California Trip, September 2014

Tuesday, September 23

This morning, after a stellar breakfast at the Inn (Dutch-baby pancake for me, salmon quesadillas for Pat), we left to explore Andrew Murray Vineyards, which we didn't get to yesterday. This is one of the wineries featured in Sideways, the hit movie about wine-tasting in the Santa Barbara area of California. Their wine was terrific.

Andrew Murray wine tasting pavilion

Wine barrels behind the wine tasting area

Because the weather has been so dry and warm this year, they have already finished most of their harvesting and were processing grapes (see below). These grapes are being poured into a press to separate the stems and seeds. The juice is then pumped into giant stainless steel barrels inside the big barn to the left. The grapes are harvested at night, which I thought was interesting.

Syrah grapes being poured into the press

From there we went to the small town of Los Olivos to have lunch. Pat explored more wine tasting rooms (they're everywhere), and I did some shopping and took a snooze in the car. We got tickled by the name of the restaurant where we had lunch: "Sides Hardware and Shoes." No tarantulas or other desert denizens to report for today.

From the front of the menu at our lunch restaurant

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