Road Trip

Sold Out

2008-04-11T16:22:42Z

SPRINGERVILLE, AZ-April 4 A leisurely driving day, one of the few we will have on this trip. We picked up sandwiches at A.J.'s before taking off - very wise since we went through very few towns the entire day. We got off of Interstate 10 and drove up through the Salt River Canyon on the Apache Reservation. We drove all the way down into the canyon and back up the other side, truly spectacular.

Spent the night in Springerville, AZ. Not too much to say about this town, we were just glad to find a place to stay.

Dinner at the Coyote Creek Steak House was interesting, however. Food was great but the wine experience was a little challenging. "The worst wine service from the nicest waitress he has ever had,"says Hank. The wine list totaled 12 brands and we asked about four. Each time, she ran off and disappared for quite awhile.We figured she didn't know how to open the bottle. When she finally appeared the last time, she came with one full glass. We decided not to press our luck and just shared the glass between us. This happened the other night as well, restaurants sold out of the few wines on their list. That says one thing to us: there is a lot of opportunity out there. Sales people, take note!

Early Risers

2008-04-10T16:23:13Z

PHOENIX-April 3 We got up at 5:00 a.m. to make certain we made it to Phoenix in time for our 12:00 lunch appointment. We were driving 70 all the way, but we were still one of the slowest cars on the road and the only Prius (just like the previous evening). Trucks would stream past us, driving at a wicked pace. Guess gas mileage isn't an issue down here. The speed allowed us to get to Phoenix early so we had plenty of time to change out of travel clothes and into "tasting" attire for our event at Caffe Boa, a restaurant that describes itself as a Euro-style bistro and wine bar.

We had lunch outside with some trade accounts, weather was perfect for this. We were a little disappointed with the light turnout, but the food was great and the wines showed well. Made a brief stop at My Wine Cellar nearby, a wine shop and tasting bar that does some great wine education programs and visited with one of the owners,

Kathy. Then it was on the road again for Tucson and our bottle signing at A.J.'s (a grocery store that has a great selection of wines and gourmet foods) that afternoon. Turnout was less than we hoped, but everyone loved the 2004 Alexander School Syrah so we sold quite a few bottles of this.

The highlight of the day was definitely spending the night at Hacienda Del Sol. We had a delicious dinner with a bottle of wine from one of our neighbors,Trentadue Dry Creek Petite Sirah (Victor Trentadue was also staying at the hotel and they were featuring his wines,something we should look into).

Hit the Road

2008-04-10T00:07:18Z

FRESNO-April 2--Our first stop on the trip took us only a few hundred miles from the winery, to Fresno for a trade tasting at a new restaurant called Pangea. We arrived about an hour early. We needed the time because Pangea is located in a maze of shops in a new upscale shopping center. We had a good turnout, lots of great appetizers and much interest in the wines. By 3, we're back on the road headed for Phoenix (an eleven hour trip per our

GPS). Much discussion just which was the quickest way (avoid LA) but we decided we'd risk the LA traffic as it was the shortest way. Fortunately we were late enough to avoid rush hour and had a fairly easy, although long drive to San Bernardino where we had dinner at Slim Pig N's.