A Dinner Party

The other day we were joined for a small dinner party by some old friends, many of whom had lived together here in Santa Barbara in the early '70s. Mrs. Haley prepared sauteed salmon with a shrimp sauce, served with garlic potatoes and asparagus. For appetizers we had "bites" from Trader Joe's, and guacamole. For dessert there was fresh fruit on ice cream.

With the appetizers we poured the Longoria 2007 Chardonnay, Sta Rita Hills, a tasty white wine with flavors of citrus and melon, and just a hint of minerality . With dinner we had the Seasmoke 2006 Pinot Noir "Southing", a lovely example of fruit-forward Pinot Noir from the Sta Rita Hills. And finally with dessert we enjoyed the Quady "Electra", a red muscat dessert wine from Madera.

Clos Pepe Vineyard

Wes Hagen, of Clos Pepe, graciously allowed us to gather a few grape leaves from the vineyard. We went out on a beautiful afternoon last week and picked a couple of hundred large leaves, and took a few photographs as well.

News From Foxen

We went up to Foxen the other day, and had a chance to see the progress on their new facility. It looks quite snazzy. Hopefully by expanding their production and storage capacity they will be able to more nearly meet their demand -- right now they have many more people wanting to join one of their clubs than they have wine for!

They also were pouring their first ever rose. This one, unofficially called "The Watermelon", is a rose of Mourvedre.



And check out their new labels! From now on their Bordeaux blends and Sangiovese will be labeled as "Foxen 7200, as a way of differentiating them from the Burgundy and Rhone varieties.

Wine Cask Update

I ran into Doug Margerum at the Futures Tasting, and I asked him what he could tell me about plans for the Wine Cask. He said he was very hopeful it would be able to reopen under new ownership, perhaps as early as September. He will not be involved as an owner, but may have a consultant role.

There's been a lot of buzz in Santa Barbara regarding the Wine Cask, and we all wish them well.

2009 Santa Barbara County Futures Tasting

The 2009 Santa Barbara County Wine Futures Tasting was held under the auspices of The Winehound on Saturday, and I was there to take pictures and do some tasting. I focused primarily on the Burgundian grapes that make our area so special.

In the wonderful w0rld of Chardonnay, I was immediately drawn to the 2007 Au Bon Climat Estate Chardonnay. It offered citrus and honey notes on the nose and on the palate, with some solid oak behind it. I also enjoyed the Melville 2008 "Donna's Vineyard" Chardonnay, slightly toasty with a mineral note. Brewer-Clifton was showing two wonderful 2008 Chardonnays: the 2008 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, lush and viscous with a hint of flowery perfume; and the 2008 Gnesa Vineyard, showing pear and honey flavors -- very nice. But the hit of the show was the 2008 Foxen Steel Cut Chardonnay from Bien Nacido Vineyard. This is the first ever stainless steel Chardonnay from Foxen, and it's a beauty, with all the fruity loveliness available to taste.

I did enjoy a few other whites, including the Kunin 2008 Viognier, Stolpman Vineyard -- very nice with a good floral nose and a nice full body -- and the Demetria Cuvee Papou -- a Grenache Blanc/Marsanne/Roussanne/Viognier blend.

As far as reds went, I enjoyed the Margerum 2007 Grenache and the Sanguis 2006 "As the Crow Flies". The latter, poured by the lovely Drea O'Connell, is a Syrah with a bit of Grenache and 3% co-fermented Viognier. Chocolate, red and black fruit flavors, and a bit of oak make a wonderful combination -- this wine will probably be hard to find, as they only made 205 cases of it.

The Pinot Noirs were out in force, especially from the Santa Maria Valley -- one of my favorite Pinot regions. Alta Maria 2008 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard showed red fruit flavors with a nice complexity. Native9 Pinot Noir Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard offered a dark cherry flavor. And Paul Lato was pouring his 2008 Pinot Noir Solomon Hills, with a remarkably earthy taste to it.

From the Sta Rita Hills, there was the Melville 2008 Clone 828 Pinot Noir, deep and spicy, and Foxen's 2007 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir, another world-class wine from them.

There were lots of other great wines, but I was limiting my tasting just a bit so I had to let them go. But I can safely say there's a lot to taste and enjoy from Santa Barbara County again this year. Thanks to Bob Wesley from The Winehound, and thanks, too, to Metropulos for the delicious food that accompanied the tasting. You can find more photos here.

Report from SpiritLand

I have been interested in the SpiritLand Bistro's BYOB Wine & Dine program for some time now. It's the last Wednesday of the month, and the deal is you bring your own wine (according to a pre-announced theme) to share with others at the party, and pay $45 for a dinner to go with it. I haven't attended one of these events yet, so I was glad to see that local blogger Marc Liberts wrote a review of the most recent one. Sounds like he enjoyed it!

Birthday Dinner

Today is Mrs. Haley's birthday, so I made a little dinner last night. Filet Mignon with green peppercorn sauce, oven-roasted potatoes with oregano, garlic bread, a salad of avocado and grapefruit, and a chocolate pudding cake for dessert. It was pretty good, except the sauce was too runny. Next time I will have to put a roux in it, or at least a little cornstarch.

To go with the meal I poured the best wine I have in the cellar: a 2003 Foxen Pinot Noir Sea Smoke Vineyard. It was smooth as velvet, with lots of red fruit and spice on the palate, and maybe just a touch of cinnamon. Happy Birthday! The hills may be burning, but we still have a few things to celebrate...

Wine Futures Relocated

The Winehound's Wine Futures event tomorrow has been relocated at the Fess Parker Doubletree Inn at East Beach. See you there!

Edit: As of Friday morning the Futures tasting is postponed to a future date to be determined.

Upcoming Wine Events

The Wine Hound has taken over the venerable Santa Barbara Futures Tasting, formerly hosted by the Wine Cask. Some of the best wineries in the County, offering futures pricing on unreleased wines, pouring at the Fleischmann Auditorium on Saturday, May 9th. Hurry! There are only a few tickets left

Then comes the Santa Barbara Wine Festival at the Natural History Museum, Saturday June 27th. This tasting is always pleasant...great wines in a lovely setting...and always sells out.

Big Wine Sale Tomorrow

Touring and Tasting Magazine, which is based here in Santa Barbara, is advertising a "warehouse sale" tomorrow from 2-5pm only. I don't know a thing about it -- they promise 40-70% off retail prices -- but I plan to go. Maybe I'll see you there!

125 S Quarantina Street (at Cacique St)

Longoria

For our last stop we drove to Los Olivos, where Longoria was hosting a special tasting in the garden. Here's Rick "behind bars":


Rick was pouring his 2008 Pinot Grigio. We tasted several Pinot Grigios throughout the day, and they were all good, but I thought Rick's was the best. Nice, crisp flavor of peaches and pears, and just a slightly flowery aroma. Next was the 2007 Sta Rita Hills Chardonnay, spicy with just a hint of butter from the malolactic fermentation. Then came the 2007 Sta Rita Hills Pinot Noir, with flavors of red fruit and spice. Finally, Rick poured four Syrahs: 2005 and 2006 from both Clover Creek and Alisos Canyon, paired with chocolate. That seemed like enough tasting for one very hot day, and we came home.

Clos Pepe, and...

We drove West on Santa Rosa Road to the Clos Pepe winery (the vineyard is on Hwy 246). It's set back from the road in a walnut orchard, in a facility they share with Cold Heaven, Bruno D'Alfonso & Kris Curran, and Arcadian. Chanda was there, with a couple of her greyhound friends; Wes was pouring, and there were tacos.


We tasted a 2001 Chardonnay from Wes's library, very clean and crisp with lemons and apricots on the palate. That was followed by six Pinot Noirs. Wes follows the wine wherever the grapes take him, and these Pinot's ranged from an elegant and subdued Burgundian style to a big, brassy Sta Rita Hills version. I didn't take any notes so you won't get descriptions, except to note that I brought home two bottles of the 2007 "Vigneron Select".























I would certainly have enjoyed tasting at Arcadian or at Cold Heaven, but being relatively familiar with their wines we passed on this occasion. I did ask Morgan about her new Sauvignon Blanc project...she's known as the "Queen of Viognier" and this is a new grape for her. But she told me she bottled it two days ago, and it's still mad. So no tastes were available. Next time perhaps...

Instead we drifted next door, where Bruno and Kris have set up shop. Kris was the founding winemaker at Sea Smoke; she has left them and is with Foley and Lincourt now. She still finds the time to make her own wine under the Curran label. Bruno was for many year the winemaker for Richard Sanford; he now makes under the labels Badge and DiBruno. We tasted the 2006 DiBruno Pinot Grigio and the 2007 Curran Grenache Blanc. The latter is one of my favorite wines, with a big and bold flavor with just a touch of residual sugar. We also sampled the 2005 Badge Sta Rita Hills Pinot Noir, a delicious, dark, moody Pinot, and the 2004 DiBruno Sangiovese. They also had some good-looking sandwiches, but we had filled up on tacos and so took a pass on that.

Alma Rosa

Our next stop was at another long-time legend with a new name...Alma Rosa. Richard Sanford was the first to plant Pinot Noir in what is now the Sta Rita Hills, in 1970 at the famous Sanford & Benedict Vineyard. Sanford had studied Geography, and he could see this was a prime area for winegrapes (although no one else had thought it before). He went on to found Sanford Winery and make beautiful wines for many years. Now, having lost that venture to the Terlato Group, Richard and his wife Thekla are making good wine once more.

Here are some photos of the new/old tasting room on Santa Rosa Road:










We tasted the 2007 Santa Barbara County Pinot Gris, a delicious, bright wine; and the 2006 Sta Rita Hills Pinot Blanc, which I especially enjoyed. The 2008 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay was next, with citrus and pineapple flavors, a touch of malolactic and just a bit of oak. This wine won accolades from the Wine Spectator...at only $19 it's a great buy! And finally we tasted the delicious 2007 Sta Rita Hills Pinot Noir.

Although Alma Rosa has been back at this spot for a while, it was the first opportunity we had had to visit. It's good to see them back and prospering at this lovely location!

Wine Festival Weekend -- A Tasting Tour

This weekend was the Vintners' Association Festival Weekend, and many tasting rooms were open. We started our day at Ken Brown Wines. Ken was pouring at his new digs in Buellton.

Ken Brown was founding winemaker at Zaca Mesa, back in 1979. It was Ken who first questioned the wisdom of planting mostly Bordeaux-style grapes in Santa Barbara County, and who first experimented with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the region. He founded Byron winery in the early 1980's. I can remember seeing all the Cabernet Sauvignon vines along the lower end of Tepusquet Canyon cut off and regrafted with Pinot Noir as Ken Brown's revelation begain to sink in . . . except in the hottest eastern parts of the region, it's too cool to grow good Cabernet Sauvignon, but the Burgundian grapes just love it!

So you could say Ken Brown has more experience than just about anyone else in making Pinot Noir and Chardonnay here in Santa Barbara County. His wines have an intensity of flavor combined with perfect balance. All the sharp edges have been rubbed smooth. We tasted the 2006 Nielson Vineyard Chardonnay and five Pinot Noirs: 2007 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir, 2006 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir, 2007 Sta Rita HIlls Pinot Noir, 2006 Pinot Noir Cargasacchi Vyd, and the 2006 Pinot Noir Clos Pepe. Each offered the unique flavor of the fruit, with the Ken Brown touch.

Ken's new location is in the Terravant Wine Company on Industrial Way in Buellton, a new multi-producer facility. They were hosting a Festival Bbq and tasting later in the day that looked to be the best bargain of the weekend. Some of the many wineries involved included Byron, Huber, Hitching Post, Imagine, Thorne, and Alere -- the Bbq was from Hitching Post, and the $20 fee was a donation to People Helping People. It looked like a great event, but we wanted to move on to a few other locations. Future posts will detail all the stops...

Last Night the Wind Died Down

...and Albertson's had top sirloin on sale. Good coincidence! So I grilled a big steak and served it smothered with caramelized onions and peppers, with oven-roasted potatoes and a bottle of Foxen 2006 Pinot Noir, Julia's Vineyard. Life in Paradise! No pictures -- we ate it too quickly for that.