Hitching Post II Restaurant

The Hitching Post II is where Miles takes Jack for their first meal. It's where they run into Maya, the waitress who Miles falls for. Miles goes back later to look for Maya, and ends up drinking an entire bottle of the Highliner wine. This stuff is not cheap!

As with many of the other movie locations, this is much smaller in person. There's a bar to the right and a small room of tables to the left. The restaurant is only open for dinner. They are openly embracing their Sideways connection, as is evidenced by the napkins they put out.

In any case, they have 3 pinot noirs on their menu, and we decided to try all three. We went for small samples, though, not entire bottles. First, the 2004 Cork Dancer. We found this to be on the tart side, with cherry flavors and a juicy, acidic mouth feel. It turns out our bottle had been open since yesterday, so they poured us a fresh bottle which was decidedly better. $26.

The second bottle was a Santa Maria 2004. This had a nice aroma of cherry and spice - much better than the Cork Dancer. There's still a tartness here that we're just not fond of. $40.

Finally, the Highliner. This is the wine Miles gets a bottle of. Apparently he is making a very good salary as an English teacher, because it's $52 a bottle!! It is very young and fresh, with cherry and berry bright flavors. We bought 2 bottles to bring home with us to share with friends, because of the movie, but compared with many other pinot noirs we tried on this trip we did find it to be a bit pricey.

Apparently that's the "Sideways Effect"!

Sideways movie review

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