Biz Buzz: Atascadero Albertsons to offer wine tasting

Atascadero shoppers searching for the perfect wine will soon get help from their local Albertsons grocery store.

The supermarket at 8200 El Camino Real will start offering wine tasting in a month or two, said Jerry McLaughlin, regional operations specialist for Albertsons.

“It’s a great way for customers to learn about wine,” he said.

The Atascadero City Council voted 5-0 last week to approve the store’s liquor license.

Atascadero’s sister store in Paso Robles has offered wine tastings for three years. They’re held every Saturday from 1 to 3 p. m.

Shoppers can sample local wines — at a couple dollars for three half-ounce “tastes”— and learn more about them from winery representatives. Sometimes the wines are paired with appetizers from North County restaurants.

“It’s not just tasting … It’s more of an educational process here,” explained event coordinator Linda Cooks, a liquor department employee for 13 years.

She said the Paso Robles store is currently the only Albertsons in California to offer wine tasting. She wasn’t sure about other grocery store chains.

Atascadero will hold wine tastings once a month, McLaughlin said.

He said the Atascadero Albertsons sells wines from 84 local wineries, including Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles, Wild Horse Vineyards in Templeton and Laetitia Vineyard and Winery in the Arroyo Grande Valley.

— Sarah Linn

Sierra Vists earns ‘Gold Performance’

Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo has been recognized by the American Heart Association for excellence in following recommended treatment guidelines for patients with coronary artery disease and with heart failure.

Ron Yukelson of Sierra Vista said the hospital received the association’s Gold Performance

Achievement Award. The guidelines are intended to be proven standards and procedures for health-care professionals to follow before patients are discharged.

For both categories, Sierra Vista had to show it followed the American Heart Association’s care guidelines for 24 consecutive months, and that it applied the standards to treatment for 85 percent of patients.

— Tad Weber