Hearst Castle and Wine tasting in Paso Robles – One Roller Coaster of a Day

This was supposed to be a beautiful day of culture and wine. Instead it was a day of A LOT of ups and downs. In many ways, it was our roughest day on the road.

The plan was to start at Hearst Castle, then head to Paso Robles for wine tasting. A couple of nights before, I checked in on the tour situation online. It was wide open, so I decided to wait on buying tickets. I figured I might as well allow us the wiggle room in time. However, when we arrived at the Visitor Center, everything was sold out. The only thing available was a sunset tour, but it didn’t include a tour of the inside of the house. I really wanted to see the house.

The view from the visitor center: So close and yet so far.

I don’t know what happened to me exactly. Maybe it was too early in the day. Maybe being on the road for so long was starting to wear me and I hadn’t noticed. Maybe I was possessed by some hyperemotional, irrational demon. I don’t know. Whatever the explanation, suddenly the fact that I wasn’t going to see the inside of the house was completely DEVASTATING. I was mad at myself for not buying the tickets when I was online. I was mad at the internet for misleading me. I was mad at Greg for not advising me better when I was debating whether to buy the tickets or not.

We started bickering. We left and came back two or three times, debating whether or not to get the tickets for the sunset tour. Each time the argument escalated. During one of these rounds, we got a couple miles down the road. We were fighting and I was crying and it was a mess. Then we heard the sirens. Crap. There was no one else on the road and in the midst of all of the arguing, Greg had lost track of the speedometer. A few minutes later, after a very awkward conversation with the cop, we’d had ourselves a speeding ticket.

The day was off to an amazing start. We had to pull it together . . . maybe “I” more than “we.” Somewhere between all the nonsensical arguing and the speeding ticket, we decided to go back and get the damn sunset tour tickets, spend the day in Paso, and then come back to San Simeon. Yes, we’d loose some time, but we could make it up by driving a little later into the night and getting another motel room. I resolved to calm down, and make the best of the day.

As we learned a few days earlier, a little wine helps makes things better. Sure enough, once we got started wine tasting, things started looking a little rosier. There are countless wineries in Paso. We deliberately chose wineries close to each other to minimize driving.

Our first stop was Tablas Creek Vineyard, a beautiful little spot specializing in organically grown Rhone Varietals. We missed the winery tour, but the gentleman that poured our tasting showed us around a little bit and was full of information. (He also helped us select from amongst the other nearby wineries.) I really enjoyed a lot of their wines. We walked away with the 2005 Syrah, a nice big Syrah with good structure and nice spice. We also took away a 2008 Roussanne, which they described as a “white for red drinkers”, which we agreed with as it was more complex than a lot of whites, with multiple levels. We shared this bottle with Greg’s parents when we got back to San Diego.

Our next stop was Opolo Vineyards. They have bigger operation, and to be honest, I didn’t love it. However, I think I’m in the minority. If you look around online, people seem to love them. It wasn’t bad; the wines were accessible, and I could see a lot of it pairing it pretty well with food. However, nothing blew us away either. We did take home a 2007 Sangiovese because it had a decent price and we thought it would be a good dinner wine, as it wasn’t super heavy, with cherry flavors, a hint of spice, and a dry finish.

Opolo does have a wide set offerings and the nice perky blonde that poured for us, poured big. They have a grill set up outside with complimentary BBQ snacks, and I definitely had to take advantage of a couple of rounds. We took a long break here, and also pulled some snacks from the car.

Our third and final stop of the day was Chateau Margene, which is literally next door to Opolo. Printed across the top of the Tasting Notes are the words “Luxury Wines” – an accurate description both in taste and in the higher price tags. (To a lot of wine enthusiasts, the price tags wouldn’t be all that high, but Greg and I stick to a pretty moderate budget.) That said, this was our favorite stop of the day. They had some big, beautiful reds. We had a tough time deciding what take home, but ultimately we decided on the 2007 Petite Sirah – an inky, dark, extremely rich wine. We also liked the Syrahs and the Cabs.

You can also tell that this is a tight family operation. Dad Mooney started Chateau Margene, and his two sons are continuing the family business and creating their own spin with the Mooney Label. It was actually one of the sons pouring for us in the tasting room the day we went and he spoke with us for a considerable amount of time about the wines and his love of the family business.

Sadly, after this lovely morning of wine tasting, the day’s roller coaster took another plunge. I usually know my tolerance pretty well. Typically, my tasting limit is about four wineries in a day, although if the pours are big, I’ll end up tipsy. I can go up to five if the pours are smaller. Three wineries is typically a very comfortable number for me; not on this day.

Maybe, the emotional morning threw me off. Maybe my tolerance was down. Maybe, I hadn’t eaten enough – although, I thought I was being pretty vigilant. On this day, it’s clear that I did not know my body. It embarrassing to admit it, but I was a mess after our third stop. Greg was very patient and pulled over for a long break for me until I thought I felt better. Again, my body intuition was completely off, because I got sick 20 minutes later in a Jack in the Box parking lot. The Shame!!! Not Pretty!!! That was the end of wine tasting in Paso.

Addendum to the rule: Whereas a little wine makes things better, too much wine can be counterproductive.

After we pulled over for another long while and once I was finally able to stomach some food, we headed back towards San Simeon. The mornings fretting was all for not. While seeing the inside of Hearst Castle will have to wait until some future trip, we had a great time. We met a chatty Park Ranger who was full of information and opinions, both positive and negative, about the Castle, the CA Parks System, pretty much everything. She cracked me up. The grounds were gorgeous and by this time the crowds had all gone away, so you could almost imagine what it might feel like to live there. Finally, we were rewarded with an absolutely spectacular sunset. It was incredibly romantic.

While my sketch of this day does not paint the most flattering picture of me – apparently an irrational girl who can’t hold her wine – I put it in to highlight again the number one rule of the spontaneous road trip: You have to just go with the flow. When you get the chance to plan ahead, take advantage and do it. However, when things don’t work out, don’t waste time fighting against the universe. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress. The road will take you where you need to go and you’ll see what you need to see.

And here's the link to rest of my photos.

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