I got to thinking that you might like the names of the wineries we have visited in the Paso Robles region. Yesterday we were at Croad, Changala, Dunning and Pipestone.
One of our favorite wines is a zinfandel made by Turley Winery. That was our first stop this morning and we were not disappointed! They only grow the zinfandel grape and the quality of their wines proves it. The vines are never staked up and they do not irrigate their fields because they don't have a water source. Some of their vines were planted here in 1922 and are still producing grapes today. The vintner owns 23 vineyards so he really knows his 'stuff'. We came away with 2 cases of wine to be shipped home.
After lunch we stopped at Pear Valley, Tobin James and Chumaia (pronounced koo-may-a). Pear Valley had some nice wines so we bought a couple of bottles. Tobin James is a larger winery but still has estate wines. We overheard one of the servers tell another couple that the bar came from Blue Eye, MO and that pricked up our ears! Of course, we had to say something and I think we got some preferential treatment because of that. We must have tasted 8 wines with the last 4 being reserved bottles that not everyone gets to taste. We bought 3 bottles. The last stop was a very small vineyard whose tasting room was in the same place as their tanks and barrels. The owner came walking in shortly after we arrived from one of his fields. We liked his wines as well and we liked the owner. He was a real talker and seemed to enjoy telling stories of his trip to China where he sells some of his wines. We laughed a lot and stayed longer than normal and bought a bottle.
Tonight we are going out to eat at a highly rated restaurant named Artisan's. Tomorrow we go back to "roughing it in the wild" as we head for Death Valley.
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