Wine tasting in the sun :-)

On Sunday we were delighted to be invited to the Vintage Santa Clara Wine & Food Festival with Eric and Rose - an annual alumni event at Santa Clara University where Eric was a student. Now, this most likely conjures up an image of elegantly dressed people sniffing, swirling and spitting fine wines in the sunshine - and you would almost be right! There were many elegantly dressed people, there were lots of very fine wines, but not a whole lot of "tasting" going on!!






So, I'll set the scene. We're in a courtyard at the uni and it's full of little white tented stalls representing all the local wineries. Once you had paid for your ticket, everything at the event was free, so you just picked up your glass on arrival and started making your way round the stalls.

Now, we tried to be methodical so we could fit all the stalls in but that plan soon fell by the wayside!! (At this point I should probably point out that we were only getting wee taster pours at each stand, although there was nothing to stop you going back repeatedly if you found one you liked!)




There was every kind of wine under the sun, and even a few beers if you were that way inclined, but I stuck to the red and soon lost track of what I had and hadn't tried! My personal favourite was easy to remember though, as it was a rather delicious cabernet sauvignon from the Punch Vineyard, which was the name of my dog when I was a kid! :-)




Luckily some local restaurants also had stands and we were able to line our stomachs with chicken skewers, calamari, roast hog, and a Mexican ground beef pasty which was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten!!






A wonderful ageing rock band provided the sound track for the afternoon, and inevitably there was much dancing as the wine took hold!








It was a wonderful afternoon, and full of many moments where Hubby and I had to pinch ourselves as we still cannot quite believe that this is our life now!







But our day was not over yet. Custom dictates that when the festival ends everyone make there way to the local student bar a short walk away - and I mean everyone!! I have never seen so many people crammed in to one place, and it was incredibly uncomfortable so we didn't stay long.



Eric told us an interesting story, though, of how everyone comes after graduation and pins a dollar bill with their business card (or some just write their name on the bill) to the ceiling, and if they get made redundant they can come back and take the dollar down and get a free drink. I thought that was a nice story, and all the dollar bills made an impressive sight!



Any sane person would have gone home at this point, but we stayed out for another hour or two, luckily in a much quieter bar, before we headed for the train home - very drunk and very happy ..... *hic*

A HUGE thank you to Eric and Rose for an awesome day out!!! x