It’s not really a real wine trail or anything but this is what we did this past Saturday to celebrate Harvest Wine Weekend here in Paso Robles…so it was our wine trail of the day if you will.
Our Wine Trail
We started out by going over to Broken Earth Winery (disclosure: I do social media work for them). They were having some harvest festivities so I thought we’d go and hang out for a bit. Along with live music they had an Aussie BBQ which was lamb sliders with beet root salsa. We left prior to having one of those but we did have a couple of Panini sandwiches from their new on site café called Gusto – Gourmet Market & Café. The sandwiches were awesome so go check them out when on the east side. Again, I know this could come across as biased since I do some work for Broken Earth but I am really impressed with the people there…great group.
Sammy (our little munchkin, for those of you that don’t know) was getting a little impatient after a while (although he loved crawling all over the big grassy area at Broken Earth) so we decided to leave so he could go home to nap but thought we would go directly across the street to Derby Wine Estates first. Our buddy Katie was there but we didn’t get too much time to chat with her because just like Broken Earth, they were packed. We had a great time just enjoying the weather and having a glass of wine.
We finally went back home and put Sammy down for his nap but then we thought, what the hell, when he wakes up let’s get back out there on the wine trail. Once awake we decided to head to Red Soles Winery on the west side to see Randy and Cheryl (owners) because we hadn’t seen them for a while and they’re amazing people. Another reason we headed over there was to meet Diane, whom we had only known via Facebook prior to that. She was there with her hubby and they were selling their photographs and jewelry. Super cool folks and they were fun to hang out with for a bit. Red Soles was packed too…harvest weekend really was hoppin’.
On our way back home we stopped in at J Dusi Wines to see how things were going and they too were quite busy. Janell (owner/ winemaker) was there as was our buddy Chris, who poured for us. It was another great stop. One of the things I love about this area is that almost any winery you go in to on any given day will be filled with good conversation and laughter. It’s like hanging out in your kitchen with friends or in the backyard having a bbq…you just can’t beat it.
So that was our Saturday of Harvest Wine Weekend. That was our “wine trail of the day”. It was nice being out like that again. Sammy did a great job and I know a lot of people dig seeing him like that when we go out. On a side note, I’m kind of liking this “wine trail of the day” thing…maybe I will come up with more of these and see how creative I can be. If you’re going to go out tasting I think it’s good to pick different types of wineries…different styles of wines, different facility, different atmospheres in the tasting rooms…and so on. By doing this you really have more of the wine adventure in my opinion.
Until next time…cheers!
oh we must have missed running into you at Red Soles on Saturday! maybe next time. we also stopped at Onx, Opolo, Hunt (our first time), Rocky Creek and Zenaida (also first time).
Cindy, sounds like you had a busy day as well. How did you like Onx?
We like to visit with Jeff, who always makes us feel welcome. We toured the vineyards on the mule, stopping along the way to see the vines, Santa Rita Creek, use the spectrometer, and see the new fruit grove, and enjoyed different tastes at each stop. Onx is the wine, Briarwood is the vineyard, just between Vineyard and Santa Rita Creek Road in the Templeton Gap area.
Right on, Cindy, thank you. I will be sure to add them to the list of places to go!!
Great meeting you last weekend, Matt & Annie (and Little Browne, too!). And thanks for the mention in your blog! Hope to see all of you again so we can do a little more imbibing together. ^_^
You bet, Diane!! Great meeting you as well and there is definitely more imbibing in the future. 🙂
Hi Matt! Too bad we didn’t have a chance to meet up this past weekend! Of course there will always be a next time!
We had a great time visiting during Harvest Wine Weekend creating our own wine trail! We decided to stop at places we hadn’t visited before. Our first stop was J. Dusi and was surprised to see helicopters on the property! It was quite busy but everyone was friendly and going with the flow. Next we went to Hearthstone where they had great tasting lamb burgers! The wine was fab too! We had a nice visit with the wine maker who was pouring outside on the deck. He’s a very down to earth kind of guy! We stopped at Oso Libre and the place was hopping! Parking was crazy but we got a spot in between the vines. We saw the same classic Volkswagen there. We were glad to see that it was dog friendly so we were able to get our dogs out of the car. We were able to sit in the “covered wagon” for some shade. The place was very busy and the tasting room was crowded. We had a nice time there. HammerSky was the next place and that was much more serene. They were setting up for a wedding so we had to go up to the tasting room and hang out there. I enjoyed their wines very much. We then went to Minassian-Young which is one of our favorites. We enjoy visiting with David and Amparo and we got to see their 9 mo old twin boys! Our final stop was at Stacked Stone. We had visited there several years ago and were not excited with their wines. However this time around we really enjoyed their wines! I love sitting in their grassy area under the oak trees. It’s so relaxing!
We had a very nice weekend and glad we were able to discover new (to us) wineries!
WOW, Pat…you guys were busy!! We’ve been to many of those spots and totally agree. It’s so cool to be able to go to so many wineries that are so different…they each have their own unique personality and it’s yet another thing I love about Paso. Glad you guys had a great time and yes, we’ll definitely catch up next time!! 🙂