HEARST CASTLE and more PETITE SIRAH

Yesterday was incredible.  Today, a different kind of enjoyment.  But to begin, if you can recall the photo I took from our hotel room of the landscape, I mentioned something about what looked like an apple tree.  So I went this morning to that area, and, indeed, apples. 

The drive to Hearst Castle took around 40 minutes.  Rough Pacific Ocean near the entrance to the site.

Then the entrance.

Inside.

The visit was essentially a bus tour to the mansion and back.

Stopped at the entrance of Hearst Castle.

Naval oranges.

Oak tree.

Hearst Castle.

• Has 165 rooms.
• Tour is wheel-chair accessible.
• Senator, prospector and businessman George Hearst purchased 40,000 acres near San Simeon Bay in 1865.
• Wife Phoebe.
• Son William Randolph, who eventually acquired 250,000 acres.

• 
  William Randolph Hearst went to Harvard, took over his father's San Francisco newspaper, and built an empire
• Began building Hearst Castle in 1919, and took 28 years to complete.

• 
  Architect:  Julia Morgan.
• Married wife Millicent in 1903 (that photo above was taken in 1923), and remained married, but mostly separated, until his death.  They had five children and 10 grandchildren, one being Patty Hearst, who is now 71 years old and still alive.

• 
  WRH and his mistress, Marion Davis (a prominent success story in her own right), began their affair in 1917, almost went bankrupt in the later 1930s and lived in Hearst Castle until 1947, when they moved to her home in Beverly Hills.  He died in 1951, and the family gave the castle to the state of California.  This is now a California State Park.

• 
  Inspired the movie, Citizen Kane.  Rotten Tomatoes:  99/90.
• This was a fictional biography of WRH.
• Was not filmed in Hearst Castle, for the movie's Xanadu was in Florida.
• Remember Rosebud?  Was Kane's childhood sled, and represented his lost innocence.
• The American Film Industry ranks this movie as the best ever made!

Scenes in and around Hearst Castle for the tour.

Neptune Pool.

We then went to Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill.  First a painting in the bar.

I had fish tacos, beer and a Bloody Mary.

The table.

Joanne and Linda.

We were then planning to visit San Simeon winery, which we thought was in San Simeon.  But the only winery in this city close by Hearst Castle is called Hearst Ranch Winery.  Made a few calls, and found out that San Simeon Winery is run by the Riboli Family, and, incredibly enough, their tasting room was across the street from our hotel.  Frankly, I suggested the tour of Hearst Castle mostly because I thought this winery was in San Simeon, and read that they had Petite Sirah.

So on to the Riboli Family San Antonio Winery tasting room.  Here we found some San Simeon Petite Sirah.

Bought three bottles of San Simeon Petit Sirah.  Had to include a tarantula, and you need to go to my posting of yesterday to appreciate why,.

Our day ended with wines from San Simeon at the flame rocks.

Tomorrow, Opolo and Tobin James.

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