Roll Out The Barrels

Last weekend, Nikki and Ryan came down for a visit. It was a great weekend, very relaxing! On Sunday, Mike asked if we would be interested in visiting the Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande (about five miles from our house) - they were taking part in the annual Roll Out The Barrels event, and one of his students works there and told him about it. Sidenote: Mike loves attending his students extra-curricular activities - we've watched soccer games, gone to restaurants that they work at, gone to a ballet (that's a whole separate blog!). The students are so jazzed that their professor cares.
Nikki and I spent the early part of Sunday in SLO for her haircut. During lunch, we got a call from Ryan and Mike - we could barely hear them because there was loud music blaring - they were at the winery and wanted us to come join them. They had already been there for a couple of hours and were having fun. Nik and I hopped in the car and headed down there. When we got there, we walked through the main tasting room (which was empty) and were obviously looking lost, as if we were looking for someone. A lady who worked there asked us if we needed help and I told her (no joke) that we were there to meet guys! As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I said "NO! Specific guys, my husband and her boyfriend." She said we could go look for them in the event and see if they had paid for our entrance fee already. When we found them, she looked at me and said "Oh, the teacher! You should have just said you were with the teacher! You guys don't have to pay!" Score :)
Mike and Ryan had already had their share of wines and selected their favorites (who knew Ryan was such a wine connoiseur?!). Mike's student, Elza, catered to us the whole time and even gave us a HUGE discount on wine we purchased (and some free delicious tiramasu chocolate caramels). The hands down funniest part of the day was when Mike kept tricking Nikki to steal cheese off her plate. He would do the typical point at something to distract her and when she'd turn away he'd steal a piece of cheese. At one point, she was standing by a table, and Mike, once again, stole a piece of cheese from the plate on the table. Only Nikki was already done with her snack and Mike had stolen it from another guy's plate - who was standing right there! HILARIOUS. Luckly, after an afternoon of drinking wine, the stranger thought it was pretty funny, too :)
Here's a run-down of our wines from the event:

Laetitia 2004 Pinot Noir Les Galets (Ryan's favorite)

Laetitia 2007 Pinot Noir Les Galets Barrel Sample (available in 2009)

Laetitia 2004 Pinot Noir Reserve (Mike's favorite)

Laetitia NV Brut Rosé (one of Nikki's favorites)

Laetitia 2005 Late Harvest Riesling (Christy's favorite)

Barnwood Port 2004 (unanimous favorite)

Barnwood 2005 Orange Muscat (unanimous favorite)

A beautiful winery - here's a link in case you're interested in visiting or the wine: