At another annual tradition of the Monterey Bailliage, The Santa Lucia Highlands Spring Wine tasting, the group left from Monterey Peninsula College parking lot at 11:00 with Mimosas in hand and strains of Mozart floating in the air for the 40-minute trek to the Salinas Valley. 

In addition to the being the Salad Bowl of the Nation with 70% of the ground crops grown there annually, the Valley is home to some of the world’s best vineyards and some legendary Pinot Noirs. We arrived at the Mir Soleil Winery’s Barrel room for VIP early entrance to the tasting. The cool of the barrels and aroma of wine was a welcome relief to the heat of the Valley. 

We spend the next three hours tasting some of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made in California along with culinary offerings from many of the Monterey Peninsulas best chefs. The 2019 Roar stood alongside Bailliage member Dan Professional du Vin's, Double L Vineyard Pinot Noir Pinot Noir as among the best of the day. Notable among the chefs were Tim Wood Maître Rôtisseur Traiteur from his new award-winning restaurant Woody’s at the Monterey Peninsula Airport. Wood was quoted as saying he was probably among the few Chaîne Restaurants in the world that has an airport along with it, catering to gastronomes that travel in style. 

After the tasting, the bus took the group to a new and upcoming restaurant in Salinas, Amapola. Owned by the Sommelier & Chef, husband & wife team of Jeff & Crystal Birkemeirer.  The first course were two salads, one of which was a fantastic Arugula & Roasted Beet salad served with house made Gougès. This was complimented with Birkemeirer’s selection of a 2019 Domain Les Trois Toits Muscadet Sèvre-et-Main. From there we moved to Cannelloni,  and Spinach Gnocchi, both family recipes that stood head and shoulders over the normal fair. The main course, was a delicious combination fish and fowl offering of Herb Crusted Salmon and Duck Confit, with a Spring Vegetable Fricassee. These with matched with a stellar 2019 Barbera d’Alba by G.D. Vajar. 

We finished up with a Petit Fours assortment of Mini Lemon Tarts, Chocolate Tarts and Mexican Wedding Cookies. A perfect finish to a lovely afternoon of relaxation, sampling our Chef & Winemaker friends faire, and finishing up with a lovely afternoon supper supporting, a new find at upcoming couples new restaurant, something that it seems we have gotten really good at.