I’ve put a lot of miles on my Jeep Wrangler over the past couple of years out here in California. I took myself a number of times to Santa Barbara County, in order to immerse myself in wine country during the weekends. I also watched my fair share of movies that focus on food & wine….like Sideways. So when I found myself passing the Windmill Inn (the hotel that the two main characters stayed in during the vast majority of the film), I knew that The Hitching Post wasn’t too far away.
The Hitching Post was the restaurant within which several scenes from the movie were shot. They also really make some excellent wines! I popped in one Saturday evening, sat at the bar, and ordered a steak. The bartender asked me what I’d like to drink, and I responded with “what do you recommend?” He came back with a glass of white wine, and told me “I know you just ordered the steak – but you need to try this. You can switch to red when the cow comes along”.
Since it was a rather warm day, a white was a cool suggestion (see what I did there? Genius.). This Chard (that’s cool wine slang for Chardonnay) – in a word – is SMOOOOOTH. I added the extra O’s in there because they are called for in this instance. On the nose, this sucker gives off some lemon and citrus – nothing Earth-shattering. But on the palate, it’s liquid awesome. A little acidic, so it will go great with things like salmon and tuna – but it’s also one of those bottles that you can stick a straw in and sip while binge-watching episodes of The Newsroom.
I walked out of the restaurant with 2 bottles of this fantastic vino. I think they have at least four different vintages on Wine.com…I’d definitely recommend giving them a shot!
