Have you been to Hammersky Vineyards near Paso Robles, CA? Did you partake in their wine tasting? Well, if you booked it as a Harvest Hosts stop you had to; that’s how it works. If you did I want to hear about your wine tasting experience. You see, I haven’t done any wine tasting since the late 70’s and think things may have changed since then.

We signed up online through Harvest Hosts. We had to pay a very modest $10.00 per person plus tax for wine tasting and we added the $21 Charcuterie board.

| History and Etymology for charcuterie
| French, literally, pork-butcher’s shop,
| from Middle French chaircuiterie,
| from chaircutier pork butcher, from chair cuite cooked meat.

I’m not a very good tourist. I’m always suspicious; thinking I’m getting ripped off in some fashion or another. It was with said suspicion that I made this reservation. We’ve stayed at Harvest Hosts locations before. While it sounds like a very cool free place to stay, it generally costs as much as a normal campground; around $50 and up. So, I wasn’t surprised or taken aback by the initial price tag of $43.46. Again, due to my suspicious nature and the fact that I had heard others who have stayed here were required to purchase three bottles of wine! Well, the host points out how that requirement is a myth:

“We require that you please make a tasting reservation once you book your stay.
Contrary to reviews, there is no 3 bottle minimum purchase.”

Our wine tasting hostess let us know that we would have to purchase either a glass or bottle of wine. I’m still good here, as long as bottles of wine don’t go for $50.00 and over! You guessed it, bottles of wine started at $50 and went up to $135.00! Lucky for me, my wife wanted the $19.00 glass of EXTRACTION (no vintage date), “80% Syrah and 20% Petite Sirah, full-bodied black fruit backed by leather finish”. I’m still good at $58.46.

This winery is drop dead gorgeous! Their fifty acres are absolutely the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. HammerSky has done a lot to make their property an asset in the community. They have purposed the barn for weddings, I saw an album of wedding photos that were amazing. They have a flat wide field for us campers (no hookups – dry). The wine tasting area is very well thought out. They have two levels, an upper level of picnic tables and small tables with retro metal chairs, and alsop comfy couches, a lower level with Adirondack chairs with small tables between them; all the areas come under the cover of one or more trees, umbrella and or sunshade sails overhead. Sit in the sun, or the shade; I’m a shade guy 😃 You can easily walk the 100 yards over the hill on a dirt road between the grape vines from the camp field to the tasting room. Bathrooms are provided near the barn and tasting room. Are you feeling me here? You want to check this out and see for yourself; am I right?

Back to the wine tasting. We were given two logo glasses (we didn’t get to keep them), a adorable glass bottle of water with two small plastic cups. The Charcuterie board wasn’t a board at all, but rather a small plastic deli pack of Charcuterie kind of stuff; cheese, meat, fruit. I think I saw them at the nearby Albertsons for $5.95, but l’m still good here. I understand markup and making a living, though I thought they could have dumped it out on a board. That would have made some kind a presentation at least.

Our hostess poured a finger of our first wine into our glass while expounding upon its merits with adjectives such as “jamie, complex, fruit forward – along with sounds effects such as “Ummm, Ooooo, Ahhh”. New wines were poured over the remnants of the previous wines. Back in my youth we got a new glass for each new wine. Do they no longer do this? I learned that if you eat a piece of cheese, meat or fruit between sips your wine will explode with new flavor experiences. I tried it, nothing changed. I had to curtail this method to make my Charcuterie last to the final wine.

Was the wine any good? How the heck would I know. I didn’t keep notes for the first half – The pen and wine notes list didn’t come until the second half. Anyway, I’m the $16.00/bottle Costco guy. There was a time I managed a restaurant with an amzaing wine selection. I read all the wine periodicals I could get my hands on and was lucky to have not only experienced fine wine tastings, but componet tasting too. For you new to the world of fine wines, component tasting teaches you to identify the various component that go into making a wine. When a wine is described as having hints of this or that, or this aroma, or that finish, you know what specific component is creating it. Earthy | Tannin | Fruit Forward | Tart | Stoney| Toasty etc. Most of the wines offered were not varietals, rather blends. A little Zinfandel, a little Pinot Noir, a little this, a little that… I’m a serious varietal kind of drinker. I like to compare one Merlot to another. How can you compare one blend wine to another?

It was hard to determine if it was all kabuki theatre or the real deal. At Costco and my local liquor store I’m given scores of how a particular wine fared at local, state and national wine festivals. The wines we sipped (though I prefer quaffing) came with no scores. I had to take the word of my hostess. The wine labels appeared to have been printed with a quality laser printer on some of the finest blue card stock available, then expertly cut and gluled to the bottle. Though to be fair, their bottle of 2018 Vampire [Rare bourbon barrel-aged of 78% Merlot, 15% Zinfandel and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon with cherry burst with a warm smoke finish] had a beautiful glossy and embossed label. I think at $103.00/bottle it should! Still, even at $50.00/bottle, laser printed cardstock? I may be wrong. They may have found a local printer to do the job. well, at least the labels were on very straight.

Checking out was a mess. Our hostess nervously tried to bill us an additional thirty dollars. She said wine tastings are $25 and since we paid $10 we owed and additonal $30.00 (plus tax). The DW pulled the reciept she had kept in her purse and showed it to her to set the record straight. Phew, dodged a bullet there. My wife is organized that way.

Was this place worth it? In a word; “YES!”. We’re sharing the field with five other Harvest Hosters, all delightful people. The peace and quite, space and soul soothing views won’t ever be forgotten. The four miles of winding road in was an amazing experience too. In summary, five stars for the stay and two stars for the wine tasting.

BTW – The alpaca farm we stayed at cost of $68.00, but at least they provided 30 AMP service and my wife has a wonderful pair of mittens she knitted from the yarn we scored 😃