I never shy away from the chance to learn something new and Saturday was no different. Sporting my new SIP hat**, I cruised down to Riverbench Vineyard & Winery in Santa Maria for a vineyard tour compliments of Central Coast Winegrowers Association (CCWGA).

Made it to Riverbench Vineyard & Winery!

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Get your earplugs ready – we are about to toot our own horn, loudly! CCVT Executive Director Kris O’Connor was recently named the 2010 San Luis Obispo County Wine Industry Person of the Year. Woot! Woot!

CCVT Executive Director Kris O'Connor (3rd from left) along with other industry awards winners Clay Brock (4th from left) and members of the Dusi family.

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It was great to see Niels Udsen of Castoro Cellars recently honored by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance as their 2009 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year.

A longtime supporter of Central Coast Vineyard Team and the SIP program – some of Castoro’s vineyards are SIP certified, as well as being certified organic – Niels started as a local cellar rat back in 1981, when no one knew what a Paso Robles was. He and his wife Bimmer launched Castoro (Italian for Niels’ nickname: “Beaver”) in 1983, and over the years, it can certainly be considered one of the labels that helped put Paso Robles on the map as a stellar wine region.

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With chilly winter temperatures gripping much of the nation, it may be an odd time to think about the dangers of heat stroke to farmworkers, but such was the topic of a recent story on the Capital Press website.

A Napa Valley businessman has laudably developed and patented a first aid/cooling station for farmworkers. The portable trailer offers pop-up shade, water, etc. and we hope it will catch on with vineyard owners and managers, even if their only motivation is avoiding litigation.

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Central Coast Vineyard Team was one of six businesses recently honored with Green Awards from the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce. There were over 70 nominees for the award, which celebrated companies dedicated to saving energy and reducing their waste.

Keynote speaker was Deborah Lyons, an environmental sustainability specialist for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, the largest information technology company in the country and recently named as the greenest company in America by Newsweek magazine.

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Joseph and Isabel Gerardis of Joebella Coffee Roasters celebrated the second anniversary of their Templeton coffeehouse with a tantalizing array of treats from local food purveyors and neighboring businesses … plus the debut of a very special product featuring a Joebella roast.

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The spirit of Friday night, and the need to enjoy some social time with my co-workers, I was off to Paso Wine Centre (this wine bar doesn’t have a web site but check out  Paso Winos’ very informative blog).  I walked into the modernly designed room complete with hardwood floors, stainless steel counters, and black leather box-shaped couches to find myself staring at a wall of wines.  These wines were hooked up to a gadget that looked like a cross between a display case and a beer tap, it’s an enomatic wine-dispensing machine.  This machine removes excess air from the wine bottles allowing an open bottle’s shelf-life to be extended to up to three weeks.
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Taste of SLO has done it again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself last Wednesday night as I wandered, well due to the great turn out, shuffled up and down the Mission Plaza tasting all that San Luis Obispo has to offer. This year’s disco themed event came complete with go go dancers, a giant disco ball, great music, and of course fabulous food and wine. The best of the best of San Luis Obispo restaurants made their appearances with delicious samplers; Tuna tacos from Native Lounge to mushroom soup topped with grated espresso bean from Mother’s Tavern to profiteroles from Mama’s Meatballs, can only begin to explain the range choices that were laid out in front of me. While samplers may sound like child’s play compared to the gigantic meals we are served at some restaurants, with a choice of samplers from over 30 restaurants I found that my graceful walk into the event had turned into a bit more of a waddle as I left the evening.
But wait, there’s more!

After another day of 100 plus degree weather, I laid on my bare bed with no covers trying to will my overheated body to sleep – I had it!  With more enthusiasm than I had managed to muster all day in this extreme heat, I marched downstairs to turn up the AC.  Before I made it to the thermostat I hit the freezer, inspiring me to use a cooling alternative.  I pulled out the leftover bag of ice from a previous Margarita Night, threw it a Ziploc bag, climbed back into bed, and snuggled up to my new rock hard version of a teddy bear.

Finally I could get to sleep, this new cool down method went swimmingly until it literally went SWIMmingly.  4:30 in the morning I woke up in a panic WHY IS MY BED SOAKING WET!? Well the Ziploc bag had not quite done its job.

But wait, there’s more!