actually, you did share some great value wines, and
I want to say it's called Majeou's, Oh, Marsha's.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
That has got to be one of the best.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
In fact, I should tell our viewers and our listeners
that we were at we were at your store with
friends and you gave it to us in a wine tasting,
and three of us have gone back again and bought
multiple bottles. And then when I found out everybody else
is buying more, I thought, well I better buy some
more before it's all gone.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
So that's now become our group. Our group be go to.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
Incredible wine for the price.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
Yeah, it's under twenty dollars, isn't it around a round twenty?

Speaker 3 (49:55):
Yeah? And see this is the this is the difference
with Europe. Right. So the owner, you know, we told
the story, right, The owner of the property's Pierre Lertone,
who's the director of Chateau e Kem, famous Chateau Kem
and Chateau cheval Blanc, two of the most prestigious wine
estates on the planet. He is the director, right, he
runs them. He sells a thousand dollars bottles of wine

(50:18):
on a daily basis. But this is the difference with Europe.
When he goes home at night, he goes back to
Chateau Marjous, and the wine at his house is fifteen
dollars a bottle. This is the difference, right, He's not
trying to impress anyone with the wine from his home property.
He's not trying to create something that isn't there. He

(50:40):
goes home and he grows, and he probably drinks a
fair bit of I mean, he drinks a bunch of
great thousand dollar bottles as well, but he drinks great
fifteen dollars wine and he sells great fifteen dollar wine
to everyone. And I think that's just one of the
most beautiful stories in the planet, is that this guy
who's a rock star makes one of the best fifteen

(51:00):
dollars wines in the world in Bordeaux and does it
gladly with a plump and.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
It's a great wine. It's a great it's a great
one and for the price, it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
It sees the fifty dollars wine treatment.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Yeah, and what is your price on it?

Speaker 3 (51:18):
I want to say it's around fifteen bucks, isn't that?

Speaker 2 (51:20):
I was going to say fourteen something?

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Yeah, so we should tell them how did how they
how to spell that so they can order it online
on your Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
So Chateau Marjas M R josse M A R J
O S S E. And it's a Bordeaux, So just
Chateau Marjos Bordeaux. It's a twenty twenty two vintage. It's
a twenty twenty two it's a great year in Bordeaux,
one of the best ever vintages in Bordeaux. And the
wine reflects the quality of the harvest. It's truly sensational.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
So if there's anyone viewing or listing and you're looking
for a good wine, a value wine, order it to
order on your website right line. Yeah, or you can
call me and we would be glad to be your
go between.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
I'll be your come in, have a glass or come in,
come in and we're.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Going to have by the way, we're going to have
an event in your tasting room in August with the
National Aging and Place Council. By the way, we're going
to announce that later today, so anybody wants to join us,
they can do that too.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
This has been a delightful afternoon. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
I just keep thinking of I love this topic because
I've now said about twenty times. I just think of
just being at the ocean and enjoying a bottle of wine.
And I'll have to try the Reestlings and the place
down the street from us.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
And if you had to say, you know, any one
bottle of wine that represents the Central coast, what would
that be?

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Oh, it's tough. You have to pick one from each area.
So I mean Santrita Hills. I grab a great bottle
of say like a Melville Chardonnay or a San frend
of Benedict pin noir, something like that's iconic. You know,
from Paso you have the great like a Ridge Doozy's
in Fidel or the Villa Creek Avenger, you know, the

(53:18):
blended wine from that area. Those are those are killer
classic wines from there and from the San Lucia Highlands.
Pin noir from like Lucia or from Roar the chardonnay,
you know from those same guys. That's those are iconic, Yeah,
kind of those types of wines.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Kyle, thank you again and thank you for being a
sponsor so Cal with Valve. We appreciate your support and
we appreciate having you with us.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
We love having you with us.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
It's been another great conversation and we we love your stories.
We love hearing your depth of knowledge and all the
things that you tell us that make wine even more
interesting than any of us could have possibly known. And
now we've learned some more about summer reds as well
as a little bit about summer winds. So for our
viewers and listeners, if you want to check out the
Wine Exchange and hear anything or find out anything more

(54:05):
about what we've talked about today, this episode will be
on YouTube, it will be on social media, so if
you didn't get to catch the whole thing, you can
go back and listen to it again. And on their
website you can buy any of these wines. So until
the next time, remember that wine doesn't have to be complicated.
It's about connection, enjoyment and those little moments that become

(54:25):
unforgettable and all the fun that we get to have together.
Cheers to warm nights, good friends and living the great
SoCal life. This is so cal with Val and we
will see you next week.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Serious