Wine for Toys

Christmas Time Cheer!

As you my faithful readers know, when hubby is off work, and the weather allows for safe and enjoyable travel, we go wine tasting. This past Sunday was just that sort of day. There was a special bonus this go around, the Placer County Wine Growers Association was sponsoring a Toys For Tots toy drive. Seventeen participating wineries along the Placer County Wine Trail was taking donations of unwrapped toys in exchange for free wine tasting...some would even have tasty eats or vendors and live music to partake in and enjoy. Of course we jumped at the chance to give to others and to also have some great wine. 

Our first stop was Paza. Along a country road in Auburn, among rolling hills brown now as it is late Fall, leaves on grape vines crunchy with age, farms dotting the countryside, we happened upon the sign and turned into the drive. A tasting area was set up outdoors among the vines. There was three offerings, wood fire "baked" pizza was being offered, and Christmas music was in the background. 

We were warmly greeted by Pam, the "PA" of Paza, as well as a few volunteers. We had absent mindfulness moment and forgotten the toys at home...yeah it was one of those days...and so we wrote out our donation check, got our hands stamped so we could go to other wineries and proceeded with the tasting. The wines were lovely and it was a great start to a very nice day. You can find out more about Paza here & here. 

The next stop was Mount Vernon. Also in Auburn, it sits upon lush acreage with a a small, but lovely tasting room. The grounds are set up so one can sit out side and have a picnic or wonder around while they enjoy their glass of wine. While here we enjoyed several tastings along with a bit of barrel tasting...always a favorite, some tasty eats and even a bit of "window" shopping.

Thought it was the perfect spot to stop for a fashion pose.

...or two...by the way, I "made"..decorated it actually. I tacked up one side of a gifted mens fedora, and added feathers and a pretty button to the other side.

Once we had sampled Mt. Vernon, we then went closer to home, to the town of Lincoln. You may recall a few months ago I told you about High Hand where we often go for lunch during the warmer months, and that within an old building off to the side of the nursery there, they were putting in a wine tasting room...well it is opened for business! Within, we found three winery's offering tastings, one that we had tried at another location...you can read more here. The wineries that have tasting rooms here are 

Popie

Cristaldi

 and

Ciotti Cellars

We knew we would be in for a treat and we were not disappointed. We of course made a stop at all three, and thoroughly enjoyed all of the offerings. Here we went home with our first bottle, an offering from Ciotti.

This was what we saw a few months ago (top photo) and now one is greeted with a beautiful trio of tasting rooms...here is just one of those rooms...Ciotti.

We decided to go to one last winery for the day. So off we went, headed for Rancho Roble Vineyards. We had searched for this little gem on another day and had not found it, but this was our lucky day, so as the sun was setting lower and lower we made our way back out to the local countryside. The area was absolutely beautiful! When we arrived we were greeted with Billy, the vineyard dog...so taken with Billy, the outdoor surroundings and the wine, that I did not shoot any pics of the tasting room or Mark Adams, the sweet southern voiced wine maker. I do apologize. There was two offerings that day, a white and a red, both were very nice, and we took a bottle home with us before saying our good byes.

I hope you enjoyed just a sample of how we spent our Sunday and if you live in the area I highly suggest you take a day and explore the fine wines of the Placer County Wine Trail here in northern California.