This past weekend [Mon-Tues-Wed for me] the boyfriend and I celebrated my birthday a bit early. We started it with a trip to Temecula Wine Country in Temecula California for a quick trip. According to Google Maps, it was a 5 hour drive but Prissy [the Prius] got us there in about 4 hours. For the record, the Prius can get to 100 quite smoothly, and gas mileage still is rockin. California drivers however, suck. Seriously. the WORST drivers we had ever experienced - it is like they don't follow any of the rules that normal Americans follow.
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| Not a bad view for a road trip |
We got in to Temecula around 1 and started right off with the wineries and wine tastings. A "tasting" is a 1oz pouring of 5-6 wines of your choosing from their selections for about 10-12$pp. A couple of them had 2 for $10 tastings so we made sure to put them on the list.
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| Bell Vino Winery |
We started at Bel Vino winery. Now, on the map, there are about 30 wineries on the main drive so it was hard to pick which ones to go to. Bel Vino had 2 for 1 tastings so it was first on the list. The wines were "eh" but the guys working were a lot of fun and kept opening older bottles and giving us extra samples. We tried a 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon that was ah-mazing. It got 96 of 100 pts on the wine scale. Basically the wine scale, as it was explained to me, is a bunch of Wine Guys, people who own wineries and know a lot about wine, get together and do blind tastings of the season's wines and grade them on all the things about wine. So basically this wine was the bomb. I know a few things about wine and I could have told you this one was special. Also, expensive.
What makes a red wine "Fine" as opposed to "ordinary"?
For one thing, Barrels.
Barrels - Less expensive wines are also aged for a shorter period of time in lower quality barrels or not even aged in oak barrels at all. Whereas, finer wines are aged longer in higher quality barrels. The result is a wine with receives tannins and various oak qualities during the aging process which creates a more complex wine, and a wine that will lay down in a cellar to develop further.
We didn't get too crazy with the next winery, we just drove directly across the street. Seriously, they are all that close. Have I mentioned that those "1 oz" pours are really closer to 2 or 3 oz? yah, they try and get you drunk. It works.
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| In front of one of the many vineyards and wineries. |
The scenery here was just so pretty. Every winery had its own vineyard and they each had their own unique decor and views. This would really be a wonderful 2 or 3 day trip so that you could spread out your time and really appreciate each winery. But we were on a time crunch and a mission and somehow we made it to 4 wineries in 4 hours. It is safe to say that I was shwasty.
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| At our 4th winery. |
The next day we decided to take a walk through the little town before heading back. It was a quaint little town with cute little shops and boutiques.
We stopped in an olive oil shop and did some really fun tastings of different olive oil /balsamic vinegar pairings. The had a beautiful Basil olive oil and Rosemary olive oil and a really delicious honey vinegar. The lady who worked there told me that I should be a hand model because I had such "beautiful Cinderella hands".....I've never heard that from anyone other than my mother but it was a fun little compliment! We stopped off at the local fruit market store on the street where I grabbed some amazing avocados and persimmons for the road. Yum.
But that was not the end of the day. We got home just in time to change and head out to my next birthday event - dinner and a show. The boyfriend took me to Hugo's Cellar for dinner.Hugo's if very old school Vegas. The decor is old but it is dark and romantic. When you walk in, they give you a single long stem red rose for you to keep on the table and take home with you when you go .
The salad cart is the most amazing thing. They make your salad [that comes with your meal] right in front of you, asking you what you would like on it. They offer everything from egg to shrimp to hearts of palm, blue cheese, and anchovies in addition to the standard things you would think of being on a salad. Seriously I would have been happy with just the salad. The martinis? Well you order one and they bring you a carafe...that refills about 3 times.I did not finish the martini. After the salad, they bring you a small cone of sorbet to cleanse your palate. Dinner was good, but honestly, not mind blowing. After dinner they bring you a plate of figs, chocolate dipped strawberries and apricots and fresh whipped cream. Yum!
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| Us with our plate of desserts |
They knew it was my birthday and so they brought me a little extra something at the end.
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A pyramid of chocolate and caramel mousse.
After dinner, we went to Mystere at Treasure Island. Mystere was the first ever Cirque du Soleil show that had a permanent structure. Now there are several shows on the strip but Mystere was there first. It was an amazing show - very influenced by 1900s European culture. It was such a huge show, just really beautiful acts and a little fun humor mixed in.
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To wrap up my birthday weekend, we got dressed up for Halloween and went to the Fright Dome at Circus Circus.
He was a German, or a yodeler, whatever you think. He didn't bring his hat and stein in because he didn't want to lose it. I just did a makeshift costume with clothes I had to be a Gypsy. The boyfriend even cut the skirt [a skirt I have had since high school] for me. Fright Dome is where they take the already built Adventure Dome at Circus Circus and turn it into a series of haunted houses, rides, and have creepy people dressed up and walking around scaring you. It really is the perfect venue because you take something that is already lots of clowns and circus things and then make it extra creepy.
We even dressed up Lola. Petsmart had a great sale so I bought her a couple for fun. She accepted them but she kind of moped around. Still, she was adorable.
Awww. My lil pup.
Sorry for such a long post! I just couldn't bear to break it in too since it was just one weekend!
Hope you had a happy Halloween!!
