Since I started telling people where The Bear and I went, I’ve had so many ask me “Where in California is that?”  Other than some smaller airports (San Luis Obispo about 30 miles away), there’s no quick way to get there.  This small farming community is about 30 miles from the coast and about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Regardless, it’s totally worth the drive from either direction.  And we were definitely gung ho for our second day in Paso.

By the time the sound of the delivery trucks began at 6:30 Wednesday morning, I was already feeling bittersweet.  I had not planned enough days.  Hearst Castle was just down the road.  The beach at Cambria was only 30 miles away.  I had heard that SLO was a lovely little art town.   BUT I love needing to plan for another vacation and all the wineries we missed, so we could go again.

As for THIS morning, we got up, got dressed and were  at Andrea’s On Pine the moment that they opened for breakfast at 8:30.  Andrea was in there making french toast casserole and preparing with her mother for some  ladies’ luncheon that they were having later that afternoon.  They offered coffee, tea, juice for breakfast… when I ordered a mimosa at 8:30 AM, I created quite a stir!   “Our kind of girl!   Way to get the day started!”  Well, I was on vacation.  I thought you were supposed to do that!   🙂

With The Bear on a conference call for work, we started off toward our 10:00 appointment at our first winery of the day, Epoch.  I have been pronouncing that word wrong my whole life.  I always thought it was eee pock, but it’s pronounced epic, and our experience there truly was.

The link to the winery above will direct you to information about the tasting room. It’s only been open for two months and is the coolest tasting room I’ve ever been in.  It is in the location of one of Paso’s original wineries from the early 1900’s on York Mountain.  The original building had been destroyed twice in the past, once by tornado and once by earthquake.  When Epoch rebuilt, they tried to use as many of the original features as they could, including the fireplace, the bricks, and the redwood.

There were walls where the stone was original.  When they deconstructed and moved the wall, they actually numbered all of the stones to be sure that they went back in the same spots when the wall was reconstructed.

Also keeping with the original, the wine press as suspended from the ceiling on rails.

The original wine press was done before they had electricity so that they could just slide the press over the barrel and let the juice drop using gravity.

This whole tasting involved a history lesson with outstanding wines.  I loved the format as well.  Our tasting was all set up for us.  Our host took us over and pointed out that there was a photo album about the construction of the winery and literature pertaining to the wines we were drinking.

I loved this method.  We were able to sit and drink at our own pace, while reading about the wines.  Every so often our host would stop back to check on us.  I learn best by reading and asking questions, so this really worked for me.  The fact that the little books were so well written and put together didn’t hurt at all.  It was great fun.

When this tasting was over, we had a little bit of extra time before our next scheduled tasting.  We asked where we might go on the way, and we were directed to Denner.

I had never heard of it before, and I’m so glad we went.  This had to be the most gorgeous property I’ve ever seen.  The spring colors were all in bloom, and tasting on the patio was an absolute joy.

It was the perfect stop on the way to our piece de la resistance..   Law

To get to Law you have to travel up this very narrow, winding road.  The trees scrape the roof of your car, and you’re surrounded by scrubby bushes and airstream trailers.  At any point I expected to hear the banjos playing in the background.

At the very top of the hill, Law appears.

You walk in to face double glass doors with barrels behind.  A long, dark, staircase is immediately to your left with an arrow pointing up, “Tasting.”

When you reach the top of the stairs, the angels sing.  Okay, not literally, but it is a GORGEOUS room with floor to ceiling glass walls looking out across the stunning vineyards.

Chris has us all set up in front of the fireplace, and we’re waiting for three other guests to arrive to begin our tasting.  Law was started by husband and wife geologists who happened to come into some money (translation:  they struck oil).  They fell in love with the Rhone valley while bicycling in France.  When they came to Paso, they found much the same climate and soil; so they started their winery here.

When our tasting began, we were joined by three men in their 70’s.  Two of them were former lawyers.  All three were current characters.  🙂  They had the wine snob thing down PAT!  I realized this was the first we had seen of this attitude in Paso, but they meant no harm and were quite entertaining.

We bought another couple of bottles and decided that we should probably go ahead and pack up our wine to ship back.  One of the wineries had been kind enough to offer to ship our mixed case for us.  As we were gathering, we got a call from Desperada

Desperada is Vailia’s project.  She’s Russell’s wife from Herman Story. Although their tasting room was not officially open on Wednesdays, they were willing to take us.  So, there was no time to stop for a picnic.  I just ripped off pieces of brie, gouda, and sopressa and handed them to The Bear as we hightailed it over to Tin City.

Tin City is a place for winemakers without property for a winery.  A lot of these are younger and newer people who have apprenticed with some of he more renowned wine makers in the area.  They come to this little industrial park on the east side to get started.

Since most things were closed, we only had a chance to try Desperada, Onx, and our one NON wine tasting at Tin City Cider.  Created by wine makers, these were the best ciders I’ve ever had.  When we come back next time, I’d like to dedicate a day to Tin City alone.

With a full day of tasting (and our trip *sniff*) behind us, it was time to head back to the square and the one dinner reservation we made.

Since I finally had The Bear on board with the whole progressive dinner idea, we started at La Consecha for a drink and a bite. This place had the largest cocktail menu I had ever seen.  I loved that the bartender was making his own infused liquors back behind that bar.  This was the sister restaurant to our grand finale restaurant right down the street.

so… after the most decadent piece of “cheese toast” ever… we walked down the road to one of the best reviewed restaurants in Paso:  Il Cortile.

This place is Italian fine dine with everything that you’d expect in that name.  It has house made pasta, shaved truffles, rich sauces, the works.  It’s more northern Italian style than southern.

We were seated on a screened in patio.  Richard picked a 2010 Barbaresco to accompany our meal–getting away from the Paso grapes for a bit.

We ate everything too fast to take pictures, BUT we started with a lovely beef carpaccio in an incredible truffle cream sauce.  I ordered gnocchi in Gorgonzola cream and Richard ordered a steak.  I saw the man across from me eating fettuccine with truffle sauce and decided I must have it.  Our waitress said  that we could get a half order and share it.

It had barely hit the table before we scarfed it.  Hands down the best pasta dish I have ever had, anywhere.  Every part of it was divine.

The night was ending, and so was our trip.  We waddled back to Taste in the Alley for one last glass before going back to our adorable little apartment to pack.

My mom always said that a trip was the perfect length if you wanted ONE MORE DAY.  Well, I wanted three more days.  Three more on this trip.  I wanted a day to go to Hearst Castle and the Cambria coast.  I wanted a day to just hang out on the square. I wanted a day in Tin City.  I wanted a day to go to San Luis Obspo.  I wanted a day to go to the other wineries… Oh, wait… that’s FIVE.  I needed five more days.  I needed a week.

The good news is that Paso Robles will still be there, and I know we can go back.

So the next day we left for little Bob Hope airport and drove through the beautiful hills of Angeles forest.

We took a quick jump to Las Vegas; stayed there for enough time for slot machines to swallow $40.  Then, we were home again.

Nothing like traveling to whet your appetite for traveling!  I can’t wait for the next trip!