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It finally happened. After several scheduling and coordination attempts, Steve finally pulled it together for a 7:00 a.m. departure with Jack for the Paso Robles wine country- Castoro Vineyards final destination. Steve even scored a deluxe 3/4 ton pickup with a radio stuck on country music stations. The trek through LA was quick and scenic as usual. Travel discussion ranged from constructive critique of Jack's brewing technique to how much our employer's overlook our real value and talent. After solving some major world problems (in theory) and nearly dumping a careless motorcyclist with our grape truck, we rolled into Castoro Vineyards at high noon. Weather was crystal clear, 75 degrees and perfect for grape stuffing. Danny, our friendly and gracious host, gave us a quick winery tour and enjoyed a couple of SBE finest home brews. With good timing and the grace of theË wine Gods on our side, a wine truck loaded with premium Cabernet rolled in. This was our catch and cue call- showtime! Steve hopped in the 4,000 lb. container of grapes and started stuffing plastic bags like a winestruck madman. We rotated positions and 1,420 lbs. and only one hour later, we finished our harvest and buzzed down to Danny's place for a shower and more cold brew. |
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Departing Castoro Vineyards about 3:30 p.m. gave us time to visit their wine tasting room for a 1, 2, or ? samples of what we have to look forward to. Rich, smooth, complex Zins and Cabs and funery and jokes with Lara, our server, and Betty, a shapely, friendly visitor,kept us on our enthusiastic and perky high. They even came out to admire our deluxe pickup see for real our prized catch of grapes.
Time to bring on home them grapes. But, alas- the fine wine tasting of James Tobin beckoned us for a final stop. We marveled at the huge 1920 vintage solid wood bar and, the fine Zinfandel and also the two vËisitors to our right. One looked just like a movie star- Donna Summers (in fact this was her real name) and her sister-in-law, Jimi Lynn, was her vivacious sidekick. They too were quite impressed with our grape load and hoped we'd remember them at bottling time. Donna and Jimi Lynn turned west in their black '95 Porsche carrera convertible and we headed east to Highway 5 for the final leg of our adventure.
Address: 6465 Van Dollen Rd Location: San Miguel, California 93451 Phone: (805) 467-2002 |
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After a not so quick stop at the Hicksville Carls Jr. for re-fueling, we headed south repeating our new fantasy chant- "We don't want to work- we just want to work in a winery" (with a defined and annoying winey tone).
After a not-fast-enough gas stop in dark and scary Downey, where everything in sight had a lock and security barriers installed, we kept on trucking towards the beautiful winemaking region of San Diego County. We rolled into the Oceanside park and ride about 12:20 a.m., just a bit spent but still energized from successfully fulfilling our grand mission. Steve slapped himself awake and headed east for home and no doubt collapsed in bed with fond memories of the great grape harvest of 1995. The first, essential harvesting phase of the SBE wine making process was completed, but more fun was in store with the next phase- The Great Crush.
Steve and Debbie hosted the crush event and put on another superb Lasagna dinner with contributions of excellent Cabernet from guests. Numerous containers of grapes filled Steve's garage and soon, so did the pungent aromas of fermenting grapes. "Punching" the fermenting grape caps throughout the week heightened the wine making experience. Is this really how's it's done?
The following weekend brought on the Great Grape Pressing event.
