The Gold Country Wine Tour started at 10:30 a.m. at the Post Office in Plymouth, California. We had 11 cars, five Maseratis and four Lamborghinis. The Maseratis included John and Carol Asmus in their 1968 Indy, Steve and Paula Barber in their 1960 3500 Coupe, Paul and Ellen Musilaar in their 1982 QPorte III, George and Bobbie Andreini in their 2005 Coupe, and Gene and Vicki O’Gorman in their 1972 Ghibli Coupe. A very good turnout for this late in the year. We were lucky with the weather, as the day stared about 60 degrees and warmed up through the day.

We visited two wineries before heading to Fairplay, California, for lunch at Bocconato Trattoria. Lunch turned out to be quite an event as the menu was authentic Northern Italian. After lunch which lasted until 2:30PM we toured three additional wineries. We had a little time off before dinner. Dinner was held in Jackson at the lovely Tuscan Villa called Villa Buscaglia. A Tuscan Villa in Jackson, California? Hard to believe, but a really spectacular place. They had spent over two years building and have done an excellent job of making it look authentic. The dinner was in a private dinning room in the wine cellar. By the time dinner started it had also started to rain. We were inside, but the servers had to bring the food from the kitchen through the rain. They really did an outstanding job and all the food was served hot and was covered.

The cars were parked in a private area and the parking attendant stayed the whole time to be sure no one bothered the cars. When we came out Steve Barber had a flat tire that had to be changed. By this time the rain had let up. The parking attendant had a good light, and this went off without a hitch. The restaurant owner was so enthused with the cars she invited us back on Sunday morning for Champagne to get good pictures of the cars. Sunday was another great day, as the rain had moved on and the sun was out once again.

Thanks to John and Carol Asmus for organizing a great event.