Back to Superstork.com Home Page
November Road Trip to Paso
This Page: Paso Robles and the area
We hit a lot of rain on the drive from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles, but we didn't crash into anything and nobody crashed into us, so, we made it!
We got settled in our Airbnb and Ubered to The Junction for dinner.
There were some sort of mild peppers we had never heard of, stuffed with cheese and covered with other goodies - great texture and taste! Could have had another order!
We had a nice Priorat Grenache blend, appropriate in the Spanish-themed restaurant, and it also reminded us of our trip to Spain and wine-tasting in the Priorat DOQ.
We had mussels too!
Friday, November 14
Austin Hope and Adelaida had a reciprocal tasting arrangement for wine club members so we took advantage of our Adelaida membership and dropped in on Austin Hope.
Our seating at A. H.
Austin Hope/Treana building
Back to town for a bite and exploring
Had a Chicken sandwich lunch here at the Streetside Alehouse & Eatery. Maybe they should call it a "Drinkery & Eatery".
Speaking of drinkeries, we stopped by Grapes and Grain for a bottle of sipping whisky. I didn't buy this one, though. It was around $47,950 over my budget.
After lunch we found Hayseed Winery located across the street from Pappy Macgregor's' Speakeasy.
It was recommended by our server at Austin Hope
They donate a portion of the profits from every bottle sold to charity.
Saturday, November 15
In the rainy weather, we drove out to Adelaida for a tasting.
Rain, rain, rain
We had a reservation and, as usual, they were ready for us! The Hill Party!
Leaving Adelaida. We had a reservation for lunch at another winery out beyond Adelaida, but at the last minute they cancelled and closed down due to the weather.
Luckily, another winery not too far away was open and serving lunch!
Here we are at Parrish, getting ready for lunch!
The view from our table
We split the BLTA, which was very excellent!
We wouldn't have known about this place if it were not for our Adelaida server's recommendation. We were very happy with the lunch and the wine.
Parrish tasting/lunch room
View of the vines at Parrish. Harvest is finished and the leaves are starting to turn.
It usually pays to be friendly with servers at wineries because they are a great source of information and recommendations.
In this case, our server at Parrish highly recommended Hawks Hill Ranch and actually called ahead to make a reservation for us.
When we walked in, this was the first thing we saw!
And we spent an hour or so with this young gentleman, Ryan Hofmann, the very knowledgeable manager at Hawks Hill.
Thank you, Ryan!
Sunday, November 16
Another rainy day.
The gas station on the corner near our Airbnb has a rusty old truck which was getting older and rustier by the minute!
Our first stop was Caliza which has a small tasting room which, unfortunately, was occupied by a very loud group of visitors who dominated the poor wine girl's time and made for a not very great experience for us. So we left. And didn't take any photos. So there.
We had learned about Epoch and the York Mountain AVA through the Paso Robles Wineries newsletter, so we decided to visit.
It turned out to be a great visit, a very nice (and large!) facility with very good wines and good service.
We had our tasting here
That stone wall is the only intact remnant of the original 1800's winery
This gives an idea of the size of the place
There is a huge outdoor area too. We will come back again when the weather is better!
We left Epoch and headed to Tin City where we had a nice lunch at Etto
After lunch, we strolled down to End of the Day, which is Caliza's "value" brand, still very good wines but not as pricey as their flagship brand.
Dinner! We stopped at the Vivant, a cheese shop/deli in town and picked up a cheese board.
We opened a couple newly acquired bottles and had a very nice dinner at home. Still raining so we didn't feel like going out.
Good-bye Paso Robles!
On Monday we drove to Solvang