When the population of wine bottles in the car outnumber the population of the town you're driving through, you have stumbled upon Harmony, Calif. And, if you have any sense (and uncorked bottles) left about you, you will undoubtedly be at Harmony Cellars and working your way through a collection that includes white riesling, red zinfandel, a merlot worth both tasting and buying, and a syrah transformed into a dessert wine.
Harmony has 18 people and stands at 175 feet above sea level. Our population -- three people, two dozen bottles of wine and one dog spread across two cars -- landed there level enough at about noon on Sunday to enjoy a generous tasting of six wines for $3.
The central coast of California is a perfectly lovely place to land after a 8 1/2 hour flight and after a year of living in a place where tortillas cost nearly $7 a package. It's a place where in four days a person can taste more than a couple dozen wines, eat fried artichokes and homemade chocolate, and expect fresh sourdough bread as a matter of course. And yes, oh yes, there were several, several courses.
Best of all, it's a place where, in one short meal, a person can figure out why she keeps buying and ordering wine that somehow feels like a lost cause, much like that classic tome that you know you should read but somehow never quite master beyond page 42. By my third or fourth sip at Soif, a dark and friendly wine bar in Santa Cruz, and a simple conversation with my sister and her boyfriend, the bell rung. In spite of what the kids have raved about for the past few years, I don't like pinot noir, at least not any I've had to date. What I do like is syrah, petite syrah and best of all, a happy fat blue grape called tempranillo, the star of Rioja. Who knew? I'd been drinking in the wrong key.
With that life-changing discovery out of the way, we ordered. Sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic & chili. Fried baby artichokes and Meyer lemon. Duck rillette with cherry compote. Pumpkin-seed encrusted chevre with pomegranate molasses. Fish tacos, chicken marsala, oysters on the half shell, fresh bagels, fresh strawberries, hand-thrown pizza, and pomegranate sorbet soon followed. Or perhaps preceded. It's hard to remember now. Just take comfort it wasn't all at one meal.
At last we were in Harmony, literally and metaphysically. It was noon, a Sunday, and a handful of new, lime-green figs hung on a sapling. Horses grazed in the far pasture. The dog slept in the warm car. You may think I'm exaggerating, but it really was that perfect, even before we started sampling. The winery makes about 5,500 cases a year. They don't use tempranillo, but I could now taste what I like -- berry, prune, maybe a tiny bit of vanilla or lavender. It sounds sweet, but its not, in the same way that a good cup of coffee is strong rather than bitter.
My California finale proved best of all. At El Palomar, another restaurant in Santa Cruz, I fell head first into a deep-fried tortilla pillow, a sope stuffed with avocado. At this point, I was too giddy, relaxed and, well, drunk, to remember the camera. Instead a finished off the sope, packed up its accompanying fish taco and tried to stay awake on the way home. The next day involved a 4 a.m. wake-up call with a 7 a.m. flight. Thank goodness it also involved a quiet coda: a fish taco breakfast at the gate.
SoifThe central coast of California is a perfectly lovely place to land after a 8 1/2 hour flight and after a year of living in a place where tortillas cost nearly $7 a package. It's a place where in four days a person can taste more than a couple dozen wines, eat fried artichokes and homemade chocolate, and expect fresh sourdough bread as a matter of course. And yes, oh yes, there were several, several courses.
Best of all, it's a place where, in one short meal, a person can figure out why she keeps buying and ordering wine that somehow feels like a lost cause, much like that classic tome that you know you should read but somehow never quite master beyond page 42. By my third or fourth sip at Soif, a dark and friendly wine bar in Santa Cruz, and a simple conversation with my sister and her boyfriend, the bell rung. In spite of what the kids have raved about for the past few years, I don't like pinot noir, at least not any I've had to date. What I do like is syrah, petite syrah and best of all, a happy fat blue grape called tempranillo, the star of Rioja. Who knew? I'd been drinking in the wrong key.
With that life-changing discovery out of the way, we ordered. Sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic & chili. Fried baby artichokes and Meyer lemon. Duck rillette with cherry compote. Pumpkin-seed encrusted chevre with pomegranate molasses. Fish tacos, chicken marsala, oysters on the half shell, fresh bagels, fresh strawberries, hand-thrown pizza, and pomegranate sorbet soon followed. Or perhaps preceded. It's hard to remember now. Just take comfort it wasn't all at one meal.
At last we were in Harmony, literally and metaphysically. It was noon, a Sunday, and a handful of new, lime-green figs hung on a sapling. Horses grazed in the far pasture. The dog slept in the warm car. You may think I'm exaggerating, but it really was that perfect, even before we started sampling. The winery makes about 5,500 cases a year. They don't use tempranillo, but I could now taste what I like -- berry, prune, maybe a tiny bit of vanilla or lavender. It sounds sweet, but its not, in the same way that a good cup of coffee is strong rather than bitter.
My California finale proved best of all. At El Palomar, another restaurant in Santa Cruz, I fell head first into a deep-fried tortilla pillow, a sope stuffed with avocado. At this point, I was too giddy, relaxed and, well, drunk, to remember the camera. Instead a finished off the sope, packed up its accompanying fish taco and tried to stay awake on the way home. The next day involved a 4 a.m. wake-up call with a 7 a.m. flight. Thank goodness it also involved a quiet coda: a fish taco breakfast at the gate.
105 Walnut Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 423-20203730 West Highway 46
Templeton, CA 95465
3750 West Highway 46
WestTempleton, CA 93465
805.237.0055601 Embarcadero #5
Morro Bay, Ca. 93442
(805) 772-83883255 Harmony Valley Road
PO Box 2502
Harmony, CA 93435805-927-1625
800-432-92394095 Burton Drive
Cambria, CA 93428
805.927.5007Vida Lounge & Grill
1222 Pacific Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA
831.425.7871
El Palomar
1336 Pacific Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 425-7575Santa Cruz, CA 95060
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