Day 2

8 am breakfast Indulge Restaurant The Oaks Hotel
The fare goes beyond a standard hotel breakfast. Many choices: fresh fruit (bananas,watermelon, oranges, cherries), choice of  juices, hot or cold cereal, pancakes, scrambled or eggs to order, bacon/sausage, yogurt, breads and pasteries. We enjoy a full and hearty breakfast.

10 am fine cheese tasting Vivant Fine Cheese
Danika Reed, a Cal Poly grad, started Vivant in 2006. She discusses history, making and pairing of cheese at her tasting. Danika lays out one each of the 6 classes of cheese: fresh, soft ripened, washed rind, semi-hard, hard, blue. Chevre, marinated in olive oil and spices is the mildest. Next, a soft aged goat cheese from Alcea Roses Farm in nearby Templeton. From Point Reyes, Cowgirl Creamery’s renowned Red Hawk, is packed with flavor. Ewenique, a semi hard sheep milk cheese has smooth texure and mild flavor. From Santa Margaurita, a blend of sheep /goat milk creates Chaparral, a firm hard good grating or eating cheese. The blue, Big Rock Blue, a cow’s milk product, is nicely sharp with lovely creamy texture. Vivant Fine Cheese carries over 250 cheese varieties from around the world. You can order lunch or a snack: choose from a fine cheese plate with olives, charcuterie and fresh local bread, cold sandwiches on fresh locally made Ciabatta, soup of the day, Panini, salads, 4 cheese flatbread. Local beer, wine by the glass, sparking or still water, Iced Tea, and specialty sodas available to quench your thirst.

11 am tour wine tasting lunch Villa San-Juliette Winery
A winding road over rolling hills ends with views of light golden Tuscan-style estate. The 14,000 sq foot sprawling building with a tower, has a second floor veranda visible from the walkway. Acres of Mediterrarean gardens, patios with tables and umbrellas, and sparking fountain are a set-up for a quality experience. First stop after passing under the chandelier is the tasting room: a pinnacle of European luxury and elegance. The huge room is bright. A fawn colored marble tasting bar (at least 20′ long) dominates. Owners Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe, entertainment industry heavies, visualized and realized the dream of a “location winery”. Spectacular, incredibly gorgeous with amazing views…could be Italy.

Six VSJ Reserve wines are poured. Think you can REALLY taste? take the challenge – name four wines poured blind. If you name all correctly the tasting is FREE! Fun way to test your abilities. The winemaker, Matt Ortman, earned his chops in the cellar of Castello di Gabiano in Tuscany. In the SIP certified vineyard, it is the soil and the elevation, he says, that grows the quality fruit he needs to create wines of richness, depth and character. He has four award winning wines to his creadit.

We order lunch and use the time it takes to prepare to tour the Villa, enjoy expansive vineyard views from the veranda, walk through the prize Zinfandel block, explore the crush and tank pads and visit the 2 barrel rooms where 4 styles of fermentation take place. We choose the cool shaded veranda as our luncheon site. An order of unaltered Castelvetrano Olives and 3 mini-Fish Tacos (fresh Morro Bay Rock Cod, sauteed in olive oil, with onion, fresh oregano and cilantro, served on mini corn tortillas, with shredded cabbage, jalapeno/avocado salsa) are superb. But other peoples’ choices look interesting – maybe we chose in haste. Each dish is creatively presented and the exquisite preparations use fresh local ingredients. Want to linger, drink more wine, enjoy the fragrance of the roses, delight in the splash of the fountain…but have to go.

2 pm wine tasting Brochelle Vineyards
The tasting room is small and tidy, located in an industrial warehouse. A small well appointed sitting area is to the left as we enter, tasting bar to the right. Stunning chandeliers over the bar. Staff friendly and welcoming. Shelbi Wilson, tasting room manager, chats about the history, owning family and style of wines produced. We taste: 2013 Chardonnay, 2012 Estate Zinfandel, 2012 Estate Syrah, 2011 Paso Cabernet, 2012 Estate Petite Sirah. A total of only 2,800 cases of wine are produced. Mostly dry farmed, the head trained vineyard is pruned annually for minimal yields and premium fruit quality as owners believe great wines result when love and attention is paid to the vines.

Unexpectedly, Brock Waterman drops in, bringing his enthusiasm and energy. In 1997 Brock and Michelle found a 20 acre hilly parcel and started planting Zinfandel grapes. Passionate about Zin, Brock considers it America’s grape and California’s grape, unable to be grown in any other state. Over time he’s added petit sirah, Alicante Bouschet, grenache and mourvedre. Now he has 12 varieties planted. At this family winery, where the grapes speak for themselves, even the two sons are involved. Since 2012, the siblings have been making their own wines. They pick, sort and punch down their own wines. When their wines go on sale 1% of the proceeds will go to college funds, the rest to charities chosen by each boy. Taken with the Zin, we plunk down enough bucks to take a couple of bottles home.

5 pm summer wine and tapas Paso Robles Inn
In the center of Paso Robles across the the park, we’ve come to the Paso Robles Inn’s patio for tapas from their kitchen paired with wines from Daou Vineyards. Guitar music plays softly as we mingle with guests and enjoy the tapas staff is passing. Daou Vineyards is owned by two French brothers who relocated to the USA upon finding in Paso 212 acres of perfect terrior to grow the grapes for French style wines they wanted to make. They’ve come to talk about their wines but delight us with their charm and warmth.

Touring the hotel and grounds, we’re shown the layout, typical rooms, Vineyard suites and haunted second floor of the original 1890’s ballroom building. It had been favorite of sports heros, millionaires, political bigwigs, movie stars and wealthy folks from around the country before the grand Victorian buildings of the original Paso Robles Inn went up in a blaze Dec. 12, 1940. Its grandeur was replaced with a new concept – a hotel/motel combination – capitalizing on a motor court’s informality and convenience but keeping fine features of a formal hotel. Inside, a South American design theme: carved wood doors, wrought iron chandeliers, lavish use of leathers.

Behind the main building, 9 bungalow units (70 rooms) surround a peaceful garden of mature trees, running stream, lawns, brick walkways. Salvaged bricks from the 1891 hotel ruins were used to build the new Inn. With the novelty of mineral hot springs baths worn thin the marble bathhouse was torn down and the town plugged the sulfur hot spring. Tourism fell off but the Inn became a popular gathering spot for local social life. In 1999 the Martin family stepped in and set out to restore, renovate, remodel, and refurnish the Inn. 18 deluxe hot springs spa rooms were added featuring private spa tubs placed on the room’s balcony – allowing guests to enjoy the garden and soak simultaneously. The ballroom structure was made earthquake proof and restored to its former glory and a new hot spring well was dug. Future plans: new bath house, spas, therapy, swimming pools. Feels comfortably intimate, luxe but not posh.

7:30 pm dinner Artisan restaurant
Easy walk from the Inn to its downtown location, near the park and Paso center. Local, organic and sustainable foods are supported by this innovative restaurant that reintroduces classic American cuisine. Artisan’s dining room wall is attractive with a low key industrial vibe. Re-using old, unmatched different sized wooden windows, they’ve created a Mondrianesque like wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room. Simple, interesting and green. Our group orders a variety of foods to share: Chickpeas fries with calabrian chili aioli, Wood fired pesto pizza with garden chard, roasted tomato & mozzarella, Asparagus with salmon tartare, nicoise olives, pine nuts and lemon, Barbecued pig wings with grilled peaches and bay blue, Meatballs with ricotta gnocchi, piave, Fried peppers with lemon, sesame and bottarga, Cedar planed shrimp and grits with prosciutto, wild spruce, scampi. Prices mid-range. Food extraordinary. Presentations unusually creative. Cocktails, wine on tap, beer on tap, spirit flights, loose leaf fair trade tea, locally roasted dark nectar coffee and dessert wine are available.

stay The Oaks Hotel

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