Actually, SANTA Ynez, Buellton[/Solvang] and Los Olivos are the closest regions of the Santa Barbara County with actual vinyards. While there are a few "wineries" and "cellars" in and around the City of Santa Barbara, they are little more than retail outlets...

See: http://www.sbcountywines.com/visit/map.html

Take a morning and do the drive -- it really is pretty, with the scenic contrasts of mountains, vineyards, and horse country to give your parents a better overview of the area. I'm disappointed to hear about Sanford's problems, but there are many other nice vineyards to visit. If you start out not too late in the morning, visit a winery or two, and have lunch in Los Olivos you'll be back in Santa Barbara with plenty of the day left. And you'll miss most of the tourists and the 101 traffic.

mlatuchie, how recent a Sanford vintage is "safe" to drink? I liked what I tasted two years ago (probably '03s and maybe '04s) but haven't bought any for a while.

mlatuchie, if you liked Sanford wines, look up Alma Rosa next time you're in the area. The Sanford family and many of the employees went there. At Christmas they were in an exceptionally well-decorated office strip (think of a very large storage unit), off a side road off 246 in Buellton. Very strange place to taste wine, but it was kinda fun. I think they're moving back to Sanford sometime over the summer. (I don't know the details, but I think that the Sanford family still owns the land, and the people who pushed them out are "leasing" the land, but they did take ownership of the Sanford name from the Sanford family. What a mess. But they're either going back to the original tasting room, or the new winery building built a few years back.)

There is no other way around it. If you want to experience the 'winery scene' you need to drive to Santa Ynez/Los Olivos area. There are no wineries very near to Santa Barbara. Period. Take it or leave it. It sure as hey isn't a 1.5 hr. drive to Santa Ynez/Los Olivos either. 1 hour max, if that.

It is such a nice drive, through beautiful country... not sure why anyone would worry about a 45 min-1 hr. drive through it.

I agree with the others about some of the good food in Los Olivos. I'll take the Los Olivos Cafe please. The duck is great.

Has anyone eaten at the Ballard Inn, just down the road from Los Olivos?

I have not. However, a good friend who lilves in Santa Ynez says it is very good... and he would know. I've been tempted to go, but hust haen't pulled the trigger. Will be back out that way at the end of the month. Perhaps then.

Having eaten at the Ballard Inn for the first time last night, I can confirm that this is indeed an excellent restaurant. In fact, I would rank it #1 of the three best we have eaten at in the area - #1) Ballard Inn, #2) Brothers at Matthei Tavern, and #3) Wine Cask. They are all within about 5 minutes of each other near or in the town of Los Olivos.

Santa Barbara is about 90 minutes north of the valley. Figure 2 hours north of downtown LA.

A friend of mine is the assistant winemaker at Fess Parker. He helped with our research.

Research or not, having a little upfront information helps to relieve the stress of where to stop.

Report

Our first stop was at Fess Parker. James did the pouring for us. This is a beautiful place. Nice grounds. You can walk up to the vines from the parking lot. A friend of mine told me to expect loads of tour busses. This wasn't the case on Saturday 29 December.

We started with the 2005 Chard American Tradition Reserve. $28.

I bought a couple of bottles of the 2005 Melange Blanc, Santa Barbara County. $20. I liked this better than the chard. It was a viongier type blend. I even tasted the jasmine.

The 2006 White Resling $12 was sweet, but not overly sweet. Good value.
The 2005 Pinot Noir was $35. I did expect this to blow my socks off, but it didn't. My cousin, on the other hand, purchased 4 bottles. Goes to show you that we all have different tastes.

I loved the smell of the 2004 Sarah, The Big Easy $45.

Next stop... Los Olivos for lunch.

We backtracked a few miles back to town. Los Olivos is a small cute town nestled in the wine country. A few blocks of restaurants, stores, and tasting rooms. We had lunch (sandwiches) at a place located on a corner. You'll know it by the lines!

My friend suggested several tasting rooms to try wine. I was appreciative of his help because there's a lot to pick from.

We headed to Epiphany Cellars first. We tasted 9 different wines.
My favorites were the 2005 Inspiration $20. It's a blend of viongier and Grenache Blanc. Also, the 2004 Revelation had a nice smell and color. It's their signature wine. The 2004 Block F Syrah 92 RP $45 was a hint sweet, but not the blow-a-way syrah I was looking for.

We were going to taste at Murray, but it was very busy (a good thing).
From here, we headed around the corner to Tensley. Tensley shares a tasting room with someone else whose name eludes me. My friend made a point to say that Joey Tensley produces a good syrah.

Joey Tensley was doing the pouring. I had no idea, until I read the Wine Spectator article he had on the wall (picture included).

Just like there's WOTN (wine of the night) at off-line wine events, Tensleys syrahs were my WOTD (wine of the day). Finally had a syrah that blew my socks off. $25 and $38.

He'll be at Astor Wines in NYC on Thursday eve, January 17 at 6:00pm. I'll be there too.


Tasting fees were waived at Fess Parker and Epiphany. When I mentioned that Larry suggested we stop at Tensley, we were comped. Come to think of it, I have no idea if he charged a fee.

One last thing. Our last stop was at the very crowded, they must be having a sale, Foley. Here we paid $10. Of the 5 pours, the best here was the 2005 Syrah, Rancho Santa Rosa. $30.

The other wines we tasted here were:

2006 Chard, Rancho Santa Fe $30 (and not worth it).
2006 Chard, Clone 96 $35. (give me a break).
2005 Pinot Noir, Rancho Santa Rosa. $40. A nice, easy drinking wine, but not a blow-a-way. I'll take a good Oregon PN anyday over this.
2006 Ponot Noir, Pommard Clone $45. which tasted better than the Rancho Santa Rosa.

dh
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Thanks for the report!

Cheers.

Great report. A trip to SB for wine tasting is a great Sat/Sun activity to get out of L.A.