When I plan to go wine tasting, I go big. We did 10 wineries the first day and 7 the next day. That's how I roll. We had plenty of time at each, and got the full experience, as you'll read on.
Day 1:
We started the day at Fess Parker, and Larry generously showed us around the place, giving us a valuable education on how wine is made, taking it further than any of the 4 of us had been able to glean from other tours in the past. I also got to watch him work with the ph tester on some samples, which I thought was really cool. We had a great retiree (who plays golf the other 5 days of the week) do our tastings and Larry stopped in at some point during it as well, to chat and see us off. We enjoyed the Clone 115 pinot very much, as well as the Riesling which we did purchase while there. If we didn't already have 20-some bottles of syrah in our cellar, we probably would have purchased more of those as well. The facility is so clean, and the tasting room is gorgeous, and having a personal tour guide in Larry made it all the better. I tried to score a tasting of Frontier Red, but they only had like 12 bottles left, so I made Larry promise me he would alert me when another great bottling (yes, I know, each year is the 'best vintage ever!') shows up!
From Fess Parker, we headed down the road to Foxen, and had a great tasting experience there as well. I believe his name was Bob, and he was friendly and fun to talk to. This visit we did enjoy the wines far more than the last time we were there, and we signed up to be added to the list. I recall the GSM and estate pinot were particularly pleasing - I wish I kept the tasting list, for Foxen or any of the rest, darn it.
A request from one of our travelmates took us to Zaca Mesa, where they had an interesting wine and Halloween candy pairing going on - some, like the Viognier and Hot Tamales and the 2003 Syrah with Dove dark chocolate, were quite fantastic.
After this, we headed to downtown Los Olivos for some turbo tasting. First stop was Andrew Murray, which was highly recommended to us here and by others. Nice clean, good sized tasting room, and a LOT of wines to pour - 11 in all, if I recall. We were particularly drawn to the 2005 Esperance (GSM) and 2004 Enchante (60% Roussanne, 40% Marsanne), of which we left with both. The Andrew Murray wines seemed overall very elegant and fairly well balanced.
Off to Longoria, where we had a small tasting of two pinots, a grenache blanc, a syrah, and another white I cannot recall. I was disappointed as I had rather high expectations for this winery, but none of us were taken enough to purchase wine.
Next was Epiphany, where we had a grand time with the fellow doing the pouring. We were particularly taken with their stainless steel chardonnay (Purite) and the 2004 Ephiphany Revelation, another Rhone blend.
Off to the sort-of-sister winery Consilience, where we enjoyed more syrahs and rhone blends, along with a great Dry Creek zinfandel port, of which we are now proud owners of two bottles. Our friends bought a few wines here, but I can't recall which.
Now we drove out to Brander, where we had some lovely whites and a nice merlot and cabernet sauvignon. The 'Uno Mas' was our favorite white, and our friends picked up a few of the '06 Sauvignon Blancs - we enjoy Brander's sauvignon blancs very much, and are still finishing a case of '05's, or I would have purchased more myself. Had a nice chat there with our pourer - yet another great experience.
We have enjoyed Bridlewood viogniers in the past, so we headed to their winery for a tasting. They did not disappoint, and even though they are now part of the Gallo conglomerate, the wines were as we expected. The ladies doing the pouring were not in the best of moods, so this was our first negative experience from a pouring perspective, although she did seem to brighten up when we started buying wine, and buy wine we did. My wife and I seemed to really like the complexity of the (again, Rhone blend) Reserve Arabesque, even though our friends were not that impressed. We ended up with a case because it was only $11/bottle in a case, so for that price, it's a high quality, complex Rhone blend good for daily quaffing. We also purchased half a case (split with our friends) each of the Syrah port and 2005 Reserve Viognier, also roughly $11/bottle. Not the highest quality wines, of course, but good quality QPR's.
Beckmen was one of my 'must see' wineries, and at this time we were approaching 5:00, so we put out a call to them. With some cajoling (they closed early because they had no visitors and had to pack the club shipments) they agreed to see us, so we raced over there and boy are we glad we did. The wines we enjoyed were of consistent high quality overall - VERY well made. By this time, we had many grenaches, syrahs, roussannes, and other varietals from the same clones and even vineyards, so to experience them from one winemaker to the other was very rewarding, and up to this point, Mikael was the one who made them sing for us. With most tastings, my wife and I shared, as with a schedule like this we needed to do a lot of spitting and pouring out. Here, as the last one of the day, we each had a tasting glass, and we did one of each - Estate and Reserve. If you want more info on any of them, I'd be happy to provide it, but this post is long already and not even close to being finished, so I'll stick to highlights. The 2005 Le Bec Blanc was a beautiful white blend (Roussanne, Marsanne, and Grenache Blanc) that we enjoyed tremendously - beautiful florals and fruits on the nose, lush bodyfeel, crisp finish, worthy of drinking now or cellaring. We purchased a couple bottles of this, and also one bottle of the 2005 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, which was similar to the Happy Canyon cabs that Bryan Babcock is producing (Terroir Exclusives versions only, not the cuvees or general public versions, which are not as complex or rewarding to me) and extremely enjoyable to us both as a unique cab. We also bought a bottle each of the estate Grenache (Mikael knows how to make Grenache, wow) and the Purisima Mountain Sauvignon Blanc, which was the best SB I can recall drinking of late. The killer for me was at the end of the list - something I saw the price of and hoped to God I wouldn't like. 2005 Purisima, Purisima Mountain Vineyard (60% Grenache, 40% Syrah) - I put it to my nose, not a good sign - smells absolutely gorgeous, with rich pomegranate, cigar, leather, and raspberry - no heat. Oh well, I probably won't like it, as I'm not that huge of a grenache fan. One sip and I rested my head on my arm on the bar - my wife starts laughing. After a couple of select cuss words, the realization was clear - I had to buy this wine. It is so beautifully made and executed it is hard to describe, and given the blend that it is made from, it surprised me to no end. $75.00 retail, $60.00 for us club members (yes, I immediatley joined their club, as the consistency of the wine quality was such that I knew I'd like whatever was shipped).
We had the opportunity to meet Mikael at the tail end of our tasting, and hearing his story and seeing how this 13 year old boy (he's actually 34, and I expected with wine of this quality for him to be at least 50) got into the business as he did made his wines even better. He called a wine tasting bar in Solvang to alert them of our arrival, as we wanted to try his Kaena grenache - his own bottling. We had a few grenaches there - the proprietor was kind enough to open a few that were unique, varying degrees of fruit/sweet/dry, etc. - very educational and fun, and walked out with a bottle of Kaena grenache.
That evening, my wife and I got to watch the Packers beat the Broncos on Monday Night Football at the bar of The Hitching Post and enjoy the awesome sirloin burgers, available only on Monday nights, and only at the bar. I drank no more wine, as I knew the next day would bring me more joy with more tastings. If my trip ended there, I'd be incredibly pleased, but it did not, and I was in for it...
Day 2:
We got an early start - a bit too early - and had little success in getting wineries to open the tasting rooms even a few minutes early for us. First was LaFond, which is known for their more traditional, cellar before drinking, wines. We had some nice estate syrahs and an estate chardonnay that were popular, although they use a bit too much new oak for my taste. We still have a couple bottles of their wine in our cellar, which I plan to keep there for a bit. There were a few cranky people there, but the lady doing the tasting with us was very accomodating.
Alma Rosa was right there, and we were 20 minutes before their official opening, so we decided to ask - never hurts. NO can do - sorry, see ya. The old guy at the tasting room table was not at all friendly and happily sent us on our way because he 'wasn't ready'. Bad business, IMHO.
Off to Foley, which has a gorgeous location and facility - wow. Here we met with 'T' and Mary (I believe that was her name) and we had a nice time chatting with them. They had an interesting cabernet sauvignon that was a dead ringer for a bordeaux - not at all like a CA cab, particularly central coast, but I have so many cabs already I couldn't break down and buy one, although our friends did. Here I expected to really like the pinots, but neither my wife nor I were that impressed. I believe all we walked out with was a couple of rose wines. I was expecting more, unfortunately.
Next came Palmina, where Alicia was expecting us (had to call ahead and make an appointment because they weren't officially tasting), and showed us a great time. We sat at a table with several glasses each, some great cheese and salami, breadsticks with olive oil and walnut oil, and had a blast. These wines are the most aromatic I can recall of any wines, and each wine we tasted was both unique and thoroughly enjoyable. I couldn't believe how aromatic each was, though, and for someone who lives and dies for a good nose, it was a treat for me in particular. The 2006 Pinot Grigio (Alisos vineyard) was the best PG I've ever had - beautiful nose, not too acidic, well balanced, nice bodyfeel. We ended up with one bottle, which will go quickly. The 2006 Arneis was a hit for everybody but me, although I didn't dislike it, I was just so much more taken with the other wines that it didn't really hit me as all that special. I do recall a nice minerality to it, however, and my wife insisted we buy a bottle, so I'll get to try it again and give a new review. I was most blown away by the 2006 Malvasia Bianca, Larner Vineyard - wow, what a tremendous, wonderful white wine this is! The nose is like a beautiful floral and sweet viognier, but the flavor profile is totally different - nicely dry, good fruit, long finish - to me, it was like two great wines in one, as the nose and the flavor profile were completely different, yet both extremely enjoyable. I had to hold back and only get two bottles of it...2006 Dolcetto was very nice also - beautiful nose on this, but somewhat lite, and the floral aspect was a nice change. Supposedly this is a great pizza wine, as Alicia insisted. We didn't pick one up, but our friends did. 2005 Barbera, Zotovich Vineyard was a very full, lush Barbera - I recall this varietal being more thin than this, and it had great grip and personality. 2005 Undici is a 100% Sangiovese bottling, and it was a winner. Beautiful color, spicy floral, cedar, and plum on the nose, and a substantial body with wonderful variety. Best sangiovese I've ever had, by far, and I'm glad we bought a bottle. Here, we expected little, but it delivered in spades, far exceeding our expectations. Both we and our friends joined their club on the spot - these unique wines and consistent quality is the right choice for a club for us.
I had arranged to meet up with Kris Curran and called her to let her know we were in her neighborhood (known as 'the ghetto' in Lompoc) and she invited us to stop by. I'm going to have to resist writing an epistle here, but the experience that was to follow was so much more than we anticipated, I'm still reeling in excitement. First to greet us was Bruno - I had no idea he'd be hanging around, but there he was, wine glass in hand with some red wine in it, and he starts right off with some salty commentary, and a friendly demeanor that sucked us right in. He took us over to taste a tank of dry Gewurtzraminer that was spectacular - not a gewurtz fan (none of us were) but a dry gewurtz like this is a whole new experience! We then got a lesson in chardonnay 'tweaking', when Kris came down from the ladders (she was still working with the fruit coming in), and discovered the details on how Bruno and Kris used skim milk, clay soil, and shredded nylon to alter the wine they bought in bulk from Foley, after Foley was done bottling it, thus making it their own. Fascinating. I loved the banter back and forth between Kris and Bruno - priceless, and here we were standing among two legends of the SRH. Next Kris took us over to some barrel tastings of SeaSmoke, in 100% new oak, from two different coopers, as well as the 'Gratis' chardonnay for those with the right allocation level - wow, at this point, we're feeling very special. We get the whole story from each of them, and Bruno breaks into a sermon on cork. Funny stuff to see how animated he gets. Next Kris and her 4 great big German Shepherds take us to tasting of her Syrah from the barrel - already in the barrel for 22 months. Next we sit down with them at the table and dive into a bunch of other wines that were open - Kris' own label (Curran). She wanted us to experience a bottled version of the Syrah, under the Reserve label (2004) to compare to the barrel syrah we just had. At this point, we're having all kinds of conversation, and Bruno starts talking about his favorite electrolysis doctor, Kris makes fun of how they met and we sit here shooting the sh*t with these two for hours - all in all we spent 3 1/2 hours hanging out, and I'm blown away because I'm eating Doritos from a bag with Bruno. Great wines, super fun conversation, and unfortunately we had to leave - I had Stephen Janes hooking us up at Melville and Brewer-Clifton, and we were already late, which is really lame by us, but literally time was just screaming by and we didn't even realize how late it was. We ended up buying a bottle of each of Kris' wines (Reserve Syrah, Sangiovese, Grenache Blanc, Dry Gewurtzraminer), and said our farewells with hugs, smart*ss comments from me to Bruno, and well wishes all around. What an experience, with any winemakers, just seeing how they work hard and play even harder.
I called Stephen and let him know that we were totally slimeballs and he played right along. He was gracious enough to stick around afterhours (it was just after 4:00 by this time) as was Alvin at the tasting room. We received a tour (they run an incredibly clean facility!) and proceeded up to the meeting room where Stephen had arranged for us a fantastic lineup of tastings - only two of which we were able to purchase (the rest were the clone pinots or library wines). What a treat this was - the SRH chardonnay was my wife's favorite, and Stephen also included our WOTN from the OC event in the mix - 2004 Carrie's PN. Awesome as we remember. He had us taste 3 of the clone PN's also, which was very interesting, and we got a lecture on each of them, and how they are used by different winemakers. I don't recall the clones other than 114 and perhaps 676?? but hope to get the list from Stephen, as we forgot to take it with. Thank you so much, Stephen!
We then followed him to Brewer-Clifton - at this time, it is after 5:00 and we know he's in trouble with his wife, but he insists that is not the case. My wife is beside herself with guilt by now, and keeps asking him and apologizing for our tardiness. He's such a great host, however, and we got to see the whole B-C facility, in all it's Scandinavian minimalness. It's a huge facility, and they are nowhere near even half capacity there. We were once again treated to a specially laid out group of wines, with a personalized tasting list - it was the pinnacle of hospitality. I have notes and specifics on all of these, which I'm sure will make many of you happy, as there are (and rightly so) many B-C fans - count us now among them. We had three chardonnays (2006 Rancho Santa Rosa, 2006 Seasmoke, and 2006 Mount Carmel), and three pinots (2006 Rio Vista, 2006 Rancho Santa Rosa, and 2006 Mount Carmel). All were absolutely exceptional, and in fact the chardonnay we liked least was the Seasmoke - interesting. The Mount Carmel was easily, far and away, the finest chardonnay I have EVER tasted, and my wife heartily agreed - even at this young age, it is integrated, complex, and the finish is spectacular. At $64, we could only get ourselves to take one bottle home, but it will be cellared for at least 2 years, and enjoyed heartily sometime in the future. Of the pinots, they were all the finest we had tried in the trip, by far, and we ended up with a bottle each of the Rancho Santa Rosa (very fruit forward, great bodyfeel, complex, rich and slightly dark) and Mount Carmel, which is likely the best PN we've ever had as well - what a treat this was, and of course, we're now on the list. How I wish these were $25 and $30, so I could fill my cellar with them, but alas, with quality like this comes a matching price, it would seem.
A wonderful trip, further cementing my dedication and appreciation for the wines of this valley and the winemakers that make them.
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