Wine tasting Monday July 11th

After delouses breakfast and the walk in old part of Temecula we headed for a late lunch. But first we wanted to do the wine tasting on a couple of the wineries.

We do believe they are more or less the same, but they are not. Heading for the largest of them first, South Coast (http://www.wineresort.com/), as long as we intended to have lunch at Ponte.

15$ for a selection of 5, good thing traveling like Laila and I is that we can select 10 and both try and get a better impression of the variety of wines.

So what did we taste at the business like environment.

We started with the sparkling wines, we have never had a Pinot Grigio sparkling before, but it was not so bad it still will be open if we will buy some later. The Rose Sparkling Blanc de Noir however will be a buy. Great cozy wine for any event or party, also tasted the Gewürztraminer, but that is a no from us.

What about the white than? The Pinot Grigio was ok, and the Muscat Canelli was a buy. The Muscat Canelli may was a more desert wine, sweeter as I like them, but again, it should be matched for what is recommended to enjoy it with.

So to the red, Wild Horse Peak Sangiovese, yes thank you, as some of you know I am a Tuscany fan so one of the issues on this journey is to taste how the Sangiovese taste in California and in the different places in California. This was good as well it was ok the Sangiovese blend they had even it only was 58% of the Sangiovese grapes.

The Port we tasted was not too bad either, Black Jack Port, could be a possible buy for us or join the club and have it shipped back home to Houston.

Finished and heading for Ponte with a new glass for our increasing collection of tasting glasses.

I must say Ponte hold what they say; Wine is like sunlight held together by water, or it was Galileo Galilei who sad so. The grapevines, vitis vinifera, is an amazing plant. It takes water and nutrition from the soil, nitrogen and carbon from the air, and uses solar energy to turn them into a very special fruit. A fruit that once fermented becomes on of the most extraordinary food products: Wine!

Quality wine begins in the vineyard and Pontes vineyard is a source of pride, worry and inspiration to visitors. The farm has 23 varieties on 300 acres of land in Temecula. And they use the latest techniques to keep the farm sustainable.

Over to the tasting, we had one selection of six different wines and they was all to our taste. The challenge with wine and what is good and not good is it tastes different to us all. So it is down to what you like and do not like.

Here we have buys for their Pinot Grigio and most of all for the blend Graciela. Named after Claudio Pontes mother, Graciela is a delightfully dry and fruity wine with hints of citrus and honeyd watermelon that is a complex and distinguished as the woman it is named after. This light aromatic and fruit-forward wine pairs nicely with a spinach and goat cheese salad, herb crusted chicken or spicy stir-fry. With a alcohol content of 12,5% it is light.

Also their red Sangiovese and Sangiovese blend is a buy together with their port that is a Zinfandel Port.

Even we have 3 wineries to visit Tuesday we know we will be back and purchase wines from Ponte.

And the lunch there was good to, choice of wine was Graciela. It was just great both to the Halibut I had and the Clamps-Linguini Laila had.

In addition for those who are to get married, yes the place are ready for you.

Temecula the old city

1859 you see when you drive into the old streets of Temecula. For us with a church that is more than 1000 years old, it seems not so old, but here at least they try to keep and hold on to the history they have and it give the city its charm.

It is a city to feel home in, special the part we walked along today. Breathing in the atmosphere is always something special from a new place and you either like it or not and I must say we liked it.

Maybe we had a good feeling about all the area around, the short distance to the beaches and LA or San Diego. You are in a way in the middle of so much that Temecula is a place that got straight into our hearts.

We could not resist buying a few things to bring back to Norway for some of our visits, in addition a lot of recommendations we will bring along with us to people we know if the would like to go some where special.

Loma Vista B&B

In a way I do not know how to start today. The day looked grey as the fog was over the valley, but getting up for breakfast and sitting outside it was just to enjoy the peace.

The start of our vacation, relaxing, but what was more was the upcoming breakfast. We are at a family run B&B. OK, it has just changed owners. The place is now a part of the Europe Village. Have a look at their web page to find out more (http://europavillage.com), but the web page does not give you the story we booked.

The previous owner owned the place. Chef Dean and his wife now RUN the place with a touch of satisfaction to the people stay there.

This morning it was a 7 star service for our breakfast. I had seen the Martini glasses at the kitchen before we sat down outside with the first mug of organic coffee from Sumatra. However I did not expect to have what was served us. It was just the beginning, the fruit, Kiwi and Peaches, along with the Greek yogurt, muesli and with a taste of a sunny day to come.

There after crepes with egg on the top and cheese and mushrooms and whatever put me to heaven of taste, how to start the day just like the egg was the sun entered the horizon. Thank you chef Dean it was just heavenly delouses.

I hope who ever read this and ever go to Temecula know where to have a stay and enjoy the world best breakfast. We are excited and look forward to tomorrow how it will be then.

In addition I have to say the cat that walking around is great

and the view is just relaxing like our dream of Tuscany.

After 3 days on the road

We have arrived at our first wine tasting area. Temecula and staying at a Bed & Breakfast we chosen because it looks to be a cozy, family run place for us to feel home and it would be a good start on our vacation.

And so it was, already by the reception of chef Dean we understood it would be a great stay. Meeting the wife and the son too, we knew. OK we have not slept yet and we have three nights here but I am sure it will be hard for the next 4 places we will stay to come up towards this. Three of the places we do not know yet where will be.

So how was the ride? Not so bad, interesting to see the nature changes from state to state, stopped twice by board patrols, amazing landscapes, and places that God had forgotten and Devil left.

Closer to Temecula we could see nice cars on the road and wineries with Tuscany touch. In addition we were advised to visit two that only was open in the weekend as we are leaving on Wednesday.

Taste of the day was Doffo’s. Zulma Doffo, an Argentinen guy who had a small winery at 36083 Summitville in Temecula. (www.doffowines.com)

What we brought with us home to the B&B was the Paulina sparkling. The bottle was empty after listening to music from across the street at Thornton Winery.

We also visited Palumbo Family Vineyard (http://www.palumbowines.com/). Must say we liked better the wines there. Even we brought with us for the fridge a Rosato Secco Rose we also enjoyed very much the two red, Cabernet and Merlot from their Catfish Vineyard.

WOW and this was just the beginning of a 3 week’s vacation. Yes we made our plans for tomorrow, will it be 2, 3 or 5 winery’s that will be visited. Join us tomorrow and see, at least we have a great stay already.

Prepared for changes

I guess it is what we can say about yesterday and the July 4th celebration.

Invited to a colleague of Laila for dinner and fireworks during the evening should be nice, but as we just had been picked up by Phillip, our Taxi driver, call arrived and we was told that the wife to Lailas colleague had hurt her head as she fall at the bathroom floor and was on the way to hospital, changes needed to be done.

Dogs out too (Flue?)

We are good at this so it was just to turn the taxi in direction home, however Phillip proposed a restaurant for us and we was to look for that, but closed. Stopping at McCormick & Schmick’s and looking for a good dinner. By coincident there we met another colleague of Laila so we had an enjoyable dinner and conversation. When time got closer for fireworks we strolled down to the Plaza where the band was playing, 9.30 the lights went off and the July 4^th celebration got to an end with a colorful fireworks.

On our way home we passed the new shop in our neighborhood, Urban Outfits, looks nice and sure we will visit. Got home and too bad she was still at hospital, just hope she recover soon.

Recalculating

It is some time since I have posted some on the blog and now I was prepared to do so. I brought two cameras with me when Laila and I headed for Austin this morning.

We had not been more than a few minutes on I-10 before we were hit by a tire from an 18 wheeler. It came up behind the car in front of me and no possibility to stop or turn around it.

These tires are big chunk of a tire and we have a small car close the ground I did not like it but just had to let the car go across it in the 60 miles an hour we was driving.

It could have been worse damage to the car and life could have changed direction there and then, but it did not.

Only thing that changed was the plans for the weekend, the 4 of July weekend. Our plan was to stay and have a look at the old part of Austin tomorrow. Now we are back in our flat in Houston and will enjoy the fireworks at CityCentre if it is allowed as many places around it is not.

The car is now at the Momentum Body Shop so we will know by Tuesday how our vacation plan will be or if it will be affected. X our fingers and hope we will have the car back by Thursday so we can head as planned for CA, at least we have tested out how the insurance work and road safety and it looks like we are covered to be picked up most places around. Ready for vacation if we do not have to recalculate.