What a fab day!!! Grumpy had researched the local wineries (there are several hundred) and decided that a trip to www.justinwine.com was the thing to do (the actual winery, not just their site!).

We were booked in for lunch, a winery tour and then a tasting session. Took a good hour and a half to drive the 40 miles to the place - these roads are seriously wiggly - where we were given a warm welcome. Our table came with hot and cold running labradors and retrievers (well, one of each), so I was happy!

After a gorgeous lunch we were off to the tour. Wow. These guys really care about the wine they make. The guide was fascinating - really knew his stuff - and he told us loads about different ways of making wine and different grapes etc. We toured some of the equipment they use, and even got to stick our heads in a giant vat of grapes picked just a few days ago. The smell was amazing!

Then into the wine cellar to see the barrelled wines. These guys spent 3 years having 18,000 foot of cave excavated into the mountain to keep their barrels in. Just 40 barrels of their top wine is worth $1,000,000 to them. Unfortunately the barrels were too heavy to be able to sneak any away. Only their wine club members get the chance to buy that, and there's a 2 year wait list. The club isn't available to brits :( No fair!!!

So off we went to sample their wares - their wine is INCREDIBLE!! We sampled 5, and bought 3 of them! Don't want to take the risk of them breaking on the trip back to the UK, so we'll be drinking them here. Not really a hardship.

Dunno where on earth we're off to tomorrow, but Grumpy has just informed me that the journey (without stops) will take about 9 hours. So I'll be up flipping early again! Oh well, he has promised me a picnic somewhere fabulous on the way.

It's unlikely that the next place has internet access, so I'll probably be offline for a couple of days............

Later alligators! xxx