Delius' Annual Bus Trip

Sunday. July 8, 2012

Today is the annual bus trip to the wine country with Delius Restaurant.  Good breakfast at the restaurant with free flowing champagne. Lots of new faces in the crowd. Our first stop was a wine tasting room in Santa Ynez called Imagine. Artiste had occupied this space before and the theme was the same. Wine & Art.  I wasn't overly enthused about the wines. They were ok and I did buy 2 bottles of a 2005 Merlot which I thought was the best of their lineup.

I do try to buy at least one bottle at each stop because to get tasting rooms to open up to a bus of 35  people is hard. They look at a group that size and decide we are just looking for a good time and not serious about the wines. Dave always has to let them know the his patrons are into wine and will buy. If the winery has good wines we have been known to buy cases of theirs but when it is a marginal winery I do my duty, buy a bottle and vow not to go back.

Next stop was at Buttonwood where we are to have lunch. When we drove in and the host greeted us I ordered my case of peaches right then. They do sell out everyday and I wanted to make sure they held some back for me. So much better than the jink in the grocery stores. We had a tour of the fermenting room and then walked a short distance to the lake for lunch. This is also where we tasted the wines. Beautiful setting but uneven ground. Best to walk slowly. I bought several bottles of their Zingy Sauvignon Blanc. A lot of people brought home peaches from here.

A unusual thing occurred when we cam down the hill to the tasting room. There was a group of 4 to 5 people that had drove in and gotten out of their car. They  wandered around for a few minutes then went under a tree and rolled their prayer mats out and started to pray towards Mecca. Now I do not know if they stopped because it was convenient just to pray or what. If you are Muslim you do not touch alcohol. We left before they did so I have no idea if the went into the tasting room or not. But it seems to me if alcohol is forbidden a piece of ground in a vineyard should be off limits also.

Last stop was a tasting room is Los Olivos. Called Saarloos. Dutch name. They are from the Bellflower area which a one time was big dairy country. Their gimmick was to pair their wines with mini cupcakes in different flavors. I don't know if they felt the wines needed a cover up or what. They also had a "cute": story for each label. Pictures of their relatives and the wines named after them. I did not buy any wines here at all. I also would not go back. A wine should stand on its own without gimmicks and I felt theirs did not.

\Good trip - we were back in Long Beach by 8:30 without any problems.