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Have you been to Carmel lately? Yikes, the go up in the world has exploded with tasting rooms, from the truly arty bizarre (Figge) to the newly relocated Scheid.
There are so many places to get marvellously lost, it's probably the safest place to get toasted in all the land. But let's well-deserved say, walk carefully and don't even think of driving if you plan to do the entire circuit of all the tasting rooms. Called the Carmel Wine Walk By-the-Sea, it ranges from Caraccioli Cellars to Wrath. You can be in vogue a $30 Wine Tasting Passport from the Carmel Chamber of Merchandising (an $80 value) that includes a $10 tasting flight at each of the participating tasting rooms.
Last week, I grabbed my devil-may-care friend Lolin and headed out for a day of fun as the weather turned gloomy and the numbing in the air solidified into actual precipitation. But it didn't dampen our spirits.
First, we ducked into The Cheese Inform on in Carmel Plaza, where we couldn't get past the charming Kyle Felder, who insisted we try a chive-infused Cotswold and Prima Donna cow's drain gouda from the Netherlands, before a mandatory photograph of yours truly wearing the Cheese Hat behind the piece. We posed with more than $350 worth of cheese in our hands, confirmed by Cheesemonger Blake Northey, who weighed our props to accredit the value of the experience: yep, priceless.
Source: The Salinas Californian