Edna Valley Vineyard

For a rundown of the whole trip and links to other activities from our vacation, go here.

Even though we went to Pismo Beach over Napa Valley, I was still determined to find a California vineyard. Much like Napa Valley, Edna Valley vineyards outside Pismo Beach, grows their vineyard in volcanic soil. Edna Valley Vineyard faces Islay Hill, one of the dormant volcanoes, with the other volcanoes located just beyond.

Called San Luis Obispo Wine Country, there are more than twenty vineyards and wineries nestled in the mountains behind Pismo Beach amongst the dormant volcanoes. We didn't make a full day of it - we had gorgeous Montana De Oro to visit, but we did make sure to visit Edna Valley Vineyard, the one place I heard had the most gorgeous scenery, which it did.

My favorite part of the Edna Valley Vineyard winery was the views of Islay Hill through the tasting room window.

With the grassy area overlooking the dormant volcano coming in at a close second.

 

We asked and they do have tours, but we had missed the times and I don't recall exactly what they were. Their demonstration vineyard out front had all different vines of each different kinds of grapes they use.

Each vine was numbered to correlate with an explanation of each grape, how it is grown, where it comes from, and what wine it is used for on the guide you can see in the above photo.

The vines were just budding and I can just imagine how gorgeous they will be in full bloom.

 

 My favorite part of the demonstration vineyard was the mountains in the background.

 This sign graces Edna Valley Vineyard's driveway as you exit.

As we drove on our way to Montana de Oro, the wine country drive was absolutely stunning with vineyards spanning the valley below the mountains.

 

Before reaching Montana de Oro, we made a quick stop at Edna Valley's sister winery in an old schoolhouse on the way for some more gorgeous views. Although, be forewarned I took power lines out of the first photo, so while it looks adorable in the photo, the power lines kinda ruined the serenity, at least from the outside -- fortunately the next two photos were also from this sister winery of Edna's and completely untouched.

 

  

We also stopped by Starbucks in San Luis Obispo for a road trip treat and discovered their new, delicious cake balls. We tried the birthday cake and the coffee one. I'm not a huge fan of birthday cake in general, and usually love coffee, but in this case I definitely loved the birthday cake balls the best. Yum!

 

Granted, much as I love it, I am allergic to wine except for Pinot Noir and ended up falling asleep that night at six with a headache and sleeping til' the next morning at eight with only a short break for a delicious dinner at In N Out at eleven. Though seeing Pismo Beach's gorgeous wine country was totally worth it