Let’s go taste some of that wine!

So what do you do when your very sweet and yet half crazy Mom tells you she would love to take your energetic kids for the weekend? Well, after I calmed myself down a bit, I called my hubby as fast as I could. He heard something like this on the other end. “please take me wine tasting. You know we will just find work around the house if we stay here.” …Let’s just say a couple minutes later and with two willing in-laws, Jeff and Kim, it was decided that we would head off to our grandparent’s beach house and wine taste the kid free weekend away.

I was so excited to go that I started packing my kids backpacks four days early… That’s right… And, if you are a stay at home mom of toddlers you not only understand my excitement to get away, you may be thinking honey, i’ve packed mine up weeks early.

So the plan was to meet over at the coast Friday night, wine taste Saturday, and Luke and I would head home Sunday after church to relieve my mom and her husband of the possible insanity.

Now, one thing is for sure. Husbands may not so readily or expressively show their excitement like we do. But they have their not so obvious ways of showing it don’t they? Take for example Luke. He wanted “Red Beauty” to be in top notch condition for the wine tour so he was off to get the oil changed and the car washed. Jeffrey got himself in to get his convertible aka “Tiffany” to some, detailed and took it in to have “minor things fixed”.

As Luke and I were off to meet Jeff, Kim, Grandma, and Grandpa at the beach house, it kind of just hit me how blessed we really are to have this opportunity with our favorite bibbers. We have been talking about doing something like this since we launched the blog and didn’t think an opportunity would come for awhile longer.

We had the top down, the music on, and the most beautiful weather the whole way. And when we arrived to the beach house this is what we found: hugs and kisses all around, an intoxicating dinner awaiting us, and wine already opened (of course). Can you ask for anything more? It was like frosting on our cake, oh wait did I mention there was a Smith’s cake too? Yes there was!!!

So, of course with the whole weekend ahead of us still and no kids to entertain we did what we know how to do best; we ate, drank and were merry. And how could we not be with an “A” game Tri-Tip, a perfectly made zucchini casserole Kim made, along with Grandma and Kim’s famous cesar salad… It was so nice to just sit back and relax with a glass of wine after our trip over to get us ready for the day ahead.

Saturday played out idyllic. Jeff and Kim started off their morning with a run by the beach and Luke and I soon followed. After our Starbucks, breakfast, and getting ready, we set off to Paso Robles to eat at a wonderful little restaurant and favorite of Kim and Is called the Odyssey. Now with fuel in all the tanks and I mean ALL, we were ready for a charming, beautiful drive, and tour of just a few of the many wineries in that area.

We found ourselves at Eberle Winery to start off with. This was a really good way to start off our day of tasting because we found ourselves there just in time to take a tour of their caves where they teach you about the wine making process. Let’s just say I try not to take for granted all that goes into a good bottle of wine. The grounds at Eberle were nice. With the vineyards surrounding you and a covered picnic/bbq area where the owner, Gary Eberle, was providing samples of his BBQ skills. The tasting room was quite large and the staff was very friendly. If I remember correctly, the wine tasting here was of no charge. I tasted one wine I liked pretty well, but we didn’t find anything we had to take home with us. After our tour, tasting, and admiration of the grounds adorned by two standard poodles, we were off to our next stop, Justin Winery.

Personally, Justin was my favorite of the four that we visited that day. It is just beautifully done all the way through. There are rose gardens to welcome you, a restaurant to feed you, as well as rooms to keep you if you wish to stay. Luke and I plan to go back someday and stay at their bed and breakfast. It looks fabulous. At Justin, because it is so scenic it’s really easy to just slow down and really take your time. The tasting room is a mix of traditional and french country decor. Its suites the winery very well. And the wine doesn’t suffer at all on the account of all the other perks Justin has. The wine there was just really reliably good. For me there is no other way to describe it. Try the 07′ Isosceles (I believe it’s 07′) and you are in for a real treat. Jeffrey bought some wine, Kim found her oak barrel table tops for the wine room back home, and Luke well, he just smiled his way through as happy as a clam. All good things must come to an end, so sadly I said goodbye to my new favorite place, but in this case we still had more fun on the way.

Next Stop: Summerwood… I don’t remember much of this winery to be honest. I was a little car sick and basically crashed on their lawn out back for a mini siesta. Having said that, from my view, the scene was breathtaking. It was nothing but rolling hills of vineyards as far as I could see. Jeff, Kim, and Luke seemed to enjoy the wine here. Kim found some goodies in their gift shop. I really liked their tasting room and gift area, it was nice. Beautiful grounds here too. Looked like they too had rooms for the night.

Now, we went to one more winery on the way back into Paso and I can’t remember what it was called. I didn’t pick up any liturature on the way out. We wanted to see it more specifically because it used to be an herb farm that Kim really wanted to show me. But no more herbs, just wine and a beautiful gift shop with lots of jewelry and some great sculptures. By this time we were ready to head back and get some dinner so we didn’t wine taste here. I know, I’m so informative, aren’t I?

So on our merry way to Paso we went. Found a couple of tasting rooms that we could not resist going into to. Clayhouse and Pianetta. Clayhouse is so cool. So cool! Easy and laid back with a modern feel. Luke really liked their wine and bought a bottle. Kim and Jeff also like their wine and they stayed in their for quite some time enjoying the employees, the wine, and of course each other. This was after we stopped into Pianetta so I could pick up another bottle of my favorite wine. Also, a nice tasting room, where we enjoyed a minute to taste.

Ok, so off to my favorite time of day, another chance to eat. And this was where the four of us were told to go to Matthew’s restaurant. Can I just say WOW!!!!?? The food was amazing. We were all in the mood for a great steak dinner. And that is exactly what we got. Everything was to die for. The service was wonderful. The atmosphere was relaxing and elegant. And the company was perfect. We just needed to take a break and really slow down, dine with the intention to stay late, soak it all in, and savor. After our wine, bisque, and steak, we thought we would try out their dessert menu a bit. This was maybe where we found out that we have different dessert taste than they do, but hey, it was fun to try the different flavor combination’s.

So by this time it was almost ten and although Luke I felt like stretching this kid free weekend out and seeing if there was a place to go dancing, we called it a night and headed back to the beach house for some R and R.
The rest is history. Church the next day, lunch, some goodbyes, and we were back to get the kiddos while Jeff, Kim, and now Ashlei stayed behind to squeeze some more fun into their vacation.

Overall the trip was everything we hoped for and more. We learned a few things too. About how much we needed that time away, how much we enjoy our family (as if we didn’t already know this stuff), and how much we enjoy wine tasting. We also learned that at the end of a long day it’s so nice to sit down with the people you love and just enjoy a great glass of wine.

…Thank you Jeff and Kim, it was wonderful.

Tags: Clayhouse, Coast, Convertible, Eberle, Justin, Paso Robles, Passion, Pianetta, Red Wine, Reviews, Roadster, Summerwood, Tasting, White Wine, Wine, Wine Makers, Wine Reviews, Wine Tasting, Wine Tour, Winemaking, Wineries, Winery