Red or White

To research this question, we headed out with friends Mark and Ellen to the Paso Robles Wine Country Harvest Wine Weekend.  You may remember this town from the movie Sideways that was filmed in the area.  We learned of the festival from Harvest Hosts, our farm stay provider.  We selected Rio Seco Vineyard and Winery as our base.

They have graciously allowed us to spend the weekend here while we explore the temptations of the area.

Rio Seco, was founded by Tom Hinkle, a retired baseball scout for several major league teams  and his wife.  The tasting room, previously an abandoned pot (yes, pot) barn with bullet holes as “decoration”, displays memorabilia from his career. 

 Tom passed away last year but his wife and daughters now run the winery.  They pour a very nice selection of wine, some of which will find its way to our home.  All of their wines reflect a baseball theme, eg Grand Slam, Clubhouse white, etc.  We selected MVP for our collection.

 We spent the rest of our day sampling the delightful culinary treats of Paso Robles.  Spice of Life has a luscious selection of olive oils, vinegars and teas.  DiRaimondo’s cheeses and breads will be part of our dinner.  Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies is generous with its samples, but our assorted selection will be dessert later. 

At Falcon Nest we picked up a bottle of wine for dinner.  This guy guarded the gate as we left.

All this sampling whet our appetite so we enjoyed potato soup, salad and lox pizza for our late lunch at Artisan.

Tasting is so tiring.  We returned to the motor coaches for rest and recuperation before assembling our purchases into a delicious dinner.  

On Saturday we visited the Farmers Market to get some local produce.  Then we spent the day concentrating on wine (that concentration weakened as the sips increased).  We started at Justin, a winery we had visited in our first motor home.  The winery has grown in ambiance and the wine has gotten even better as the case in the trunk proves. 

Next was Tablas Creek for more tasting and purchasing.  Hunger pangs led us to stop at Alta Colina for some tacos.  Then we returned to Rio Seca to put our purchases away.  They were serving sloppy joe’s which we had to sample.

In the afternoon we did an art tour (okay and a bit of wine tasting, too).  The grounds at Sculpterra are filled with outstanding sculptures.  The wine inside is also good.  Visitors enter the grounds through master blacksmith/iron worker Robert Bentley’s gates.

 Inside his ornate chandeliers hang above the tasters. 

This 20,000 pound granite “Puma” by the late John Jagger greets visitors to the grounds.

The windchime was quiet on this very pleasant day.

Miniatures of his work are available in the tasting room.  The prices run in the four and five figures.

This spring artist Dave Evers added his work to the collection including the 24-foot tall FOCUS.

We stopped at Clautiere to check out the tree.  Glass spheres hang like fruit from the limbs of the oak tree.

Our dinner at Berry Hill Bistro was delicious.

In this land where there is so much to see and do, we enjoyed a sampling of the sights and tastes while pleasantly ensconced at Rio Seco.  We hope to add to this experience on future weekends