Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/57654
THE MESSAGE Wine Stop Shop O ne of our favorite stops as we drive up and down California's Central Coast is the Los Olivos Café in the Santa Ynez Valley. The long-lived on-premise location has morphed from deli (circa 1990s) to casual café to high-end-but-still-casual wine country eatery and wine store (with the addition of a retail side, The Wine Merchant). Jon McDaniel, the resident Wine Director, showed us some spe- cial fi nds, pouring a Roussanne and a single-vineyard Tempranillo from Paso as well as his favorites from nearby Sta. Rita Hills. "I try to create a snapshot of the Central Coast," McDaniel tells THE TASTING PANEL. "When you go to Italy or Burgundy, you want to experience the taste of their regions. So I enjoy sharing some detail of this area's up-and-comers with our customers. There's such a wide range of producers that we carry that you cannot fi nd just anywhere." He produces a bottle of Gavin Shanin's Pinot Noir. "This guy is a phenom from Los Alamos." And paying reverence to winemaker Doug Margerum, McDaniel carries a library of the local Rhône- variety producer's wines. "Ageability exists here," he insists. "And winemakers are excited to taste older vintages from their peers; we're into our second- and third-generation producers in Santa Ynez and the Santa Maria Valley." Thanks to McDaniel, the Los Olivos Café and its retail side have experienced exponential increases in wine sales. Tourists make the trek to meet an expert in the area, and after drinking some unique Central Coast wine at lunch or dinner, can buy some bottles to take home. McDaniel has just added his own name to the list of Central Coast producers with his new label, Amos Cellars. See my reviews on page 46. —Meridith May Jon McDaniel, Wine Director for the Los Olivos Café and The Wine Merchant, in California's Santa Ynez Valley. Wines of Chile Goes High Profi le W ines of Chile joined other Chilean food and beverage brands at the recent Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, showcasing a national focus on sustainable and organic production with a 100% carbon-neutral pavilion. Wines from Chile now represent 9% of total imports to the U.S. "Chile's geographic location, shielded by the Atacama Desert in the North, Patagonia in the South, the high Andes to the East and the Pacifi c to the west, makes the coun- try uniquely positioned to produce sustainably produced wines," says Lori Tieszen, Executive Director of Wines of Chile USA. Lori Tieszen, Executive Director of Wines of Chile USA, greets the crowd at the 2012 Winter Fancy Foods Show. 18 / the tasting panel / march 2012 PHOTO: MERIDITH MAY