For the First Time

I remember the first time I went wine tasting. We were with our favorite oenophiles, the Pipers. I don't remember where we stayed, but it was a funky comfortable place in Rutherford and it had a fabulous restaurant whose name also escapes me. But what I do recall was the excitement of walking into the first winery, Grgich Hills, not knowing what to expect. We dashed up to the tasting bar, paid our $5 and an attractive, knowledgeable woman told us everything we thought we needed to know about wine.

Bill had planned out our first wine vacation thoroughly and methodically. That's the way he lives his life and it is great to go on vacation with someone with a plan. The itinerary included private wine tastings Caymus, a most entertaining wine education from Claude at Joseph Phelps and appointments at other well known wineries along Route 29 and the Silverado trail. Dave had to beg the folks at Whitehall Lane to let us come in 5 minutes before closing time. We explored a lot of ground, stocked our wine cellar and began what would become a life long affair with wine.

This weekend, first time wine tasters, Tom, Cathy and Jillian from Calabas crossed our threshold. They had the same wide-eyed eagerness that we possessed on our first wine adventure. I tried hard to educate them about the process and they were enthusiastic learners from the first sip. We discovered we shared the common history of having daughters study at Miami University in Ohio. Between the wine, the Miami connection and our wine dog, Maddy's affection, they won't forget Per Cazo Cellars. Nick from Lush Limo was responsible for introducing the Fenchels to Paso Robles' wineries and I am confident they had a great initiation to the fundamentals of fun from the vineyards.

We also had the opportunity to introduce the Paso Robles wine region to our dear friend Norrie and her daughter Evy who is relocating from France to San Francisco. Evy has a very discerning palate and relished the opportunity to hear the wide ranging stories from the likes of Cindy and Tim Newkirk at Steinbeck, meet Tom and Kathleen at Pear Valley, and witness the crazy side of wine tasting as the bachlorette parties were in full swing at EOS.

Like us, they were partial to the oak covered hills of the west side. Oso Libre offered a pleasurable experience where Jeff and Chris entertained us with tales about the cows and sheep that graze their land while offering generous pours of their fine wines. We visited Pasolivo for olive oil tasting to give our wined-out palates a rest. Saving the best for last, we ambled up the crooked road leading to Starr Ranch in hopes of seeing Judy. She was out so we settled on barrel tasting some of our wine which is aging in her barn. One of Evy's favorites is Cabernet Franc so we dipped the wine thief into the barrel to see how it is coming along. We also barrel sampled the Merlot and visited with fellow winemaker, Kevin Jussila who was putting some final touches on his wines that are barrel aging along side ours. A visit to Starr Ranch is not complete until you drive through the vineyard and marvel at the beauty resulting from the labors of Judy's vision and hard work.

After heading over to the coast to feast on a fantastic dinner in Cambria at the Sea Chest, we returned home and retired early having been well-quaffed and dazed by the resulting food coma. Norrie and Evy left early this morning promising to return soon with Evy's handsome French husband Nico. Darn...we will have to do it all again!