Corison Winery

I can’t imagine the weather being any more idyllic than what we experienced during our three day visit to the Napa Valley. The fall colors were beyond breathtaking. After breakfast we made our way to Corison Winery for a visit with owner and winemaker Cathy Corison. Joyce McCollum was there to greet us. We were poured glasses of the ’06 Corazon Gewüztraminer (the perfect breakfast wine said Joyce) and we walked through the winery to the vineyards. Joyce is the perfect ambassador for Cathy. She filled us in on the history of the winery while we waited for Cathy to arrive. She told us the painstaking attention to detail they devote to the vines. Workers Salvador and Manuel even sing to them. Peas and other seedlings are planted between the rows of grapes to help prevent erosion.

Cathy arrived and we had a nice visit in the vineyard before heading upstairs where Joyce had set up a tasting for us – a vertical ’98, ’99′ and 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon as well as some Cabernet from her Kronos Vineyard. We continued our visit while we tasted her amazing wines. Cathy doesn’t spend time worrying about what the critics think of her wine. Her focus is on producing the finest quality wine she can, and she succeeds on a number of levels. Here wines are beautifully balanced with a lingering finish. They are elegant. Look for Laura’s story about Cathy in the near future in her Women on Wine page. In the meantime, here’s a video from LRB Productions that will tell you more about Cathy and her philosophy.

Laura and I were married on the 4th of July of this year and a lot of my relatives had yet to meet her.  They arranged a luncheon at the CIA, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. It was wonderful visiting with family and the food was superb. After a delicious meal and a good visit, we made our way to Larkmead Winery for a private tasting on their patio. Little did we know another culinary delight awaited us later in the day. Larkmead is one of the oldest wineries in the Napa Valley and they wear their heritage proudly. Their vineyards are more than a century old. Owner Cam Baker stopped by to pay us a visit as Sonny poured us some exceptional wines. I particularly enjoyed their Sauvignon Blanc.

CIA at Greystone

CIA Kitchen

Larkmead

Cam Baker

Autumn at Larkmead

Larkmead Vineyards

Our last scheduled stop of the day was at Rombauer Vineyards. I think it bears noting that when friends shared a bottle of Rombauer’s ’05 Zin with me a few years ago, it reawakened my passion for wine. It’s still one of my favorites. While we waited for K.R. Rombauer, we tasted superb Chardonnay and Zinfandel and got acquainted with Moose. K.R. joined us and I told him how much I had enjoyed the ’05 Zin. He disappeared briefly and returned with a bottle, saying it had been a while since he had tasted it. It was every bit as good as I remember it. K.R. led us on a tour of the property. We admired the spectacular landscaping while we walked down to the crush pad and bottling line and through the massive barrel rooms. We headed upstairs to Rombauer’s private tasting room and sampled some exceptional single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons and the beautiful Carneros Merlot. We said our goodbyes and started heading back to the hotel, thinking our day was pretty much wrapped up.

K.R. Rombauer

Dahlias at Rombauer

We were on our way to The Eagle & Rose and decided to stop in to Merryvale for a quick visit. Merryvale’s history dates back to early post-prohibition and it is a charming room. A large tasting bar is at the center and it’s surrounded by a large gift shop with every sort of wine related merchandise you could imagine. We tasted several wines, bought a few as well as some delicious cranberry mustard. We started visiting with the couple next to us and found out that they lived in Murrieta, same as us. They mentioned they were going to have dinner at Chef Michael Chiarello’s Bottega restaurant. We are big fans of Chef Michael and decided we would try our luck at getting in without a reservation. Lady Luck was smiling on us. We were seated on the patio and the outdoor fireplace took the fall chill out of the air. Both Laura and I will tell you we enjoyed one of the finest meals we’ve had anywhere. To top it all off, we met Chef Michael and had a short chat with him. We told him how much we had enjoyed seeing him on Top Chef Masters. He laughed saying he felt underwater on the show, like he was Sponge Bob. It was the perfect ending to an incredible day. We were set to start our last day off the next morning with a stop at the famed Chateau Montelena.

“This is not garage wine-making anymore. This isn’t amateur hour anymore.” Don Reha doesn’t pull any punches. He doesn’t worry about being politically correct. His focus when he arrived at Thornton Winery in 2003 was and remains to this day to produce the finest wines possible from the Temecula Valley.

Don and I had a chance to visit in his office at the winery after a delicious lunch at Café Champagne. I reminded him that when we visited during the first crush of the season he was optimistic that 2009 was shaping up to be the harvest of the decade. I wondered if his opinion had changed since then. After an unusually cool start to the summer (30 days below normal), the valley experienced a tremendous heat spike. Don explained to me that because of the normal heat the valley gets, acid levels in the fruit are lower than desired. The lower temperatures at the start of this summer allowed more acid to remain in the fruit, paving the way for optimal balance of acid and pH.

To make a long story short, Don said that proper irrigation was the key to saving this year’s harvest. Vines shut down when it gets too hot, so the heat put the focus on careful irrigation, demanding that vineyard managers monitor soil moisture content hour by hour and day by day. When all was said and done, Don said “I definitely think this was one of the vintages if not the vintage of the decade. I know it’s the best vintage I’ve seen since I’ve been down here, hands down.”

Don has seen much change in the Temecula Valley in the six years he’s been at Thornton. He says this area has grown more in that time than any other wine country has in twenty years time. He adds it had to happen because of the fierce competition. He was hired by John and Steve Thornton just before the ’03 Harvest Celebration. Don offered to fly down to be on hand for the weekend and was told by the Thorntons that wouldn’t be necessary as he hadn’t started the job yet. Don felt it was important that he be on hand to meet visitors coming to the winery, so he made his first appearance at Thornton before his official start date.

His background in the wine industry in extensive and impressive. He grew up on the family vineyards in Ukiah and started work at Fetzer in 1988, moving to Cline Cellars in 1995 band then to Renwood in 1999. At his first meeting of winemakers in the Temecula Valley, he offered to lend a hand to anyone who wanted advice on how to make better wine. “Half the winemakers in this valley just love me, the other half can’t stand me, but they all respect me.” When he attended a wine tasting event a few years ago, he tasted one wine and told Phil Bailey of Bailey Winery it was ridiculously bad. Bailey told him he wasn’t going to make any friends saying things like that to which Reha replied “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make wine.”

When he first arrived in the valley, Don says of a hundred wines he tasted, 65 – 70 were bad to the point they shouldn’t have been bottled, maybe 30 – 35 were OK and the rest were”wow”, a great example of the varietal. Today he says the numbers have nearly reversed and the majority of wines being produced here now are very good. What he says is sorely lacking in the region is a certified viticulturist. He believes it’s the best thing that could happen to the region and is the next step toward giving the Temecula Valley the push it needs to attain greatness.

Don Reha calls it like he sees it. I admire that. You never wonder where you stand with him. Thornton Winery is located at 32575 Rancho California Rd in Temecula.  Call them at (951) 699-0099 or visit them online at www.thorntonwine.com.

We knew it was just a matter of time. The Napa Valley is the elephant in the room, the 600 lb. gorilla. When Laura and I planned our first major road trip together, we knew we had to wind up in the Mecca of the California Wine Country. It was an early 4 am wake up call in Paso Robles. We had a 10:00 appointment at Cain Winery and many miles ahead of us. We entered the Napa Valley and drove through Napa, Oakville, Yountville, Rutherford and St. Helena before finally turning on to Langtry Road and up Spring Mountain. Autumn in Napa Valley is simply magical. The colors are beyond description and the air is crisp and clean. We met Holly Evans-White who welcomed us and gave us a tour of the property and what she calls the most magnificent view of the valley. I know we didn’t see one to match it during our visit.

Jerry and Joyce Cain purchased the property in 1980 and brought on partners Jim and Nancy Meadlock six years later. The Cains did envision making wine on the property, but didn’t have any idea how successful their property would become. They actually had a jelly garage built, thinking the wine would just be a part time thing. The Cains sold their interest to the Meadlocks and moved to Arizona. Chris Howell is the General Manager and Winemaker and clearly has his own vision. His focus is on quality wine and he has no time for any of what he considers to be trivialities of the industry. He wasn’t there when we visited, but I look forward to meeting him on another visit. To get a sense of his philosophy, check this link out.

We stopped in the tasting room and tasted the NV6 Cain Cuvé, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc with a touch of Petit Verdot, the 2005 Cain Concept made with the best available fruit from Rutherford and Oakville, the same varietals but with Cabernet Sauvignon the dominant fruit, the 2000 Cain Concept Library and the 2005 Cain Five, with Cabernet Sauvignon again leading the way and 2% Malbec added. Cain’s wines are superb and a visit there is unforgettable. Cain isn’t easy to get to and you definitely need an appointment to visit. They regularly turn down 100 – 300 requests weekly. San Francisco Giants’ pitcher Matt Cain wanted to visit and was initially turned down because the only reason he wanted to go was that his last name was the same as the winery’s. He eventually did wind up visiting. We met vineyard manager Ashley Anderson and were extremely impressed by her passion for work. She clearly loves what she does. Our visit to the valley was off to a wonderful start. We headed down the hill and followed Holly’s advice and had lunch at Taylor’s Refresher. Think a burger joint with a wine list and you’re on the right track.

Ashley Anderson

Next up was a visit to Viader, the result of Delia Viader’s vision. Delia grew up in Argentina and developed a palate for Bordeaux style wines. She came to the United States to get a doctorate in philosophy and then obtained a business degree. In her late 20s she heard that the property she now owns was for sale. With the help of her grandfather as an investor and advice from her mom “let’s make wine”, the project began. It took ten years to put enough money together to open a winery. There was much work to be done, including extensive hillside blasting. Delia’s master plan is the blueprint for everything they do. From the beginning she wanted to use Cabernet Franc as her primary blending grape, an idea scoffed at initially, but it has worked out very well. Viader is truly a family business. Delia’s daughter Janet handles sales and marketing, son Alan is the winemaker with his mom and daughter-in-law Mariela (Alan’s wife) is the Executive Chef. Viader wines, from the “V” Petit Verdot/Syrah blend, to their Cabernet Sauvignons and their DARE line including a magnificent Tempranillo are beautifully crafted. The views at Viader are breathtaking as well, with steep vineyards and heavenly panoramas.

"Lady"

We were eagerly anticipating the next stop of the day: Jarvis Winery. Not only have we enjoyed their wines, they have a remarkable reputation and we had heard the tour of the winery and caves was incomparable. I’m sorry to say our visit didn’t live up to the hype. The property is stunning. There are lakes on either side as you walk from the parking lot to the winery. The entrance, a huge arched door, is more than impressive. When we entered, Laura asked if she could use the restroom. She was escorted to the back and needed to be “checked in” by security and her hostess had to wait outside for her to finish. William Jarvis made a brief appearance and we started the tour. No doubt about it, Jarvis Winery is magnificent. Their caves are immense and they’re designed like a wagon wheel with spokes going out from the center. There’s a waterfall. We passed William’s office, a massive door adorned with embossed grapes vines and his name. We entered the crystal room, home to the grand collection of crystals William and Leticia have collected from around the world. From there we entered the grandiose ballroom where they hold events for their wine club members. Someone remarked “it’s like Willy Wonka.” I agree and for me that’s the problem. It’s all too much. Give me some quality wine in nice surroundings and I’m happy. We finished in the tasting room and had several of Jarvis’ wines (no doubt about it, they are outstanding) with cheese and crackers. Here’s the second thing we had a problem with. They’re serving $100+ wines in small glasses, like something you’d expect at Denny’s. I’m sorry, I just don’t get it. If you want to see grandeur and taste some wonderful wines, check out Jarvis. It’s just too over the top for our tastes. There would have been more photos, but no cameras are allowed inside the caves.

We called it a day, grabbed some decent Mexican food in town and called it a night. This was going to be the end of a three part series, but there’s too much to share about our trip to Napa. There will be two more segments.

Cafe Champagne

Since women are responsible for over 50% of wine purchased, Mrs. WINEormous decided to check out some food and wine options for Thanksgiving.

Since Executive Chef Steve Pickell of Cafe Champagne at Thornton Winery has been creating delicious Thanksgiving menus there since 1993, we decided to join him, Thornton’s winemaker, Don Reha and Temecula public relations guru, Linda Kissam for lunch and tastings at Cafe Champagne on a recent weekday.

We reminisced about fabulous dinners past and planned for even more amazing events to come.  Some of Chef Pickell’s Thanksgiving musings: “I keep family traditions alive in some menu items.  There is always turkey prepared like I’ve had my whole life.  At Cafe Champagne we also serve fish, pork and vegetarian entrees.  The majority of guests choose turkey every year.”

Entrees for vegetarians might be in order for your dinner,  Instead of just letting them fill up on side dishes he suggested grilling portobello mushrooms or making them in a lasagna for their meaty texture to compliment the rest of the meal.

Now what wines to pair with this feast?  Both Steve and Don Reha had suggestions to enhance, not overpower my Thanksgiving experience.  Two or three selections should please every palate.  Don helped to break it down with wines he had created.

Start out light with appetizers or soups.  A sparkling wine that is festive (Thornton Non-Vintage Cuvee Rouge), or a crisp Gewurztraminer which relies on spices in the structure.  “Otherwise you’re just drinking bread.” Reha commented.

I had heard that Pinot Noir was the top choice for pairing with turkey,  Again Don suggested that I break with tradition and try a Rose because it’s not too dry for sweet dishes and keeps the palate fresh. “There is nothing in turkey that can stand up to a big backbone of red,” he explained.  Mr. WINEormous whose alias should be “Big Red” looked crestfallen.

Well if you can’t break with tradition choose a red blend like our Thorny’s Cote Red, a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Barbera and Sangiovese.  It’s structure won’t interefere with your food,” he hastily suggested.

Moving on to dessert we tasted Thornton’s  2006 Late Harvest Zinfindel and explored desserts that are pumpkin pie alternatives.  Although in most homes a dessert change would be an addition not replacement.

Time was running short and Don and Steve had just whet my appetite.  I was ready to attend Steve and Anthony Bartoletto’s cooking class on Saturday afternoon.

Great decision!  Easy to create recipes paired with fabulous wines.  These were much more than little sample sips and bites.  Here’s what we made and paired:  Butternut Squash Soup paired with Viognier, Cranberry Cherry Compote, Maple Roasted Pork Loin, Sauteed Apples and Onions and Potato Mushroom Gratin paired with Cabernet Merlot; and Gingerbread Bread Pudding paired with Late Harvest Zinfindel.

I left class inspired and eager to experiment until I realized that I would be spending Thanksgiving in Baltimore with family.  We leave you now to explore and create your own traditions.  Or better yet, make reservations at Cafe Champagne and just sit back and benefit from the masters.  Call 951-699-0099.

Look at our current New Weekly Recipes for Steve Pickell’s turkey salad recipe for those leftovers.

Ahi & Avocados

Brein En Croute

Hamburger & Fries

Dessert

Chef Steve

After two wonderful days in the Santa Ynez Valley, we found ourselves back in one of our very favorite spots… Paso Robles. It’s beginning to feel like a home away from home. I’ve said before we always discover one or two amazing places we haven’t visited before and we added two to the list on this visit. We began Wednesday morning with a stop at Rotta Winery. There’s no doubt in my mind that the person behind the counter plays a tremendous role in how you feel about the winery you’re visiting. Gail made our visit an absolute delight. The winery was purchased by Joe Rotta in 1908 and has remained in the family ever since. Today it is run by grandson Michael Giubbini. The wines we tasted were well balanced, fruit forward and reasonably priced: a winning combination in my book. The Black Monucca dessert wine spends two years in barrel outside in the sun. Imagine drinking crème brûlé! Gail was a hoot and we hated to leave, but we had another appointment to get to.

Rotta (tasting room sign hand stenciled by Michael at the age of 10)

We took Highway 46 East, maneuvered through the road work and stopped at Vina Robles for a picnic lunch in the Huerhuero Vineyards with Vice President Marc Laderriere. We had met Marc earlier in the year and finally got the opportunity to take him up on his picnic offer. We grabbed box lunches from the kitchen, climbed into Marc’s car and drove through the vineyards, arriving at our lunch spot, a picnic table under an oak tree in the Huerhuero Vineyard. It was a crisp, blustery fall day and we ate sandwiches and drank excellent wine – Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Red4, Petite Sirah and Syré. After lunch we stopped to watch the grenache grapes being harvested and sampled some of the fruit from the vines. There’s really no way to describe the sensation of eating fresh picked grapes in the vineyard. Winemaker Matthis Gubler grew up on the family’s Pinot Noir vineyard in Switzerland and is winning medal after medal for his outstanding wines.

Lovely Spot For A Picnic

Huerhuero Vineyard

Grenache Grapes

We made a couple of quick stops after lunch. It had been a while since we visited Chumeia Vineyards so we stopped by and said hello to Kristen & Lee Nesbitt. Chumeia is a dog friendly winery and they are very involved in animal fund-raising. I’ve always loved their Zins, and enjoy their Viognier and dessert wines, too.

From there it was a quick shot to Tobin James Cellars and our favorite pourer and good friend Tim Booth. The tasting room is huge, the wine list is extensive and they boast the largest wine club in the world – 20,000+ members. A visit to Tobin James is always memorable, but it’s definitely more enjoyable during the weekdays when it’s not so crowded.

Down Union Road we went as we started making our way into town to meet Neil Roberts from Clavo. We were intrigued by the sign pointing to Falcon Nest, so we drove in. Carol was there to greet us and she’s a terrific hostess. Her husband Francesco is the winemaker and together they operate the winery. The tasting room is intimate, but opens to a much larger events room where they hold themed parties almost monthly. Carol showed us pictures of some of the events they have hosted – Arabian, Hawaiian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Portuguese, Italian, you name it – and costumes to go with the party theme. There are four wines at Falcon Nest: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel. Each was very enjoyable and after we finished tasting, Carol did a couple of her special blends for us – Cab/Merlot, Zin/Syrah. Francesco also makes sauces and salsas which are available for purchase. If you’re lucky you’ll see Peabo the peacock.

We met Edward Sellers‘ winemaker Amy Butler on our next to last visit to Paso. We hadn’t yet been to their downtown tasting room, so we dropped in and did some tasting. The tasting room is light, open, contemporary and inviting. The Cuvé des Cinq (play on words for kitchen sink) is a blend of five Rhône varietals and is delicious. We also loved the Roussanne and Grenache and look forward to sitting down for a visit with Amy when we return. We walked around the corner to Vinoteca and met Midnight Cellars winemaker Rich Hartenberger and sampled some of his fine wines. Vinoteca is a lively spot with a wonderful wine selection and some very tasty food. We went back to the hotel, set the alarm for 4am and got ready to head to Napa before the crack of dawn.

It can easily be argued that Sideways changed the wine industry. I can tell you for a fact it’s changed visiting the Santa Ynez Valley. We began our road trip heading North through Santa Barbara. Our ultimate destination was the Napa Valley. We almost didn’t make it as far as Santa Barbara. Laura and I decided to visit Stafford Premium Wines in Camarillo. A road closure forced us to take a detour and “Lee”, our Australian Garmin guide, took us on a frontage road where we got stuck in the mud. Cool heads prevailed and I managed to rock our way out only to find there was no tasting room at the address we had been given.

Laura had heard about The Winehound, so we decided a visit was in order when we reached Santa Barbara. The Winehound is an amazing store with shelf after shelf stocked with every conceivable varietal of wine from all parts of the globe. They represent the Santa Ynez Valley magnificently. After a leisurely time browsing, we hopped back in the winemobile to our destination, Buellton. Our choice for dinner on the first night was a no-brainer. We were less than a mile from the Hitching Post, featured so prominently in Sideways. We were delighted that fame has not gone to the Hitching Post’s head. We had a delicious dinner, wonderful wine and a memorable experience. If you go, the grilled artichoke with magic dust is a must.

Our first appointment the following morning was at Foxen Winery. We found out soon enough that Foxen has two tasting rooms and we had arrived at the wrong one. The original Foxen tasting room, used in the movie, is still in operation, but our get together was at the newly completed tasting room just down the road. The new tasting room is drop dead gorgeous. At 7600 Foxen Canyon Road, they pour Rhônes and Burgundies. The new Foxen 7200 label pays homage to the original tasting room at 7200 Foxen Canyon Road and features Bordeaux and Cal-Ital varietals.

Co-owner Dick Dorée and I sat down in back of 7200 for a visit. He and his partner Bill Wathen met about a quarter of a century ago. Dick was a self-described “frustrated banker”. Bill was freshly graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and he and Dick met at a party. Bill went to work at a winery near Paso Robles and when he returned told Dick they ought to check out the wine business, telling him it didn’t look that hard. Dick eventually went to work for Bill, training vines and driving tractor. Their first year together they produced four barrels of wine, punching it down by hand in old French Oak on Dick’s basketball court. They put the barrels in the back of a pickup truck and borrowed a press from Rancho Sisquoc Winery. The only problem was they had no way of getting the barrels out of the truck, so they wound up crushing the first harvest in the back of a pickup truck.

The first three years are always hard because you have no product. They did it all on a shoestring. They’ve been well rewarded though, with good press from folks like Robert Parker and Wine Spectator. They’ve never taken on a partner or gone beyond what the bank would loan them, so they answer to no one but themselves. Dorée says it affords them indepence and full control over their wine quality. “We don’t always make our wine in the most economical fashions. A lot of them don’t make sense to make for what we get for them, but they’re such good wines we continue to make them.” As to where the winery got its name? Benjamin Foxen was Dick’s great great grandfather.

Dick

Foxen 7200 - An Old Blacksmith Shop

Dick & Bill

We had passed the entrance to Rancho Sisquoc Winery on the way to Foxen and thought it looked intriguing. We had some time to spare, so we headed north and found that the winery is a bit off the beaten track. Just our kind of place! The building is charming and the wines and hospitality did not disappoint. I love their philosophy. 

We enjoyed nearly everything we tasted quite a bit and wound up sticking an assorted case in the back of the van. Chalk up another winner!

One of the neat things about the Santa Ynez Valley is that everything is relatively close together. From Santa Maria we drove South to Los Olivos. I spent my freshman year of high school at what was then the Dunn School For Boys. The campus is now coed and I hadn’t been back to the area in nearly 40 years. We had a delicious sandwich on the patio of the Los Olivos Grocery. The weather was idyllic and the food scrumptious. With full bellies we were back on the road and headed to our next stop: Fess Parker Winery.

Fess is still around and we hear he is a frequent visitor to the winery that bears his name. The tasting room is spacious, light and open and you see his signature coon skin cap everywhere. I do mean everywhere! The wine list is dominated by Pinot Noir and Syrah and we tasted several wines we found much to our liking.

Fess Parker Tasting Room

From there we made a stop at Sunstone Winery for a visit with winemaker Brittany Rice. Laura will share that visit on Women On Wine. Sunstone is in a lovely setting and has a charming and intimate tasting room. Brittany’s parents Fred & Linda started the winery in 1989 and their son Bion is the President. There grapes meet all California Certifed Organic Farmer standards.

Brittany Rice

Sunstone

Our last stop of the day was a visit to Teri Love, the owner and winemaker for Gioia Wines. I met Teri earlier this year at the Stars of Santa Barbara event. I shared the story of how she lost her son in a motorcycle accident. She devotes her life to his memory and makes wine in his memory. Her newly released Zinfandel is delicate and delicious. A portion of the sales from each bottle goes to the Tyler Love Foundation. She went to her garden, picked some fresh mint, put it in a glass with ice and added Zinfandel and voila! A Zinjito! The afternoon sun was very warm and this was very refreshing. Laura and Teri had a good visit and she’ll write about soon on Women On Wine.

Teri Love & Laura Plant

We had a fabulous dinner at Grappolo in Santa Ynez and called it a night. We had a few stops to make before we continued our journey Northward. We drove to Lompoc for a stop at Palmina Winery. Lompoc is a lovely coastal town and Palmina is a delightful place to visit. Jeanna welcomed us in, sat us down and served us wine, cheese, bread and olive oil. Steve Clifton founded the winery in 1995, naming it as a tribute to his grandmother and dear friend Paula who succumbed to breast cancer. After her death he learned her name at birth was Palmina. He met his wife Chrystal in 2000 when he was looking for someone who was fluent in Italian for a group of visitors from Italy. His focus is on Italian varietals and his wines are magnificent. Among his whites we loved his Malvasia Bianca, Traminer and Tocai Friulano. His also produces stunning reds, including his Undici Sangiovese, his Barbera and his Nebbiolo. Undici is Italian for 11, and is a tip of the hat to the movie This Is Spinal Tap. He played in a band called Secret Service that once opened for Oingo Boingo. Who knew? He has respect for Italian wines, and the methods the winemakers use, but he wants to make them his way. He says he wants his wines to make you hungry. His dream is to become a Nebbiolo house.

Jeanna

Palmina Tasting Room

Palmina Barrel (and party) Room

We had lunch in Solvang at Panino, enjoying an incredibly delicious sandwich al fresco. We stopped in Los Olivos again after several people told us we couldn’t miss Carhartt. I’m glad we didn’t. Carhartt Winery has without a doubt the smallest tasting room I have ever seen. We had a great visit with Rhea and visited with folks at the tasting bar while enjoying their wines. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you check it out.

Carhartt

We had wanted to visit Blackjack, but read it was closed on Tuesday. When we drove past it, however, the sign read “OPEN”. We pulled in and found it was indeed open. When we entered were were told they just felt like opening. Blackjack is getting maximum mileage from their 15 minutes of fame from Sideways. The wines were excellent, especially the Maximus Syrah, but we were put off by little things like selling their corks and labels. Most wineries are happy to give them to folks who ask. There are momentos from the movie all around the tasting room. I found it just a bit too much.

Our last stop was at Kenneth Volk Vineyards in Santa Maria. The scenery as we drove through the countryside was spectacular. It was near the close of business and we were the only visitors. Ken founded Wild Horse Winery and gained a great reputation there. His Chardonnay is stellar and his Cab and Merlot are also worthy of tasting. Our first visit to Santa Barbara’s wine country had come to an end. We were off to our favorite wine destination, Paso Robles, with Napa in our sights at the end of the journey.

kenneth Volk Vineyards

For the most part I’m going to let the pictures do the talking. This past Saturday and Sunday, 25 Temecula Valley wineries opened their doors for guests to taste from the barrels and enjoy a bite or two of food. I was pleased to see folks like Bill Wilson from Wilson Creek (literally running trays of food from the kitchen) and serving barrel samples of late harvest Zinfandel, South Coast Winery owner Jim Carter and Executive Winemaker Jon MacPherson pouring wine, Thornton Executive Winemaker Don Reha pouring barrel samples of ’07 Syrah, Joe Hart cooking and his family serving wine and food, Marcelo and Damian Doffo pouring barrel samples and serving delicious food cooked by the fire in their brick oven, Dorian Linkogle at Briar Rose serving Les’ Zinfandel/Barbera blend, Mike and Mindy Calabro offering their olive oil and barrel samples of the Super Tuscan and Nick and Cindy Palumbo serving homemade tacos and pouring wine. Meeting Audrey Cilurzo, one of the pioneers of the Temecula Wine industry, was a real treat.  I was equally disappointed by some of the owners who did not put in an appearance. Hope you enjoy the pictorial story of a great weekend.

Don Reha

Callaway Winery

Stuart Cellars

Dorian Linkogle & Disney Pianist Rod Miller

Maurice Car'rie

La Cereza

Hart Family

Joe Hart

Jon MacPherson & Jim Carter

Wiens

Cindy Palumbo

Palumbo Vineyards

Nick Palumbo

Bill Wilson

Crispin Courtenay

Audrey Cilurzo

Mike Calabro

Villa Di Calbro

Marcelo Doffo

Foote Print

Dean Foote

Doffo Brick Oven

Cheers!