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  • Go Tasting With Greg – A New Series
  • The Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce presents the Peninsula Wine Walk

Go Tasting With Greg – A New Series

Everything you didn’t know you didn’t know about Central Coast California wines.

“You gotta go tasting with Greg!” Friends of Greg’s say this to anyone and everyone who has even the remotest interest in wine. Greg is a Design/Build expert with a passion for wine. A Renaissance man, Greg wears many hats but on weekend getaways he follows his true passion – visiting wineries in search of bottled treasure. This is your opportunity to “Go tasting with Greg.”

 

Greg and friends

ABOUT THE SHOW

It’s a travel show with a purpose-filled destination. Just a half day’s drive away from one of the largest cities in the world. The Central Coast of California is home to one of the best wine growing regions in the world (Paso Robles Wine Country Named Wine Region of the Year 2013 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine). In Paso Robles alone, Greg has tasted at over 175 wineries. Greg has the nose to sniff out the wines that are fantastic values selling for far less than they’re worth. The show will focus on fabulous, small boutique wines that are not available in stores. Want to try them? That means “road trip!”

Greg at vineyard

It’s not about the best views or who does the best marketing, it’s about the best WINES. It’s all beautiful up there. Each episode of “Go Tasting with Greg” we visit one vineyard, interview the vintner while getting an inside and out tour of the property, ending up in their tasting room.

Each episode will cover a specific topic pertaining to the art of wine tasting, with our first episode covering the history of wine in California as explained by Hank Donatoni, who Greg refers to as “The Godfather of Paso Robles Wine.” Hank is responsible for the modern wine movement in the Paso region. He is the one who got the growers to start planting other varieties of grapes there (before Hank, Paso was 130 years of Zinfandel.)

Vineyard and flowers

Go Tasting with Greg will offer tips like, don’t be afraid to dump the tastings. When you dump the tastings, they know you’re not there to get drunk, but really want to taste the wine. They don’t take that as an insult. Quite the contrary, they often take it as a challenge and bring out the ‘good stuff’ from the library. The happy result is: you taste even better wines!

Grapes in vineyard

Topics

  • Wine Tasting Etiquette & Rules
  • The Dry-Farmed Vineyard
  • How to Taste (“Taste” is not subjective)
  • Wine Clubs – why and when to join
  • Winemakers come from all walks of life – Winemaker and Oscar winning editor, Joel Cox (Unforgiven). Joel has been Clint Eastwood’s editor for more than 40 years.
  • The Crush
  • Wine Blends – How it all started and why. What it has morphed into.
  • Branding – the concept of branding all started with wine in France.
  • Wine Storage – How to store wine properly. What to do, what to avoid. Cellars – how to build a good one and start a collection
  • The Nose of the Wine (the Smell) is typically more important than the taste itself, and the stemware (glass) plays an important role in smelling the wine.
  • Color – what the Color tells you. The type or varietal of the wine, how old the wine is, etc.
  • Food Pairing: The real story behind it – How it started out in the old world as a way to sell wines that weren’t ready to drink (too tannic) but has come to a whole new meaning
  • Quality of Wine – Why are Paso wines higher in quality and generally lower price? Competition.

Festivals

  • The 46 West Wine Safari/Zoo To You (March)
  • Vintage Paso: Zinfandel Festival Weekend (March)
  • Wine 4 Paws (April)
  • Paso Robles Wine Festival (May)
  • Paso Robles Harvest Wine Weekend (October)

Press and Resources

vineyard

WHY?

This is a series that will provide value to wine connoisseurs and newbies alike. It’s a behind the scenes look at where and how some of California’s top wines are created, the history behind an individual vineyard, and an introduction to an incredible, un-crowded, unpretentious, tourism destination that’s just a short drive away from the South Bay. Most importantly, all the ‘weeding’ has already been done for you. Greg has tasted at over 175 of the wineries in the Central coast. These wines are the best of the best!

WHO?

If Greg Abramowitz‘ name seems familiar, it may be because you know him as a Design/Build expert and you may have seen his work online or on HGTV or The Discovery Channel.  Others may know him as a US Speed Skier snow skiing at over 100 MPH. Still others know Greg as an Arbitrator and Expert Witness. Greg was the person who created the first On Site Arbitration system and protocol.  But what only a lucky few, who have had the experience to Go Tasting With Greg know, is that Greg has spent the past 15 years discovering the best wines in the Central Coast.  He has introduced scores of friends to the Central Coast of California and the fantastic boutique wineries tucked away in the picturesque landscape.

Over the past 15 years Greg has spent over 200 days wine tasting at more than 175 Central Coast Wineries, mostly in Paso Robles, often tasting over 100 wines a day.  On one epic 11-day trip (4 days in Paso, 3 in Napa, and then 4 more back in Paso), Greg tasted wines from 68 wineries, 1 brewery, 1 cider house, and 1 distillery, on that single trip alone!

Greg’s focus was not just finding the best wines, but the best value.  Tasting is all about finding wines to buy and bring home. It’s about the actual wine, not which is the best marketed, or most popular Winery.  The price must be reasonable as well. Of the thousands of wines, only about 3%-4% make the cut and are purchased.

The vineyards and their owners – are world-class culinary talent from the finest restaurants in the South Bay/LA area, as well as up and coming taste makers.

1) DONATONI WINERY, 3225 Township Rd, Paso Robles, CA 93446

2) RANCHITA CANYON WINERY,  3439 Ranchita Canyon Rd, San Miguel, CA

3) MYSTIC HILLS WINERY, 77869 Ranchita Canyon Rd, San Miguel, CA  93451

4) ZIN ALLEY, 3730 CA-46, Templeton, CA 93465

5) ARONHILL VINEYARDS (also for Lunch), 3745 West Highway 46, Templeton, CA 93465

6) PASO PORT, 95 Booker Rd, Templeton, CA 93465

7) BARBIERI & KEMPE, 2369 Almo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos 93441

 

Greg and friends

HOW?

Greg will start each episode with a description of the vineyard and wine along with the episode’s main topic. Topic examples are: History, Crush, Etiquette, Glass shape, Smelling wine, The region, etc.) We start with the travel segment detailing where we are going.

Then we meet our celebrity vintners & owners, who will give us the grand tour and explain what makes their vineyard – and wines – so special. We’re talking about award-winning vineyards with wine you simply cannot buy in grocery stores.

Finally, we watch Greg and his invited guests enjoy sampling the wine in the vineyard’s tasting room — who wouldn’t wish they were there?

The episode closes with the wine and location details. More specific information on the vineyard and its wines will be available on the accompanying website.

THE PILOT – “History”

Our pilot will introduce us to our host Greg and focus on wine’s history in the Central Coast region. It will cover the story and the vineyard where it all started as told to Greg and by the vineyard’s owners and winemakers.

ABOUT US

Go Tasting with Greg is produced by Walkthrough Productions, a digital marketing agency and production company dedicated to creating innovative and entertaining branded content. The show will premier on SelectSouthBay.com as a web series with an option for repackaging and larger distribution. 

Now accepting a limited number of sponsors.

Inquire now

Tags:winewine-walk