I trepidatiously offered a Valentine’s weekend wagon ride wine tasting tour last weekend. Trepidatiously because mid-February weather is unpredictable. Last year for Valentine’s Day temperatures struggled to climb out of the teens and I spent the morning chipping poop-sicles (frozen manure) out of Yukon’s tail. He had a bad tummy which manifested in frozen manure in his tail. Don’t let anybody kid you that this cowgirlin’ business is glamorous.
Still, I set up our reservation system for the event and decided to let our guests decide whether they wanted to brave the unpredictable elements or not. The horses are completely unfazed by cold weather. In fact, nothing much bothers them – weather-wise – other than wind. But that just makes them a little skittish.
We were rewarded, greatly. 65 degrees and sunny, both days!
We met our guests at Kiona Vineyards (www.kionawine.com). We could not have asked for more fun people to hang out with over the weekend. Our first stop was Frichette’s (www.frichettewinery.com) for their fabulous red wine. They also had a great selection of artwork for sale (100% of proceeds go to the American Heart Association).
From there we meandered along country roads and through the vineyards to Portrait Cellars (http://www.portraitcellars.com) for a homey wine tasting with Ed and Eve Shaw.
We loaded our happy tasters into the little red wagon and drove off into the vineyards, winding our way through E&E Shaw vineyards, Ciel du Cheval, Galitzine, and Kiona vineyards. The longer days seem even longer when the sun shines as bright as it did that weekend.
My favorite part of the wagon rides is trotting the team up the hill to Kiona. Their hooves clop and echo off the side of the building, their manes and tails fly, and I feel like the horses know that they are putting on a show for folks in the tasting room. They sure like to step out.
We rolled right up to the front door and dropped our guests off there, then parked the team and wagon.
Here’s some video footage of our adventure, with a special guest star: THE SUN!
Happy Trails!
~Teresa
