Puma Road 1st Annual Bordeaux BBQ Adventure, California

The Puma Road 1st Annual Bordeaux BBQ event was held out at the Pedregal Vineyards in Paicines. Where the heck is that you may ask? Well, its south of Hollister on the road to the Pinnacles in Sunny California and basically in the middle of nowhere.

Recently on a trip down River Road Wine Trail the new Puma Road Tasting room was discovered and an impromptu afternoon with relatively new (to Puma Road) wine maker David Coventry ensued. An enlightening afternoon of past, current and future releases were sampled and the philosophy behind the approach discussed. It was an epic tasting. While there we were told of this upcoming 1st event and we could not pass it up. There were even a couple of very uncommon and interesting vehicles used to arrive at the event (see photo below).

The drive to the event location took about an hour from Monterey, and without an actual address or GPS coordinates finding the location was a bit of a worry. But that need not have been the case as once within the general area there were many signs and balloons to lead us in. We really were heading out onto a working ranch with cattle, regular agg crops and vineyards. We drove through and saw the signs for Cabernet Savignon vines and Merlot vines and even Parking vines.

We parked in an open field and wandered up to the check-in tent. There we paid, got registered, given raffle tickets, some information and were directed to the wine glasses. Once the glasses were acquired we were straight up to one of the two bar ares for our fist taste. A nice light easy to drink Chardonnay. Wait, I thought this was a Bordeaux event you ask? Well yes, and no. Really perhaps it should have been the 1st Bordeaux meets Rhone BBQ. Anyhow, event names aside it was a lovely if not breezy day for the event. As we were saying we started tasting immediately while we waited for our vineyard tour. The BBQ was going and we were tasting some Pinot Noir and a Merlot and just as the  food was being served we were called up to head out on our tour (don't worry we were well fed after). Each of the two large ATV's were driven by one of the vineyard managers and also along to conduct the tour was David Coventry the winemaker.

The first stop for the group was up on the top of the hill adjacent to the Chardonnay vines and across from the Pinot Noir vines. As we tasted the wine from each vineyard Dave gave us the story of the vine to the glass and the vineyard managers chimed in with some of the vineyard specifics. This was the first stop of three, with a Merlot and Cabernet Savignon stop and a Malbec and Petite Verdot stop to finish. It was an educational, interesting and entertaining tour with some nice wine to boot.

Once back at BBQ central we got stuck into the food. Some wonderful Tri-tip and beans and garlic bread followed by some pork ribs and all washed down with some lovely wines.

It was an day of good wine, food and education in a great setting that we enjoyed. As far as we could tell everyone else did as well. The event looked like it was a big success and we look forward to the next one no matter what they call it! Go by the Puma Road tasting room and check out the wine, we 'recommend' you do.

Happy Tasting Adventures,

Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala

In the parking lot Kiwi checks out the latest way to get to a tasting...

Winery & Tasting Room is located at 32720 River Road, about one mile south of the Gonzales bridge.
Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-5pm

You can also visit them at the Carmel location, on Dolores between Ocean and 7th Street in Carmel By-The-Sea. Located right next to the Tuck Box, open daily from 2:30-7pm.