Dinner at Medlock Ames turns into dinner at Campo Fina

The last time Kim and Ken were at Medlock Ames they had multiple food trucks from which to choose from. We decided that would be a great place for dinner and we arrived only to find there was one very long line for food. We listen to the band until they took a break then we decided that more food was required. We went into town and got pizzas at a little place that also had Bocce. I continued my Bocce domination as the scorecard will show. But tasty dinner was had by all

Can put Medlock Ames into the GPS. Instead of taking us to The Tasting Room it took us to The Vineyards. The Vineyards are nowhere near the tasting room

We continue to drive down the road thinking that the GPS would not lead us astray

At the end of the road is a horse farm. They seem to have the program down pat. They gave us directions they told us everybody makes this mistake and then they laughed at us as we drove away

We are finally arrived at Medlock Ames and we're quite pleased to be here

The band was laying down a great set of old timey Roots blues and bluegrass

The line for food was too long for hangry people

Campo Fina had a fine bocce ball court. Actually it was a little worse for wear and the only reason we decided to play is there were 7 on supervised children throwing the balls around as if they were playing dodgeball.

Here we are all awaiting our tasty dinners. If you look to the top it is a very large plate warmer. Industrial-sized to keep the whole table toasty.

Top of the world at Iron Horse

It's 4:30 and the tasting stops at 5. we are headed to Iron Horse and Kim is on the phone calling them. We're hoping that we can still get in because things are getting tight with respect to time. We drive up to the gate we press the button and with a couple of key words we are inside! It's a glorious tasting area open to a giant valley with huge palm trees Vines going on into the distance and bubbly drunkenness everywhere!  We get in just under the wire. The workers are putting away the umbrellas for the tables in the periphery. We get up to the end of the bar and find a tiny spot to squeeze in and all hell breaks loose.  John our server is one of the best we've had this whole time. He is tailoring everybody's tasting to exactly what they want while minimizing the things they don't like. While we wander in and out of the tasting area. He's selling Maria a case, he's comping all of our tastings and before you know it with the last people there. What fun!  Time to go to the next place.

The road up the hill

A phalanx of palms

The view 

I think Maria likes it!

It was busy when we arrived 

Cold bubbly bottles for everyone 

This lovely lady is ready for more bubbles 

Rainbow label sparkling bottled when marriage for all was legalized 

Jon was the best. He tailored each tasting for each person's specific tastes. Reds for me, dry bubbles for Leslie and whites for Oscar. 

Maria really likes this place

The staff is suggestive to the wet willie

Desert palms, it was hot!

Lynnmar Wineries

Lynmar Winery had an extensive Garden area. The flowers were intermixed with vegetables and fruits which made this a incredible location to taste wine. I did the full red flight while the others did the whites and reds.  This Winery sells out 80% of its wine to its club members. They have switched to reservations only for tastings so that they can encourage more people to join the club. It was top-notch wines a great location and a wonderful server named Rhonda.

The road into the vines

Beautiful fountain at Linn-Mar

Flowers everywhere

The pergola structure out in front of the winery

I could not resist taking pictures of all of these flowers

Purplicious

We sat underneath the yellow umbrella for a wine tasting

Help help us Rhonda

Here is our wine tasting patio area

Another beautiful flower

This is actually a grain similar to quinoa

Tiny nuggets of beauty

Big and bold and fun

Oranges and yellows extraordinaire

Big and beautiful like the zinfandel

The nice tiger lily

Last of many flowers.

The contest at Dry Creek

 They pulled names out of the hat and had a contest. Maria won a Richard Nixon mask and Oscar won one of the original Godfather VCR cassets. We all got tiny white pigs! We ended up taking more pigs home then we originally were provided.  So they provided loads of entertainment for us.

My name tag my tiny pig and my spoon

The original six pigs

Our world as seen from a spoon

They are multiplying and communicating

I am not a crook she says

A new and exciting look for Maria he signs

A twenty-three-year-old Zinfandel!

The pigs are making a plan and taking action

All 11 pigs stacked up one upon the other.

Tragedy they've all Fallen to the table top

Pigs in line to smell the roses

They have learned from us to take the time to smell the roses and work cooperatively

Dry Creek Vineyard Dinner

Dry Creek Vineyard does a dinner out in The Vineyards. You have to be a member so we joint of course and we hope to get our wine at some point. But that's another story altogether. We got there on time and the weather was just beautiful. They had Gardens and a bocce ball court and this really long table set up. We had appetizers played bocce ball of course I won, but only by four points. We had taster wines and then sat down for a lovely dinner. They brought out two kinds of green salads, roast pork a pasta salad and a potato dish. There were four kinds of wine is Chardonnay a Pinot Grigio a cabernet from 1993 and a very large Cabernet.  The very large Cabernet was its 43rd anniversary of being vented at that

Along a big Rose Zinfandel Vines

The table where we will have dinner

The final score, Fritz wins!

An extensive Garden surrounded the entire area

The main building had Ivy all over the walls

Either redwoods or Western Cedars I'm not sure which

Closed just for our private party it's a lot right now

More purple flowers

My own menu my own spoon and my own tiny white pig

With all the lights on it as it got dark it was very magical

The World Behind the spoon

20 some odd years in the bottle how many years in the barrel?

We so fancy but you already know

Purple Haze on the horizon

Sun setting