After three straight days of continuous palate and liver practice, it was time for a day of rest and a little bit of sight seeing. The morning began with  more excitement than we planned.  Since we were finished buying wine, we were going to pack it up and ship it back to Texas.   When driving through Napa, there’s a shipping place on practically every corner.   Well, apparently the laws have changed recently regarding shipping, and none of the people who would ship in the past would anymore.  EEEEEEK!  You can check your wine when you fly; but without all the proper accouterments to pack it properly, getting it there in one piece can be dicey.  We could have direct shipped from the wineries, but with just 1 or 2 bottles from each winery that gets prohibitively expensive.  Luckily, one of the wineries from which we purchased was kind enough to help us out and only charge shipping cost to Fed Ex our two cases.  We felt QUITE lucky; we were able to get our spoils when we got home!

We did have 25 bottles of wine (one more than two cases), so Richard decided we would pack a bottle of white in our suitcase.   Several years ago we had a $100 bottle of red that broke.  Losing the bottle was sad.  It also stained all of our clothes AND the suitcase.  He figured white was a better risk.  (It made it home without breaking this time!)

That behind us, we started out for our day.

When we were in Paso last year, we realized that we’d like to spend some time in the towns of San Luis Obispo (known to the locals as SLO), the beach town of Cambria, and up to San Simeon for Hearst Castle and elephant seals.  We knew we wouldn’t have time to do all of those things, but we were going to try!   We set out for the day with big plans… Cambria for lunch, followed by Hearst Castle, then elephant seals, then drive down to SLO before back up to Paso for dinner.  We eventually found out we had bitten off more than we could chew… but why not dream big?

We began our 37 mile drive from Paso to Cambria at about 10 o’clock that morning.  It was a gorgeous day out, but already we could see the fog rolling in off the coastline as we drove.

 

We drove through Cambria, which looked like a really cool town for those who like to shop (we don’t), and along Moonstone beach to see the Pacific Ocean.  I had done a little research beforehand and suggested that we have lunch at a place called Centrally Grown.  It supposedly had the best views in the area.  When we were sat at a table about 100 feet above the ground and entirely surrounded by glass, I would have to agree this was definitely the case.  If we had more time, the store at the property and the expansive grounds would be worth exploring;  but we were on a mission!

 

We had pre-purchased tickets to our two tours from the Hearst Castle website.  The tours were $25 per person a piece, AND there was an $8 advanced service charge per ticket.  We probably could have waited to buy our tickets until we got there, but I would have hated to come all the way from Texas and not be able to tour.

We knew the tour that included admission to the castle also included seeing the 40-minute movie Building the Dream about the history of building the castle.  We decided we wanted to see that before entering the castle, so we had our timing figured out perfectly.  By the time we got there, the fog was so thick we couldn’t see the castle at all from the visitors’ center at the foot of the hill.  The movie was fascinating.  We boarded the bus for the castle.

On the winding path up the hill, Alex Trebek narrated what we COULD be seeing were it a clear day.  We got glimpses but never a full view.  Still, it was gorgeous.  We began our first tour, The Grand Rooms tour, as a slight mist was starting to fall.  Each tour is guided by a very knowledgeable docent who gives the history and the stories of what occurred in each room.

 

 

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“Case grande,” as it is known, was breathtaking from floor to ceiling.  There was not a blank spot on any wall or in any area.  Hearst Castle is first and foremost an art museum, including the statues and ceilings.  I considered going through and detailing every picture, but it truly is one of those “you have to see it for yourself” experiences.   The Neptune Pool outside has been empty since 2016 for repairs.  The repairs are actually about two years behind schedule.  Well, you know, contractors and government.  Am I right, or am I right?

Because of Richard’s epicurean ways and both of our wine interests, I also scheduled the “cottages and kitchens” tour.  There are actually about five different tours you can take, all at an hour each.  Hearst Castle has five “cottages.”   The largest is over 5000 square feet and was actually the one when Hearst stayed when he was at “the ranch.”

 

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I could have happily done a tour of the ceilings alone.  They are gorgeous!   We loved to hear the stories as we wandered outdoors of how Charlie Chaplin would hide inside the sarcophagus to scare guests as they walked by.  We re-entered Casa Grande for the kitchen and the piece de resistance, the wine cellar.

 

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I was shocked by some of the quite “modern” conveniences of the stand mixer and heated tables.  As we descended the narrow staircase around the elevator into the basement, I could smell the familiar aroma of wine.  Many of the bottles in the cellar are still full (although likely undrinkable), including a Hungarian dessert wine from the 1800s.  I also saw bottles of Dom Perignon and 1931 Domaine de la Romanee Conti, which would be around $15,000 a bottle at auction. Interestingly, William Randolph Hearst didn’t drink and would only allow his guests to have HIS alcohol (although David Niven was known to smuggle his own in and hide it under the bed.)  He would allow them about one glass a night.

We could have continued to peruse the grounds for as long as we wanted at the conclusion of the tour, but with the fog so thick, and a continuous mist, we elected to make our way past the indoor pool.  The Hearst family still has rights to use the pool after hours.  The floor is made-up of 24 karat gold.

On our winding road down the hill, Alex Trebek continued to tell us about the sweeping views we could not see.  We did, however, get to pass the zoo including the polar bear enclosure.  None of the animals are there anymore.  Some zebras and antelope escaped over the years and can be seen grazing with the herd of cattle that the Hearst family still owns on the mountain.

When we were going back to the car, it was later than we thought and raining relatively hard, so our plans of going to see elephant seals and checking out SLO were both thwarted.  We drove back towards our temporary home for our last night in Paso Robles.

We had reservations that night for The Hatch.  We had been dreaming of their amazing maitake mushrooms since last year.  Each night The Hatch has a special meat of the day.  Sunday night is prime rib and Monday is fried chicken.  We were there on Monday.  As we started with cocktails, our waiter let us know that on Monday they take the burnt ends from the prime rib on Sunday and use it to make a macaroni and cheese.  It was definitely necessary to try that along with our mushrooms and cocktails.

 

The fried chicken was wonderful, served with an excellent homemade hot sauce.  Richard and I both got to try a wine from one of the wineries we didn’t have a chance to visit on this trip.  I had a fantastic Ledge rose and Richard had a Lefondusac cab franc to go with our chicken and our final meal.

We made our way back to our fifth and final consecutive night at Taste in the Alley to bid a fond farewell and “until we meet again” to Kitty and Larry.

The next morning we set off on the 2 1/2 hour journey back up the 101 to San Jose airport.  We had a minor delay on our flight to LAX because President Trump was flying in the area and the airspace had to stay empty.  We were on the ground in LA for only about 30 minutes before being back in the air to Austin.

Exhausted and happy, we had completed another spring break trip.  We’re already feeling some remorse that we don’t intend to return to Paso next year.  We think we’re more likely to go further north on the coast and try out Washington and Oregon where we haven’t traveled, yet.  Still, we love Paso, and we’re likely to return someday in the not too distant future.

The last time we came to Paso Robles, we only had part of an afternoon at Tin City.  Since it was a weekday, most everything was closed.   We knew, then, that we would make an entire day of Tin City when we came back.

Sunday was that day.

I had mentioned before that the family tree of Paso wineries is more like a bramble bush… or a mangrove.  It’s all interconnected and crisscrossed.  Everyone has worked with everyone and still works with them on special projects at different times.

Tin City throws all of them together.  It’s in an industrial park on the east side of Paso (using west side grapes, of course 🙂  ).  There are a few places where you could get a car stereo system put in and things of that ilk, but it’s primarily about wine and a few brewers.  When we went last year, we had the privilege of tasting at Desparada (the wife of the winemaker at Herman Story is the winemaker there) and ONX.  Today we had quite a few more on our lineup.

So that the bear could enjoy the day as much as I did, we took an Uber for our 10 minute trip down the road.  As we are non-city folk, we managed to irritate our first Uber driver by trying to schedule a time…  instead, he showed up within 5 minutes, and we weren’t ready.  Oooops!   Now we know.  I knew enough to be worried that our rating as 5 star passengers may be tarnished by our ignorance.  I sure hope not!

Our first appointment of the day was at 11 AM at monochrome.  We chose them to begin because they are a “whites only” (yes, I’m aware of how wrong that sounds) producer.  We knew we’d be experiencing palate fatigue by the end of the day, so why not start there.

Monochrome is owned by a charming smarty mcsmarterson Stanford MBA, Dave McGee.  You have the opportunity to taste his 90 point + wines with him in an ultra sleek, modern tasting area that he shares with two other wineries.  His consulting wine maker has worked at some of the best wineries in Paso and in the world.  Monochrome experiments with the wine every step of the way.  They say that they modeled their wine making after Phil Spector’s 1960 “Wall of Sound” style of music producing.  They want to meticulously blend and layer and create something different than had ever been created before.

Our next appointment wasn’t until 1 o’clock, so we asked about some other places we should try.  Our next stop was a BIG departure from Monochrome.  We went from delicate whites to some reds that were not at all shy with Brian Benson.  Brian grew up in the wine industry, making his first wine when he was twelve.  On his 21st birthday in 2003 he released his first vintage of wine for sale.  We got a chance to taste with him.  He’s an artist and a hot rod builder.  I always love the stories behind the wine! My favorite here was S&M.   (What?!?!  It was!   I told you I love mouvedre.)

From there we made the trek back up the hill to the same building as Monochrome.  This time it was for Turtle Rock.  Turtle Rock was my destination winery of Tin City.  Each time we are at a winery, we ask about other wineries we need to visit.  Most mentioned this year was Turtle Rock. This is a winery owned by Don Burns.  He interned with his friend, Justin Smith at Saxum–arguably the best winery in Paso.  And some of his grapes come from one of the best vineyards, James Berry.

I bonded with our hostess in the tasting room.  She was a current senior at Cal Poly.  I could IMMEDIATELY tell that she was a former AP Language and Composition student,  (I was right) and that had been her favorite class.  She was also a 2014 high school grad, and that was one of my favorite groups to teach EVER.  She told us the story of how Don had reintroduced the Westberg label back on the the Paso scene and named his “Willow” wines after his daughter.

It was getting to be lunch time, so she generously offered their conference area as a place to picnic. We got a glass of wine and sat down to finish off our meat and cheeses.

From there, it was on to Richard’s “must visit” of the trip:  Jacob Toft.  Jacob is a producer known for his meticulous attention to detail.  He spent six years working for L’Aventure before opening up his own space.  He and his wife, Kelly (who we met last year at Linne Calodo) run the place in Tin City.  We got to taste with Jacob’s assistant, Fizzle. We ended up buying three of Jacob’s wines.  He also sources from the best vineyards in the Paso area, including James Berry, Stolpman, and Alta Colina.

Kelly came in and gave us some thoughts of where else we needed to go….  Since they were all RIGHT there and we had an uber to get home, why not? The first one we hit was levo.  Kelly said that Bret Urness and Jamie Traylor are up and coming winemakers in Paso.  The place was LOADS of fun to visit.  The chicks behind the counter were swilling wine and playing good music!  Fun visit!

Since it was our last drinking day…

Why not one more?  We went to have some grapes that were different than the ones we’d been trying all week.  Aaron wines are known for petite sirah and Aequorea (part of the Aaron label) is pinot noir. These were gorgeous, big wines in a lovely tranquil tasting room.

Now, we were truly crying uncle.  But we’re not quitters, so we did what all the winemakers do and ended at Tin City Cider.  We went there last year as well.  Tin City is a cidery owned by winemakers.  I love everything they do.  My favorite this time was Poly dolly.  It’s a mix of cider and rose.  Good stuff!   They have picnic tables outside, and it was a gorgeous day to take in some sun and some suds!

At this point it was time to take our “thank goodness we have an uber” selves back to Paso proper.  I introduced Richard to the concept of restaurant hopping around the square last year, so we continued this year.  We began with shared bites at Artisan before making our way to La Cosecha where we had only had cocktails a few nights before.  The extensive cocktail menu is so intriguing we had to come back for more!   I absolutely LOVE their glasses.  They are the best shape for someone who had been drinking all day!

They’re more oval than they are round.  Very cool!   From there, we tried to go to Hatch, but it was SUPER crowded.   All of the restaurants in Paso proper are extremely small.  No worries: we had reservations there for the next night.  My eyes were drawn to the Vegas-style bar of CaliPaso, so we stopped in there for a glass of wine before settling at Fish Gaucho where we had excellent duck empanadas and a queso fundido with chorizo!   Yummy.  We also got a little bit of sipping tequila that goes for over $100 a bottle.  In Paso they take their cocktails as seriously as their wine.  Everything is handcrafted and scrumptious.

Since it wouldn’t be a day in Paso without ending at Taste in the Alley we returned there for our penultimate visit.

We would head out the next day to Hearst Castle!   I was looking forward to a day with a little (A LOT) less drinking, but day four had been wonderful.

There are still so many more places we need to visit; we may need to go back next year!

 

 

Saturday was to be our last day hanging out at the west-side Paso wineries.  It was only my 2nd trip to the region, and I already knew to be picky about my wines being from THAT side of 101.

Our first appointment was bright and early at 10 AM.  The last time we were in Paso, almost every winery we went to spoke of Tablas Creek.  The wine industry in Paso is relatively new.  Most of the wineries have only been around for about 10-20 years.  It was just your average farming community before that. Like most regions that try to grow wine in America, Paso began by planting the varietals that thrive in Napa/Sonoma like chardonnay, pinot noir, and cabernet.  The climate in Paso is MUCH different.  It is far more similar to the climate in the Rhone valley of France.  So began the Rhone Rangers.

Tablas Creek was the first to bring grapevine cuttings back from Rhone itself.  They took these cuttings to Cornell first and to UC Davis later where they were kept in quarantine for a decade before they could be released and used in vineyards.  Chateau de Beaucastel entered in a partnership with one of the founders of Tablas Creek, Robert Haas, to begin the vineyard in Paso.  Now Paso focuses most of their grapes on those Rhone varietals known as Chatauneuf du Pape or GSM (grenache/syrah/mouvedre).

I’m actually more an MGS drinker.   I like my wines heavy on the mouvedre.  Last year in Paso, I learned this was my favorite varietal, and it stayed the same this year.

At Tablas, we decided to go with the Collector’s Tasting to try some of the earlier Paso vintages.  It was fantastic.  We were seated in a private room with Leslie, the sheep lady.  Tablas Creek is an organic and biodynamic certified ranch.  Sheep, apparently, provide a lot of excellent fertilizer in the vineyards. Biodynamic wines involve all kinds of interesting/controversial methods like burying fertilizer in cow horns, looking at moon charts for picking, etc. etc.  It’s interesting, but the controversy involves  whether it truly makes a difference in the tastes of the wine.

This tasting lasted about an hour.  I learned all of the Tablas history, and I also got to learn about the Coriolis effect and its impact on wine.  I’m not as good of a sniffer as some, but apparently the wine releases different phenolics depending on which direction you swirl.  The bear and I were thrilled to see that a 2007 wine was on our tasting menu.  That’s the year we got married!   About 6 years ago we went out to Dunn in Napa and bought a 2007 which we opened on our 10th anniversary.  We’re hoping to open the Tablas Creek that we bought for our 20th.  (Richard said we need to keep an eye on their handy dandy tasting charts, and we might drink it on our 15th instead.)

From Tablas, we went to Daou.  This could just be my perception, but it seems to me that the Daou brothers are something of outsiders in the close knit community of Paso Robles.  Richard and I joked about Paso having a family bush as opposed to a family tree.  Everyone has worked for everyone else at different wineries and different collaborations.  Daou seemed to be the exception.  George and Daniel Daou are brothers who are engineers.  When they were in their 30s they sold their company for $700 million.  They used it to buy one of the most gorgeous wineries I have EVER seen in Paso Robles.

It is HUGE and ostentatious and gorgeous.  The 360 view from the tasting room is unreal.  Normally, you have to park at the bottom of the hill and take a shuttle up.  As it was raining, and somewhat early in the day, we were able to park at the top of the hill.

Unlike most of the other wineries in Paso, Daou focuses on cabernet, and they do a really darned good job of it.

For whatever reason, this was a “blurry” day to me.  :-).  I warned Richard when we left Tablas creek after having only one tasting that I was feeling a little fuzzy.  This continued for the rest of the day.  I tell my students that I don’t taste wine to get drunk, which is true.  Sometimes, however, it’s a side effect!

I was starting to get hungry, and it was beginning to rain.  I suggested we try to find somewhere to picnic, so we made a quick stop at Halter Ranch.  This is a relatively widely distributed wine and the only winery of the trip that ended up being like a “cattle call” tasting where you belly up to the bar and stand in a crowd of people thrusting their glasses forward.

There were plenty of inside picnickers, but not a whole lot of space for us.  We decided to take our chances and go down the road to a winery that had only been open for two weeks:  Paix sur terre.  Quite literally, they weren’t even finished with the tile on the floor.  This or Thacher (from day 2) was likely my favorite wine on the trip.  No surprise since the wine here was all mouvedre. Ryan and Nicole Pease are the winemakers.  Again, as part of the family wine bush, Ryan had worked with Linne Calodo and Epoch, both of which we visited and loved on our first trip.

Here we got to play with Kina, the wine dog, admire the art and sip the fine wine!   It was pouring outside at this point, so we ate in the car at the winery.  We bought two bottles of their wonderful mouvedre and will likely make it the second wine club we join since they don’t distribute their wines, and we want more.

From there, we went to the “happy coincidence” of the trip.  Last spring when we were visiting, we joined the Linne Calodo wine club, as it was our favorite winery of the trip.  We got an email from them a few weeks before which invited us to their release party.  We had booked the trip months in advance, but it just so happened we’d be in town on their release day, so we got a chance to go to our first California wine release party.

Because of the rain, they had to push the whole party into their barrel room — it was a great space for it.

I loved the treat of having passed appetizers during the tasting, and the food was MARVELOUS… really!   It was a fun time.  As you walked around, if you could find Matt Trevisan, the wine maker, you could taste some of the older vintages of wine that he kept popping open.  I hope we have a chance to go to another release party sometime.

From there, it was time to go back to the apartment and get cleaned up for our second fancy dinner of the trip.

Before dinner, we braved the rain to walk across the street from our apartment to Paso Underground.   It’s only open for limited hours on the weekends and rotates 4 different wine makers that don’t have their own tasting rooms.  We tried Copia.  They produce less than 200 cases of wine.  At this point in time, his vineyard isn’t producing grapes, yet.  He uses grapes from L’Aventure, one of the best wineries in Paso, which we visited last trip. We also tried Edumund August which I loved! Ed Sauret is a former teacher and all around wine and restaurant guy.  He started his winery in 2008.  His winemaker is Jacob Toft, whom we learned about LAST year and tasted with on day 4.

From there, we went to Il Cortile where we had eaten last year as well. It’s an Italian restaurant with an extensive wine list.  It’s generally regarded as the best fine dining in Paso.  It did not disappoint this year either.  My favorite, as it was last year, was the appetizers.

This year we had fantastic octopus and risotto with shaved black truffles.  The taste of those truffles… mmmmmmmm….

I had agnolotti and Richard had pork shank for our main courses.  Both were rich, decadent, and wonderful.

Because it is our tradition, from there we wandered back to Taste in the Alley to have our last drink of the night.  Our final day of big west side wines behind us, we went to bed ready to traverse Tin City for day 4.

When you stay downtown, you wake up VERY early in the morning.  The rumble of the delivery trucks starts right about 5:45 AM…  but Richard and I aren’t late sleepers to begin with.  We have wine to drink!

I do like the laziness of our mornings in the apartment.  We have a couple of hours to Facebook peruse, loll around, step outside and enjoy the beauty of the quiet town.  The picture above is what we see when we go down the stairs and look across the street. Paso is still a relatively small town (about 30, 000 people), and it still has that small town feel.

I was ULTRA excited about day #2, and it most certainly did NOT disappoint.  I like wine, but I’m not GOOD at tasting.  I’m not skilled in picking out every little nuance from every little grape, so spending hours sniffing and swirling don’t mean that much to me.  I like the wine experiences; I left the research of the best”experiences” to the bear, and he never disappoints. For me, on this trip, Adelaida was the best of the best.

We did the “Vineyard Tour, Taste, and Tailgate.”  The very handsome, charming, knowledgeable (and British) Glen, took us on a two hour ranch tour at the second most gorgeous property we saw on this trip to Paso (most gorgeous is day 3).

As we drove, he told us the story of how the old Walnut tree farm became a winery.  He showed us the grafting of black walnut onto English walnut on the trees.  On the way up steep inclines, he told us of all all the different microclimates on the property.  We stopped at the top of the hill where the warm air allows chardonnay to grow best.

 

 

We had the opportunity to try the tasty, lightly oaked chardonnay from that very vineyard.  As our tour continued, we were able to stop and taste syrah while we stood on its soil as well.  Eventually, we settled at a picnic table under the shade of a tree to have some local charcuterie and taste some back vintages.   The tasting room itself is GORGEOUS as well if you choose not to do the whole tour.  This was one of my FAVORITE wine tasting experiences EVER.  I learned a lot, and I enjoyed it very much.

 

 

From there, we went to Clos Selene.  The link has a great video that tells the story of this very French winery in Paso.  When we tried to go visit them in Tin City last year, they were in the middle of bottling.  This year, they had their very own stand alone winery.  We had a chance to taste Guillaume Fabre’s wines from a quaint little patio.  The vines at this location are new and have been grafted onto older vines to take root and get some of their character.

We have been trying to cut back on our 7 wineries a day habit that we developed on our early trips to Napa, so it was still early afternoon at this point, and we had finished our “obligations” for the day.

Glen had mentioned a boutique winery, Thacher where we chose to have our picnic lunch and spend some time with the winery dogs.  This is not a wine you’re likely to find distributed most places, but it was a very lovely 10-year-old winery owned by a former brewmaster, Sherman and his wife Michelle. They only make 3400 cases of wine a year total.

 

 

I love going to the wineries for their stories!   I love that Michelle was there to talk to us when we first came in and introduce us to her dogs.  It had the BEST stools out on the picnic patio; I need them for my house.

From there, we had a little time left, so we went to one of the best-known, big boys of Paso, Booker.  We had tried to go last year, but they were simply out of wine. This was a nice tasting.  They don’t have any of their high end items to try on the tasting room menu, but everything was good, and we got to meet Brutus. Anytime you meet a wine dog is a good day.

 

 

By this time, it was time to return to our humble abode… get cleaned up… and head out to dinner at Somm’s Kitchen.

I am a self proclaimed foodie and have spent over $1000 on a single meal–more than once (Yes, I have some shame associated with this.) I must tell you that this meal ranked in my top five of all time.  No joke!

 

 

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We had 11 courses (all shown in the slide show above, thanks to Richard).  Every one was more delicious than the last, and all were paired with about a half a glass of wine.  You could at any time ask for more wine, and I’m sure you could have asked for more food.

When you walk in, you sit at a semi circle bar with about 12 other guests.  Ian is the sommelier who plates all the dishes while you are being served.  He tells you how he prepared each dish (cherries soaking for a week, foie gras strained and restrained over 10 times, pineapple sliced tissue thin with a mandolin).  At one point he stopped and gave us a breakdown of how to taste a wine that was excellent for experienced wine tasters and novices.  I learned I could tell how much alcohol a wine has in it by where I feel it when I sniff.

The meal may have been off-putting to some.  There was no menu.  There was no price list.  We didn’t get to make any choices at all, and we weren’t told how much it would cost.  The only thing that was asked was “are you hungry.”  We were!   We were not when we left.  We shared each of the dishes over about a 2 hour period.  The total cost was $250.  We thought that was MORE than fair.  The people next to us did not feel the same way, so it’s not for all people.  I would do it again in a heartbeat!

We waddled from there back to our nightly ending spot of Taste in the Alley.  We had our nightcap and prepared for Day 3!

When I logged in, I realized that it had been seven months since the urge to blog overcame me.  I think maybe my sanctimony got the best of me…  Although I am relatively good with words, hearing my own thoughts on things appealed to me less and less as I realized more and more that I wasn’t changing the world the way I envisioned with my pithy observations…

…BUT…

The whole time I was on THIS trip… I kept thinking… “Oooooh!   I want to share this with someone!

So… here I am… back and in technicolor with my pas de deux (or Paso Part II…  or Paso retread… or whatever you want to call it!) I wrote my first blogs about it this time last year, and now here I am again!

Last year, Richard and I flew in to Burbank and took a little detour through Santa Barbara.  This time, we flew in from the north in San Jose (Yes, we knew the way).  Again, we took an ultra early flight so that we’d land in California in the morning.  We decided to detour into Monterey for a little brunch and a look at the bay.

As it would turn out, Cannery Row is not really my thing.  It’s really just a bunch of shopping.  Great for those who like to spend their money on inedibles ;-).  Edible shopping, though:  Schooners is in the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa.  The restaurant itself is nothing special to look at.  My omelet was wonderful…. my bloody mary spicy,  the place itself is kinda old and run-down.

The view from the outdoor decks, however, was a spectacular start for the trip.  We could hear the bark of the sea lions and the sound of waves lapping on the rocks.  It was a good way to remind us we were on the left coast and back in one of our happy places. Knowing that neither of us were much for shopping, we began the two hour drive to Paso.

This is not through the scenic part of the state. Since we knew that Highway 1 was closed at Big Sur, our travels took us through such lovely areas on the one-oh-one as Soledad (made famous in Of Mice and Men) and KingCity–boring, flat farm land where the only radio stations you can pick up are Tejano and Christian.  Still, we were on our way.

We went back to the same apartment we stayed at last year.  It’s a small one bedroom right on the edge of of the square in Paso.  It is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the price of staying at a hotel: you don’t get housekeeping or fine linens, but it’s really decorated nicely and all of the convenience makes it so worth it!

Walking down the stairs takes you directly to an amazing little French restaurant, Bistro Laurent.  The apartment itself is actually right above the wine store.

Then, we knew we needed to shop for the trip.  When we go, we tend to do breakfast in the apartment; then, we pack a picnic lunch.  This (in theory) cuts down on our spending because we don’t stop to eat lunch.  It also maximizes our time for wine drinking!  I bought a great collapsible cooler off of Amazon and packed it in our suitcase.  It was perfect!

Our first food stop was at Di Raimondo’s Italian Market to get cheese.  Lots and lots of cheese!   (and olives and salami and nuts and crackers).  It’s a great little place.  You can go in and taste as much as you want before ordering.  You can also order on line.  I may have to get the Red Witch again.  It was FABULOUS!  There was one group in line in front of us–a group of cousins who decided to do their first ever cousins’ trip.  No joke, they took about an hour to order and probably got a grand worth of cheese.

It was taking awhile, so I was feeling parched.  I left the bear at the store to eat cheese, and I went next door to Chateau Lettau for my first taste of wine of the day.  I’m not going to use this blog to review wine because all I ever really say is “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” but it was a very cool tasting room where I learned the phrases I was going to hear most in Paso for the week were “right on!” and “of course”  (of course was said in lieu of “you’re welcome”).

Then, it was time for our first tasting appointment of the trip, Herman Story,. This was our only repeat winery from last time. They are right there in Paso.  Anytime you say the name of their winery or their wine maker, Russell From, to anyone in town, you are greeted with a big grin, a shake of the head, and a roll of the eyes.  His wines and his personality are big and bold.  Take a minute to visit the page and read his wine notes; you’ll see what I mean. I’m not doing wine reviews, BUT his grenache is NOT for the faint of heart!  They were gearing up for the release party that Sunday which is known to include keg stands, zoo animals, and plenty of rumors!   We just love them and their wines!   We were even allowed to join their wine club, which is technically closed.  They’re good people and good to us. The tasting room is nothing but a tiny bar in the front of a location next to Dan’s tires.  The place is all about the wine–no fancy trappings of the winery for them.

From there, we traveled to Albertsons’ to get bottled water (We have a rule; in order to prevent hangovers, one must slam a bottle of water between each winery.  We’re professionals!), breakfast stuff, and any other necessities.  We checked out the local wine section there to choose an inexpensive local bottle or two to go with our pizza since that’s what we’d decided to have for dinner that night.

Upon returning to downtown Paso we went to OUR wine bar.  The friend who told us we had to go to Paso last year also told us of this bar:  Taste in the Alley.   They specialize in local wines,  but they also have wine from all over the world.  It’s a unique concept.  You can take any wine from their wall.  All wines have a by the glass price and a bottle price.  Once the bottle is open, it goes into their tap system.  From the tap system you can construct your own flights and taste as many as they have already open.  Larry and Kitty are there most nights and VERY knowledgeable about all of the wines in their shop.  They’re world travelers and collectors themselves.  It was a great place to end EVERY night.  We asked them about their pizza suggestions, and we went over to Artisan. 

Like many places in Paso, Artisan has an excellent cocktail program.  I actually went with a cider while we waited (more on that on day 4!)  We brought the pizza upstairs to enjoy with a bottle of Field Recordings Fiction.  We decided we weren’t QUITE done for the day and wandered down the stairs to the restaurant to see if we could just have dessert.  We could, and it was DIVINE!  I had assorted macarons paired with a true champagne to end the night.   YUM!

So… after waking up at 3:45 in the morning, our full first day was done!   We had a HUGE four days scheduled thereafter.  We love to make the most of our vacations and we sure did this time!

I look forward to sharing the rest with you as well!