I’m back from my birthday weekend rejuvenated! Don’t get me wrong–I’m still a bit overwhelmed by all the wedding-related odds & ends that seem to keep creeping up, but nonetheless, the Peppermints had an amazing weekend and can cross one thing off our wedding list: alcohol!
Here’s a pictorial recap of our wine tasting weekend…
Mr. Peppermint & I started the day off with a big (delicious!) breakfast at Paula’s Pancake House. Here I am outside the restaurant, chatting it up with Mama Peppermint:
Mr. Peppermint says hello…
From there, we dropped our stuff off at our hotel (Marriott Santa Ynez–very nice!), and headed to Sunstone & Kalyra. Below is Mr. Peppermint and me at the Kalyra winery. (If you saw Sideways, this is the winery that Sandra Oh’s character works at):
We had to take a break from wine tasting and get some food in our stomachs. So, we got sandwiches at Panino (in Los Olivos) before heading to Bridlewood, Firestone & Rusack.
Once we had tapped out on wine-tastings (okay, they actually closed at 5pm and we ran out of time!), we had a wonderful dinner at the Hitching Post. Once again, for you Sideways fans, this is where Virginia Madsen’s character (Maya) works…
The next morning we had a pow wow about which wines we liked best. After all, we needed a lot! We did two last wineries in the morning (Sanford & Alma Rosa), before going back to our favorites to buy some cases. Below is Alma Rosa…
We began our mad-dash wine spree going to a number of the different places and buying cases of wine. Here is Mr. Peppermint carting some our cases of wine to the car. I’ll be honest, we got some looks…
And that was our trip! Goodbye, Solvang (for now!)….
amen. that dress is fab!
It looks like you had a fabulous trip! Cute photos! I love the wagon filled with wine. Awesome!
Heh. I was just posting to say, “what a cute dress!” Looks like a blast — I’m jealous. I live for wine tastings.
We had a ball picking wines for the reception. We wanted all Maryland wines, knowing that the only people who’d look down on local vineyards were also too polite to say anything about it. Heh.
haha, I actually got the dress before anthropologie (aka the store that is the end of me) started carrying it. it was featured in domino in their green issue (the material is organic cotton, i think?)
oh i love it there! they have a wine tasting festival that we just happened to catch on a february weekend and we were able to go through 11 wineries in one day! they had tastings, some had appetizers, others had full on buffets for guests!
happy belated bday and glad you had a fabulous weekend!
If you don’t mind sharing, what wines did you end up choosing? I’ll be in SB this weekend doing the same thing!
Aww, Solvang! I was born in Santa Barbara, lived in Santa Maria for a few years, and went to college in San Luis Obispo, so I’m pretty familiar with the area. I went to see Sideways with a friend (whose parents are wine people like mine), and we were jumping up and down and naming wineries the whole time!
Carrie - ooh, where to begin?! From the tasting, Mr. Peppermint & I liked Rusack and Firestone the best, with Sanford following very closely. In terms of atmosphere, Alma Rosa (formerly Sanford…Sanford is under new ownership and moved down the street) was my favorite. Very relaxed and also liked their philosophy (”nature & agriculture in sustainable harmony”). Sunstone had a nice selection and atmosphere and Kalyra is fun (though their wine wasn’t our fave). Wasn’t crazy about Bridlewood, but I think that may be due to the crowd (and we didn’t look like big spenders so they didn’t pay much attention to us…if only they had seen our cart from Firestone!). Good luck with finding wines–we had a blast & I know you will, too!!
Miss Peppermint, LA/Palm Springs
Age and Occupation: 23, Actress
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Web Producer
Engagement Date: October 21, 2006
Wedding Date: December 2007
Blogging Since: July 2, 2007
Venue: historic estate overlooking the heart of Palm Springs
About Me: I am a Southern California native who enjoys cooking, writing, travel and all things in the arts. Mr. Peppermint and I met in college and he proposed on our four year anniversary in one of our most special places, Joshua Tree National Park. We're having a destination wedding in Palms Springs that will incorporate tradition as well as reflect our personalities!
Are you wearing a beeeauteeful Anthropologie dress?