Wine Country 08 (48 images)

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There were 23 cars that participated in this years Wine Country Tour, 5 from San Diego. Once again it was a great event organized by Orange County COCOA. It is hard to believe that we were able to do so much in just 2 days. At lunch on Sunday we took a vote and it was unanimous that next year's event be extended to three days and two nights. This will allow us to be a little more leisurely and visit some of the great wineries of Paso Robles.

You all should really consider doing this next year.

 

This was the group that met in Irvine at 8:00 Saturday morning to start the drive up the coast.
We rendezvous'd in Ventura for a gas stop and picked up several more cars that left from northern OC and LA.

This was Saturday's lunch stop just north of Santa Barbara. It is an old stage coach stop that was built in the late 1800's, a very interesting place.

 

 

This is the San Diego contingent at lunch.
The trip to the first winery.
Craig Wright, Mark Goldberg, Judy Hixson and Chuck Miller sample some the wines.

The next stop was Tolosa Winery. That is the San Diego group posing for the photo.

I had taken an oath not to buy any more wine, as I had run out of room, but by the time we left this winery two cases had been selected for shipment to San Diego, one from the first stop and one from here. Their chardonay was very good.

Relaxing at the hotel before dinner Saturday night.

Diner Saturday night. We had all bought bottles at the wineries earlier and brought them here to drink with dinner.

 

The bottle Jeff and I are fighting over is a 5 liter vintage bottle of Justin's Isosceles. A single (750 ml) bottle of this is $125 at local restaurants and is very good.

With Jeff along, it is impossible to get up the coast this far without stopping at Jocko's for some meal. This was breakfast Sunday morning.
The fist winery Sunday morning was Rancho Sisquoc. The place is very picturesque.

The next winery was Foxen. I managed to not buy any wine here, but after seeing the tat's on the severs we all decided that we need one as well.

 

The last stop was Fess Parker Winery. Those of you over 50 will recall that he played Davy Crockett on TV and the movies. He is still alive and is an active owner in this family run winery. (I had to buy 1/2 a case here.)
This is Bob Stockwell's car. This is an open track monster that he drove on the entire trip. And the topper is that his wife was with him. There's a keeper.