Jonathan (my fiancé) and I traveled to California to visit Jonathan’s parents this past September.  We decided to take a nice side-trip to San Francisco, from LA and make our way up the coast and through some wine country.  We started our trip in Santa Barbara where we had a delicious brunch with Jonathan’s Uncle Steven and Aunt Phyllis, who gave us a few different pamphlets on wineries in Paso Robles and Santa Ynez Valley. 

We traveled through the Santa Ynez Valley and stopped at some beautiful view points, but we decided that the wines in Pasa Robles were the wines we wanted to taste.  We got a recommendation from one of Jonathan’s friends to visit Fratelli Perata, a boutique family-owned winery. We fell in love with their wines and atmosphere. The family grew up around vineyards in Italy and wanted to recreate their wine in California. I highly recommend visiting their winery if you are passing through Paso Robles! The wife gave us a tasting of all their wines but by far our favorite was the Mafalda. Words can not explain the deliciousness, fruity flavors and aromas that are in this wine. It is perfect!

The next winery we visited was Castoro Cellars, which was a larger winery with a bigger selection. The woman that did the tasting for us was very knowledgeable and sweet. We bought a bottle of their 2006 Cabernet Franc, which was enjoyed at a dinner with friends in Israel to celebrate our return.

Unfortunately we did not have an opportunity to go to other wineries, but the next time we are in California, we will be sure to visit many more.

If you are ever traveling up the Coastal Road in California, you must stop at the Hearst Castel and take one of their many guided tours!  We enjoyed the garden tour which took us into Hearst Wine Cellar. Some of the wine and alcohol were from the 1800's!