67. Spring Into Summer!

Camping on a remote coastal beach, bear sightings on a less remote coast (!), the possible forever closure of Yosemite’s High Sierra Camps’ tent cabins, and one of the best road trip vacations you can do that is sure to please everyone (even the dog!): Paso Robles! Paso is a down-to-earth revelation, home to one of the world’s coolest Lighted Art Shows (Sensorio), world-class and unpretentious wineries with full food menus; e-bike and side-car tours; a vibrant and creative downtown with a huge central park; great places to stay; and new experiences like guided horseback tours at a historic ranch with wildflowers, wildlife, and wowing views of the Santa Lucia Mountain range. Later in the podcast, Brad and Holly talk to Alex Villicana, an innovator in the evolution of Paso’s wine and spirits community. Alex is the Vintner/Distiller/Proprietor at Villicana Winery & Re:Find Distillery. 

Show Notes:
Road Trip to Real California

Villicana Winery and Re:Find Distillery
@refinddistillery

Sensorio
@sensoriopaso

Paso Robles Inn
@pasoroblesinn

Central Coast Trailrides
@centralcoasttrailrides

Cass Winery
@cass_winery

TravelPaso
@travelpaso

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome to the Weekend Schrip for podcast Take it Outside.
I'm Brad Day, I'm Holly Kulac, and here we are
middle of May, coming in hot to summer. How are
you feeling about things?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Really good? I love middle of May because Gus, it's
Gus's birthday in just like a few days.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Gus is uh the mascot bulldog.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, Gus the bulldog. He's turning three on May twentieth. Wow,
I know, so I love this time here. I love
spring anyway. It's got all the birds, it's lighter out.
I mean, you know, I was out last night till
like ten to nine or something, which is late for
me on a Wednesday night. Come on, and it was
light out still, Like, I just I love this time year.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
It's great. Right, you're thinking about all the summer plans,
all the stuff, you're all the fundst to do. I
was actually just thinking about camping. And I've been kind
of reluctant on the rooftop tent craze. You know, that's
been kind of It's been around for a while now,
and now there are just so many different brands that
used to start. I think like the first one was

(01:17):
TIPPOOI I don't know if I'm saying that tippoo, but anyway,
there's a whole bunch of them. Now there's like roof
nests and eye camper and like, uh, you know, the
all the all the brands, and so you start going
down a rabbit hole of like, well, what rooftop tent
do I want? And god, there's there's just so much stuff.

(01:38):
But you know, you start thinking about it, and they're
I mean, it makes camping a lot easier. You're kind
of like it's a bit more protected from the elements
rather than being on the ground. You're kind of raised up.
You probably have a better night's sleep because the mattresses
are better in these rooftop tents. But there's so much
more expensive. Like you get a nice like tent to

(01:58):
pitch on the ground for two hundred, four hundred bucks
somewhere around there. These rooftop tents these are like two
thousand up to like four thousand dollars. It's a ten
every money. I know, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, so like okay, I want to I'm trying to
understand why it's more comfortable, because like, does it come
with a mattress?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
It does a lot of them do. Yeah, and I
think a lot of them actually will send you an
upgrade match or you can buy an upgraded mattress for
a better night sleep if you want. Of course, there's
always an upsell, but a lot of them, I think
they all come with like mattresses included.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
The only way that I would like something like that
is if I could just press a button. It just
like puff, like all one up.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Well, that's the thing I have to do it. It's
basically is like that. Like you're talking about setting up
a tent in seconds as opposed to like minutes, right,
I mean these things are super fastest.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Said add two thousand dollars in for saving a couple
of minutes.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Right, It's all about efficiencies. Right.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
That's cool. But I have a question. I know you
want to you'd want to take Gus, right, yeah, And
so my question is, how would you get.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Gus up the ladder?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Up the ladder? I mean he's a forty eight pounds bulldog.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Forty eight pounds, Yeah, I know that's like a big
sack of rice or something. I don't know, like need.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Like a carrier, like I don't know, like a baby
carrier or something. No, but just like you know, there
are backpacks you can buy it to put your dog in,
but just something where because I think getting I feel
like you could get him up the ladder, okay, like
carrying him, but it's when you're trying to get him
down that's like awkward.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Right, I don't know, I think, yeah, I don't know.
I think you could like have somebody already up in
the tent and I go up like a wrong or
two and then I do kind of the handoffs. I
just see this, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Wrong?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
No or yeah? You could do like the backpack that
you put you know, toddlers in or babies, and like.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well now they make them for dogs, Like I said,
oh yeah, okay, get backpacks for there. You see him
like you know.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
I mean, you're not having to climb like twenty feet
like you're talking about just getting to the roof of
the car.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Scormy feisty bulldog. Right, Well, I don't know, I knowing
you you'll figure it out, but I would like to
have a video of that. Hopefully it all goes ok.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Anyway, Like where would you go with that?

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Though?

Speaker 1 (04:08):
There's so many cool places, right, like you go to
the Sierra you go to the coast. One place I've
always wanted a camp. I saw it many years ago
when we were doing some research for weekends shrip up
in Humboldt County, the Fern Canyon area, you know where
they film Jurassic Park two. You know, gold Beach, gold

(04:28):
Bluff's Beach. Yeah, that looks awesome. I mean you're right
on the beach. You're far enough away from the Bay
area that it's like you're not going to get like
a ton of people, but you probably still will get
a ton of people because it's such an amazing place
to camp. But you know, it's like a kind of
a dusty dirt road to get down to this amazing,
beautiful California, desolate beach. And anyway, that's one place, and

(04:53):
I'm like, oh, I'd love to camp there. Of course,
Sell Point on the Snowma Coast is a great place
to camp, car camp. You know, you're right on the
pretty close to the coast, and great hiking trails around
there and all that.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
So yeah, I have a question about gold Bluffs Beach.
Are there bears, because you know, I've been seeing in
the news lately that even Jenner Beach more locally, Sonoma
County has had a bear. I mean it's got bears,
but there's been some like black bear sightings. I'd say

(05:27):
it seems more common these days than like you used
to hear it once in a while. Right, Oh, there
was a black bear, but now it's like there's been
a in the bear area now. Yeah, And there was
one on Penny Island in that Jenner Marine Protected Area,
that beautiful area that has like it's the like does
it separate? Is its spit of land that kind of.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Oh yeah, right, has the on the island?

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, on the island like wandering way, I mean yeah,
And I think there's been like a couple I know
that in some state parks. Locally in Sonoma County, they'll
see them once in a while, but usually through like
you know cameras, right, game cameras.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
I think it was Hood Mountain Regional Park in Sonoma
County that had one.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's really cool. I'm guessing Humboldt probably.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Has Oh they got they definitely have them, and.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
They come down to the beach are like we like
the beach too, people.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, well, I mean they used to have grizzly bears,
you know in California, that would go down to the beach,
they would roam all over this state.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
I know, I have to do a little bit more
research into the grizzly bears because I know, I think
they were planning on doing on trying to get grizzly
bears back into California, and then something I don't know
what happened, but it's been It isn't happening right now,
not right now.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Do you think of that, Yeah, I mean I'm a
fan of it. I think you'd have to be pretty
precise about where you would want to have grizzly bears.
It seems like they could perhaps coexist with the current
situation of California, maybe up in the High Sierra, but
I mean it's such a populated state. But I mean
you get up into the High Sierra and it's not

(06:57):
and it's it's beautiful landscape up there, and you know
they are an apex predator, and perhaps it would be
helpful for you know, kind of balancing things out. Who knows,
But like in.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
A place so like you have somebody you can't like
something like Yosebody National Park.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Sure you could think, oh, well they could be but
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
I know, like coming down down into the valley, that
seems like it'd be crazy because there's so many people.
That's tough.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Well I don't think that, but.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
I mean you go to a national park like Glacier
National Park, right, they have the most grizzly bears per
I don't know square mile of any place, and it's
a very popular national park and they it works out.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
I don't know, mostly it works out. Yeah, speaking of
you have somebody though, did you see I want to
ask you about you know, those have you ever been
to those high sier camp.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
I've seen them, I've seen them, never stayed there.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, so like they like it's an expensive way to go.
Very boy that country. It's very bougie. I think, you know,
like all of your gear is transported for you. It's expensive.
You get fancy meals. It's these tent cabins. But they
haven't had like over the past six years, those cabins

(08:13):
have only been open once for like they had the pandemic.
They've like had too much snow at times. Like there's
been all kinds of issues around opening those camps. Because
I remember years ago learning about those and I think
we even wrote about it many many years ago, but
they are going to remain shuttered this year again, and
I'm kind of like, I just don't see them necessarily

(08:34):
ever being able to really you know, reopen just their
they seem they just seem to have chronic issues with
trying to do that. And I think they only open
like very briefly during twenty twenty four. I think it
was like the summer anyway, and there's a lot of
opinions on whether or not it should be open. I
kind of am like, well, it seems like if for

(08:56):
six years it's been a challenge, maybe you just leave
it at that and let people backpack back there. I mean,
they can, you can backpack back there.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
I did, yeah, back in twenty twenty one. I was
in the Vogel Saying area and there's that's one of
the camps. It was of course shuttered in twenty twenty one,
but I mean that is it's such a beautiful part
of Yosemite that, you know, when you compare it to
how many people visit, you know, different parts of Yosemite,
that high Sierra Vogal Sang area gets just a fraction

(09:27):
of the visitors. And it's because it's so hard to
get back there. You have to backpack.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Who are you with when you went?

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Carlow?

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Oh, how cool, Carlow. That's a great pack backpacking companion.
Hey yeah, he's in't it all? But I have a
question about that. Is there so when you said you
backpacked back there? Yeah, is there a designated camp site
back there that's like here's where you pitch everything?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Oh yeah, so I think they have like tent platforms,
but the tent themselves, the structures were not there. They're
like canvas tents that you put up seasonally. But they
have these, if I'm remembering correctly, these kind of like
footprint platforms of where they would set up the tent
and kind of the mess hall where people would eat
and all that, but it was all you know, it
was not set up at all. Yeah a few years ago.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Well yeah, because I guess you know, there's like mixed
reviews on whether or not these camps should be reopen.
Like there's people say that like mules transport all the
supplies and this degrades you know, the environment, And then
there's people who say, but it's such a great experience
and it makes the wilderness experience more accessible. I don't
know where I come down on it. I mean, it

(10:31):
just seems to be that if in six years it's
been challenging to have it open, maybe they could have like,
you know, you can obviously do it like you did
self guided, but maybe guides could just take people back
country camping, right like I don't know within Yosemite or
guiding services that come in and say. I'm not sure

(10:52):
if that actually happens, but it's a great opportunity at
least for that for people who want to get that
back country experience. But it just wouldn't be as bougie.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, I think that already probably exists going on guided
backpacking trips up to some cool spots. I kind of
see both sides of this one, you know, of the
you know, keep them closed, it's keep the wilderness more pristine,
versus like open them back up. It's such unique experience,
and I kind of fall a little bit more on

(11:23):
the side of opening them in the fact that it
is bougie. But I think the type of people who
would be interested in doing that kind of thing are
probably outdoorsy types of people anyway, because you're talking about hiking.
I think they're spaced out eight miles apart these these camps,
So it's not like it's, you know, it's a super
easy day. Yeah, you know, it's it's a substantial hike.

(11:49):
So and it's I do think it is kind of
a unique experience. And if you really want the pristine
wilderness of the High Sierra, gosh, there's so many places
to get that, you know, across the the Mountain range.
I mean, Yosemite is one of the premier places to
get it. But yeah, I don't know. I think it's
all about the compromise and kind of like being smart

(12:10):
and ethical about it. If it is about you know,
kind of the mules and kind of like what they
create from you know, transporting luggage and food and all
that kind of stuff, then you know, maybe you have
to figure out a way to limit that or come
up with an alternative or a solution. But I think
the fact that it's you know, the High Sierra camps
have been around for quite some time and it is

(12:32):
kind of a very unique way to experience the majesty
of the High Sierra. I think it's kind of cool.
But I think, you know, it does come with some
compromise of being able to do it in a very
sustainable way.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah, I mean they do it in the Grand Canyon, right,
the mules go down to Fantom.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Ranch, right.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, it's considered boujim. You can stand in a cabin then, right,
air conditioning.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
And going back to Glacier National Park. There's a couple
of backcountry huts or lodges that have full kitchens, or
at least they did. I know they had one of
them or two of them burned down in the last
few years, unfortunately from wildfire. But it's not necessarily a
new idea to be able to hike into the wilderness
and backcountry and have some kind of like shelter with

(13:15):
food there for you. It's just, you know, how can
you do it in a sustainable way?

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Exactly? Yeah, it'd be interesting. I have some quirky news.
A study finds at witnessing the Northern Lights in Norway
may increase your life span by seven years.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Just seeing them once.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Apparently I just give them the headline. I didn't read
the story, it's by it. It's an Instagram.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
That's how we read these days anyways, right headlines.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
I just saw the headline's Instagram account by Norway Travelers
is a gandal, and I mean, you know, I hope
that's true because I was very lucky to see the
Northern Lights in Norway. Yeah, so if that increases my life, just.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
That one thing, just seven years. Can you imagine if
that's true, just like so many people would be gone
to or a way to go see this, the Northern Lights.
If it's like an automatic seven year extension on your life.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
And it was so random because I was in this okay,
well you were with me, h huh. The small was
aour a how do.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
You I think it's it's yeah ah ah yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
So I I was sleeping and then I heard this
group that had been out. I don't know if they
were partying or what they were doing, but they were
like a little bit loud coming in nobody Dale. But
it woke me up. So I got up and I
was like looking outside, saw this you know, beautiful dark sky,
but the stars were just so magnificent. So I remember
I came in and I said, you should get up
and check out this these stars. Yeah, because then it's

(14:43):
like the flat dark sky. I had no idea like
about you know, what we were about to see. And
you're like kind of like, okay, you opened the door,
the front door, and first of all, Cat ran in,
scared the crap out of everybody in the cabin. And
then what did you say?

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Northern lights?

Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (15:03):
No, it was very uh surprising. Was not expecting it.
It wasn't planning a trip around. It just happened to
get lucky to see it.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
But like you just opened the front door. Yeah, okay,
Well maybe you're gonna have seven extra years of life too.
Holy go, that was a great Norah was a great trip.
I don't know if we ever ended up writing a
lot about that, but we we should do that because
that was an amazing place. I know another amazing place
that's driving distance where pass.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Robos is an amazing place. Uh, and we a few
of us had the opportunity to go down there for
a few days.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
This spring to have all kinds of adventures. And we're
going to be in just a minute, we're going to
be talking with Alex Villa Kana, who is from Villacana
Winery as well as the Refined Distillery, and we're going
to be talking to him about his winery, about his distillery,
and of course all things passer Robols, which is a

(16:02):
great conversation coming up here in just a minute. But
before we get to Alex, what was your what was
your thought on that particular adventure, that derivable road trip
adventure to Passer Robols.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's the per road trip. I mean really, there's just
so many cool things to do, whether you're going like
solo with your with your dog, with friends, with family. Yeah,
it's just like I had gone through Passa Robles and
I usually would stop for like a winery or something
on occasion, you know, usually on the way it is.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Great wineries, right, That's like kind of what put it
on the map was the wineries. Wineries.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, and but I you know, and I was always like, oh,
this seems like such a beautiful spot. But like actually
going there and spending time from you know, Censorio, which
we can get to in a moment, that's most spectacular.
I think, you know, probably in the country, if not
one of the best in the world. Like lighted art installation.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Shows, absolutely stunning.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
It's phenomenal to like horseback riding, which when we talk
about you know, I've had some bad experience in horseback riding.
This was an absolutely amazing one. This was the wineries,
the food, it's just and the cool downtown is so
like artistic and energized. There's just something to do for everyone.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, yeah, the downtown was great. Actually that was real surprise,
Like I knew Cinceario was going to be pretty awesome.
But like the downtown just they have this plaza or
square that kind of like is the hub and of downtown.
You can just like hang out on the plaza. There's
playgrounds there, you can just picnic, you can just do
whatever you want. There's restaurants all around, there's little shops.

(17:42):
There's a great hotel right right there where we stayed,
the passer Robles in highly recommend that place, great fire
pits that they light up at night. And yeah, it
was just it made it easy. Just like who doesn't
level walkable just downtown that.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
You can get Downtown City Park is what it's officially called.
And it's like, yeah, it's just it's this centerpiece. It's
a huge park. It's got like it's just a gathering place.
It very much sort of centers the town. And it's
dog friendly, which I like a lot, which is important
because where I live, the plaza is not dog friendly.

(18:20):
Oh so burn.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
A little controversial over here, but.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, they just they have. It has the Carnegie Library,
which was built in the years of nineteen o seven
and nineteen o eight. It's listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. And then it's just like you said,
it's a perfect place for you know, a playground and
lots of super cool shops and restaurants around it. We
ate at a couple of really cool spots, the Alchemists Garden,

(18:50):
which was terrific. They had such a good, diverse menu
and their cocktails were great, and they also had really
cool mocktails. Yes, I think I had something called the
Fifth Heaven, which was mescal. It had it was a
mess cal infuse something and I can't remember what Miriam
got hers was a mocktail, but she loved it. She
said it was just delicious and really good and the

(19:14):
food was excellent. What did you think of Al Kamis Garden.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
I loved it. Uh, it's I thought it was, like,
you know, the location is awesome, right on the plaza.
The cocktails, you could tell they're not just kind of
like you're thrown together cocktails. Like. We spoke with one
of the owners when we were there, and he was
just kind of talking about the ingredients that they use
for every aspect of these of the cocktails that they serve,

(19:43):
And I never gave that much thought to cocktails, but
I mean it's pretty pretty amazing when you start thinking about,
you know, the types of sugars, the non high fruitose
corn syrup that you're going to use, and putting it
all together and just keeping it very fresh. It was.
It was awesome, and the food was really good too.
And they have like a little speakeasy back and this

(20:03):
kind of like tucked away lounge that you have to
know about, but I think that's only open a couple
of nights a week, but worth worth checking that out too,
the little hidden speakeasy in the back of the Alchemist
Garden if you can get a spot there.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah. And another place I really liked was Fish Gaucho,
which was is creative Mexican cuisine and honestly, we're like
the best tequila wall I've ever seen. Like you go
in there, it's just like, like, let's put it this way.
Fish Gaucho has a food menu and a tequila menu.
Here's the tequila. I think they call it the Tequila Bible,

(20:39):
And both the food and the tequila are outstanding, but
it's just like this very lively.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Flights too, if you want to do flights, yes.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Tasting, I didn't because I was on the job, so
I just got there like spicy margarita, which was excellent.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
And what I also like is that they don't necessarily
don't have to get like a full poor. They also
on their menu have like just a take, you know,
a three quarter ounce of all of their amazing tequila.
So that's you know, kind of goes back to that
tasting flight if you want to try tequila or mescal,
if you're into mescal, which is kind of on the
up and up these days too. They have a whole
bunch of that, a little bit of a smokier alternative

(21:15):
to the tequila. Anyway, a lot of fun, great restaurants,
great shopping and I mean maybe we're bearing the lead
a little bit here, but Censorio, I mean, come on, man.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
That I mean is amazing.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, that was so cool. If you don't know what
Censorio is, it's been around for a few years now.
Originally kind of like just this light exhibit of all
these different lights on the rolling hills just outside of
Pasta robols that were installed and it became a hit
and people loved it, and so now they've kind of
built it out a little bit more, a lot more,

(21:52):
and there's there's several exhibits. There's the original exhibit, which
I believe is called the Field of Lights, right yep, Yeah,
which is a amazing You got to get there, I
would say at least thirty minutes before sunset, so you
can watch the sunset and kind of and the lights
begin to come to life. Just kind of like seeing
that transition is really it's kind of magical. Yeah, and

(22:14):
they have life you can get there's live music there
often there's food trucks. Like it's a great date night
or family night, or you just want to see something
amazing at night. Chucks all the boxes, it does, it does.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
It's one hundred thousand. That Field of Light is the
largest of these of it's there, and it's one hundred
thousand like light. Yeah, stem spears, they're called stems, and
so if you arrive early, you can see them in
the field and they're just sort of like these little
white you know, shimmer like there's a subtle shimmer, right,
it's a sunsetting and then of course, when the darkness falls,
it's like the hills just become this technicolor like magnificent mirage.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
It almost seems like you're looking at the Northern Lights
or something as a very.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Similar planted into the fields of Paso. You know, it's
so cool and it's like the whole I remember that,
you know, I didn't realize that they had built so
many exhibits beyond that over the years. I knew they
had some more, but it just it's this journey where
you're on the boardwalk and there's there's music, like you
go through an exhibit called Light Towers, which is you know,

(23:19):
an ode to the region celebrated wine country, and the
towers are made of over seventy thousand wine bottles. They're
lit by fiber optics and the colors transformed to ambient music.
So you're like walking it's just so you're walking through
these like lighted exhibits and it's it's mesmerizing and it's
tranquil and it's I mean, it's just an incredible feeling,

(23:43):
right and like sight seeing. It's it's the cool It's
one of the coolest things I've done in many, many years.
And then you can stop it like airstreams for snacks
or drinks. Airstream you know, trailers just serving food and drinks. Yeah,
and there's a fire pit right before the I think
it's the Dimensions exhibit. There's like a fire pit area

(24:07):
with you know, at around deck chairs and it's right
in front of that exhibit, which I thought was such
a cool exhibit. It's like these massive metal sculptures and
they like you can go, you can walk in some
of them you can turn and you can like go
and like give them a spin. But they have they
cast these their design so that they cast these intricate

(24:28):
light patterns across the ground and these mosaics.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, you know like when you were a kid in
elementary school and you'd cut like snowflakes.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yes, you know, you'd like you'd perfect exams.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
You know, you'd like fold the paper up and then
you'd like cut like whatever design you want, and then
you'd have this really cool snowflake. It's kind of like
that and a much bigger scale with metal sculptures and
amazing kind of like different colored lights. That's this Dimensions exhibit.

(25:02):
So yeah, like like you said, I mean, what kind
of put censorio on the map was that field of lights,
which you know, it kind of looks like bioluminescence came
to life in the fields outside of past robols. But
then they had added all these other cool exhibits, like
some like have music accompanied with it, with like symphonies,

(25:24):
and and what was that.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
FOSO that's the newest fiber optic Symphonic orchestra.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yes, yeah, and that only opened last month, I know,
so that's really new. Uh yeah, as you said, it's
state of the art columns of lights set in a
rotary structure and synchronized to musical score. So really cool
and uh, just a great way to spend a couple
of hours, uh at night and passer robols.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
And I think if you're going like on a date night,
the terrorist experience, it's sort of the more it's like
a little bit of VIP.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah, but that's really unique because you get the front
and center seats with fireside tables and heaters right and
there's an airstream bar you to drink ticket and right
in front of the field of light. So like it's
a it's a good splurge. But regardless, like anything you
do there, just go for the full experience to wander
through it.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
It was before meal deal.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
You know what else I liked was that it's night,
so it's dark, and then you look up at the
sky and because of where you're located in the fields,
it's just like this, the stars are out too, so
you have the like natural light, right, it's just beautiful.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yes, yeah, And then you get to go back to
your cozy inn at the Passa Robles in which I
see you're wearing their their sweatshirt.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, I got a sweatshirt. There's lots of great places
to stay there and this is this is located basically
right on the plaza, so it's a great location, dog friendly.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
I have an on site restaurant, great breakfasts, school, mm hmmm,
all the stuff. Yeah, and you know it's of course
there's great outdoorry adventures to be had around Pastor Robels.
And one that I know was you were a little
bit nervous about was going horseback riding. That was on
our a tenerary while we were down in past Robles,

(27:13):
was to do a horseback riding trip with the great
folks at Central Coast Trail Riders.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah. And it's at a historic ranch, right, Santa Marta Ranch.
It's fourteen thousand acres. It's incredible. Yes, I was. I
have always been a bit nervous about horseback riding because
I had a bad experience as a kid with a
horse when I was in Jasper. A horse was named Chief,
and it just wasn't a delightful journey as a kid.

(27:42):
So I was kind of scared. I was Chief doing
Chief was just like could tell I was scared, and
we were. And also honestly, it was in this I
think it was called Pyramid Lake in Jasper. I was
with my brothers and like they were making fun of me.
You know, I was nervous, mean brothers, they were kind
of making fun of me, but were on like this
ledge like it was a very for me my personality.

(28:04):
I was like, it felt kind of scary for a
first time. So it wasn't a great experience. And that said,
I had a phenomenal experience and it was very redemptive
with Central croastterial rides because it was just was so
much fun. And they're very good about the horses that
they pick for you. They deal with novices all the time,

(28:27):
and in fact, they said a lot of people shall
be like, oh, yeah, I've been a horse, you know,
many times, and then they're get on the horse and
they're like, oh my god, what I do? But as
Miriam said, she said to me, Miriam was long on
this trip as well. She's pretty much a pro and
horror she did great. But she said, Holly, you looked
like gumby your legs, you know, in the stirrup. Because

(28:48):
I kept getting told by Brian, who who guided this trip,
Hey like keep your you know, toes pointed up right
so that like you too, And I took it very literally,
but I very quickly relaxed. The horses are very gentle,
you're you know, it's such a great guided experience that
you're not worried. It's incredibly scenic on this ranch. I

(29:11):
mean you just go up to incredible views of the
Santelucia Mountains and of the ranch, which is incredible. I
mean it's an ancient Peaks winery. Their grapes are growing there.
And then you go up to a sun dial, which
I thought was super cool, and it's like a legit
sun dial. That was I think kind of the the

(29:36):
brainstorm and the idea of Karl Wodstrom, who is one
of ancient Peaks winery founders, and he's traveled the world
like exploring. That guy knows Sundal is like nobody I've
ever met. And so it's just really cool, Sundial that
you go up to this incredible view. What did you
think of it?

Speaker 1 (29:52):
It was great? No, it was really You.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Worked on a horse, you got stuck in a you
got literally stuck.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
I did. I was a like a little little four
wheel drive contraption. I don't know what those little vehicles
are called, but yeah, I was. I was driving that
keeping up with you guys on the horses, and we
were crossing like a little I don't know, muddy creek
kind of thing, and it was pretty high at that time.

(30:18):
This was a few weeks ago where the creek run
off was was pretty good, and uh, I know, I
had it in four wheel drive and I was crossing
the crossing the creek and then all of a sudden,
like you know, I kept on kept on going through
the mud, and then the wheels went like lower and
lower and lower until pretty much the wheels are completely
covered in mud. And putting it in reverse or four

(30:41):
wheel drive low and all that didn't fix it. So
I had to abandon the little four wheel drive car.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Uh in the middle, are you wearing I don't even.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Some really old sneakers, So yeah, that's good. I had
to walk out of there going to mud up to
my almost knees. So that was a good time. But
got the shots, got the shots of.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
You guys, and there was there's great wildlife too, Like
there's the bald deals like we saw the bald eagle nest.
There's golden eagles, there's turkeys, there's badgers. Brian said that
there's also even been the occasional bear. They usually try
to you know, they have to manage that, but you know,
there's they're really this is a great guiding service. They're
awesome and they cater it to what you're looking for,

(31:27):
what your skill level is. You know that. I think
they're excellent that way. And the horses were like, they
were awesome. I mean I it really honestly did for
me because I wasn't I was looking forward to it
from the perspective of how scenic and beautiful and the
wildflowers road and this incredible, you know, Santa Margarita ranch.
But I was a little nervous because I thought, oh,
they they horses know, right, they're like.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
This one's she doesn't know what she's done on.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
But my horse was great, like I didn't really have
to do anything when I gave it, like you know,
let's they give it like a gentle kick, not like
just a gentleman like hey, you know, move or whatever.
It was. It was so easy and really fun. It
was a great experience and I would highly recommend it.
If you're nervous or scared of horses, just don't be
Just go and enjoy this.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Go and enjoy. Yeah. And then right next door almost
is Ancient Peaks Winery to where you get on this
the Central Coast Trail ride is the Ancient Peaks Winery
at Wine Cafe where you can get lunch and try
some more amazing passo wine.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
I know. That was really fun, and they have food
there as well. Their burger was just absolutely delicious. It
was called the Margarite Burger and it came with truffled
parmesan fries.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
So good. Yeah, really good, really fun experience. So Central
Coast Roads. All of this, by the way, is on
our website we can supper dot com.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah. Yeah, we did a whole issue of we can
sure all about these adventures that we're talking about here,
and well one of the other ones the other like
the wineries down there, they really kind of cater to
not just enjoying the wine, but also maybe having some lunch,
maybe doing some other adventures. Cast Winery was one of

(33:14):
the places that we went where you can rent e
bikes or you can go on one of these sidecar
types of adventures and you can get lunch there. It's
like they're covering all these bases, so it's not just
that the wine and the wine there is phenomenal a
lot of Rowan varietals there. But I know you and
Miriam had a great time on the e bikes, like
cruising around the event. You can like do this this
route that they have recommended, rent e bikes and just

(33:36):
cruise around the vineyards and taken some of the sites
in that beautiful part of passer Roboles.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Oh yeah, it's great. I mean that's one of the
things that I love. I mean, their wine Impasso is
just world class. And yes, you know, you go to
some wineries and other destinations, it's like, oh, here's a
trcutery board for seventy five dollars right, It's like, now
I'd rather like have a full, like really delicious meal,
Like I got a barbecue chicken piece and spring very

(34:00):
slid at cast Vineyard and they have a wood fire
pizza oven. I mean, the food is awesome. And yeah,
Mary my head found. We went on the third it's
called third Wheel Tours, which is a sidecar tour.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
We did the e bike though too.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, we did the e bike as well. We did both.
You know, we were having fun. Yeah, But you get
the tour of the vineyard and they give you all
these details and then on site you can yeah, rent
the e bikes and just go around there like oak
trees and it's and you're just in the vineyard like freedom.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Freedom. If you've ever wanted to go explore the rolling
vineyards of Passo, that's a good place to do it
sidecar or e bike.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yeah. That's the thing about Passo is it's one of
the most like kid friendly, dog friendly family. It's just
kind of all around. You're looking for like, hey, what
can what can we do that all of us will
like right, not like oh we're going to do a
wine country where it's just kind of like to wineries.
The whole time, and like the wineries are obviously well
worth the stop, but like the kids can be engaged too,

(34:57):
and you know, there's food there, there's and.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
What I like is like it's also like you've been
to other uh wine countries, not the bag on other
wine countries, but I mean there's a there's a level
of like fanciness and pretentiousness that comes out sometimes and
some places are are kind of more guilty of it
than others. There's none of that in past Orubbles. Like
it's so down to earth, just friendly, welcoming, warm, no

(35:22):
pretensions and just kind of like, oh you like wine,
we make some great wine. Check this out and you're like, wow,
this is freaking amazing. And you can go like cruise
around the plaza, the Central Park and it's not you know,
it's not overrun by I don't, I don't, I don't want.
It's just like having living in in another white.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Country that ours is not so pretentious except for the
dog part. The dog Yeah anti dogs totally and plaza
really bothers me.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, but yeah, wine country gets this reputation of being
kind of pretentious, and this is not that it's so
down to earth.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
It's so down to Earth. Such a great destination. Highly
recommend it. And speaking of amazing white wine and wineries,
let's get to Alex Villacana and Villacana Winery and Refined Distillery.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
All right, So we're really excited to have Alex vin
al Kana join us on the podcast today. He is
the Vitnor Distiller, proprietor at Villacana Winery as well as
at Refined Distillery. He's also the president of the California
Distillers Association and the president of the board of Travel Passo.
Welcome to the podcast, Alex.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Hi, Alex, not much.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
I wear quite a few different hats. But it's it's
all fun and it's really good to be involved in
such a cool community.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, it is such a cool community. We had the
pleasure of being in Passo, and I feel like we
can call it Passo, you know, the cool people call
it Passo, not just not travel past Robles.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Let's go there, because is that cool? Like here in
San in San Francisco, you cannot say San France, right, that's.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
It doesn't that that's a big no.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
No, that's big say San France.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
So if pass So, I have seen it referred that
way is that okay.

Speaker 5 (37:16):
Oh yeah, no, definitely.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
Locals call it pass out and then it's funny because
sometimes you get the pastor Robles, but it's.

Speaker 5 (37:28):
Yes, yeah, so a local at first.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
So are you on the Passo Robles or passer Robles
side of things? What would you say?

Speaker 5 (37:43):
I would say pass like I was kind of say
like Barney rubble Barney.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Okay, the well, yeah, going back to kind of the
original point was that it was it was a very
special place, so much, so much to do. Really, it
feels like, you know, I grew up in the Central
Valley in Vicelia, and you know a lot of times
you'd take that highway from Vicelia going to the coast

(38:11):
and you'd stop into pass Robels. But it feels like
it's really over the last that was many years ago,
but it's found its footing as really an amazing destination
in its own right for so many different things.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
Yeah, no, it's it's it's been pretty incredible. So I've
been here for a little over thirty years now. So
I think my first harvest in the region was nineteen
ninety one, if if I can remember quick correctly, and
it was at the old Creston Winery. Which was way
down on the kind of the southeast corner of past Robles,
and it was actually owned at the time by Alex Trebek,
which you know, he actually had some early interest in

(38:48):
the wine region. He switched from wine to a horse
ranch and then ended up actually living up by Lake Nacimento,
so he spent a lot of time here in this area.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
But I fell in love with this area. Was it
was kind of sidetrack. Actually.

Speaker 4 (39:01):
I actually when I got out of college, I thought
I wanted to go into the restaurant industry. And I
had actually enrolled in a cooking school thinking that I
would i'd kind of go the route of becoming a chef.
And one of the wine makers that I had met
in kind of my wine taste in classes over the
years basically you know, called me up and said, hey,

(39:22):
you know, I know you want to go into cooking,
but you know, if you want to learn a little
bit about wine, it would probably help you in your
career down the line. And you know, it was a
shameless way for him to get some help during harvest,
and you know, he basically hooked me, you know, hook
line and sinker, and yeah, sure enough, I went up
there and started working the harvest and absolutely fell in
love with the process. And so over the next three

(39:43):
years I kind of worked on and off with him
if he called and said, hey, can you come up
for the weekend, we need to help with this or that,
And helped him for three harvests, and he let me
actually start making wine first, just kind of as an
amateur on the side in his cellar, and then we
actually made our first CA commercial batch in nineteen ninety three,
and and so.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
It was you know, but back then there was you know,
twelve wineries in the region.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
There was there was nothing nobody knew where past I
was like you were saying, yeah, yeah, and so now
you know, you look at we have, you know, probably
two or three hundred brands here. It's it's really incredible
to see the change over thirty years.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, that is incredible. I mean when you were kind
of working those early harvests, were you thinking like this
is this could be a career path for me or
are you just really just loving the idea of making wine.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
I think at the point, I was just loving the
idea of making wine, and it was something that kind of,
you know, my dad got me interested in wine as
a you know, when I was growing up, he was
really into the you know, the California cabs and Bordeaux
wines and and so I was fortunate to drink a
lot of really nice wine, probably before I was legally
allowed to. But it gave me a really solid kind

(40:56):
of foundation and interest in wine. And and so when
I first started doing this, I, you know, it was
it was kind of one of those things that was
it wasn't a plan going in. It was just something
that I got sucked into. And I think it was
the second year that I was helping out. During the harvest,
there was a grower's pretty close to where the winery was,
the Sentin Ranch and there it's a really beautiful ranch

(41:19):
over here on the east side, and he would let
harvest workers basically come in after the machines had come
through and mechanically harvested and picked. They call it the
end rows because they the machines can't get that last
like two or three feet.

Speaker 5 (41:31):
Of a vine.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
And so he would come in and basically pick where
we could to make our own wine. And when you
make your first wine, you know, you get in there.
And you know, I got in and stomped it with
my feet, and I mean it was I was hooked
and and so it was you know, at first, it
was you know, we were just playing around doing small
you know, a couple hundred cases a year, and and
we did that for probably, you know, five or six

(41:55):
years before we kind of we decided we had to
had to make a decision. And you know, whether we
you know, stay the tradition or out we both my
wife and I both had great jobs down in Los Angeles,
or you know, we rolled the dice, and and you know,
we tried something new, and you know, we always joke,
you know, we we made the logical decision. We quit
two great jobs, sold our house, moved to Passer Robles

(42:19):
only making a couple hundred cases of.

Speaker 5 (42:20):
Wine and and just to see if it would work.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
You know, you know, looking back on it, it was an
absolutely crazy decision to do it, but you know, thank
god we did because it was really as Passo was
just starting to basically gain momentum, and you know, if
we if we wanted to try that now, it would
be a lot harder to do just because things have
changed so much here in the region.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, so you're so you've been doing commercial wine with
Villacana Winery. The first was it two thousand or nineteen
ninety nine was the first commercial release?

Speaker 3 (42:54):
Is that right now?

Speaker 4 (42:55):
It was actually nineteen ninety three was actually our first
ninety three. Yeah, and then and then so that we
didn't actually have a tasting room for the first you know,
six years, and so we opened our tasting room in
two thousand and one. And and so that's when we
moved up here full time and we actually basically opened

(43:16):
the wine. We opened the tasting room and you know,
have been doing it ever since, full time since two
thousand and one and U and so anyway, so yeah,
we have now about fifty acre vineyard that we farm.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
We produce wine.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
We also obviously have the distillery, which we started that
in twenty eleven.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Right, so tell me, like with the with the wine
and the vineyard that you I guess it's your state vineyard.
What varietals do you do you have?

Speaker 5 (43:47):
Yeah, no, we actually have quite a few things.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
So I love playing around with different varieties and different flavors,
and and so when we first got started, as I said,
I learned to enjoy wine with you know, the big
bold red wine lines. And so we plant Cabernet, sauvignon, zinfandel.
We're low right off the bat. We also planted a
little chardonnay, which that didn't work so well. Pastor Robis

(44:09):
is a little too warm for chardinay, and so that
was our original planting of you know, starting back in
nineteen ninety six.

Speaker 5 (44:16):
When we planted our vineyard.

Speaker 4 (44:18):
We now have all the rown varieties as well. So
we have the serrob or Vedro grenache. Yeah, we have
the rowne varieties, Vionier, Grenache, blanc, peak pool blanc. We
actually this year are actually planting a little temporneo. We
have some tr dough, so we have a real broad
cross section of varieties right now. So anyway, it's it's

(44:43):
it's been. It's been really fun because you know, the
the neat thing about this area is because the climate.

Speaker 5 (44:48):
Is so unique and the soils are so unique, even
on us.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
So our property is about four hundred and twenty acres,
but it varies in terrain and different aspects, and so
you can really plant a lot of different varieties. You
just have to find the right little kind of micro
climate within the property to plant the different varieties, to
see where they're they're really going to do.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Best, So some trial and error over the years, I
imagine figuring that out.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
Yeah, yeah, and that's like I said, the chardonnay was
one of the earlier trial and errors, and so we
ended up actually pulling out the chardonnay early on, and
that ended up actually getting switched over to some of
their own varieties.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
And so that was.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
Probably in about nineteen ninety nine two thousand when we
actually switched the chardonnay over to the greenache, Morvedra and
Sarrah clones that Toablas Creek had brought to the area, right,
And to be honest, I hadn't even really thought that
much about the Rowan varieties until Toblas Creek moved to

(45:46):
the area. And it really that was kind of one
of the bigger revolutions here in past Robos was when
they started planting rown varieties, and it really I think
catapulted past Robus into the into the kind of the
global wine community.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
No absolute, it's such a unique place for wine. But
you're not all about the wine. You also have a distillery.
Tell us a little bit about refined.

Speaker 4 (46:10):
Yeah, absolutely, No, So it was actually the Roan varieties
that kind of led me to the distillery. So when
I when I learned how to make wine, it was
you know, as I said, you.

Speaker 5 (46:20):
Know, Bordeaux focused.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Bordeaux grapes physically are much small, a very small grapes,
and so because a lot of the structure of a
wine comes from the skin of the grapes, and the
grapes are very small, you get a lot of color
and structure from the skins of the grape.

Speaker 5 (46:40):
Roan varieties tend to be very big.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
I always kind of say, like a cabernet berry is
like a pe a more vedro grape is like an orange,
and so it's they're really big, and so there's a
lot more juice for the amount of skin in a
more vegro grape. And so what wine makers will.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
Do is we do a trick called bleeding.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
The French term is sunny and it's basically you stem
and crush the grapes that goes into a fermentner before
adding your niece yeast and nutrients to get the fermentation going.
You'll actually bleed out a certain amount of that free
run juice that everybody says is the best. And all
you're doing is like we always kind of compared So
if you had a gallon of water or a cup

(47:21):
of water and you put a tea bag in, obviously
the cup of water is going to be more concentrated
than that gallon of water to the tea bag. And
that's all we're doing with basically changing the ratio of
juice to skins in these fermentations. But unfortunately, what we
did with this juice that we pulled off is most winemakers.

Speaker 5 (47:38):
Would literally pour it down the drain.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
And you know, I was farming the vineyard at the time,
so you spend a lot of time on a tractor
and then you pour thirty percent of your work down
the drain. And it made me crazy, and so I
was like, there's got to be something better to do
with this, and so we you know, we threw around.

Speaker 5 (47:55):
All sorts of ideas. Obviously, we started with the idea
of doing a brandy first, but unfortunately, when we did
the research, brandy tends to be specific varieties, tends to
be harvested at a much lower sugar but a.

Speaker 4 (48:09):
Lot higher acidity, which helps with the aging potential. So
we kind of said, Okay, we're not going to invest
in all this crazy equipment and to make a mediocre brandy,
and so we kind of forgot about that idea until
we stumbled across Sirak vodka and we didn't know you
could actually make vodkaa grapes, and so that was kind
of the light bulb aha moment. And so that probably

(48:30):
about in two thousand and nine. And so it took
us about two years to jump through all the hoops
because we were the first one to actually embed a
distillery within a winery here in the county, and so
we had to basically go to the county, We had
to go to the state, we had to go to
the Feds to figure out how to make it work
and so and actually I always leave out the part

(48:52):
probably the hardest thing was to convince my wife that
this was a good idea, because I come up with
a lot of crazy ideas and buying.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
How do you feel about making moonshine exactly?

Speaker 2 (49:02):
No grape left behind.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
Exactly?

Speaker 4 (49:06):
And so so anyway, so once I got all those
people convinced that this was a good idea, we actually
got our license and we were we started production in
twenty eleven, and originally it was supposed to be just
a small side project to basically be more sustainable with
what I was doing, so I wasn't wasting and and
you know the cool thing is because we had the
ability to have consumers come in and try. You know,

(49:29):
it was we just we had that outlet for you know,
for our spirits. And California's spirits law is really strange.

Speaker 5 (49:36):
It goes back to prohibition, and.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
So we had a weird loophole that because we were
a winery producing grape based spirits, we could actually support
in our tasting room. And so it gave us the
ability to reach consumers with these craft spirits, and.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
And we did.

Speaker 5 (49:50):
We had no idea what people were going to basically,
how they were going to react to it, and and
it was just really need it.

Speaker 4 (49:57):
First people would come in and you could tell because
there were a lot of craft distilleries at the time,
and so people would come in and.

Speaker 5 (50:02):
They're like, do I shoot it? What do I do?
I mean? How do I taste the spirits?

Speaker 4 (50:06):
And are like, no, you know, these are these are
really nice crafted spirits. Just sip it like you would
a wine, and and you could tell they were all
tense stuff to start, and then they would sip it
and you could see them relax and go, oh.

Speaker 5 (50:17):
My god, this is really incredible.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
It's not like what you get off of the store
shelves at the grocery store. It's it's a really uniquely
different spirit produced from you know, world class grapes here
in passer Robos. And so that was in twenty eleven
and and the response was so incredible that we started
reaching out to other wineries here in the area to

(50:38):
to basically start collecting that juice that they were wasting.
And after three years, we were collecting close to thirty
thousand gallons worth of this juice that was getting poured
down the drain. And you know, that's equivalent to about
two hundred tons worth of grapes that were getting you know, wasted.

Speaker 5 (50:54):
It's crazy.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
And so so now we upcycle that into grape based
vodkas and gins and lemon cellos and you know, other
kind of fun flavored spirits based around those grape here
and Passo.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
So, how did you I read something that your wife
likes cucumber, right the flavor? So you managed to get
a cucumber infused vodka? Was that what sold her?

Speaker 5 (51:18):
That came later?

Speaker 4 (51:19):
But no, it was it was you know The fun
thing with the spirits is, you know, it's it's a
little different than wine.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
With wine.

Speaker 4 (51:26):
As I said, we play around with a lot of varieties,
but you have to plan them and it's it's a
long kind of period until you actually, you know, you
kind of get the reward.

Speaker 5 (51:35):
You know. When we were actually doing the spirits, we
would go to the.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Farmers markets on Saturday and we would just kind of
wander up and down and we would be like, oh,
let's try and get some of that that, and we'll
infuse that. You will, you know, macerate that and and
do this other stuff. And and so one of the
farmers that I've done a lot of work with from
Bautista Farms, he's an organic farmer, dan in a Royal Grande,
and we were because my wife loves cucumbers, and so

(51:57):
we were like, you know, could you sell us a
bunch of the cumbers that you know that don't make
the quality that you know you would sell at the
farmer's market. And he's like, are you kidding? You know,
we usually just have to plow him under. And so
we for the first few years we would basically collect
all his ugly cucumbers that he couldn't sell at market.

Speaker 5 (52:13):
And and so and so, you know, we would bring
them back. We juice them through.

Speaker 4 (52:18):
You know, we have we originally bought like two bed
bath and beyond purchased Brevel juicers and we would just
sit there in juice cucumbers and and then add that
fresh cucumber juice into our grape based vodka. And it's
literally about a pound of cucumber per bottle that we
actually produce. And so but it's like it's you're tasting
the real thing. It's it's like you're biting into a cucumber.

(52:39):
We always say it's like it's your healthy it's your game,
your salad.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
This is a healthy vodka. It's like having a salad exactly.
So if somebody wants to to taste both the wine
and the spirits, it's all housed in the same place.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Is that correct?

Speaker 5 (52:56):
Exactly.

Speaker 4 (52:56):
No, we actually have a tasting room here on the
west side of Passer Robules, and you know, we're a
seven days a week and we will do both the
flight of our wines as well as our spirits, and
then we actually we usually will do like about four spirits.
So in California, we're limited on how many spirits you
can actually pour it, so announce and a half per
person per day.

Speaker 5 (53:16):
And so what we'll usually do is do four quarter.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
Outs tastings of our different spirits and then we'll usually
actually use some local mixtures and to kind of show
you what you can do with making cocktails. What we
found early on is a lot of people, you know,
when they try spirits, they don't know what to do
once they get home with them. It's changing a little bit.
I think the cocktail culture is coming back a little

(53:40):
bit now. But when we first started in twenty eleven,
you know, we'd have somebody to come back six months
later and saying, you know that that bottle is still
sitting on the shelf.

Speaker 5 (53:48):
What do I do with it?

Speaker 4 (53:48):
And so we've actually really started working with you know,
craft mixer companies and kind of curating mixers that really
work well with our spirits. And so that way people
can actually you know, have a mixer and a spirit
and then they can actually go home and actually produce
a beautiful.

Speaker 5 (54:05):
Cocktail with only two or three ingredients.

Speaker 4 (54:07):
And so it's it's it's a fun way to basically
come here, try the spirits and then be able to
go home and enjoy them.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
No, that sounds amazing. We're recording this around lunchtime, but
it's a little too early, but you're getting your you're wedding.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
My appetite for it's not too long, it's not too
far we drive to get the pasta. It's I believe
it's such an ideal location literally between San Francisco and
Los Angeles. It couldn't be more perfect for a getaway.
And you say you're open seven days a week, So
I want to know what do you do in your
spare time? Where do you like to go? Where do
you like to go around? That's the robust like for

(54:39):
our listeners. If you have a recommendation of I don't
know anything that you enjoy. What are a couple of
things that are some favorites?

Speaker 4 (54:47):
Yeah, you know, it's it's funny, and you know, there
are so many different things about Pastor Robles that I love.
I'm I'm very much an outdoors person obviously, you know,
being being kind of a farmer, but so you know,
running and biking and high you know.

Speaker 5 (55:01):
On my spare time, those are the things that you know.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
I think I love about Pastor Rebels is because you
go out doors, you know it can get warm during
the day, but in the evenings, you know, by thirty six,
even if it's you know, one hundred degrees during the day,
that temperature is going to drop down and you can
go and no matter where you go on hikes and
running and biking, the views here are just absolutely fantastic.
And so you know, it's even though I think Pastor

(55:24):
Rebels is rooted in wine, there is so much other
things to do here, and you know, if you're outdoors,
it's fantastic.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
If you're a foodie, you.

Speaker 4 (55:32):
Know, thirty years ago, I wouldn't have said this is
a foody destination, but now it's just it's absolutely incredible.
I mean, you know, if I had to think of
my favorite restaurants, you know, it goes from you know,
your simplest little taco shack with there's a little place
called Lorena Lorena that if you like Pastor Street tacos,
is fantastic. That's just kind of like a go to

(55:53):
for a you know, a quick lunch. But then we
have the Passo market Walk, which there's you know, a
couple of fantastic restaurants in there. You think is more
of an upscale kind of kind of street taco restaurant.
You got a Fish Gaucho downtown which is family.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
We were there a couple of weeks ago. That place
was great, were you.

Speaker 5 (56:12):
Yeah, Yeah, fantastic.

Speaker 4 (56:14):
Sarah Nella which is owned by the same owner as
La Petite Cana and it's traditional traditional tapas, which is fantastic.
It's and then I don't know if you heard the news,
but we have Charlie Palmer's basically opening a restaurant here locally.

Speaker 5 (56:30):
They just announced that a couple of weeks back.

Speaker 4 (56:33):
Cool, so that could be at the Passer Roubles in
there right on the park. And so it's it's just
a really exciting time for for kind of the food
stuff here in past Robeles. And yeah, you know, so
there's a there's so much to do here in the region.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
It's it's really okay.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
So no pressure, but you know, being the board chair
at travel pass, so you have to describe to me
some a perfect day in pastor Robels for somebody who
hasn't been there before. No pressure, but just like off
the top of your head, what does a perfect day
look like for a first time visitor?

Speaker 4 (57:06):
So a perfect day would probably be waking up and
you know, going downtown to pass downtown pass Rebels, Probably
grabbing a cup of coffee at you know, one of
our little kind.

Speaker 5 (57:16):
Of local we have a few local, cute littleffee.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
Shops right around the park, and probably heading out some
of the wineries. You know, some of my favorites, you know,
would be probably like a Booker or a dow where
you know, you have fantastic wines and beautiful views. You know,
there's a ton of choices, but you know those are
those are a couple of my favorite. Maybe Villa Coonnay,
maybe Villa Conna, but I've been there, so but yes,

(57:40):
I highly recommend that, uh uh, And then probably heading downtown,
maybe grabbing a cocktail at one of the restaurants and
an appetizer somewhere before and then maybe getting a dinner afterwards.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
Alchemist Garden was great, had great cocktails. We checked that
place out right on the plaza.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
No, those guys are in redible and it's and it's
not just about the cocktail. It's about the education they
give you about you know, all the different flavors and
how to taste and I mean it's it's you know,
we actually had.

Speaker 5 (58:09):
Tony as one of the owners.

Speaker 4 (58:10):
We had him and his staff here at the distillery
for a training and I tell you, I learn every
time he comes in and talks to me.

Speaker 5 (58:17):
So it's it's really incredible.

Speaker 4 (58:18):
And you know, I think that's probably one of my
favorite things about Pastor Robles though, is the people. And
you know, it's it's one of those things that I
think really separates Pastor Rebels from any other region anywhere
in the world, is that, you know, we all know
we're working together. And it's that silly phrase that we
always say, the Rising Times is all boats, but I

(58:41):
think Pastor really basically lives that on a day to
day basis. And you know, whether it's you know, a
winery next door, you're going to be there to help
them if they need something, if they have a question,
if they need a piece of equipment.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (58:53):
Distillers, Uh, you know. So I'm the president of.

Speaker 4 (58:56):
The California Distillers Association, but I'm also involved in our
regional association. Trying to herd the cats of the California
Distillers is impossible, but trying to get the past Rebels
is a piece of cake. Pastor Robust seems to understand
that working together really helps and that I think part
of it is we all enjoy each other. We're all friends,
and so it really makes this area you know, something different,

(59:20):
is something special.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
To that point, because I agree with that. You know,
when I spent some time there a few weeks ago,
I absolutely loved it, very very genuinely. I mean I
will definitely go back. And you know, my in laws
love it there too, Like it's kind of a place
for everybody. So I'm like, great, now we have a
place that we can all go together and you know
there's something for everyone to enjoy. But something that I

(59:41):
found so special about it was the people and also
the lack of pretension. You know, it's got world class wine,
it's got the food. I mean, I you know, we
did some editorial around past someone I said that about
the food scene. It is on or it's you know,
if it's not on the map, it's definitely going to
be on the map for its exquisite food and just
the dynamo is them in the culinary artistry of it there,

(01:00:03):
and so you know, places like that sometimes there's like
you know a little bit of an air. There's nothing
like that. Impassive and I just don't ever see it
having that. It's just like very down to earth but
progressive and cool and just has this great vibe and
energy to it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
Absolutely, you nail it. Yeah, you nail it on the head.

Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
And it's and it's you know, you know, arguably, we
have a couple of winemakers that would be considered, you know,
probably top winemakers in the world, and when you meet them,
you would never know it because it's they're not pretentious,
they're just they love what they do. You know, they're
probably farmers at heart, and it's just they feel as
luckily lucky as I do to be part of, you know,

(01:00:43):
something really special, and so it is it is a
unique area for that for that reason. And the cool
thing is you're still going to find a lot of
them behind a bar or in the winery where you
can you know, you know, I talk to customers all
the time because it's it's fun to see people's reactions.
It's fun to see how excited they are to talk
to the owner, the winemaker or the distiller, and and
so it's it's it's something that's very unique that you

(01:01:04):
don't unfortunately get probably up in you know, in an
Appersonoma now because they're you know, there's second, third, fourth generations.
A lot of them are corporate wineries up this at
this point where you still have a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:01:14):
Of you know, original owners here.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
You know, probably have Gary Everley sitting in front of
his door at an Everly winery.

Speaker 5 (01:01:19):
Still. I mean, it's it's it's.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
Really cool here in the area that you know, you
you really do get to interact with the people that
are so involved in the industry.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Yeah, no, we were at ancient peaks, not like just
outside of Passo and uh, I don't think it's the winemaker,
but one of the owners was hanging out with us.
I think it's Carl perhaps. What was his name, Yeah, Carl, Yeah, totally.
He's a character. He knows a lot. I mean, holy smoke,
sun dials that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Guy has is a Sundal Offisionado is fascinated listening to
his travels exploring Sundals. Truly, it was amazing and the
ranch has a sun dial that he was actively involved.
It's beautiful just going there and going on the horseback
ride a Central Coast rides that was so much fun
and so scenic there at that ranch.

Speaker 4 (01:02:04):
Beautiful that Ranch is incredible, and Carl Wistrom is a
fantastic and you know, not just on the wind side.
He's definitely the cowboy the you know, the old school
passer obal side as well, So totally, you know, they're
a fantastic family, the Wistrooms here in the area.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
So now one thing I would go ahead, go ahead,
Sorry to interrupt.

Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
There, I was gonna say, so the trail ride.

Speaker 4 (01:02:25):
You know, we've actually my wife and I have actually
been talking about it, doing the trail ride. We haven't
gotten to it yet. There's actually, you know, cast does that.
I know the Wistroms do it down to ancient peaks.
I think the Work Ranch does the same thing out
on the east side of Passout.

Speaker 5 (01:02:37):
The thing that I did get a try last weekend.
It was actually a lot of fun. One of my
fellow winemakers up at Adelaida Sellers was going out on
an e.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
Bike ride with one of the e bike providers here
in the area and said, hey, else.

Speaker 5 (01:02:52):
We have an extra bike. Would you like to join us?

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
And it was just a last minute thing, and I
was like, absolutely, I'd love to. And and so I
had never done like an e bike like tour before
and so he started us at Adelaide Sellers and we
probably rode about fourteen miles round trip, about two.

Speaker 5 (01:03:08):
Thousand feet of elevation change on these electric bikes. And
it's funny. I've been here for thirty years, and I
saw views and.

Speaker 4 (01:03:15):
Things that I had never seen before, and it was
so much fun to do something like that and to
have the ability to kind of cut through these vineyards.

Speaker 5 (01:03:22):
Where I had never even had access to.

Speaker 4 (01:03:24):
And so the trail ride would probably be the same
way to see some of these things that you just
don't get to see when you're driving, you know, on
a road, you know, up and down.

Speaker 5 (01:03:32):
To the street. So anyway, pretty fun.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yeah, No, the e bike is opening worlds up, I
think for people in the bicycling community, and it's really
cool that you can do that around the vineyards and
just kind of get these views you wouldn't normally get.
But I do have to call you out, Alex, when
you were describing your perfect day, you miss one thing.
Once the sunset happens and it starts getting a little
bit dark and past Robles that those hills outside just

(01:03:58):
outside of town really start to come alive with all
those lights at Cinsorio.

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
Oh boy, they do they ever know som Sorry, you know,
it's such a it's so crazy. You know, when when
they first talked about Cinsario opening up and it was
this light installation, I think a lot of us kind
of scratched our head, going, what are you.

Speaker 5 (01:04:16):
What are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (01:04:18):
You really could you couldn't kind of get your brain
kind of wrapped around it.

Speaker 5 (01:04:22):
And then then you go and see it and it's
just like, holy cow, this is absolutely breathtaking.

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
And so and now it's not just the one installation
with the beautiful kind of the valley with the lights,
but you know, now they have I think four total
installations with different things going, and the musical piece that
now is coming along with it, and yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
No, is that Foso? Is that the Foso part?

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
Yes, exactly, the Foso part that that has gone in
so and so that's really incredible too, And and you know.

Speaker 5 (01:04:52):
You start you start thinking about all these things.

Speaker 4 (01:04:54):
The golf courses here are fantastic as well, and a
lot of people don't even think about that, but you know,
Hunter Ranch is absolutely beautiful course, and you know our
past Robust Country Club is a beautiful course. And I
mean there's there's an endless amount of things that you
can do here in past Rebels.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
No, it's incredible. And the biking is incredible too. I'm
a cyclist, and there's so much, so much good just
riding out there, just kind of like lonely country roads
or gravel biking. I mean, it's it's really it's a
really great place to do that too.

Speaker 5 (01:05:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:05:25):
No, that's so I grew up down in Los Angeles,
and so I'm down in Pasadena specifically, and and so
I used to love mountain biking. I'd go up Angela's
Crest and and kind of go through there. And so
when I moved up here, I was like, oh, I'm
gonna be a you know, still do a lot of
mountain biking. But it's funny here in Past Robles. It's
definitely more road bike country than it is mountain bike country. Yes,
unless you know the ranchers.

Speaker 5 (01:05:45):
That you can kind of cut through your properties, but we.

Speaker 4 (01:05:52):
Sometimes they don't, they don't appreciate it, or you know,
you come across somebody that you know is not super
happy to see somebody riding through their property.

Speaker 5 (01:05:58):
But any way, the road biking is absolutely phenomenal. Here
in the area.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
So yeah, no, awesome. Well, it's been a pleasure to
have you on the podcast. Alex. Thank you so much
for taking a few minutes out to go over passer
roballs and also just want to plug your winery again.
It's Villacana Winery as well as Refined at Distillery, all
housed in the same place, and you can do your
your tastings of the spirits, your tastings of some great

(01:06:24):
Bordeaux and Rowan varietals, and perhaps you get a hang
out with Alex.

Speaker 5 (01:06:30):
That would be great.

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
We would love to have people come by and visit,
and I'll be here probably working on the steels or
working on the wine, so it would be happy to
get and talk about our wines and spirits.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
I'm definitely going to be there when I'm back, and
I will be back for sure with my dog. Some
dog friendly there.

Speaker 5 (01:06:46):
We are definitely dog friendly.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
Yeah awesome, Well, thanks again, Alex, absolutely, thank you both.

Speaker 3 (01:06:51):
All right, take care, Tylow

Speaker 4 (01:07:10):
Said faking