Week 407 - Sculpterra Winery & Sculpture Garden - 06-01-2014

Sculpterra Winery & Sculpture Garden

Paso Robles California is home to over 200 wineries. This week we remain in Atascadero interviewing potential renters for our home. We always strive to present travelogues with interesting stories and photos. So while "we are in Home, we'll do as the Homans do", visit some local wineries. And with so many beautiful winery properties, it could make for lots of great travelogues.

This week we showcase Sculpterra Winery & Sculpture Garden and it is gorgeous!!! The first thing you will notice as you enter the winery is the beautiful ironwork. The gates, fencing, railings and tasting room chandeliers are the work of Robert Bentley. The entire property is a display of a variety of artist's works.

Entering the gardens surrounding the tasting room, the landscape is filled with greenery and sculptures.

Sculpterra is owned by the Frankel family. While our families are not close we feel quite connected to the Frankels. Dr. Warren Frankel is a member and teacher at our church, Atascadero Bible Church. Our children went to North County Christian School with his children. Pete first coached Dr. Frankel's son Luke in 8th grade basketball and on and off until Luke graduated high school. After high school Luke was the videographer for girl's basketball for the four years that Pete assisted with high school girl's basketball. As such Pete (and Ellen) spent hundreds of hours with Luke who not only did the filming but assisted at every practice and on road trips.

But we digress! The tasting room is filled with paintings, sculptures, chandeliers and a painted ceiling. Don't forget to sample the estate-grown pistachios. The pistachios are high quality, the wines are high quality, but the best part of visiting Sculpterra is knowing that your patronage is going toward quality people who help the needy.

Quoting from the Sculpterra website "In 2002, Dr. Frankel joined with other doctors and founded “His Healing Hands“, a medical missionary foundation that sends medical missionary teams on short-term trips all over the world to care for the most needy under-privileged peoples on all five continents. They also respond to catastrophic disasters and have been invited to provide medical relief work in Indonesia after the Tsunami, Pakistan after the earthquake and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Read more about Dr. Frankel’s Medical Missionary work in his new book. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Sculpterra wine are donated to “His Healing Hands”."

This aerial view, from the Sculpterra website, shows the beautiful grounds just outside of the city of Paso de Robles.

Once in the garden you are treated to a vast display of sculpture.

Clockwise starting at 7 o'clock you are treated to "Golden Morning", the14 foot , 17,000 pound granite cat created by world-famous artist John Jagger. We were privileged to spend time, many years ago, with John in a home church Bible study. From the Sculpterra website "John Jagger was a world renowned professional sculptor for over 45 years and spent most of his life creating here, on the Central Coast of California. His monuments grace many cities throughout the U.S and abroad with the largest collection of his life’s work on display here at Sculpterra Winery. John Jagger passed away on June 6, 2013, he will be missed by many but his work lives on."

Continuing through the garden you can view "Yahoo" a 15 foot, 2,000 pound bucking bronco. . .

. . . "Tarpon" an eleven foot fish . . .

. . . "Mega Dragon II . . .

. . . "Golden Hooves", J. Jagger's largest in the "Dancing Horse Series". . .

. . . and "Sweet Dreams" a sleeping cat snoozing on a branch. There are more sculptures to treat yourself to when you visit.

One of the wines created here is "Heroe". Heroe is a Cabernet Sauvignon dedicated to the hard working production staff of Sculpterra. This and all other wines are under the watchful eye and creative juices of winemaker Paul Frankel, the Doctor's son.

Visit on a Sunday and enjoy live music from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. No cover charge, just a passing of the tip jar.

For lots more information about Sculpterra please visit their website and their winery.

As you leave your deliciously wonderful day, you are thanked. And we thank you for "traveling with us". Bon Apetitt!

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from May 2014