San Benito County, California: Blazing the Wine Trail

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NOTE: The hill past San Luis Obispo is a long steep climb for a motorhome towing a vehicle.

Once again we found ourselves heading into the rural landscape of California to stay at a Thousand Trails at San Benito. But instead of farm land it was VINEYARDS, lots of them! This county is home to a wine trail comprised of 7 vineyards open for public tasting. This was going to be a must for us to experience since it was only a mile away from the entrance:)

So the next day we got ready and headed out to blaze the Wine Trail. The first stop was the Calera Wine Company. They had 5 wines to sample for free and a premium sampling for $5, a small price to pay to try five different $50+ bottles of wine. We ended up purchasing a Pinot Noir. A quick in and out. On to the next stop.

Pietra Santa was the next vineyard stop. It was beautiful. To get to the wine tasting room you have to drive through the perfectly manicured vineyards. The architecture of the building was old spanish mission style. Just a gorgeous building surrounded by rolling hills filled with rows of grape vines. Just stunning. Upon entering the inside was done as well as the outside. The tasting area was upstairs complete with balconies overlooking the vineyards. This vineyard was clearly a level above the last one, at least in aesthetics.

We met a really nice Irish woman who now lives in Santa Cruz and was quite a hoot, she had done a lot of tasting if you know what I mean. But she was not obnoxious, but rather quite funny. Our tasting started when we met our wine guide, we’ll call her Lupe. (Name has been changed for anonymity). She was so nice, we talked and tasted wine after wine after wine. We had a zinfandel paired with raspberry dark chocolate truffels that was to die for! I remember a great cabernet, but it was out of our price range. We sat at that tasting room for two hours, tasting over 12 wines. After a while they all blend in and remembering what was what became impossible. Just before closing time the party that we heard laughing and screeching downstairs came upstairs to purchase wines. It became chaos, it was all women who were a wee bit too tipsy. We waited until they finished and we purchased the zinfandel but forgot to get the chocolates. But once in the Jeep we inspected our bag closer and it seems Lupe was looking out for us and placed some chocolates in our bag :) Thanks LUPE! We really enjoyed meeting you and your family, good luck in life. We will always remember you and Pietra Santa.

Now time to move further into Wine Country :) :) :)