SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsPerfect Wine in Paso RoblesFriday, March 31, 2006Ron Denner is in pursuit of perfection. Several years ago, in planning a new vineyard and winery on the west side of Paso Robles, Denner consulted grape growers, winemakers and chefs to learn what they would include in a dream winery "if they had an unlimited budget."The result is a 28,000-square-foot winery boasting temperature and humidity control, reverse osmosis water, state-of-the-art gravity flow equipment and even showers in the laboratory. Denner's goal is simple. "We want to make 100-point wine," he said, adding, more realistically, "we'll be happy if we can continually produce 91-point wines that people will really like." He’s off to a good start: His second vintage, a 2004 syrah, earned 92 points by famed wine reviewer Robert Parker. Denner Vineyards is on the verge of formally opening its winery and tasting room. Denner and his wife, Marilyn, bought 156 acres in 1998 so they could follow their dream. Self-described as "a crazy guy who loves wine," Denner traveled to every winemaking region in California before landing in Paso Robles and finding the site he knew would be right. Read entire article: A perfect dream: Denner Vineyards in Paso Robles The Tribune, Janis Switzer Golf & Wine Vacations: Central Coast Golf & Wine Vacations SLO Airport ExpansionWednesday, March 29, 2006The San Luis Obispo County Airport is lengthening its runway for regional jets. The proposed expansion would allow travelers more flight destination options. It's a necessary move by the airport which says if they don't change with the times, they will go out of business.The runway will be expanded from 5100 ft to 6100 ft, but first a environmental impact report needs to be completed. The report will consider the airport expansions affect on traffic, pollution and noise. The airport expansion is expected to increase traffic, but the problem with noise and air pollution could be getting better. The San Luis Obispo County Airport Manager says the regional jets have different noise and pitch levels. Air pollution may also get better due to emissions levels that are lower on the jets. San Luis Obispo Real Estate exceeds $600,000 median priceMonday, March 27, 2006San Luis Obispo County's median home price inched past the $600,000 mark last month, reaching $604,170, according to data released by the California Association of Realtors. This was a 2 percent gain from January and a 21.7 percent gain from February 2005, when the median price was $496,430.February's median was still lower than the record set in November 2005 of $605,160. The county saw an 8.1 percent increase in the number of sales of single-family detached homes compared with February of last year. During the same period, the median price of an existing home statewide increased 13.7 percent as the number of sales decreased 15.5 percent. "As expected, year-over-year sales continued to decline from the robust levels of a year ago," said Vince Malta, association president. Statewide, there is an unsold inventory estimated at 6.7 months. In San Luis Obispo County, unsold inventory was 7.6 months in February. That compares with 5.6 months in February 2005. The California Association of Realtors bases its figures and projections on the reported closed escrow sales of single-family detached homes (no condominiums) provided by member associations. Introducing Central Coast GrownSunday, March 26, 2006A marketing outgrowth of the Central Coast Agricultural Network (CCAN), Central Coast Grown is an ambitious new effort seeking to foster awareness of local foodstuffs and make people aware of how their choices affect their community. By buying food grown on the Central Coast, consumers help support their neighbors and also help preserve the agricultural heritage of the area."Our motto is, ‘If you love this view, you'll have to eat it,' " explained Debra Garrison, who handles membership services for Central Coast Grown. "Our job is to get out and educate the consumer and show them the benefits of buying local." At this point, the focus of the effort is going toward a labeling program that producers can use to indicate their foodstuffs are raised in San Luis Obispo County; the labels feature a Central Coast spin on the classic California fruit-crate art genre. "That's the only program we have in place right now," said Garrison, "but we're also going to develop a speakers' bureau that will help educate consumers — including chefs - about the importance of eating seasonally. The next phase will be a Food Guide so members will know who has what and what's in season." In addition, Central Coast Grown/CCAN has future plans to construct a processing plant, delivery system and a retail outlet. The ultimate goal of Central Coast Grown is to sustain the local agricultural economy, but Garrison noted that the concept will also help foster a sense of community as people "start getting to know the farmers and ranchers, start having dialogues with their food producers. Plus, you'll get the added bonus of having food that tastes a lot better and is a lot better for you." Read entire article at: If you love this area, you’ll have to eat it The Tribune, Katy Budge To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Food Network visits SLO EateriesSaturday, March 25, 2006Tasty Travels' crew rolls into SLO County eateriesThe crew of "Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels" is dropping in on several eateries in Cambria, Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo during a Food Network film shoot. After visiting Monterey on Tuesday morning, they visited Chenoa in Cambria. Owner Jade Pambrio isn't normally open for lunch, but on Tuesday she prepared pecan-encrusted halibut with a leek-lemon cream sauce for 30 friends and the three-person crew of the Food Network show. Next, the crew traveled to Morro Bay and Windows on the Water. On Wednesday, they returned to Cambria to Fermentations, a home decor/wine tasting shop owned by Leslie Gainer. Their next stop was Big Sky Cafe in San Luis Obispo. For years, Charles Myers, founder and owner of Big Sky, had hoped the Food Network would come to town. He featured vegetarian food for the presentation, with a vegetable pozole and zhug, a "smoky roasty Mid-eastern eggplant dip." The crew was also scheduled to visit San Luis Obispo's Buona Tavola on Wednesday night. The show will air in about eight weeks. For information, visit www.foodnetwork.com San Luis Obispo Vintners quit organizationFriday, March 24, 2006While the San Luis Obispo Vintners Association puts finishing touches on its downtown wine bar, Taste, officials are trying to patch things up with wineries that have quit the organization.In recent months, nine wineries have canceled their memberships. Fifteen remain active, said Becky Gray, the association's new executive director. Most departed because of organizational changes accompanying the shift to focus on Taste, an increase in minimum dues from $1,000 to $3,000, or philosophical differences over marketing. Since Taste has become the prime marketing tool of the organization, all members are required to participate in the wine bar. More than 70 wines are dispensed by an automated, computerized system called the Enomatic, a system made in Italy that cost more than $100,000. Gray and Niven say Taste is intended to educate visitors and residents about the wine region and encourage them to visit member wineries. Eventually, they say, tasting room tours will run from the wine bar in the Court Street shopping center. Gray said a Cal Poly study conducted two years ago said that fewer than 20 percent of visitors to downtown San Luis Obispo knew there were wineries nearby. But some former members feel Taste competes with individual tasting rooms at the vineyards. Others believe money spent on the wine bar could be better used on other types of marketing efforts. Read entire article at: Winemaker group's Taste: Complex, with a bitter note The Tribune, Raven J. Railey To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Buona Tavola to host Food NetworkTuesday, March 21, 2006The Food Network is coming to downtown San Luis Obispo today and Wednesday.Buona Tavola Ristorante, 1037 Monterey St., will be the backdrop for the Central Coast episode of "Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels." Ray's crew will shoot at the restaurant at 7 p.m. today and at 5 p.m. Wednesday. General manager Sofia Picazo said Ray's producer called the restaurant three weeks ago to ask for some information about Buona Tavola. The show already had a copy of the menu since "it sounds like a secret diner came in to dine with us," Picazo said. But they wanted to know more about the restaurant's history, the chef and what makes it stand out on the Central Coast, Picazo added. The restaurant was the only one to be selected in the county. Chef Antonio Varia said Ray, also the host of Food Network's "30-minute meals," chose Buona Tavola because "it's the kind of restaurant she likes." "I am very honored because I really like her show," Varia said. "She says she's not a chef, but she helps a lot of people learn how to cook." Ray may not be on hand for the shoot, but about six people from the crew will be there, Varia said. The crew will film Varia in the kitchen preparing several dishes, including Tortellini di zucca, risotto porcini, two salads and a mozzarella plate. On Monday, Varia said he was busy preparing his recipes. The restaurant is inviting San Luis Obispo County residents and visitors to enjoy dinner and become a part of the Food Network episode. The segment will air in about eight weeks. Buona Tavola can seat about 80 people. The San Luis Obispo restaurant opened in San Luis Obispo in 1992. A Paso Robles location opened five years ago. "We are ready, we are ready," Varia said. For reservations, call 545-8000. SLO County's Grape HangoverSaturday, March 18, 2006While consumers may soon see lower wine prices, growers are likely to feel the effects of the record 2005 harvest this year through lower grape prices.Since 2001, when a boom in vineyard planting began to produce an oversupply of wine grapes, the open market has offered local growers fewer dollars per ton for many varietals. Prices for cabernet sauvignon and syrah are especially soft, said Dana Merrill, president of Mesa Vineyard Management in Templeton. Read entire article at: SLO County's grape hangover The Tribune, Raven J. Railey To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Jimmy Bump's Pasta Pronto coming to SLOFriday, March 17, 2006Jimmy Bump's Pasta Pronto, a new Italian express restaurant, is coming to San Luis Obispo in late April or early May.The new restaurant, located in the Village Marketplace at Broad Street and Orcutt Road, is "fast-casual," said Jim Delmore, the restaurant's owner, "It's designed for people who need to get their Italian food fix, but have a busy schedule and don't want a meal that costs too much," Delmore said. Delmore opened Jimmy Bump's Pasta House, a full-service Italian restaurant in Los Osos, about three years ago, which he says is going strong. But he chose to take a different, more express route in San Luis Obispo because he felt it would cater better to people who had a busy lifestyle in the area. "This kind of restaurant is a growing niche because we live with a lot of time constraints," Delmore said. "Italian is just one of the latest types of foods to get into the express niche." Customers will order at a counter, selecting from a variety of pastas and sauces, pizza, salads and sandwiches. Delmonte aims to have their orders complete within five minutes. They then can either eat in the restaurant, which will seat about 30 people, or opt for takeout. As a side note, Delmore said he originally planned to team up with Lou Ferrigno in this new venture, but the timing did not work out. The former Mr. Universe and star of the 1970s television series, "The Incredible Hulk," lives in Corbett Canyon and had wanted to settle more into the community and invest in a local business. But Ferrigno's film and television career has taken off recently "so that he's now busier than he's ever been," Delmore said. Ferrigno has a recurring role in a television show, King of Queens and appeared in the 2003 film "Hulk," which starred Eric Bana. Ferrigno also became a reserve deputy sheriff in Los Angeles, and is popular as a motivational speaker. To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Pinot Noir by the SeaWednesday, March 15, 2006Pinot enthusiasts have their pick of lots of festivals, but many of them still flock to the World of Pinot Noir in Shell Beach, south of San Luis Obispo. About 800 people attended all or part of this year's event, held earlier this month. I popped in for one of the big tastings, known as Pinot Noir by the Sea.The 2004 vintage was on display, and I have to say it's a mixed bag. Heat spikes in the fall sent sugar levels through the roof in some vineyards, and the resulting wines are very plush and ripe. Certainly they'll have their fans, but I prefer wines with more liveliness and bright acidity. Some wineries did a good job managing the difficult conditions, though, so there are some excellent wines out there. Some of the wineries at the festival had already released their 2004s; others will start selling them in the next few months. Mozart Festival fundraiserMonday, March 13, 2006A local fundraiser will have you "seeing" a different tune.Central Coast artists are teaming up with musicians for a memorable Mozart fundraiser. Tune your eyes into 12 violins, each hand-painted by different artists. The musical instruments were made into artists' canvases. Sharon Pescatore made a collage out of her violin. "The theme of this was 'internal moneys,' for the most part. The inspiration came from some Italian Lira that I found in my father in-law's belongings, as I was going through that, and it was just really beautiful, beautiful money," says Pescatore. These violins were real, and not a surface Pescatore was accustomed to. "To deface it. Yes, that was really difficult to get past that finish, on a finished piece of a musical instrument," she says. But out of the unusual, comes extraordinary art. "They're wonderful. They're all unique. I think this has been a great opportunity for us to bring in the visual arts with the performing arts," says Violin Committee Chair Dwyne Willis. The campaign celebrates Mozart's 250th Birthday, and the violins will be auctioned off to raise money for the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. The idea came from the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and it proved to be so popular and successful there, that it had to be tried here. Each violin is one of a kind, not just because of the unique finish, but because it is signed by both the artists, and the artists... The Mozart Festival musicians autograph the violins too. The touring exhibition kicks off Wednesday in Templeton, and bids for the violins can be placed in person, or online. Organizers of the Mozart fundraiser hope to raise $50,000 by April 29. For more information, check out www.mozartfestival.com, or call (805) 781-3009. Edna Valley Vineyard featured in Pottery Barn catalogSaturday, March 11, 2006San Luis Obispo County residents may see a familiar sight when flipping through the pages of the Pottery Barn spring catalog. The 2003 Edna Valley Chardonnay from Edna Valley Vineyard is featured in the nationally circulated publication that is in mailboxes now."Pottery Barn is exactly the lifestyle that we feel Edna Valley Vineyard represents," said Angela Bortugno, brand manager for Edna Valley Vineyard at Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines. "It depicts a lifestyle where wine is an everyday beverage. It should always be on the table," she said. The national retailer had requested Diageo in late 2005 for different bottles of wine to shoot for the spring catalog. This is not the first time Edna Valley Vineyard wines have been featured in a Pottery Barn catalog, said Bortugno. "They like the clean lines and the classic look of the label," Bortugno said. "It doesn't distract from what they are trying to sell. It blends very nicely." The Pottery Barn placement also works well with the winery's new branding campaign, "Savor the SLO Lifestyle." The slogan is meant to educate consumers outside California "about San Luis Obispo and its lifestyle of relaxing and sharing with friends," explained the brand manager. Pottery Barn opened for business at the downtown San Luis Obispo Court Street shopping center in June 2005. Riding Giants traced to SLOThursday, March 09, 2006While "Riding Giants" chronicles three stages of big-wave surfing in California and Hawaii, the movie itself can be traced to one place and time: San Luis Obispo, 1975.Long before he would direct and write movies, Stacy Peralta and a friend were driving down Los Osos Valley Road on a surf trip when they saw a teenager hitchhiking with a surfboard. "I'd never picked up a hitchhiker in my life," Peralta remembered. "My friend and I looked at this guy and said, 'We can't deny this guy - he looks too friendly." The hitchhiker was Sam George, who would later become the editor of Surfer magazine. When Peralta embarked on "Riding Giants" - a film about big-wave pioneers - George was invited to co-write the script. All four of the guests appearing for tonight's screening of "Riding Giants" have San Luis Obispo County connections. George lived in San Luis Obispo several years. Peralta is a regular visitor. And Greg Noll spent three years fishing off Port San Luis as a commercial fisherman. Jeff Clark, meanwhile, occasionally surfs big waves in San Luis Obispo County. During a recent trip to Los Osos, Clark said, he saw some of the biggest waves he's ever seen. "It was over 50 feet," he said. The county's biggest surfing film event was coordinated by Steve Libby, who just joined the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in November. "It made great sense," said Libby, a longtime surfer himself, who moved to Grover Beach two years ago. "Surfing is one of the core cultures of the Central Coast." Home Sales slow in San Luis Obispo CountyThursday, March 02, 2006The median price of an existing home in California in January increased 13.8 percent and sales decreased 24.1 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the California Association of REALTORS(R) (C.A.R.) reported today."We expected January sales to fall below the record that was set in January 2005. The decrease was intensified by interest rates crossing the key psychological threshold of 6 percent in the last quarter of the year, and by weakness in consumer confidence due to the residual effects of Hurricane Katrina," said C.A.R. President Vince Malta. "However, interest rates remain near their historic lows, and we expect sales activity to accelerate as we move into the traditional selling season." Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 500,470 in January at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR(R) associations statewide. Statewide home resale activity decreased 24.1 percent from the 659,410 sales pace recorded in January 2005. The statewide sales figure represents what the total number of homes sold during 2006 would be if sales maintained the January pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales. The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during January 2006 was $551,300, a 13.8 percent increase over the $484,580 median for January 2005, C.A.R. reported. The January 2006 median price increased 0.5 percent compared with December's $548,640 median price. "The California real estate market is beginning to experience the soft landing that we expect to be the underlying dynamic driving the housing market this year," said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. "The number of homes for sale has risen to a six-month supply, which will translate into a slower rate of price appreciation than we experienced in 2005." Highlights of C.A.R.'s resale housing figures for January 2006: -- C.A.R.'s Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes in January 2006 was 6 months, compared with 3.2 months (revised) for the same period a year ago. The index indicates the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate. -- Thirty-year fixed mortgage interest rates averaged 6.15 percent during January 2006, compared with 5.71 percent in January 2005, according to Freddie Mac. Adjustable mortgage interest rates averaged 5.17 percent in January 2006 compared with 4.12 percent in January 2005. -- The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 48 days in January 2006, compared with 44 days (revised) for the same period a year ago. San Luis Obispo's median home price was $592,590, up 10.8% from last month and up 19.7% from last year, but down -27.9% in sales from last month and down -7.0% from last year. Duckie's Clam Chowder Opens in CayucosWednesday, March 01, 2006Cayucos' newest restaurant, Duckie's Clam Chowder, opens today. The restaurant is located at the former Pier Cafe at 55 Cayucos Drive.Chris Dorn of Dorn's Original Breakers Cafe in Morro Bay has remodeled the restaurant space; the dining area will now accommodate up to 50 customers. With Duckie's open for lunch and dinner, Cayucos will have five restaurants, all in the downtown area on Ocean Drive Avenue. Dorn has designed the restaurant and the menu to be simple and efficient. Duckie's customers will order at a counter and then wait to be served at their tables. The lunch and dinner menu is the same, a consolidated version of the Morro Bay Dorn's menu, which highlights the restaurant's award-winning red and white chowder. Duckie's also will offer fish tacos and some sandwiches not available at the original Dorn's. Duckie's is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.. Read More
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