Go thee to the castle! 

I had a very good friend visit recently from Montana, and we basically spent one of her days here visiting the various castles in the area. Yes, there is more than one. Although, there might actually only be two. We went to Hearst Castle, of course. And after that, we headed to a much more modern, hip castle, where you can actually sit on the furniture, enjoy the fire, and drink some wine! I'm talking about Tooth & Nail Winery off Highway 46, where the art is dark, the castle is dank, and the wine is sassy. We spent the rainy afternoon next to the big fireplace, tasting through the winery's offerings and landing on a bottle to take home for dinner. The 2014 Amor Fati Syrah. It's a luscious wine with aromas of dark fruit and clove. It dances on the tongue with a velvety mouth feel, and it also paired pretty well with the pasta we threw together after a trip to the grocery store—a homemade tomato sauce with turkey sausage, artichoke, onions, and garlic. Yes the wine was good, but our favorite part about the visit to the castle was the pillows. Their pillowcases showcased the George Costanza underwear photo (from Seinfeld) and a sexy (read that ironically) black-and-white of Nic Cage. Very pose-worthy, indeed, especially after a couple of sips off the tasting menu.

Get yourself a bottle of that 2014 Amor Fati Syrah ($59.99) at the castle on a hill, 3090 Anderson Road (Highway 46 West and Anderson Road), Paso Robles. Δ

Editor Camillia Lanham knows she's sassy, but not that classy. Send her your favorite sips and bites at [email protected].