Bottle of White, bottle of Red...perhaps a bottle of Rose' instead...

Had an absolutely outstanding date day with my wife.  There were a few moments early on when I had an opportunity to get all butt-hurt and pouty, but I let it pass.  The science camp that the girls are going to was having some kind of 'big event' from 10:30-12:00, and all the parents were invited to attend.  Well, that was right in the middle of the day, and exactly the time period I was hoping to be at the gun range with my wife, prior to going to lunch and doing some wine tasting.

I wasn't pleased.  We had planned on shooting and wine tasting for several weeks, as soon as we realized that the girls camp was going to coincide with one of my Friday's off.  The girls came home Wednesday with the news of the 'Big Event.  Poop-cycle.  Well...we packed all the .22's anyway on the chance that things would wrap up quickly and we could still make it to the range.

Things ended up running almost 2 hours.  It was not all that exciting...we were given an opportunity to participate in some activities with the girls...a scavenger hunt, an experiment about lung capacity and another experiment comparing warm and cold gummy worms to muscles, in regards to why it's better to warm up before stretching.  While not exciting, it was a good excuse to spend time with my daughters, and even though it cost me getting to go to the gun range, I am glad I went.

I'm also proud of myself...once upon a time, any kind of schedule shift/change like this would have ruined my day.  I do not adjust easily to change...but...this was okay.  Kid time is better than range time(although I was looking greatly forward to showing my wife the plinking range.  I must be growing up.

For lunch, my wife and I went to Taverna Tagaris, the restaurant at Tagaris Winery.   Very nice and intimate...a pleasant lunch stop.  We split an appetizer plate, than I had a lamb and sausage burger, while my wife had a chicken and artichoke paninni, with a cup of Cherry Gazpacho.  The Cherry Gazpacho was very, very interesting.  I can truthfully say I have never had anything else like it. I may have to pursue finding a similar recipe at some point.

Following lunch we proceeded to the wine counter at the Tagaris tasting room, where we spent an amazing hour talking about nose, and legs, and finish, and other things that sound funny to me.  Given a choice, I will choose a good beer over wine any day of the week...but, as my wife and I edge closer to 'mature middle age' there are some social situations where wine is considered more appropriate than beer.  Plus, the more my palate adjusts to wine, it is possible that I wold choose a good wine over a poor beer.

Winery's are like potato chips...you can't stop at just one.  Having previously done tastings at the other two winery's near Tagaris, and having plenty of time to spare(nope, never considered going to the range after our first wine tasting...'wouldn't be prudent at this juncture'), we headed out to Benton City, and stopped in at Terra Blanca Winery. 

At Terra Blanca, we finally caved to some high pressure salesman ship(no, really, Sara just showed us a little pamphlet) and joined our first 'Wine Club'.  I think what sealed the deal for us is that wine club members get unlimited free tastings! Hooray for us!  I am fairly certain that we tried somewhere between 12 and 14 different wines at Terra Blanca.  For me, near the end, they were all blurring together...my pallet is not all that sophisticated to start with...if someone held a gun to my head and asked me to pick a merlot out from a syrah using just my mouth...well, it's been a fun life.

Our route back home took us by several more wineries, but we passed them by, stopping instead at the Black Heron Distillery.  Hey, when the pallet is tired of wine, nothing like some liquor to shock it out of its stupor.  We didn't taste much there...primarily I wanted my wife to try their Lemoncello, and I wanted to try out their Pepper Vodka they just released.  The Lemoncello was a hit, and we ended up picking up a bottle.  The Pepper Vodka...not so much.  I LOVE their basic vodka(Ink), but was not overly enamored of Brushfire, which is what they call their Pepper Vodka.  Jessie didn't try it....she could smell enough pepper coming out of my glass to convince her she didn't need it.  The proprietor said it's pretty good in a bloody mary, and I believe him...hmmm....50-50 Bakon and Pepper Vodka in a Bloody Mary?  Sign me up.

 

We really didn't need this much more alcohol in the house...but hey, much like ammo, it's not going to go bad...and it's unlikely the price is going to get cheaper.

Finally, for those who have stuck around to the end, your reward is some Billy Joel...maybe you recognized the post title from the beginning of 'Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.'