The Grape Juice Plus Wine Tasting Group made its yearly voyage to the Central Coast to attend the 22nd Annual Paso Robles Wine Festival on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; May 14, 15, and 16 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.

Saturday set off to be a beautiful day, but by mid-morning, the some clouds had moved in from the East and brought a bit of a chill to the land. 10:30am marked the mad dash to claim a good spot to set up camp for the day. The area that had become our traditional ring of folding chairs and blankets was now a winery booth so we had to search elsewhere. Just across the sidewalk, a new section of grass was blessed with our presence. Noon arrived with the annoucement to begin drinking. You know you're at an event you want to return to when they tell you to start drinking. The wind started up for awhile and eventually blew those pesky clouds away, leaving the sunshining down on us and our wine. As the day passed, the sun kept shining and the girls around the park were showing some skin. As always the wines ranged from good to bad, with some nice surprises thrown in. One of those was Whalebone Vineyard, which was located at the Paso Robles Wine Services booth. Their 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon was their first vintage. Before it, they used to sell most of their grapes to Justin Vineyards & Winery. As the wine soaked in and the heat came down, a small group broke off the pack and made a stop across the street at theCold Stone Creamery for some custom made icecream cones. The earthquake that shook Paso Robles earlier in the year, obviously didn't damage the clock tower, because the bell finally tolled 5pm and everybody's wine glasses turned back into pumpkins. Eleven members of the record-breaking fifteen Grape Juice Plus attendees headed down the highway back to San Luis Obispo for dinner, while the other four rolled up Spring Street for some tacos with absolutely 0% cat at Senor Sancho's Mexican Restaurant & Bar. So many cats, so few recipes. The same four continued the short tradition of seeing a early summer movie by taking in a showing of Troy. Brad Pitt is a sexy bitch.

Sunday's opening houses started off, where else, but at Wild Horse Winery & Vineyard in Templeton. They had their usual large selection with a couple of new ones thrown in. The 2002 Blaufrankisch (which is an Austrian grape, we were told), 2000 'Lover' red table wine, and 2000 'Valentina' red table wine were all added to the list of Rhone and Italian varietals that make up their wine offerings. Our second stop for the day took us back to the lamb tacos that made such an impression on us the previous year. Changala Winery served a 2002 Santa Barbara County Viognier, 2001 'Synergy' red table wine, 1999 Westside Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999 Dante Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel and some others with our lunch. The chocolate fountain inside Herrmann's Chocolate Lab & Ice Cream Parlor was pretty inviting also. Our last stop for the weekend led us back to Grey Wolf Vineyards & Cellars for a chance to make-up for last year's debauchery. Lucky for them, they kind of succeeded. The sausage, bread, and cheese were back, the horrible band was gone, and Lucy the dog was still wandering around. The wine was a little better too. The son is starting to come into his own. Some selections that stood out were the 2003 'Little Red' Grenache, 2002 'Lone Wolf' red table wine, 2001 Mourvedre, Cabernet Franc, and 'Alpha' Cabernet Sauvignon, and the NV 'Big Bad Wolf' Estate Zinfandel. After packing some more sausage and cheese on top of those lamb tacos, it was time to hit the road for home. A beautiful sunny day followed us North and South to our respective homes (until we hit traffic). Cheers.

Brian, Marge, Nicole, Adam, Mike, Michelle, and Chad made in the shade at Wild Horse.

Here's everybody's thoughts on the day:





Spill the wine, Dig that girl
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