After Halloween, it's Harvest (again)

The harvest celebration has come and gone in Paso Robles, but it's hitting SLO this weekend, and there's still time to get tickets to many of the festivities.

Friday night features winemaker dinners at area restaurants. Some are already sold out, though reservations for others are still available. The most unique might be dinner in the rose garden at the Mission de Tolosa with Tolosa Winery.

Saturday from 1-5pm the wineries and local restaurants join together for the Grand Tasting at Avila Beach Golf Resort, with food and wine, live jazz, live and silent auctions. Tickets are $75.

Sunday, I'll be stomping grapes at Per Bacco Cellars, one of many special activities at the wineries of the San Luis Obispos Vintners and Growers Association. Among other activities, Baileyana will break in its new bocce ball courts and many others are featuring special food and/or live music.

Find information on all the events here.

A hauntingly good time for all

There are countless Halloween activities out there tomorrow night, but here's one that can be enjoyed by young and older.

With Oktoberfest drawing to a close (though Thursday-Saturday celebrations continue through this weekend) Old Vienna in Shell Beach is transforming itself into the Enchanted Black Forest.

For singles and parents, the bar is open for spirits and witch's brew, and kids can keep themselves occupied with the free "not-to-haunted house," spooky snacks and wormy swamp punch.

Festivities go from 5-9pm.

Brew and food masters

If beer is more your thing, another option for Saturday night is the Brewmasters Dinner at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort.

For $30, you get a four-course dinner paired with beers from Central Coast Brewing. The meal prepared by Chef David McWilliams starts with a ponzu-glazed scallop with julienne Asian pears on the half shell paired with honey wheat ale. The second course is stuffed heirloom pork belly, baby arugula, frisse with Golden Glow veal jus paired with Golden Glow Ale, followed by a third course of porcini mushroom malfatti and shaved pecorino cheese paired with Scotch Ale. And for dessert, a German chocolate cake served with Central Coast Stout.

Call 805-595-7302 for reservations.

Haunting the caves

So every town and city can have their haunted houses, but how many can offer haunted caves?

It's the last weekend before Halloween, and Saturday and Sunday feature Eberle Winery's Haunted Caves tours, from 5-6:30 and 7-9 both nights (for ages 10 and up).

The winery decorates and decks out its 16,000 feet of underground cave to become one of the spookiest events around. Above ground, there are games and bounce house.

For older kids (21 and up), there is complimentary wine tasting.

Divine music in a divine location

Regular live music venues are scant in SLO County. But a lot of fantastic acts come through the county for special events and performances at our many wineries. This weekend brings one such act.

Harry Manx is bringing his renowned folk-world-blues music to Stacked Stone Cellars at 6 p.m. Saturday. (Gates open at 4:30. Bring a blanket or lawn chair.)

Manx plays his blend of blues and Indian ragas on a 20-string guitar/sitar hybrid called the Mohan Veena, a lap slide guitar, blues harp and six-string banjo. You can listen to sample of his music here (click on Media Player)

The appearance was arranged by Matt's Music Stage and School (formerly Divine Appointment Guitars) in Paso Robles. Tickets are $20; call 805-237-0054 to purchase. Dinner and wine will be available for an extra charge.

It's here! Harvest time is here!

When I was little, Halloween was my favorite holiday. Now I look forward to the end of October for another reason -- the harvest festivals in our two distinguished wine regions.

Vineyard workers already have been hard at work harvesting this year's grape crop and it's time to join them in celebration.

Paso's Harveset Wine Tour spans this weekend, with three days of events hosted by the wineries. There's so much to choose from, it's almost overwhelming. There are winemaker dinners, cooking classes, food pairing seminars, tours of the vineyards, barrel tastings, live music, barbecues and picnics. You can find a full schedule on our web site here or at the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance.

The Edna and Arroyo Grande valleys follow Nov. 2-4 with the SLO Vintners Harvest Celebration. Friday night, the wineries host their own winemaker dinners. Saturday from 1-5pm they join together for the Grand Tasting at Avila Beach Golf Resort, with food and wine, live jazz, live and silent auctions. Tickets are $75. You can buy tickets online here. Sunday brings open houses at the member wineries, with free admission for those with bracelets from the Grand Tasting. You can find a list of all the planned festivities, as well as information on Friday's winemaker dinners, here.

Harvest is definitely one of the best time to get out and visit our local wineries, so go enjoy!

And to read a story about this year's harvest, which is small but reportedly high quality, click here.

Fall afternoon in the apple orchards

While we still have plenty of beautiful, warm days, it is starting to feel a bit more like fall.

And a favorite fall family activity is heading out to the apple orchards of See Canyon.

What to do with all those apples? Find some ideas, and a little taste of the apple experience, in our recent story here.