A Lunch To Remember

The road to golden riches, including white wine, is often fraught with perils. Mine included a 10% chance of rain that never materialized, high winds that made Miku sway in the rural segments of my journey, and critters like bears and city kitties camped out on the shoulders of Interstate 15 in both directions. You probably know them better by their more familiar names like the California Highway Patrol and local law enforcement. 

I had no choice but to drive Miku at a steady 70 miles an hour or else I’d have to invent a clever excuse why I’ve ghosted my eighteen month class reunion at The Improv traffic school for the past three plus decades. In the old days, that was a $25 nuisance plus a small fine. Nowadays it's a car payment sized donation to the lawmakers in Sacramento that can't balance a budget. Ara ara!

The menu at Meritage at Callaway has changed, and although I intended to try the fish tacos I was sidetracked by a tempting entree. Prosciutto wrapped halibut with pan friend potatoes, spicy sauerkraut and cardamom beer sauce just sounded too good to pass up. I paired it with the recommended pinot gris and my palette was singing throughout the meal. I also noticed there were more customers in the restaurant on this visit, which is a plus.

I bought a bottle of the pinot gris for my wine rack, and then I remembered I’m meeting Spo in roughly two weeks. I picked up another bottle of this week’s wine so I have something to share with him. The total bill for the entree and the glass of wine was about $50, and the two bottles plus a generous tip pushed the total well past $100. That’s nothing compared to what happened next.

This time I entered the on site gift shop, where my debit card and I can get into a lot of trouble. There’s a wine tasting room that would likely require me to have a hotel room booked to crash in, and another room upstairs exclusive to wine club members. 

The merch is quite unique, and I found stuff that negates Wednesday’s trip to Williams Sonoma. This beautiful mini cheese board ($50) and matching utensil set ($95) caught my eye. I bought two corkscrews that have slide out foil cutters ($14 each) instead of blades, and I wanted a cork trucker’s hat ($38) suitable to wear when I drive Miku topless. I added a generous tip, likely because I adore the design of these items, and that broke the $250 threshold.

So, yeah. I spent about $430 and used about four gallons of 91 octane, which made this a $150 an hour day trip to Temecula Wine Country. Ara ara!

I left the winery with a big smile on my face — and an application to join their wine club. I would love to come out here once a month!