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Tobin James and the Ninja
As you all know, Mr. and Mrs. Twinkie's 10 year wedding anniversary was September 19th. We went up to Avila for the weekend but we spent little time there. Instead, we spent our first day in Paso Robles, wine tasting.. then the next day in Santa Barbara and Solvang. I'll share details and a recap for those interested.. in a three part series.
OK so my little adventure begins Friday morning with some breakfast at the Roadhouse Grill or something like that.. it's basically your typical truck stop with the cute gift shop as you walk in.
We decided against breakfast thought because we didn't want to mess up our palettes for the wine tasting later. So we each had a sandwich on toast. Except for WOW they put so much mayonnaise on it! It made us both gag. Thank GOD we'd said LIGHT on the mayo because I can't even imagine...
So off we go wine tasting... we strolled into town (Paso Robles) about 11:00-ish.. and stopped at our favorite winery, Tobin James.
If you are ever driving through Paso Robles.. you HAVE to stop at Tobin's. That place is soooo cool, and relaxed, and friendly, and FUN. My favorite wine from them is their Riesling. But their "Fat Boy" Zinfandel and their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is pretty darn good too.
Tobin James Fatboy wine review: Perfect example of an *excellent* fruit bomb. Tons of luscious fruit, but still balanced. Crushed raspberries on the nose, great fruit on the palate.
Tobin James Riesling wine review: Fermented grape perfume nose. Palate: Candied apples, pears, peaches, subtle complexity of grapefruit, lemon, lime. Clean, dry, balanced, zesty lively swallow.
Tobin James Silver Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon wine review: Nose of dark, overripe fruits. Very dark garnet/purple in color. Flavors of plum, fig, and dust. Nicely structured, very good!
Our wine taster dude... what would his title be? anyways... he was really cool and outgoing which honestly is a prerequisite for ANYBODY that works there. They always make you feel right at home.
We talked to him for a bit and found out he is originally from Paso, but he moved out of state for about 5 years where he worked in different areas of the restaurant business. But his last job was in golf course construction in Arizona.
I always find it interesting how people end up working at wineries. Or not just at wineries.. just wherever you are in life. How did you get there? What roads did you travel? What did you leave behind?
It's never EVER a dull story. EVER.
OK, so our new friend's story goes a little something like this:
For some reason construction came to a halt for a few months so he decided to come home and visit while they called him back. His dad worked at Tobin James so he told him if he wanted a job, it was crushing season and they could probably use his help for the next few months. By the time crushing season was over, he'd fallen in love with the wine/vineyard business so he decided to stay.
So there he is, doing something he loves. Drinking, and selling wine for a living. It can't get much better than that, right? Mr. Twinkie said to quit being so nosy but I said, "NO!" And kept asking questions.
Then I told him it was our 10 year anniversary and he seemed excited for us. I asked if we took a picture with him and he was glad to do it. In fact, he knew the perfect spot, with the perfect background.
Even Tobin James' history/background is interesting. It turns out he has a Cincinnati connection which you can read about HERE! To give you a little background, however, I will tell you this. He was a wine maker's assistant who followed his dreams and now he's living it.
He moved out to Paso Robles about 25 years ago to work with Gary Eberle when Gary was the winemaker at Estrella River Winery - before it became Meridian. Gary left to start Eberle Winery and Toby went with him.
Toby worked at Eberle for over 10 years, then went to Peachy Canyon with Doug Beckett. He made the first 2 or 3 vintages there before heading out on his own. The rest is history.
Our next stop was:
I've been wanting to go there ever since it opened because Andrew Firestone was on one of my favorite ABC T.V. Reality Shows, The Bachelor. I'll blog about that and more later... basically though..
After the wine tasting we ended up going to check in, then went to a bar called O'Reiley's where I was saved from impending doom by a Ninja and we met a few more interesting people.