Beautiful Paso Robles

Such a wonderful discovery! Hills of vineyards and groves of almond, walnut and olive trees with lovely wineries interspersed throughout was our view over the past few days. The wineries and tasting rooms are every bit as beautiful as the ones in Napa as are some of the wines.

Having no recommendations, we chose to visit those listed on Tom's Foodie blog.

Summerwood was our first stop. An elegant tasting room with views of the fermentation tanks. The

wines are very good as were the chocolates labeled to pair with the wines. In addition to wine, we left with a couple bags of raspberry infused chocolate (bet they won't make it home with us.)

On to Peachy Canyon, informal with really nice wine

After lunch in downtown Paso Robles, we drove to Halter Ranch, we weren't impressed with their wines.

Last stop of the day was Tablas Creek. Another elegant tasting room with a  lovely French lady
hosting.

Thursday we started the day at Eberle. We were introduced to their zinfandel by a friend in Texas several years ago. Inexpensively priced we think it is a good value.

Loved the cave tour at Eberle.

With a brick oven and a gorgeous view, we can only imagine how great the parties must be here.

To our next destination, Villa San-Juliette, we had a lovely drive on a country road lined with nut trees and vineyards. Owned by the producers of a couple of reality shows like, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, no expense was spared in creating a lovely place to taste wine and have lunch. Just as we turned in our order for pizza, in came Bob and JoAnne whom we met at the campground the previous evening. Like us, JoAnne owns a Lazy Daze (1999 vintage) and is a Presbyterian. She also shares ABN's interest in art. Bob drives a Road Trek, small class B. He shares Captain's love of Bluegrass music and is a zinfandel aficionado  They too ordered a pizza and joined us for lunch By the time the pizzas were eaten and a very nice bottle of grenache was consumed, we were friends. 

The plan was to visit one more winery, drop ABN to poke around Paso Robles while Captain did some grocery shopping. Bob and JoAnne convinced us we should visit one of their favorite wineries, Graveyard (not on our list); so glad we did as we left with two bottles of a delicious chocolate infused port. (With a case of Jodar port at home, and a new port club membership in El Dorado County, I think we have an ample supply, at least until we return maybe next year.)

Last stop of day at Tobin James Cellars, a fun place to hang out and the zinfandel is pretty fabulous.

Thank goodness shared tastings and dumping is acceptable!

By that time, ABN was no longer interested in shopping. A quick stop at the grocery and back to The Wanderer for a rest before dinner.

After dinner Bob and JoAnne joined us for a little port and zin.

Paso Robles, another must return to destination. Now that we have friends in Santa Barbara, we must add that to our list also.

So what about the wines, well time will tell. Often when we open a bottle a few months after returning home from a wine tasting trip we will say "What were we thinking?" Just as often we will say "Wow, I didn't remember how great this one tasted." Sometimes our palates are influenced by the experience, sometimes the quality improves with time and sometimes it loses some of it's character. For us, wine is an art and a mystery.

Thirty two wineries, eight cases of wine, visits with old and new friends, our souls are fed as we leave wine country.

After a stop at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley,

we have turned The Wanderer toward Aggieland. 

The intent was to post this last evening. However, we found ourselves camping in a canyon with no internet, phone service or cable connection. We did have water, electricity and dumping so all was good. 

Tipsy Tuesday

in Paso Robles, California

Saying Good-bye for now.

"Just where did we go wrong?"

After not being on the tandem for about a month, we headed to Folsom (yes, like in the prison) on Friday to ride the American River Bike Trail. We rode it a few years back and knew it would be a beautiful ride. We would like to say it was a perfect ride (and it was almost.) Toward the end of the ride, we made one little miscalculation and found ourselves trying to cross a busy street. We advanced across the first lane of traffic, and were waiting in the middle for a break to cross over to the bike lane. Apparently that was not acceptable. We did make it safely to the bike lane; in the process we learned California has their share of rednecks as we were called  "stupid," "idiots," etc. by passing motorists.

It is a beautiful trail and we would have loved to share a few of the many photos and video's we shot, but ABN accidentally deleted all of them. Here are a couple from 2012.

Another gorgeous California farmers' market, this one is in Placerville.

And we discovered The Fork Lift, for lack of a better description; it is like a Whole Foods on steroids.

Where could we possibly store all of our produce purchases in The Wanderer's

small galley? In a produce hammock, of course!

Enjoying the bounty from the Farmers Market; roasted vegetables and peaches on the Green Egg and fresh ravioli.

Although the fire continues to burn in southern Amador County, it is mostly contained and the smoke has pretty much cleared here in El Dorado County. Sunday, with our wine maker friend, we wandered over to northern Amador County to do some tasting. We were pleased to find the smoke had pretty much cleared there also.

Tasting Room at Wilderotter, Their Ambrosia is a very good blend

Bill and Randy at Borjon, which continues to be a favorite.

This evening we said good-bye to Placerville, our friend, Bill and our friends at Wine Smith. The wine, music and people of El Dorado County feed our souls and makes us hungry to return.

Tomorrow we will pack up and point The Wanderer toward Paso Robles.