Mini Vacation in Paso Robles

A couple of weeks ago, we drove up to Paso Robles for a 3-day short vacation. It's a little over 3 hours from LA by car.

As soon as we were in the middle of Paso Robles wine country, we stopped by at a winery for a picnic lunch.

Just like last year, we stayed at Venteux Vineyards' guest red barn house. People are always very nice there and their wines are really nice.

We did so many fun things in a short stay. Dinner at Artisan was really nice. Besides visiting different wineries, we also enjoyed olive oil tasting.

We also drove up to Monterey County to do a boat ride in Lake San Antonio, which is a very large lake. It was a lot of fun.

Day 3 - On the way home, we stopped by at Taco Temple in Morro Bay. We eat there every time we go up to Central Coast. Their tacos are simply amazing. After big lunch, we took a walk on the beach.

We came home with 2 cases of good wines from the region. Really fun trip. I feel recharged!

Birthday wine weekend in Paso Robles (Day 1)

As part of my birthday celebration, I planned a weekend getaway trip to Paso Robles wine country with friends.  We were a group of 8 wine-loving friends.  Everybody except for Jason left LA Friday to drive up about 4 hours to the destination.

We rented a huge vineyard property (41 acres!) with a beautiful 4 bedroom farm house on top of the hill.  It was a gorgeous property in the middle of a beautiful countryside.  Once we entered the gate, we drove up the hill to the house.  The house was really nice.


Three of us were the first to arrive in the house.  So, while we waited for the rest of the gang, we had a sunset aperitif time in the front patio, overlooking the vineyard.  Caviar and Champagne!!  Perfect beginning of the celebration weekend.  2002 Paul Bara Brut Millesime was just gorgeous and ready.  Mostly PN from Grand Cru Bouzy, this tete de cuvee Brut has both richness, minerality, and nice dry finish.  With this Champagne, I couldn't stop eating the caviar.


Once the rest of the group (except for Jason, who was scheduled to come in the next morning) arrived in the evening. We got ready for dinner.  We cooked and 7 of us had a nice home dinner.  We had Peggye's heirloom tomato caprese, Sonya's pan-seared duck breast, my roasted salmon, sun-dry mushroom salad, brussels sprouts salad, roasted kabocha, azuki rice, etc.  And the desserts were Asami's olive oil cake and Asian pair crostata.  I was in heaven!

Our first night was really beautiful.

Trip to Central Coast (Day 4)...Roblar Winery and Demetria Estate

We checked out from the hotel in the morning.

And, took a stroll in Solvang a little.

We drove up about 10 minutes to Roblar Winery in Santa Ynez Valley.  Roblar Winery makes wines from a wide variety of mostly estate-grown grapes, while they focus on the quality.


It was a regular Tuesday, but they kindly let us sit in the beautiful outdoor patio and gave a private wine tasting with pairing hors d'oeuvres.


The tasting was very nice.  Many of the ingredients were from their own garden.  The wines were good also.  Their Sangiovese-based blend (with Cab) was surprisingly very enjoyable.


After the tasting, the staff of the winery kindly took us on a vineyard and winery tour!  We tasted Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Merlot from the vines.  We also toured their gorgeous guest rooms.
We enjoyed visiting Roblar a lot and appreciated such a nice hospitality they gave to us.


We kept driving up on Foxen Canyon Road to visit Demetria Estate where we had an appointment for tasting.  This is a relatively new winery (established in 2005) and focuses on Burgundy and Rhone-style wines.  Their Rhone grapes are grown biodynamically in the estate.  The estate shares a gate with Zaca Mesa, and from the gate, we kept driving up the rolling hills for almost 10 minutes to get to the tasting room...huge property!  The winery has a nice relaxing ambience.


We had a tasting in the patio, overlooking the gorgeous view of the vineyards.  Their wines were serious and well-made kind.  I enjoyed tasting the lineup in such a nice setting.

It was our last stop in this trip, and we went back to LA in the late afternoon.  It was such a fun trip and assured us how much we love Central Coast.  It was the first time for my mom to visit Paso Robles and Santa Barbara Wine Country, and she said she had the most memorable time.