Travels with The Rayman

The only other time I remember being invited to sit at the Captain’s Table was on a cruise down the Soane when my Uncle was traveling with us.  He refused to accept the invite because, well, he could.  He may have said he wasn’t feeling well, because he wasn’t feeling well.  So, out of family support that evening, we declined the invitation.

Last night we were assigned to table one at a winery dinner.  And at that table were the owners of Dresser Winery which is located up the road, aptly named Dresser Ranch Place.  At the turn off at Dresser Ranch Place sits a just painted old house that my Grandparents, Birdie and Rollo Dresser, lived in for a bit of time.  It was “the ranch house.”  It is a house with a rich local history and it appears the new owners as of the beginning of this month, are sprucing the place up which is a huge relief to all that might strive to preserve history.  

 

But I digress.

Bottomline, the owners of the winery are entranced with the history of the Dresser Ranch for which I am personally thrilled and very much a Dresser descendant.  Because I am writing a book about the history of the place and my family, our stars collided when my friend, Tim Bryan, surprised me with a bottle of Dresser wine to introduce me to the new label.  

Life takes twists and turns like a mountain road, often when you least expect it  And in this case, my reaction to the turn of events replete with twists, was nothing short of swift.  Immediately, I joined the Dresser Winery wine club and as luck would have it, a party was planned for March 17.  So, along with buying a case of wine, I bought two tickets to the party.  And it was at that party, that we were assigned to table one.   

When we arrived, we were pointed to the pool area…a huge affair that called my name.  And this is where we met some ladies from Washington, D.C.  They had flown in for the event.  The smallest woman of the three was a retired Air Force officer, and she was a base commander in Ohio.  OMG.  Now, she works as a civilian at the Pentagon.  Oh, so many questions we had.  These three flew in for the weekend and ended up at the party that was limited to 40 diners.  It blows the mind.  We met a couple from San Diego.  They were bicyclists so we had much to discuss since we are bicycle groupies….we know and love dozens of bicyclists.  They are, after all, very brave.  

The kicker was the  husband and wife owners of the winery were like ying and yang as she was eleqant and he was a hoot, donned in a pair of green pants with an interesting print.  You know, you never want to look too long at prints on a pair of pants for fear of being considered too brazen, too improper.  But the pants were a scream.  Loved them.

Finally, the wine was delicious.  A different varietal was paired with the courses of the food and the entire affair struck the right note on the full mooned night.  That came as an instant relief to me because up until that moment, I had never had a glass of Dresser Wine.  A fine introduction all around.  A neophyte struck gold, is my description of the experience.  

A shout out to the others at the table.  A couple from Los Gatos, a couple from Atascadero.  The Atascadero folks were quite fabulous.  And as luck would have it, they are leaving for France at the end of this month…he is a winemaker at another winery, and she is a retired nurse who is too young to retire and so has developed another opportunity for herself which includes travel..  With youth on their side, the world is their oyster.  Of course, I had to refer them to my  blog and she impressively looked it up right there.  He was so moderate and kind.  Special people to our right.  

The other couple were from the Bay Area and he may have missed his calling.  He would give Larry King a run for his money.  Their story of how they met and married certainly caught our imagination.  They have been doing it right now for 45 years!  Because they were further away from me, it was very difficult for me to hear them.  Admittedly, I am deaf as a doornail, so missed out on most of the conversation, so I spent my time looking at them and I am here to report, their outfits were perfect.  Very well dressed and coifed.  

The wait staff was generous, efficient, and quite fun by the time I had gulped down about 3 bottles of wine.  Just sayin.  

They billed the party as dinner from 7 to 9.  We didn’t get home until 11:45.  So jazzed were we, that we talked all the way home, excited to be alive, to be healthy, to be wine menbers of the Dresser Winery.  

As a completely unexpected gesture, I invited the owners to dinner at our house for a TBD date.  .  The invitation included my offer to share many pictures with them.  They loved a few of the pictures I emailed them so, who knows?  He is a self described history buff and they are brilliant to have snapped up the Dresser name for their label.  So, one never knows.  

What I do know, without a doubt, is that you all need to go to the Dresser Winery east of Paso Robles.  It will definitely worth your time if you love red wine.  It’s so fine.

And I need to finish my book.