We all need to get away every once in a while, even if only for a day or two. What makes it better is to coerce a friend to come along. Christine and I have been friends ever since we cooked together years ago at Malibu Riding & Tennis Club. Even though we live only about 30 miles from one another (that’s almost an hour away in LA driving time), we don’t get to see each other often enough. But whenever we do get together, usually for lunch, we are the kind of friends that just pick up where we left off. It’s great to have someone in your life who knows you so well, and who you actually want to spend a day or two with.
Wednesday morning, I drive out to Malibu to pick up Christine. We jump in her Prius and set off for the Danish town of Solvang, CA. Christine tells me about another town where she and her husband have visited just five miles north of Solvang. We have a couple of hours to kill until we can check into our hotel, so why not?
The town of Los Olivos, is where the movie, “Sideways” was filmed a few years ago. Its main street, Grand Avenue, is about three blocks long, with antique stores, art galleries, cafes, and wine tasting rooms. My kind of town! We decide to have lunch before we get down to the business of wine tasting, and wander into the Los Olivos Wine Merchant Café. It’s a bright, modern place with beautiful photography on the wall, linens on the tables, and on entire wall filled with wines from around the area. Christine and I sit at the bar in the center of the café to a lunch of pulled beef Sliders with horseradish, baby arugula, and gorgonzola on brioche buns, and Squash Blossoms with lemon, pine nuts, goat cheese, with pea shoot salad in pink peppercorn vinaigrette. Oh my! The plates where beautiful and the food couldn’t have been better. We shared them both, as well as a glass of un-oaked Tolosa Chardonnay from Edna Valley. We ended our lunch with an espresso, one for each of us, to gear up for some more wine.
Los Olivos, is touted as an artist’s colony and many local artists have there work on display in the galleries on Grand Avenue which Christine and I perused between the three different wine tasting rooms we visited. This valley of California, only three hours north of Los Angeles, produces mostly red wines. As a white wine drinker, at first I was a bit disappointed however; I soon discovered that good red wine can really taste great. The hosts at the tasting rooms poured usually six different varieties of wine, and took their time to explain what to look for as in smell and taste, which wineries the grapes were from, and food pairings for each of the wines they where pouring that day. I admit I learned a lot about wine, decided to drink more reds, and enjoyed the people and town of Los Olivos, CA. I look forward to going back again soon.
