Santa Barbara County trip (lengthy)

On Oct. 16th, a Thursday, I drove from Oxnard to Santa Barbara and on to Solvang. I stopped in Santa Barbara to visit the Carr Vineyard tasting room where I purchased two bottles of their Pinot Gris and one bottle of Pinot Noir. I would have visited the Jaffurs tasting room but it was not open on Thursday.
Friday after a night at the Storybook Inn Bed and Breakfast in Solvang, I collected pastries at a Danish bakery for a late lunch and headed out to Kenneth Volk Vineyards. I tried the Santa Maria Cuvee Pinot Noir, the Sierra Madre P.N. and Garey Vineyard P.N. (local vineyard not Garys' Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands.). All the Pinots were over 14% alcohol. Fortunately, I liked the least expensive one best and bought a bottle of the Santa Maria Cuvee for $26 plus tax. I also like the Negrette (a grape variety from Southwestern France that is sometimes called Pinot St. George in California.) I tried the Kenneth Volk Merlot and Syrah and liked the Syrah (that's what my notes say anyway but I don't see Syrah mentioned on their website. I have in my notes possibly from Nielsen Vineyard?)

Was looking for Foxen Vineyard on the same road to try their unoaked Chardonnay (and a retailer in Solvang recommended their Chenin Blanc) but must have driven past it twice. Someone at Fess Parker said it is a barn and can be easily overlooked. Ended up next at Fess Parker Winery where I was not thrilled with the Ashley Vineyard's Pinot Noir (but have liked a Fess Parker P.N. purchased at the grocery store.) The off-dry Riesling was rather nice and good QPR at $14. I tried two Syrahs, Santa Barbara County at $25 and Big Easy--bolder, more expensive, over 16% alcohol--and didn't like it as well as the cheaper one. I didn't picked up on the "grilled meat" in the description of the Big Easy Syrah but maybe did sense some "smoke."
Next stop was Firestone Vineyard where I had the 2006 Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills, the 2007 Gewurztraminer, Santa Ynez Valley (citrus including pink grapefruit, didn't really find the nutmeg or other spices), the 2006 Pinot Noir (very cherry-like with medium rose color and viscosity), and the 2005 Late Harvest Riesling (honeysuckle nose, medium to deep gold color with transparency, honey tastes, botrytis?, ripe peach or apricot.) I didn't purchase anything there but the pourer waived the $10 tasting fee because I didn't try all the wines they were pouring and didn't want a souvenir glass. (Most of the wineries charged $8 or $10 for a tasting.)

On Friday I also stopped at the Tasting Room in Los Olivos. Pinot Noirs I tried included the 2006 Stephen Ross Edna Valley, the 2006 Jack Creek, and the 2006 Flying Goat Rancho Santa Rosa Pinot Noir. I liked the Flying Goat best of the three (14.6% alcohol.) I also tried the 2006 Jaffurs Petite Sirah, Thompson Vineyard. At Heather Cottage in Los Olivos I tried some Daniel Gehr Pinot Noir wines and purchased a bottle of one.

Dinner that night was at the Los Olivos Cafe and Wine Merchant (featured in the movie "Sideways") where I enjoyed a Melville Pinot Noir with permeating cherry bouquet and flavors, smooth drinking with a little pepper on the finish--a medium-bodied P.N. I had a pumpkin papardelle special with porcini mushrooms, red wine jus, sage seasoning and Parmesan cheese shavings and also an artisan cheese plate including pecorino olive (cheese with olive stuffing.)

Saturday I visited wineries around Lompoc (staying in Lompoc Friday and Saturday nights.) First Kathy Joseph's Fiddlehead tasting room where a limousine group (bridal party?) of about seven women pretty much took over the small tasting room. I was going to buy a bottle of the Oldsville Reserve Cuvee Pinot Noir (from a blend of Oregon grapes). I prefered this to the Fiddlestix P.N. from California. However, I misread the price on the tasting list--it was for a 375 ml. bottle which was sold out and the 750 ml. bottle was more than I wanted to pay (about $50) I also tasted a Sweetie (Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc) and the pourer offered a taste of a 1996 Fiddlestix Pinot Noir which was interesting in comparison to the new wines.

After Fiddlehead Winery in the town of Lompoc, I drove along Highway 246 to visit Melville and Babcock Wineries.
I didn't take notes at either place so later confused whether I had the "Nook and Cranny Syrah" at Melville or Babcock (it's from Babcock.) I liked some of the wines at both stops and purchased three bottles from each. At Melville I tasted three Pinot Noirs, the Estate Pinot Noir Verna's, and two vineyard-specific Pinots--Carrie's and Terraces. Carrie's is from dijonnais clones 114 and 115 (832 cases.)
I prefered the Terraces which is from five clones (Swan, Mt. Eden, 115, 667, and 777.) 772 cases of Terraces produced. Both come in at almost 15% alcohol and are $52 each from the winery. Although the Terraces was my favorite, I thought for the price the Estate Pinot Noir Verna's (Los Alomas Estate), ($26) was a better buy and went with it. The Verna's is composed of clones 2A, 667, 777 and Merry Edwards 828. It is labeled 14.5% alcohol. It's fun to read the tasting notes on the Melville website--it describes a number of aromas and flavors that eluded me: http://www.melvillewinery.com/currentreleases.html

At Babcock (next door and up the hill from Melville) I purchased one bottle of a Pinot Noir but splurged on two bottles of Nook and Cranny Syrah at $50 per bottle (beyond my usual spending limit.) Obviously I was impressed. I also tasted "Under the Radar" Syrah, a much less expensive ($18) but unimpressive wine. The "Identity Crisis" Syrah was sold out so I didn't sample that one. From Bryan Babcock's website: Winemaker’s Notes:
"Syrah grown west of Highway 101 in the Santa Ynez Valley can be extraordinary. The trick is in getting it thoroughly ripe. Our vineyard is under a heavy influence from the ocean, and like the rest of the Santa Rita Hills, it’s very cool and breezy through out the growing season. In fact, most of our ranch is too cool to consistently
ripen Syrah. But, as luck would have it, we have a couple of small sites that do accommodate this noble Rhone varietal.
With the exception of Burgundy, the prevailing wisdom says that great vineyards in the northern hemisphere ideally face west or south, so as to insure that their vines get plenty of sun. But with Syrah we have found it necessary to plant on east facing hillsides, out of the wind, where it is actually a couple of degrees warmer throughout the day. With 95% of our vineyards facing the wrong way, we are only talking about a couple of tiny adjacent
hillsides. Making it even more extraordinary is the fact that their soils are a matrix of gravelly loam and shattered sandstone, the kind of stuff that intimately governs the vigorous nature of Syrah, while still allowing it to ripen. What we have are two little viticultural sweet spots, indeed on our ranch, the NOOK & CRANNY for
the growing of world class Syrah. The downside is that we can’t make very much of this stuff. The upside is that 95% of our ranch is Mecca for growing Pinot."

I had in mind to visit Sanford Winery on Santa Rosa Road but after lunch in Solvang was running out of time since the tasting room closes at 4:00 PM on Saturdays. I did drive along the scenic Santa Rosa Road which has other wineries as well as Sanford but didn't stop. I was meeting John and Cindy Tomasso from WLDG forum for dinner at the Hitching Post II in Buellton. (Also a landmark in "Sideways" movie.)

I had a delicious sirloin steak and shared appetizers of grilled artichoke and mushrooms in a red wine reduction with the Tomassos. John ordered a German Pinot Gris which I liked and a 2001 Hitching Post Fiddlestix Pinot Noir. He also brought a late harvest Rousanne made by an acquaintance. All the wines were excellent. We didn't have room for individual desserts but shared a slice of bourbon pecan pie.

(On the small world front, Thursday I dined at Chef's Touch in Solvang. The chef was mentored by Gernot Leitzinger who used to be owner/chef of one of my favorite Monterey Peninsula restaurants. I dined many times at his Old Europe Restaurant in Pacific Grove and once at Gernot's Victoria House when he relocated a block away. Gernot was from the Kitzbuhel, Austria area and some of his specialities were lightly breaded and fried button mushrooms, rabbit and boar.)

Sunday I made a leisurely drive back to Ontario, CA to turn in my rental car and stay overnight near the airport. I stopped for lunch in Ventura where an Art Walk was underway. I dined on the top floor of a building at a restaurant called W20 with a backdrop of bright landscape canvases and a trio called Sunshine Brothers providing music. I wanted to try the Andrew Murray "Tous Les Jours" (every day) Syrah but they were out of it so I had a Mimosa instead.
Tasting rooms and wineries I did NOT get to (too little time) include Andrew Murray, Longoria, Kalyra, Epiphany, Blackjack Ranch. Also Foxen which I did not spot when tasting on Friday. How am I going to manage to return to Sonoma, Oregon, Washington and now Santa Barbara as well?

Just saw this post. Thanks for posting.
Bill

Yeah, sometimes the Travel forum can get overlooked. At least once a day, I hit "new posts" so I'm sure not to miss anything.

Nice post, JC. As I said in the other thread, it was great to meet you and please give us a heads up if you get back to our area again.

[Jenise]

Great notes, JC. Beautiful area, isn't it? I would be happy to spend time there even without the wine, but of course the wine only makes it better. Your note on the Volks brought back recent memories. I bought some of his 04 pinot which Parker rated well and just hated it. It was just a solid wall of tannic black fruit, and nothing there reminded me of the Byron pinots that same ground used to produce. I set them aside then, but recently opened one and found it considerably tamed, drinking far better than I could have imagined and quite enjoyable.

M wife and I enjoyed a pleasant long weekend trip to the Santa Barbara County wine country on February 21-23, 2009. We first stopped in Santa Barbara at the Oreana Winery, where we picked up a couple of bottles of Bag End Cellars Viognier and Syrah (blended with 20% Viognier, in the Côte Rôtie style). We had met the wine maker, Dawnielle Burich, at a tasting in Lake Arrowhead a few months ago, and enjoy her wines.

We then drove on threw the hills to Solvang for a light lunch and wine on Alamo Pintado Road at the new Bistro Rideau at Rideau Vineyards. My wife paticularly enjoys their fruity Iris Estate Viognier. With six bottles of that, and another six of their Tempranillo (which I like) added, we got a 35% discount, and a bottle of their dessert Viognier thrown in for good measure. Their tasting rooms were much too crowded Saturday afternoon to enjoy though.

We then went on to Roblar Winery, a couple miles away in the outskirts of Los Olivos. We enjoyed most and bought bottles of their Semillon (fresh and fruity), and smooth tasting Syrah. We then drove down the road to Beckman winery. It was very crowded there. We stood off alone at an empty side table for a couple of minutes and were about to leave rather than fight through the crowd at the serving bar, but then a nice young man came over and specially helped us. We particularly enjoyed their special Estate Syrahs, the Purisma Mountain Block Six and their Purisma, a blend of Syrah and Grenache. These were the finest (if also most expensive) Syrahs we tasted on this trip, richer and more full of flavor than most other Syrahs we tasted.

We then went to check in at the Ballard Inn, where we stayed and also enjoyed dinner. They have a tasting room off in a side room where you can taste a number of smaller area wines from vintners who don’t have their own tasting rooms. My wife particularly liked the Calzada Ridge Viognier. I enjoyed the Ken Brown and Kenneth Crawford Pinot Noirs and we bought bottles of each. The Inn’s restaurant was crowded for dinner, but the food was excellent, so we can understand its popularity. My wife and I shared a tempura sweet bread appetizer, then I had a mixed seafood dish in a vinegary sauce, while my wife enjoyed only a caesar salad and bread. We shared a bottle of 2005 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir. We thought the wine was very nice, smooth and rich. The restaurant was obliging enough that, since we only wanted half the bottle the first night, to return the bottle back to their wine fridge when we left so we could enjoy the rest the next night.

Sunday morning, after breakfast at the Inn, we drove down the road to spend the day in the Santa Rita Hills. It was much quieter at the tasting rooms than Saturday. We started the morning at Foley Estates. Their Chardonnay was ok, if nothing special, as were their Syrah and Pinot Noir. The Syrah did not match up to Beckman’s we had tasted Saturday, nor was the Pinot close to the Sea Smoke. We learned, however, that Foley has hired winemaker Kris Curran away from Sea Smoke, and her influence should start being tasted in another couple of years.

We then drove back up Highway 246 to Star Lane & Dierberg Winery. Our hostess at Foley was a cousin or something to the Dierbergs, and she recommended the winery highly to us (as had our host at Ballard Inn’s tasting room). The Star Lane wines were largely from grapes grown inland in the Happy Canyon area of Santa Barbara County, a much warmer area than the Santa Rita Hills or San Ynez Valley, and thus supports warmer weather grapes such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. We particularly liked their strong but smooth 2005 Astral Cab.

After a simple lunch in Lompoc, we drove down Santa Rosa Road for an tasting appointment with Morgan Clendenen of Cold Heaven. She shares the facilities with several other small vintners. She brought out a little table, chairs, a heater (it was cold that day), some crackers and goat cheese, a bowl of almonds, three glasses and her wine. We sat around and drank and ate and talked of wine, wine making, vineyards and family for a couple of hours. We loved her company and her wine, and she gave us a great deal buying it. She specializes in Viognier, and it was interesting tasting the differences from grapes grown in different vineyards around the area. Most of her Viognier is in the leaner, European style rather than, say the Rideau Viognier my wife usually likes. We also admired Morgan’s Syrah very much, which was her only red wine. It was almost as good as the Beckman Syrah we had Saturday (and she said she uses some of their grapes) but at half their price. Our time with Morgan was the most enjoyable wine tasting experience of this trip. Later, we stopped at a wine shop in Solvang and saw some of her ex’s Au Bon Climat wine. He named two of his Pinot Noirs for their kids, Knox and Isabelle, and after hearing about hearing all about them from Morgan earlier, we couldn’t resist from buying a bottle of each.

After Cold Heaven, we drove down Santa Rosa Road to Alma Rosa Winery. This winery is owned by Richard Sanford, who sold out his name brand wine a few years ago to a big Chicago corporation. Alma Rosa has the same tasting room Sanford had a few years ago, as the new company moved its tasting room down the road a few miles. We are big fans of the old Sanford Pinot Noirs, and several people told us we should go to Alma Rosa rather than the new Sanford, so we did. They have a special tasting flight of just their pinots, which we did. Alma Rosa was the only place we visited that uses screw caps instead of corks for their red wines. Alma Rosa was the only place we visited that uses screw caps instead of corks for their red wines. Though they were a very young 2007 vintage, we particularly liked the Block 667 and Block 777 pinots. We asked our hostess why Sanford called the blocks “667" and “777" but she didn’t know. Another young winery worker came by and our hostess asked him, and while he didn’t know, he suggested they should have a Block 420 wine. When we expressed our ignorance of the designation, he explained that “420" has a special meaning for the drug culture people, and that he knew several local wine makers had a “very special” wine blend with marijuana they shared with select friends (though he was quick to add that did not include Richard Sanford). Something new you learn every day!

We then went back to enjoy a second dinner at the Ballard Inn. The restaurant was much quieter on Sunday night. We shared a sashimi appetizer, and my wife had fillet mignon for a main course, will I had a crisp slice of snapper. We finished off the Sea Smoke pinot, which was even more tasty the second day. For dessert we shared warm chocolate cake, ice cream and a yummy port wine from Daniel Gehrs. My wife didn’t finish her steak, but the restaurant was kind enough to keep her left overs overnight and cook them in an omelet for us for breakfast Monday. After breakfast, we picked up some fresh pastries at Olsen’s in Solvang, and headed down Highway 101 to home. It was a wonderful long weekend trip.

Thanks for your notes. About the only stop we shared was Olsen's bakery in Solvang, but I will have to visit Alma Rosa if I get back there. I'm sorry you didn't get to Babcock or Melville. (I wonder if the block numbers refer to the clone used in that part of the vineyard?)

You're right, it's clone numbers rather than block numbers I mistakenly typed. But what the tasting room hostess and us didn't know is whether that meant they tried 667 and 777 clones before reaching these, or if they were random numbers, or what.

Ok I answered my own question by doing an internet search. Melville Vineyards has a good explanation of the clone numbers at their website.http://www.melvillevineyards.com/clones.html.

Thanks for the link, Steve. I knew a few of the clones you mentioned were from Dijon but didn't have the additional information about their contribution to the resulting wines or the sharing from Sea Smoke and Merry Edwards, etc.

Thank you for your excellent report.
The weekend you were here coincided with the Amgen cycling event in Solvang, so there were thousands of additional people here. The tasting rooms are not normally that crowded during these months.

i was recently in this area also. one should not miss the actual mission of santa barbara - very lovely. the best winery i found was Tensley and their tasting room is in los olivos. they are very small and do mostly syrah and mostly without new oak. just wonderful stuff. the real deal - northern rhone in spades.

I have visited the mission in Santa Barbara on a previous trip. Back before digital photography I ended up with an interesting double photo of the mission in the background and New Mexican Indian figures (from a museum in Albuquerque) in the foreground. It had the eery appearance of "ghost" Indians haunting the mission.

an artist in spite of yourself

Yes, the accidental artist.

[David M. Bueker]

Thank you for starting this thread with you story JC (and Steve for adding your thoughts as well). It's been nearly 5 years since I was last in Santa Barbara for wine tasting (I get there for work once in a while - but no time for much other than maybe an offline dinner). I was able to visit Babcock and Melville in 2004 (I have been a buyer of hte Babcock Black Label Syrah for years), but spent most of my time washing bins and shoveling grape must for Brian Loring and Andrew Vignello at the old Pinot prison.

but spent most of my time washing bins and shoveling grape must for Brian Loring and Andrew Vignello at the old Pinot prison.

I notice they are sourcing some of their grapes from Shea Vineyard.