Wine Tasting Adventure

Our friend Dana planned a wine-tasting trip this weekend along with her husband Eric, mother-in-law-Jean, sister-in-law Christine and Christine's partner Cass. Their friend Aric and Tim and I joined them along for the fun.


Our limo arrives. (5/20/06)

Our hub for the day/night was the Pala Indian Casino, just a short drive away from Temecula, Southern California's wine region. To make the event fun (and safe) we booked a limo for the day. Although the limo itself was a little ghetto, it turned out to be a great idea since we could all partake in the wine tasting experience without worrying about designated drivers.


James, Aric, Jean, Tim and Cass ride in style. (5/20/06)

We hit up about five wineries in the region, including a quick stop at Thornton's champagne winery. The line for tastings was too long, so we just went into the store and bought two bottles for the road. Both the champagnes I tried there were fantastic.


Eric & Dana. (5/20/06)

We tried all sorts of wines. Merlots. Meritages. Syrahs. Rieslings. Pino Grigiots. Even a couple of ports. One thing that's fun about being with a group is that if you get say five tastings at a winery, and they have a dozen to choose from, you can simply taste each other's until you've tried them all.


Christine apparently didn't care for this wine. (5/20/06)

These are the folks with whom we went on the Alaska cruise in 2004 (with the exception of Aric), and it was great seeing them again. We definitely need to see them more often.


We're a little lit by this point. (5/20/06)

By the time we got to the final winery, let's just say we were having a good time, especially Eric who may have had one too many. And the whole time Eric's sister was there to laugh her ass off at him, causing the rest of us to start cracking up too. Poor Eric. But in the end we all had a very good time.


Eric was really lit by this point. (5/20/06)

That night we got a two-room suite with an adjoining room where all eight of us crashed. I managed to get a few hours of gambling in the process, which was fun, but not very profitable (I lost $40). Oh well.