The tour bus arrived a little before 10:30 am to pick us up for the wine-tasting tour. (The bus was a shuttle-bus size, not a Greyhound.) Our driver/guide was Fritz, the same guy we had at the end of the New England Color trip. Fritz is a nice guy, about our age, and knows just about everything about wine. It made the tour even more interesting.

We left the RV park for downtown Paso to pick up the lunches, then to a hotel to pick up the other couple who would be on the tour. The tour we were on last time had a bus-full of people. It was much nicer with just four of us.

Our first stop was Doce Robles Winery. When we pulled in, Fritz said, “Hey, we’re in luck. They’re bottling today, and you get to see it.”

All I could see was a semi-trailer. Fritz explained that bottling machinery is very expensive. Small wineries usually can’t afford to have their own. So two or three companies in the area have popped up with mobile bottling trucks. The winery arranges to have the equipment delivered, they set the trailer next to their facility, and they pump the wine to the truck. Voila! Out comes wine, bottled and boxed, ready to ship.

They had some nice wines—we tasted four wines—and we ended up buying two bottles. They also had two German Shepherds, one about seven years old, and one about four months. We didn’t buy either of them (they weren’t for sale, anyway), but Barbara was eyeing the puppy.

The next stop was Castoro Cellars. We tayshted sheven winesh here, I think, and they were good, too. We bought a bottle of red, I think.

Castoro was our lunch stop, and we had a very nice sandwich and water. After lunch, I was able to walk a straight line back to the bus.

Shtop three was Sextant Winery (hic—excushe me). I have no idea how many winesh we tayshted, and I can’t remember if I liked any of them. But we bought a bottle anyway.

Number four was Rotta (pronounced Row-ta, with a long O) Winery. I don’t remember thish one. We ended up with two bottles from thish one. Thish one… thish one… thish one what?

On the way back, I woke up long enough to say goodbye to our two companions at their hotel. Next stop was the RV park, but Fritz detoured to show us a beaver dam. I have no idea what that has to do with wine.

I’m pretty sure we made it back to the RV—Barbara says around 4:30. I think I had dinner. I must have gone to bed at some point, because I woke up in the morning in bed with an ice bag on my head and cuddling a bottle of cabernet.

All-in-all, it was a great way to cap off the trip. I wish I could remember more of it.