Travel to Europe
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We've been in Europe the past week on a trip to promote Paso wine and our winery to folks in England, Ireland and Germany. We enjoy going on these trips to spread the word about what makes Paso Robles so special and to visit places we've never been before. The California Wine Institute sponsored our group of six wineries and it's been a jolly good time. We have been selling wine in the UK for several years and our importer seems to visit us every year and it was time to reciprocate.
Our first stop in London was for a few days and it's really such a beautiful city. I was fortunate to visit for a week twenty years ago and like a lot of the world it seems even more busy and crowded than I remember. We had a couple events with consumers in London where we were able to pour our wines and talk about what we do in Paso including the pasta factory and restaurant.
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Next up was a short visit to Dublin. A first time for me and we visited the Guinness brewery over St. Patricks weekend. The tour was beyond impressive and gave me tour envy as we build our program for Etto Pastificio factory tours. The seven level tour was a multimedia and historical extravaganza. I guess when you have 250 years to figure things out you can really come up with something special. Stephy has always loved the beer and now I'm a convert as well. I highly recommend a visit here.
By the time we reached Germany I really needed some pasta - it had almost been a week. Luckily Italian restaurants abound and I found a place run by Italian with real nonnas cooking and the pasta was legit. I presented at a huge wine fair in Dusseldorf pictured above with the pasta to fuel me. I was able to connect with some old friends and share our story with folks from around the globe. We never thought twenty years ago we would be presenting our wines and ourselves in front of a Jumbotron in Germany.
We will be home in a couple days refreshed with some new inspiration. We look forward to sharing some more details about our adventure, but mainly look forward to getting home and cooking again. Every time we leave home we are grateful to be in Paso and realize what a special community we have.
