Divine wine

I hate to break it to you, but those of you who think:

California wine tasting = Napa Valley

are gravely and seriously mistaken.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good trip to Napa, but the valley has become overpopulated with wineries eager to make a quick buck off you unknowing Bay Area tourists.  You can easily pay upwards of $40 for a mediocre (and might I add, SMALL) sampling of lackluster vintages and then get suckered into buying that not-so-great $65 bottle of cab which really tallies to $85 when you account for the fact that you'll now be checking your bag home.   

If you're looking for a real, unique California wine tasting experience and have a few extra hours to spare in your journey time, I highly recommend you and your fellow winos venture down to Paso Robles wine country.

My boyfriend and I headed down there this past weekend for a fabulous wine-filled weekend.  Since I am a total lush and can't drive after even one ounce of the red nectar, my boyfriend agreed to be our DD limiting himself to only a few sips of his faves.  This arrangement worked out extremely well for me as I was able to fully enjoy all the valley had to offer and feel extra good about bearing the burden of finishing our shared glass.

First up: Rabbit Ridge Winery
While this spontaneous stop Saturday afternoon appeared to be quite well-appointed from its exterior, the tasting room disappointed - a few cheap bar stools at the end of their not-so-fancy wine warehouse.  When we saw the price list, however, (ranging from $8 - $40 a bottle) we were immediately intrigued - I can't help but love a good bargain!  Overall, the wine was decent to down-right bad, but we did find a few winners to take home. (What can I say?  The price was right!)

We then headed to our lodging for that evening: Villa nel Mondo.
This small winery and Bed & Breakfast - strategically located on top of one of Paso's highest hills - had unreal views of the valley as well as a complimentary wine tasting and $15 cheese plate (if requested) at check-in.  We OBVIOUSLY opted in for the cheese plate and enjoyed this bargain of a platter (see this super-sized sample below) on their outdoor terrace.  We enjoyed our aperitif a bit too much (yep - we finished it ALL) leaving us much too full for our seasonally fresh and delicious dinner at Artisan that night.  We manned up and still stomached a shared salmon tartare and sea bass with crab tortellini - well worth the extra effort. 

The next morning we bounded out of bed (by bounded I mean lounged around until we knew they weren't going to be serving breakfast anymore) and had a quick bite to eat at our B&B (quiche, fruit, muffins).  We then hit the road for our next stop: Tablas Creek.  While we enjoyed the wine, we ended up doing a lot of more spitting in the most elegant of manners.  For those of you unknowing readers, spitting is actually QUITE refined in the wine-tasting world.  I usually completely disagree with the action on account of principal (aren't there thirsty people all around the world?) but given that it was 11am, I decided that it was in my best interest.

Then: Jada
While this fine little hideaway rocks some divine wines (and a gorgeous and romantic outdoor terrace), the real reason we ventured here was for their delightful cheese pairing with each tasting.  We shared a tasting - myself tackling the wine, my boyfriend: the cheese.  Now that's what I call a perfect pair.

Then: Turley Wine Cellars
This Zinfandel Heaven is my boyfriend's second love.  First cheese, then Turley, then me.  (He knows I am kidding.  Actually I am not sure he does which is why I am adding in this little call-out.  He is Swiss and sometimes my sarcasm gets lost in translation.)  We sampled their delicious wines as well as quite a lot of their delicious and complimentary rosemary crackers, fresh bread, and homemade olive oil (we had to get our money's worth, right?). 

Their delicious rosemary crackers!

Then: Booker
Like you right now, by this point in our adventure, I was totally exhausted from all the extremely hard work (I was doing my duty finishing that glass!), so I'll just leave you with a few pics of Booker's gorgeous tasting room.  I spent a solid 15 minutes trying to figure out how they got that branch to balance so perfectly on that wine bar. 

And then my boyfriend pointed out that there was a hole in the table where the trunk of the branch had been strategically positioned through.

Bottoms up!  Tune back tomorrow for some advice on how to burn off all the cheese, crackers, and wine you've just consumed from the last two caloric-laden posts.

xoxo

KK