Paso Robles, California
By: Sarah O'Brien - Senior Editor - floatingcork.com
I wondered how the building even got there. Robert Hall journeyed all the way from Minnesota to California and somehow managed to have built an awe-inspiring structure that is planted in the center of what I now am referring to as God’s country. The sun was set on dusk by the time we arrived and the orange glow of it was lighting up the vines and the building and just about everything else in its path – quite breathtaking. At this point, I was so excited to visit that I practically ran up the stairs – it was a fun surprise this winery, I did not know that it existed, therefore I did not know that what I could have expected is a beautiful brick structure with water pools, high ceilings with sky lighting and unlimited archways. If you are a chic your instinct might be to proclaim that it would be the perfect wedding location – both my friend Cindy and I exclaimed it in unison.
Our timing was impeccable. It was five-ish in the evening and just when I was thinking that all would be closing down and we would be shooed out, we were invited to take a tour in about ten. We were in the middle of a tasting at the time but were told to bring our glass – they would be tapping straight from the barrel on our tour. Awesome. Amy was our guide and she totally rocked. I have to describe her as totally rocking not only because she did, but also because she seemed to be the epitome of Valley Girl. A recent graduate from Cal Poly, Amy used expressions like “Right?”, “You know what I mean…?”, and “Yah…(trailing off into…)”. She was one of the best tour guides, completely knowledgeable about the process of wine making; I had a weird sense of big sister pride when past-middle-aged-past-tipsy men tried to stump her and she (glass in hand) singly-handedly shut their nonsensical questions up with a witty retort. Messing with the group was also a strong point of Amy’s, we were down in the cellar – this is the first stop on the tour – we all grab our cameras to take pictures of the rows of barrels (you would do the same) and she said “no flash photography please!”, and then when we all looked sad and rejected, said; “just kidding” and right when we recomposed our faces into all-smiles and posed our cameras to take a picture she said the same phrases again which confused us all so completely that most of us refrained from taking photos altogether. Like I said, witty this one. The entire tour rocked, they have underground caverns that they take you through. They tapped a barrel of 2004 Cab Sav, sucked it out with a syringe and put it into your glass – how cool is that? We witnessed wine makers stirring the concoction of grapes and skins and sugar and all of the other winemaking magic, and the last exciting bit of the tour – we met ROBERT HALL. In the flesh. I would say that he is adorable like a hobbit but that would not bode well if he ever happened to read this, not to mention how it geekifies me. Needless to say, I believe the whole meeting Robert Hall in the flesh thing was completely choreographed. I only say this because he happened to be holding a bottle of water in one hand and bottle of wine in the other and he said; “and they said that winemakers can’t tell the difference between water (holding up the bottle of wine) and wine (holding up the bottle of water)”. He shook hands, waved - probably would have kissed a baby had there been one available. Robert Hall drove off in his white truck into the sunset…so much the Midwestern cowboy, and the tour was complete. |
