Day Three: Wine Tasting

Joe and I woke up to the sun pouring through our patio doors and panoramic views of an expansive green valley northwest of Paso Robles. Coffee was ready for us at 7:30am and two hours later we sat outside eating waffles covered in fresh strawberries and maple syrup, yogurt and bacon and sipping on freshly squeezed orange juice and more french pressed coffee. Katrina and Dave gave us suggestions on wineries and cafés where we could sample local sparkling wines for our wedding tomorrow and we included Chateau Margene into our itinerary since the winery came highly recommended to us by a fellow Minnesotan enthusiastic about Paso Robles.







We started at Tobin James, a raucous Wild West winery about ten miles east of town, and quickly moved along to Bianchi before landing for two hours at Cass Winery around one o’clock. At Cass, we again sat outside and shared crab cakes and truffled goat cheese with pours of Viognier, Roussanne, Rosé, Grenache, Mourvérde, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Sirah. Afterwards we headed south to Chateau Margene, a micro winery known for producing local elite Cabernet Sauvignon, which now offers new Mooney family wines. Mooney’s 2009 Pinot Noir holds beautiful promise a year or two down the road and Joe was impressed by their 2006 Paso Cuvee. In celebration of our wedding tomorrow, the Mooney family gave us a bottle of their 2006 GSM, which has not been released to the public. Who knows how it will taste, but if it’s anything like their other wines, the GSM will be fantastic.

After an hour at Chateau Margene, we headed east on Highway 41 winding through oak groves, green hills and deep valleys before turning north on Highway 101 on our way to downtown Paso Robles. There we sampled Laetitia Brut Cuvee from the Arroyo Grande Valley at Vinoteca Wine Bar. We liked it. So we lit off to Albertson’s - yes, Albertson’s the supermarket - to purchase two bottles of Laetitia sparking wine at the best prices in town for our wedding.

Joe and I returned to Seven Quails B&B just before sunset, exhausted after a fine day of wine tasting and exploring the vineyards around Paso Robles. I giggled as we passed the seven wine barrels posing outside the gates of the B&B and snapped a photo. Jesper & Noriko, Joe’s friends from San Francisco, arrived at 10pm. Unfortunately, the starter on my friend Tarra’s truck died this evening and she won’t be able to make it up from L.A. tomorrow for the wedding. I know she would have loved staying at this B&B, sampling nice wine and eating good food rather than haggling with a mechanic, but she’ll get up here someday and we’ll celebrate together another time.



The good news is that I think tomorrow will be a phenomenal day. The forecast is for sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s. We have our simple ceremony mapped out and lunch reservations confirmed at Artisan. Ahhhhh…so now I must wish you all a good night because in twelve hours I’ll be married!