A horse-drawn carriage ride is a romantic way to take in city streets, wander down country lanes, or pick up your towed car from the impound lot. Traverse roads less travelled in style with today's Groupon for wine-tasting carriage tours from White Horse Carriage Co. in Paso Robles. Choose between the following options.
For $95, you get a three-hour Savor package ride for two (a $190 value), which includes the following:
- Four boutique-wine tastings at local vineyards
- A horse-carriage ride to each tasting
- A snack lunch, including chocolates, cheeses, and fruit
For $135, you get a four-hour Grande Cru package ride for two (a $270 value), which includes the following:
- Four boutique-wine tastings at local vineyards
- A horse-carriage ride to each tasting
- A picnic lunch, including baguette, finger sandwiches, chocolates, cheeses, and fruit
- A mini video recorder
- An edited digital copy of the video feed
During White Horse Carriage tasting tours, drivers dispel knowledge of Paso Robles wines on guests perched in a carefully restored, vis-à-vis Victorian carriages migrating through wine country toward four tasting flights. Palates discern the flavorful nuances of one wine flight per vineyard, transported by the meditative clip-clopping of Angel, the cheery spanish-norman steed. Midnight Cellars and the sustainable fields of Caliza pour samples of varietals produced in batches as small as a field-mouse's decanter, and the red-wine-only Dark Star Cellars offers a tasty introduction to offspring winery Brian Benson Cellars, run by the grandson of Dark Star's founder.
Between tastings, twosomes sink toes into limestone soil and turn faces toward warm rays while picnicking on a vineyard's grounds. Mandibles chase bites of expertly paired chocolates, cheeses, and fruit amid grapevines and lush trees while guests treat Angel to any carrots and cookies they brought from home or stole from an unwitting squirrel. Buyers opting for the Grand Cru package are lent a small video camera to capture memories and breathtaking views, after which the feed reappears as an edited digital copy.