ROUSES.COM
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W
hen I finally had the opportunity to go on my very
first wine tasting vacation, my cousin Ali and I decide
that instead of going to the more well traveled spots in
California, Sonoma County and Napa Valley, we wanted to go to
Monterey, which is located on the southern edge of Monterey Bay,
on California’s Pacific Coast.
My sister-in-law, Karen, lives in Monterey, so she was able to give
us a “must do” list. We decided to take a Wine Trolley Tour, which
took us over the Salinas Mountains and into Carmel Valley. We
tasted over 25 of the region’s finest wines at wine tasting rooms all
over the region. We also took a beautiful drive to Big Sur, and wow,
the views are absolutely amazing. We had lunch on the edge of the
mountain at Nepenthe’s. And we shopped. There are tons of places
to shop in downtown Carmel.
Rouses wine buyer, Sally, also arranged a private tour of Carmel
Road Winery, which produces La Crema and Carmel Road wines.
Rouses is the number one grocery distributor of their wines. Carmel
Road Winery is about a 45-minute drive from Monterey, but with
good conversation and spectacular views of lettuce and stawberry
fields, it felt like we were there in no time. Carmel Road Winery
uses grapes grown in a remarkable group of vineyards that lie within
the Salinas Valley of Monterey County. Each evening the marine
layer (fog) is pulled down the valley to the Arroyo Seco Canyon
from the mouth of Monterey Bay. This airflow keeps the ambient
temperatures quite cool.
Carmel Road’s Winemaker is Ivan Giotenov, who is from Bulgaria,
and went to the University of Plovdiv and received his Masters
of Science. He joined Carmel Road in 1999 after working at
wineries in Bulgaria, Australia, and the Sierra Foothills. “Monterey
is a gem,” he told us. “Cool breezes sweep the vineyards every
day.” Giotenov and Caramel Road use traditional winemaking
techniques to preserve the character of Monterey’s terroir. “The
decomposed granite and sandy loam soils of the Santa Lucia and
Gabilan mountain foothills add an elegance, finesse and minerality
to the fruit.”
Ivan took us through the entire wine making process, from eating
a grape right off of the vine to then drinking it as wine. We even
got to see the first batch of the year of Pinot Grigio grapes being
unloaded for winemaking.
After a picnic lunch in the vineyard, we met Dave, who we later
nicknamed “the Falcon Master”. Falcons are used in the vineyard to
ward off nuisance birds and maintain the ecosystem. Dave and his
wife are both falconers.They live in Idaho, but come to California and
work for Carmel Road from August until the end of October. They
each have their “own” birds, which are used in different situations.
Dave explained that the only way to get a bird to return is to keep
it hungry, and feed it as soon as it lands on the gloved arm. Dave
and his wife weigh their birds several times a day. Since the birds
metabolize their food at different rates, the only way to know which
birds will be hungry is by how much they weigh.
After a brief presentation, we were each given the chance to hold a
falcon on our gloved arm. Luckily, I had already tasted a few glasses
of La Crema, so I was feeling quite brave. Ali was too.
Over the course of the day, we tasted quite a few bottles of Carmel
Road wines (the La Crema Pinot is my new favorite). I have to say
the winery visit far exceeded my expectations, thanks in large part
to Ivan, Dave, and Mike Ward, Grant Cremers, Tim O’Hollaran
and Wendi Hammond. The next time you’re looking for a wine
tasting getaway think Monterey. This may have been my first trip
there, but it was definitely not my last.
Mandy In Monterey
by
Mandy Rouse Martinolich
