We decided to plan one last west coast vacation before we moved back east. Back in early spring we decided to use our tax return money on a trip to California. We decided to go with another couple, our good friends Karen & Mike. Since we absolutely LOVED Big Sur when we went 3 summers ago as part of our big 2 week CA vacation, we knew we wanted to return (and bring our friends). Keeper suggested Paso Robles for a night on the way out to Big Sur. Wine country? Count me in!!!! I did an initial Internet search for Paso Robles bed and breakfasts... and stumbled upon Bella Collina. Instead of a traditional bed and breakfast, it was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom guest house that is part of a winery. At a very reasonable price to split between 2 couples, we decided to book it...and what the heck, go for 2 nights instead of one.
We drove out to Paso Robles last Tuesday and the trip took a little over 9 hours. Bella Collina Vineyards was located just a mile outside of town on top of a hill and it was gorgeous. Paso was having very hot weather (in the high 90's) but no humidity and a strong breeze so it felt good to us desert dwellers. Bobbie (the owner) was a sweet older woman who met us, showed us the house and gave us suggestions on some wineries. The guest house was awesome; really clean, spacious, and cute. It was cool to be her only guests too...everything (meals, snacks, etc) was catered to us...not a group of strangers in a bed and breakfast. We went to Robert Hall first and were VERY impressed with everything we tasted. Bobbie was kind enough to call ahead for us, as Robert Hall is a personal friend of hers. We got to use her "club discount" which amounted to free tastings for all of us and 20% off the wine we bought. We each bought 3 bottles :)
Afterwards we went back to Bobbie's where she met us with a wonderful snack of bread and olive oil (she makes her own) and a bottle of her Cabernet Sauvignon. It was delicious. We also got some restaurant tips and decided to go to Basil Thai in Paso Robles. The food was great and we headed back to the vineyards to call it a night. The next morning everyone got up early and we were out the door by 6:45 am. Mike and I wanted to run and Karen and Keith drove into town to walk around the square and get coffee for everyone. I had a gorgeous run through the rolling hills of wine country. I saw deer, plenty of birds, and just took in the awesome cool morning weather and scenery. Although super hilly, my 7 mile run was fabulous. After everyone met back up again at Bobbie's we had a breakfast feast on her patio. She is an amazing cook and there is nothing like a huge, fresh breakfast after a hard run.
We took some more winery suggestions from Bobbie and decided to go to Lone Madrone and Ken Volk, since both share a tasting room space. We tasted at the Lone Madrone counter, then walked around the corner and tasted at Ken Volk. We liked both. We had our picnic lunch outside the tasting rooms and then Karen and I dropped Keith and Mike off at Firestone Walker Brewery. They had been planning/talking about this part of the trip for MONTHS. They were so excited. We took the car and headed to River Oaks Hot Springs Spa for our previously booked "winemakers package". We each got a 60 minutes massage and then shared an hour in a hot tub full of natural hot springs water complimented by a small bottle of red wine. Heaven!! After the spa, we picked up the boys, who had a GREAT time drinking beer all afternoon and went back to Bobbie's for an arugula and baked goat cheese salad and a bottle of her award winning Viogner. We decided to go to Thomas Hill Organics in Paso Robles for dinner and were not disappointed.
On our last morning in Paso, I got up early and had another fabulous 7 mile run followed by another fabulous breakfast made by Bobbie. We took some pictures out on her patio with the rose garden and then packed up our stuff and said goodbye. We stopped in town at a little cheese shop to pick up some goodies for Big Sur and then drove to Le Vigne Winery to do one more wine tasting before heading to the coast. Le Vigne was cool in that you could do a normal tasting OR you could to a 5 wine tasting paired with 5 cheeses OR a 5 wine tasting paired with 5 CHOCOLATES. Keeper and I both did the chocolate and it was AMAZING. None of us bought any wine here but Karen and I did buy some chocolate :) We had another picnic lunch outside this winery and then...
headed for Big Sur.
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