Sending Marion Off in Style

I joined four of the coolest ladies in the Northern Hemisphere to celebrate our dear friend Marion's upcoming nuptials this past weekend, and I'm happy to report that a good time was had by all. I've known Marion since we were freshmen in high school and have enjoyed her brainy side, quick wit, and sense of fun for more years than I'd like to think about. I was delighted when she asked me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding in June along with three of her friends from college and one roommate from her post-college years. This will be the first wedding I've taken part in (if you don't count handing out programs at my friends' Mark and Shelly's wedding in Atlanta once), and I was fascinated to get the inside scoop. Turns out that for a bridesmaid the inside scoop is pretty minimal. I sympathized with Marion while she fretted (for good reason) about floral centerpieces that won't shrivel in moments in the Central Valley's summer heat, put in an order for my (very pretty) bridesmaid's dress, and called it a day. On to the party!

It was decided that Marion's bachelorette party would take place over a weekend on the Central Coast of California, and so the six of us congregated at our house in Los Osos on Friday. We opted to stay in that night and feasted on the spread my mom had prepared for us, drank wine, and played Cards Against Humanity. It was relaxing and fun and just what I needed after a long, cross-country flight.

At Veris, our first stop

The next morning we prepared for our wine tasting outing. Marion had given us each pretty beach towels and cups filled with "favors," including matching white sunglasses that we opted to sport that day. Marion's maid of honor, Ailene, also had a surprise up her sleeve and presented the bridesmaids with matching tank tops emblazoned with "Bachelorette" in rhinestones! Marion's, of course, said "Bride." Thus adorably attired, we headed to Paso Robles and hopped on the Wine Line, a mini bus driven by a sweet, rather hapless young man named Colby who became the butt of many a private joke after we had a few tastings under our belt.


We visited five wineries on Saturday:

Oso Libre

Veris - Some of my favorite wines all day (perhaps because my palate was unmarred?). I particularly enjoyed their Ben Hogan Tribute Cabernet and some of the sparkling white wines we sampled.
Castoro - A less pretty setting than Veris, but their Trenta Anni blend was very nice, as were two new varietals to me: a Chenin Blanc and a Charbono (red).
Croad - Couldn't tell you a reliable thing about the wines I tasted at this New Zealander-owned winery, though the hilltop  location was beautiful. We ate a picnic lunch on the grounds at the end of our tasting. The proprietor was very nice and gave us temporary tattoos of kiwi birds.
Mystery Winery - I didn't make notes about any of the wines at this tiny place and recall dumping several glasses after a small taste.
Oso Libre - This was my favorite stop of the day, though not because of the wine. It was recommended to us by the pourer at Veris, but when we asked Colby if we could go he refused; it was too far, he said. After Mystery Winery, however, Marion turned on a combination of coquetry and cold, hard negotiation skills. She presented him with information about the winery's location pulled from Google and talked the other group sharing the van with us into going as well, and Colby finally threw up his hands and said he couldn't turn down a request from a group of ladies. The drive was, in fact, longer than it had looked because the road was hilly and narrow, but it was well worth it. Instead of doing a tasting, we sat outside with a bottle. The weather was absolutely spectacular and it was nice to be out of a tasting room, chatting and enjoying the view of rolling hills.

After a bit of downtime at the house, we got dolled up for a night on the town. Marion, of course, wore white and the rest of us stepped out in black dresses to provide a good backdrop for her. We had dinner at a great restaurant in San Luis Obispo called Novo, where we sat on an outdoor patio next to the creek. Alas, none of us are quite as young as we used to be. The plan had been to go bar-hopping into the night, but after a full day of wine tasting in the sun and a good meal, that wasn't sounding like such a good idea anymore. We walked into, then out of, a few bars along the main drag and ended up throwing in the towel earlier than planned. Back at the house, we all changed into PJs and chatted in the living room until past midnight.

Sadly, the next day I had to head back to New York, though the other five girls stayed on to spend the day at Hearst Castle and go out on the town again. I was sorry to miss it, but even a short trip out there was fantastic. Los Osos is one of my favorite places and it was great to spend time there, run along the water, sip wine against a world class backdrop, and (best of all) share it with friends old and new. I'm looking forward to reuniting with this group in a month for Marion's big day!