One of the biggest pros of attending blogging conferences is getting to meet the people behind the wines and food products that I enjoy writing about. Kimberly Morelli, whom I first met at the 2017 Food Bloggers Conference, is one of those people.
Kimberly offering a taste.
Kimberly is co-owner of San Marcos Creek Vineyard and Winery in Paso Robles, which she and her husband bought in 2015 to pursue a new direction for their lives on California's Central Coast. Over the course of a spontaneous lunch at the conference, I was introduced to San Marcos Creek's wines and was very excited to take home their cabernet franc to review at my leisure. Yes, obligatory disclaimer, that means it and all the other wines I’m about to review were free to me.
The San Marcos Creek 2014 Cabernet Franc smells of inky fruit and dark berries with plenty of tobacco smoke. It tastes that way too, which means blueberries lovers will enjoy it most (I am not one). I was drawn to the smoke and pressed roses layers between the fruit. There's also mulberry, golden raspberry, and very light annatto. The wood recalls nights spent playing board games in a friend’s wood-paneled basement in high school. You just know the Princess Bride was playing in the background somewhere.
The San Marco Creek 2014 Cabernet Franc feels a little lived in, but the memories are all good. And it’d go great with teriyaki beef jerky. 3.5/5
At the 2017 Wine Bloggers Conference, I was delighted to learn that Demetra Molina serves as San Marcos Creek's tasting room and hospitality manager. I met and bonded with Demetra and her husband Eddie at the 2015 Wine Bloggers Conference in the Finger Lakes.
Demetra at the 2015 WBC with fellow wine blogger Rob Frisch of the Odd Bacchus.
Demetra runs the blog the Boozy Life of a Tattoo Wife. Through Facebook, I enjoyed watching the Molinas' westward journey to California to pursue their own dreams, much as Kimberly had done in buying San Marcos Creek. How great that those dreams overlapped! At the 2017 WBC, I sampled my favorite of Kimberly's wines so far: the San Marcos Creek Paso Robles "Epiphany" 2014.
What a memorable fruit basket! It came spiced with anise, fresh cardamom, and vanilla. A tangerine wash brought it all together. 5/5
Demetra and Kimberly sent me home with one more wine to try from San Marcos Creek, though this one was not from the estate label, but from their Graffino Wines line. The label art for the whole line is gorgeous!
The Graffino White Wine Blend "Reflection" 2016 offered the enveloping citrus appeal of recently polished wood and spices just as polished in their presentation: cinnamon and allspice. 4/5.
I was delighted to try all these wines coming out of San Marcos Creek, and I look forward to seeing their future vintages. Kimberly is also a blogger! You can follow her pursuits as vineyard owner, innkeeper, and everything else her life entails at Contessa Grigia.
Wines sampled in the fall of 2017 and winter of 2018.
