KOA 2006 – The Big Summary Post

Had a great time this year, as usual. We topped at about 50 people, the usual evolving blend of family and friends. Fewer kids this year than some, but Katherine had some good play time with her cousins, as well as with various kid-friendly adults.

Weather
The weekend started off quite warm, and hit over 100 on Saturday. It dropped back down though a good 10 degrees on Sunday, and Saturday and Sunday nights got positively cool. Monday was looking to be a real nice day.

Water
The lake was full. Not just, “Wow, quite a difference from the drought years,” but “Hey, there’s no ‘bathtub ring’ around the shore, which is actually being eroded by the water level, and, hey, look at the size of those trees standing in the water” full. Pretty amazing.

I went out on the boat on Saturday with Katherine. She had big plans for what she wanted to do, but then she declined to try any skiing, and our initial foray on the inner tube didn’t end well (she and I were too far forward and “submarined” — we tried getting back on, but she wasn’t very happy and we quit after a few minutes). So a bit disappointing there. On the other hand, Rich actually talked me into the water for skiing, and on the third try I got up enough for a few seconds to consider it a moral victory. I might have done more, but the life vest I had on was so tight, I was having problems drawing a good breath.

We were out on the water for about 4 hours that day, and I picked up a bit of a sun burn. My bad.

Wine
The time on the water Saturday put the kibosh on going to wineries that day. We got a delayed start on Sunday, but put it to good use. Our particular expedition included Margie and me, my folks, Mary and Michelle.

First stop, Tablas Creek, which was faboo as always. Didn’t buy much, but, then, most of us there were members.

We then went to Pasolivo (Willow Creek Olive Ranch), an artisan olive oil place nearby that we’ve driven past a half-dozen times and always said we should stop. So we did, and it was quite fine. Got a tour of the presses, and then a tasting session with a half-dozen oils, some honey, and some great vinegar. Worth the stop.

My real intent had been to tour some places on the eastern side of Paso Robles. The first place we hit — and nearly the last — was Hansen Vineyard. Some very good Cabs, some great Shiraz (two different years which had been topped off from shrinkage, one with Vignonier, one with Cab, which led to very different tastes), and …

Well, we’d been getting the tasting from Bruce Hansen, the owner and chief mixmaster. So, in reaction to our being a convivial group, he invited us back into the warehouse. Then he let us taste some of the 2005 Cab from the barrels. And then some Zin from the barrels. Then a Malbec he’s doing. And lots of chit-chat.

It was a great time and good wine, and netted Bruce a couple of wine club memberships. Which probably means he’s clever as a fox in his bonhommie, but what the heck.

That put us behind our already tight schedule. Plus Michelle had to leave that evening, and, after all, we’d foisted the girl off on the Ks. We’d meant to go to Cass, Clautiere (they of the fun wigs), and Rio Seco, and had gotten a confirming recommendation to Rio Seco and Clautiere from the gal who’d served our tastings at Tablas. Our original thought was to go to Clautiere, but when it turned out that the road through the arroyo was closed, we ended up making a big loop around and went to Rio Seco.

Which, frankly, was a disappointment. Some wineries have tasting rooms for folks who track them down. Others have tasting rooms that focus on their wine. And the third — I’m always a little leery about places that tasting rooms that look like the local general store/tourist shop, as Rio Seco did. All this can be made up for with good wine, but Rio Seco’s was — well, okay, but pedestrian. Not bad, by any means, but nothing special. (They were also in the $10s-20s in price range, vs. the $30s-40s for Tablas and Hansen, and the difference could be tasted.) The person pouring was personable, but didn’t offer any insights into the vintages. The place was a converted warehouse half-full of tchochkes, both food and miscellaneous, none of them terribly attractive.

Again, had we gone there first, it might have been a different perception. Coming there at the end of a long day and having been to two great wineries beforehand, it was definitely Tail-end Charlie.

Other stuff
Not much else to add. Great food, as usual. Good company. The theme this year for Saturday Night was “The Summer Camp Your Mom Wouldn’t Let You Go To” — the theme didn’t matter all that much, but it did let us set up some fun scout-like patrols to divvy up the food prep (which was fiendishly clever).

We took a different route this year — rather than up US 101, we took I-5 to Lost Hills and then cut across on SR 46. The route was, in fact, faster, if not nearly as scenic (aside from passing by the infamous James Dean Crash Site). As a result, and along with an early start (before 10 a.m.), we made it down to SoCal before the afternoon traffic became bad.

And today … back to work. 😛