The Grape Juice Plus Wine Tasting Group took its annual weekend trip south to attend the 21st Annual Paso Robles Wine Festival on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; May 16, 17, and 18 in beautiful San Luis Obispo County. Hosted by the Paso Robles Vintners & Growers Association, Saturday's event is the largest outdoor wine tasting in California. Local wineries set-up tasting booths all around Downtown City Park from noon to 5:00pm allowing approximately 15,000 visitors to sample over 150 wines of the area. Tickets cost $30 each, and got you eight tastings and a commemorative wine glass for your collection. On Sunday, the wineries held special events at their tasting rooms with food, entertainment, barrel samples, and vineyard tours.

Even though Marge, Mike, Michelle, & Chad had been enjoying free upgrades at the Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort prior to Friday, this last day-of-the-week was officially the first day of the festival. Nicole, Adam, Jill, Chad, Duane, & Terry arrived Friday afternoon and got right to business by meeting at Wild Horse Winery & Vineyard for a free barrel tasting event. This ended up not being your typical two or three barrels sampling either. The wine thief stole from twelve barrels! Six from the 2001 harvest, and half-a-dozen from the 2002 harvest. They all had potential, but some off the more talked about ones were the 2002 Verdelho - Estate Vineyard, 2002 Zinfandel - Opolo Vineyard, 2001 Mourvedre - Lime Kiln Valley, 2001 Merlot - John Radike Vineyard, 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon - Rasmussen Vineyard, and of course the 2002 Late Harvest Zinfandel. Following the tour of the barrel room, the men ate all the fruit out of the trail mix Duane had gotten from the car so we could find some level of sobriety. With that, it was time to head over to Hunt Cellars. As the group entered the tasting room, they were greeted by sounds of the winemaker, David Hunt, playing the baby grand piano near the front door, and tables being set for the annual winemaker's dinner. After some tastes from the bar and some chatting with the pourer, the women (who hadn't eaten the fruit out of the trail mix) decided they wanted the experience of doing a winemaker's dinner. Fortunately for them, the winery planned ahead and had the chef bring extra food for any last hour additions. After some discussions regarding budgetary impact versus life experience, reservations were purchased with the wine club member discount. It was then off to the Travelodge to check-in and pimp out.
Meanwhile, down in south county, Marge, Mike, Michelle, & Chad were about to enjoy dinner at the Old Vienna Restaurant & Beer Garden. F.I.T. (or Fingers-in-Training) was spotted working hard, but whether he's still in training went unverified. No Polka or Umpa Pa tonight; the band rocked out with covers of Billy Idol's "White Wedding" and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." Cigars followed a meal stacked tall of sausages and mashed potatoes...
Back up in north county, the "six o'clock stragglers" were the first to arrive, so they enjoyed some pre-dinner pours of the 2000 "Tango in Paso" red table wine and hors d'oeuvres on the back deck. None of this phased the gopher in the yard who continued to dig his hole. Dinner started with a spinach salad paired with the 2000 "Starlight Concerto" Sauvignon Blanc. This wine would turn out to be quite popular amongst a few throughout the weekend. The second course served up some delicious Porcini Mushroom ravioli in a yummy cream sauce paired with the 2000 Reserve "Rhapsody" Sangiovese. That was followed by some delectable sauteed shrimp paired with the 1997 "Rhapsody in Red" table wine. During the intermission, our glasses were filled with the yet unreleased 2000 "Rhapsody Meritage." What an ingenius idea; a course of wine only. Brilliant! The main course was sliced filet of Angus Beef with gratin potatoes. This savory plate of food was paired with both the 2001 Zinfandel - Outlaw Ridge, and the 1997 Petite Sirah. Dessert was a little behind schedule so to bridge the gap the staff served mini chocolate shot glasses filled with the 2000 "Zinful Delight" Zinfandel-based Port. Refills were plentiful and at one point the bottle was left at the table. Dangerous. It was also during this lull that one of the staff members issued a challenge to our table: remove a cork from inside an empty bottle by only using objects from the table. Lots of thinking went on, but as previously mentioned, refills were plentiful. One at the table, Adam, an "engineer," had a theory. Putting the theory to work, he successfully retrieved the cork. He was rewarded with a free bottle of the "Tango in Paso" that had been served earlier. The final course of the evening was Bananas Hunt, a heavenly concoction of potassium, chocolate, and whipped cream. Following dessert, the winemaker/owner sat down at the piano and belted out numerous hits from Elton John. The rest of the evening found the gentlemen puffing cigars, the women bonding on the front steps, and the couples dancing to the music. At last it was time to go back to the motel and figure out how to recover by morning.

It was three in a row for breakfast at Kelly's to start off Saturday's events. Three volunteers skipped the meal to go ahead early and establish a base camp. The go-aheads were met by a wall of people surrounding the park waiting for the signal to bumrush the common and claim their territory for the afternoon. Following a little disagreement with security over where we could and could not be, the chairs were unfolded, the blankets spread over the grass, and the table assembled creating a comfortable place of rest in the shade next to the birds-of-prey tent. Shortly after the rest of the gang arrived from breakfast, it was time to go get our tasting glasses and figure out which booth to burn that first ticket at. Since the group didn't travel from booth to booth in, well, a group, it was difficult to keep track of what and where everyone was tasting. One place that seemed to catch everyone's attention though was a small, new winery called Changala. Their 2001 Chardonnay, 1999 Zinfandel, and 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon - Westside were quite well received. The samples cubes of flavored chocolate from Herrmann's Chocolate Lab were a huge hit. Only the free pours from SLO Rugby forward, Ross Moriarty, at Justin Vineyards & Winery appeared to top it. Their 2001 Chardonnay, and 2000 Syrah - Paso Robles earned some positive feedback. The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon had only been in the bottle for two days, yet received outstanding reviews from the Grape Juice Plus members. The 2001 "Obtuse" Cabernet Sauvignon-based Port wine was a little warm from sitting in the mid-day sun, but hey, it's "Obtuse" so it was still great. At one point everybody in camp was sporting the mulit-colored, peace symbol-laden, Mardi Gras bead necklaces that were being handed out by Tobin James Cellars. Some of the GJ+ ladies were even adorning Toby's sun-logo stickers on some provacative parts of their anatomy. Swag is a wonderful thing. The 2001 "Liquid Love" Late Harvest Zinfandel was what booth was pushing, as well as, what everybody was tasting. The triumphant return of Peachy Canyon Winery to the park was unfortunately tainted by rude pourers. As has become tradition, the group's post-festival meal to them to Senor Sancho's Mexican Restaurant & Bar for buttery lobster tacos and televised playoff basketball. The evening wound down with an opening weekend viewing of The Matrix Reloaded. There is no spoon.

Sunday started off with the packing of bags and the packing of cars. After checking out from the motel, the group headed down the road towards the park in search of coffee and breakfast. They found Brewed Behavior. With caffeine in our blood streams and food in our bellies, it was time to get to the first winery open house of the day, but oddly enough not to taste the wine. Casa de Caballos Vineyards is not only a winery, it's a horse farm too. They breed and train Arabian horses for competition. While watching the horses in the training ring, we found out that Mike's smoothness doesn't necessarily carry over to horses. As he walked past one feisty filly that was being taken back to the stables she reared up at him making for a great picture that nobody took. We couldn't find out "how much for Ultra Violet," so it was time to go meet up with Michelle & Chad at Wild Horse Winery & Vineyard. The weather wasn't too hot, and the bluegrass band played some good background music. With so many varietals to choose, from Italians to Rhones to virtual vineyards to Vitis Vinifera, it's amazing how much the 2000 Tempranillo seemed to be the most talked about over the course of the weekend. With our first tasting under our belts, it was off to try one of the new favorites from the park. Located inside Herrmann's Chocolate Lab & Ice Cream Parlor in downtown Templeton, Changala Winery had by far the best deal of the weekend: a wine tasting with complimentary logo glass, flavored chocolate samples, and lamb tacos grilled over a Santa Maria barbecue for only $4. Pretty much everybody left here with a purchase of wine, and some with chocolate too. Some of the more popular bottles were the 2001 Chardonnay, 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon - Paso Robles, 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon - Pianetta Vineyard, 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon - Westside, and 1999 Zinfandel - Dante Dusi Vineyard. A switch in the original order took us to Grey Wolf Vineyards & Cellars. The cover band butchered every song they played and had their amplifiers turned up to 11 even though everybody was only ten feet away. Their "Zinful Cab" table wine and 2000 "Alpha" Cabernet Sauvignon were once again big hits. The group walked away with three bottles per couple and a case discount. After saying bye to Duane & Terry, we headed for the next stop just up Highway 46 West at Hunt Cellars. We arrived too late for the barbecue, but some of the appetizers were still on the table. The pourers were a happy bunch and took care of us with some 1997 Petite Syrah, 1999 "Serenade" Syrah, and 1999 "Cab-Ovation" Cabernet Sauvignon. They really took care us with both the 2000 "Zinful Delight" Zinfandel-based Port and the 2000 "Good Vibrations" Cabernet Sauvignon-based Port. The surprise bottle was the unreleased and unforgetable 2000 "Bon Vivant" Cabernet Sauvignon. At this point, the group started breaking up. Michelle & Chad headed for home, and Marge & Mike made their way towards Interstate 5 stopping by Tobin James Cellars for a taste first. They cowboyed up to the bar for some tastes of the 2000 "Paradiso" Sangiovese, 2000 "Made in the Shade" Merlot, 2000 "Rock-n-Roll" Syrah, and the sweet 2001 "Charisma" dessert wine. Nicole & Adam, and Jill & Chad also made one last stop on their way out of town to Rabbit Ridge Winery & Vineyards. It was the grand opening weekend of their Paso Robles tasting room. Some highlights of the tasting were the 2000 Chardonnay - Sonoma County, 2001 Primitivo - Westside, 2001 Reserve Petite Sirah - Paso Robles, and 1999 Winemaker's Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. And so ended a great long weekend of wine, food, and friends.

The Grape Juice Plus Wine Tasting Group relaxes at camp.

Duane, Nicole, Jill, Marge, Terry, & Mike sampling wine at the Grey Wolf booth.

Adam is one pretty Smith.

Do you know a guy named Chad? Has brown hair, goatee, kinda tall, went to Cal Poly, and likes video games.

Michelle & Marge are all smiles at the Tobin James booth.

Adam & Nicole demonstrate page 137 of the Kama Sutra.

Chad, Jill, Marge, Michelle, Chad, Mike, Duane, & Nicole under the umbrella at Wild Horse.

Marge & Chad happy to be at Grey Wolf.

Here's everybody's thoughts on the day:





Spill the wine, Dig that girl
Grape Juice+ || Miscellaneous || Publications || Shopping || Wineries