March 6, 2008
Buellton, CA
Yesterday was wine tasting day. We didn’t get the earliest of starts but, hey, how much wine do you want to drink before noon anyway? Geri made some sandwiches and we packed the cooler for an afternoon trip up toward Santa Maria. We stopped for some pictures along the way through the little town of Santa Ynez before heading to Los Olivos. We stopped at the local gourmet grocery to pick up potatoes, and ended up with a few specialty items and a couple of bottles of wine. It’s always interesting to find local wines that are difficult to get at retail elsewhere.
There are quite a few tasting rooms along Grand Avenue in Los Olivos; it seems like there are more of them every time we visit. We stopped at Epiphany Cellars first, where we added to our collection of traveling souvenir wine glasses and picked up a couple of interesting bottles, including Grenache Blanc and Grenache Rose (dry, not sweet). We found out that the winemaker is Fess Parker’s son, and were given a pass for a free tasting at Fess Parker Winery, so that was added to the itinerary.
Walking down Grand Avenue, we then visited Richard Longoria (no relation) Wines, where we’d had some wonderful wines last year. We were able to pick up more glasses and a mixed case, with interesting varietals like Albariño and Tempranillo in addition to the usual Pinot Noir and Syrah found in this area.
Our next stop was at Fess Parker Winery, about 5 miles outside Los Olivos on the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. We’ve driven this road many times in the 30 years or so that we’ve been visiting this area, but we’d never stopped at this particular winery. We tasted and purchased, then sat on their patio to have our lunch. One could argue that we should have had lunch before tasting, as it was already around 3:00 PM when we got there and we were beginning to feel the effects of the tasting, so to speak.
Given the lateness of the hour, we decided that we’d gone far enough, so we headed back toward Buellton. We decided to make our last stop of the day at Curtis Winery, another place that we’d visited last year. We had some interesting tastes, including a Grenache, a Mourvedre, and a Cabernet Franc (all were added to the collection)
In general, we found an increase in what you might call “non-traditional” or maybe “non-mainstream” varietals compared to prior trips. Winemakers are highlighting several Rhône varieties like Grenache, Mourvedre, and Roussanne. This suggests a level of experimentation, and that we’ll see some of these grape types flourish and others become novelties (or disappear) over the next few years.
Back home last night, Geri made a great dinner of sautéed chicken with Spanish rice and peas. Unfortunately, the tasting experience took its toll on her and she turned in early. We decided to stay here an extra couple of days, so we were able to “take the day off” today and focus on doing some house cleaning (we’ve been tracking in a lot of dirt and leaves this week) and reading. Tomorrow, we’ll do a little more tasting (but not as much as yesterday!) and then have dinner at Los Olivos Café, one of our favorite restaurants in the area. We’ll get things ready for a Saturday morning departure, as well.
Here is a link to some of the pictures from yesterday:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/WineTastingInLosOlivos
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