Paso Robles! 'Nuff Said!

Just when you think you have everything planned out well in advance, along comes something to upset those plans. It's amazing how "real life" can do that.

First of all, I went to Paso Robles this past weekend. My plans were to visit the wineries with whom I’ve been communicating, and then to spend a day visiting new places and making new friends.

Who knew it was Easter. Wasn’t that supposed to be *next* week?? Oh well. Just about everything was closed on Sunday, of course.

I was also planning to take all of the notes and pictures I took and make a two-part Blog entry.

Wrong.

What can I say? This was a truly spectacular weekend, both in the weather and in the quality of the people. And the views, and the vineyard tours, and the wineries, and the wines!! I am still smiling at the fun that I had and am humbled at the generosity of spirit and the passion for their wines that the folks have up there. And as one of my small group indicated, they haven’t been “Napafied.”

And pictures. Lots and lots of pictures! The spectacular spring scenery in Paso was breathtaking. There were over 300 pictures taken, and most are phenomenal. Sort of in the category of “it’s hard to take a bad picture.” The bad pictures were just that … why in the world did I think an out-of-focus picture of my feet in Crocs was a good idea?!? At any rate, after weeding out the so-so pics, the best will be uploaded along with a description of each winery and blurbs from the interviews.

So this is what I decided to do. Each place I visited will have its own page on the website. It may take a couple of weeks to get everything up there, but if you’re a regular visitor to the site, you’ll see each page as it appears. I will also be adding to the Paso Robles slideshow page.

I visited Opolo, Villicana, Hug Cellars, Vines on the Marycrest, Midlife Crisis Winery, Tobin James, and a relative newcomer, Hidden Oak Winery. Without exception, they were open, warm welcoming, and generously shared their knowledge about their wines, plans for their future, and proudly showed our little group around.

So I’m still recovering from the long drive (six hours one way, about five if there’s no Highway Patrol around), but am already planning a summer trip for me and a Harvest tour for Vegas Wineaux(s)!

Stay tuned for upcoming information on the Winery Cruise with Vegas Wineaux. And it’s not what you may be thinking! This is a real surprise!