Fine Cars, Fine Wine … Fine with us

Special Guest Editor Stuart Rowlands enjoys a wine tasting event like no other at the Mullin Automotive Museum.

Photos courtesy of the Mullin Auto 

A man and his passions were on full display at the West Los Angeles branch of the famed Mullin Automotive Museum a couple weeks ago. Home to just a fragment of Peter Mullin’s superb collection of bespoke French automobiles from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, this petite museum (an annex to his much larger Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard), played to host the introduction of two of new ventures – Mullin Estate Wines from Italy and his latest entry into the restaurant business: the appropriately-named: COAST located in Big Sur, California.

The museum itself is staged as a French bistro complete with a dozen venerable French marques such as Renault and Citroen automobiles (for some reason one is totally unable to describe them simply as “cars”), umbrellas and wrought iron tables and chairs.  On entering, our first ‘look’ was a bar top laden with COAST picnic inspired cuisine of freshly chopped fish and spiced vegetables, home-made breads, followed by fascinating deserts including my favorite – a moist ginger nut pastry.

“With Mullin Estate Wines, we’ve striven to expertly blend the artistry of both fine wines and the automobile,” said our host, Mullin Automotive Museum Founder and CEO Peter Mullin. “These are my two great passions in life, and I’m proud to share that passion with this unique pairing to wine connoisseurs and car enthusiasts alike.”

Our host, Peter Mullin

Following Mullins’s speech he introduced James Beard Award Winner Nick Balla and General Manager of COAST Big Sur, his new café, gallery and boutique concept located on the Central California Coast in a historic building fashioned from redwood trees.

In well over three decades of collecting, Peter Mullin has amassed one of the finest collections of classic automobiles anywhere in the world, featuring unique treasures from French marques such as Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Hispano-Suiza, Talbot-Lago and Voisin. He has competed and won top-flight awards in both vintage racing and concours events around the globe.

In typical Mullin fashion he’s blended two great loves of his life by pairing classic French automobiles and fine wines from his Doglio vineyard, close to the medieval hilltop town of Todi in Umbria, known as the green heart of Italy. The ancient viticulture tradition there traces back to the Etruscans who began growing grapes thousands of years ago. Made by third-generation winemaker Paolo Trappolini, the wines are bottled, labeled and packaged in the local cantina for shipment predominantly to the USA and United Kingdom.

Now, Mullin Estate Wines has launched with four distinctive bottlings: the 2016 Rosso Umbria IGT, 2016 Syrah Umbria IGT, 2016 Sangiovese Umbria IGT and 2018 Grechetto IGT. Reach wine had its own distinctive aroma and taste but for fans of the lighter Italian reds the 2016 Rosso Umbria IGT is very hard to beat.

(Editor’s note: if you pick your wine based on the label — these wines are the ultimate!)

Cin-cin everyone!  -SR

About the Mullin Automotive Museum: The Mullin Automotive Museum is located at 1421 Emerson Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93033. The museum is typically open to the public on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month from 10 AM to 3 PM. Tickets must be purchased in advance at www.MullinAutomotiveMuseum.com.Semi-Private tours are offered on Tuesdays at 10 AM and Thursdays at 11 AM for $40 per person. Other weekdays may be available by appointment. Reservations are required. For information on semi-private tours or on membership in exclusive Mullin 1000 Club, please call 805.385.5400.

To see photos of the exhibits and the cars on display, please follow the Mullin Automotive Museum’s official Instagram page.

About Mullin Estate Wines:  Founded by Peter Mullin and produced in Umbria, Italy, Mullin Estate Wines are inspired by bespoke treasures from the Mullin Automotive Museum on the California coast. From fine art to sculpture, cars to wine, the Mullin brand is synonymous with art, beauty, elegance, quality, environmental respect and culture.

To learn more about, visit Mullin Wine Estates online.