Small-Batch Wines at Crush Tasting Room & Kitchen

Walking into Crush Tasting Room & Kitchen, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. With a delicious menu, more than 20 inventive wines from small-batch Central Coast producers as well as kombucha and regional beer on tap, and a convivial atmosphere ripe for striking up conversation, the East Haley Street establishment made my head spin like a child entering the white gates of Disneyland for the first time.

Fortunately, Michael Amador, who owns Crush with his wife, Lisa Amador, was there to stop me from falling. After greeting me with a smile, he pointed me toward their pièce de résistance: the Napa Technology wine dispenser.

“Our system allows us to pour 20 wines and keep them all fresh,” Amador explained of the device, which uses argon gas to preserve the bevy of bottles. The only other nearby places where this technology is being used are in Buellton (though Bottlest recently closed) and Ventura, said Amador. One simply needs to buy a card, insert it into the dispenser, and press a button for either a taste, a half glass, or a full glass of wine.