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Wine Tasting in Santa Barbara

Rows of newly planted grape vines stretched for miles on either side of the road on my drive down to Santa Barbara. The rolling hills that once were occupied by cattle and the occasional orange grove are now neatly combed and plotted with stakes that support spindly young grape vines with bright green leaves ready to shade the grapes about to bud. It was the end of April, and I had two days to attempt a mini wine tour of Santa Barbara and seek out some terroir-driven wines there. 

            My first stop was a private wine tasting at the Yacht Harbor with Drea O’Connell, a certified sommelier and fine wine specialist. She is spunky, charismatic, and a great resource when it comes to California wines. Santa Barbara is well known for its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah, though Drea believes Sauvignon Blanc from the Santa Barbara area is excellent, and will be the next wine to take center stage there. After tasting through the flight, I asked Drea where I should go next? She suggested The Funk Zone, a hip location in downtown Santa Barbara with art studios and lots of tasting rooms. She also suggested I get in touch with Josh Klapper, the founder and winemaker for La Fenêtra, at Central Coast Wine Services in Santa Maria. I would have to wait until I was on my way out of town to meet Josh, so until then, it was off to The Funk Zone.

            One of my first stops was a small tasting room tucked away in an alley. Drake Cellars had only one group inside, drinking a Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine that was served on tap, straight from the tank. Though their Chardonnays were good, I was most impressed by their Pinot Noirs. I had visited a couple other spots in the Funk Zone, but Drake was the first to offer up a true terroir-driven vintage. I walked out with a bottle of their 2009 “H Block” from Bien Nacido Vineyard that night, and was so impressed that I returned the next day to pick up another bottle, this time a 2010 Pinot named “Les Galets,” French for ‘pebbles’, specifically the polished river stones found in vineyards in the Côtes du Rhône.

            My favorite tasting room was the Deep Sea. Located on the pier overlooking the Santa Barbara bay, Deep Sea offers a wide range of wine styles with breathtaking views. The owner and winemaker, Tom Conway, was working the day I visited, and I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with him about terroir, marketing, wine styles, and our own preferences for certain wines. Tom’s favorite Deep Sea wine is a 2007 dry farmed Zinfandel, and while I liked this 2007 Rancho Arroyo Grande Zin, my favorite wine was his 2008 Deep Sea Syrah from White Hawk Vineyard. Both wines were unfiltered and unfined, and possessed a certain chalky-earthiness that spoke to my love of single-vineyard, single-varietal wines. After an extra splash of White Hawk Syrah, I asked Tom if he had any suggestions about other places to visit on my trip; he suggested I contact Sanguis, which I did, and was able to schedule a private tasting for the next day on my way out of town.

            My last stop for the day was Municipal Winemakers, where I met my cousin Natalie for a quick tasting before she met some friends for a birthday party. Our favorite wine was the 2011 Bright Red, which had great character for a table red, and reminded me of a true Bordeaux blend. It was so good that I picked up a bottle to bring back for my friend Drew, who has a passion for chewy, high-tannic wines. From there, I drove over to La Super-Rica Taqueria, a must-visit restaurant any time I’m in Santa Barbara, for a couple carnitas tacos before calling it a night.

            The next morning I headed over to Sanguis. The building where they have their tasting room and winemaking facility is gorgeous, but a bit out of place in the neighborhood. Located in an industrial area, and with no sign or address anywhere I could find, I passed the large, solid, hardwood door a couple of times before giving it a knock and being greeted by Jessica, the tasting room manager. It was her birthday, and she was only there to do a little work so she could have the evening free to meet some friends and family. I was very thankful that she had agreed to take some time out of her day to invite me into the winery and show off some of their wines. When I walked in the door, a table was already laid out with five wines glistening in decanters beside their bottles. On the wall behind the table was a shelf full of the appropriate glassware for each wine, some water, and another shelf with corkscrews, the handles of which were made of polished grape vines. Each wine contained a little Viognier, even the reds, and the wines were exquisite—bright and full of character. My favorites were the 2010 Out of Line (94% Chardonnay, 6% Viognier) and the 2009 Some Poets (95% Syrah, 5% Viognier). All the wines were unfiltered, unfined, fermented with native yeast, and aged sur lees. Sanguis also has a second label called “Loner,” which I wish I could have tried, but they produce so few bottles that they reserve the single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for wine club members only.

            After thanking Jessica, it was time to head north to meet Josh Klapper on my drive home. Josh used to work as a sommelier, but has since left the restaurant industry and moved to the cellar. I met him at Central Coast Wine Services in Santa Maria, where he produces the wine for La Fenêtra and Acote (his second label). Josh led me through a barrel tasting. He’s trying to make food-friendly, Euro-style wines, and his goal is to produce classical Burgundy, terroir-driven wine in Santa Barbara. I asked Josh what he thought was necessary in order to achieve a wine that expressed terroir. He said that harvest time is the most important—you don’t want to pick over-ripe grapes. But he added that an embodiment of time and place and history are also important; grapes should be picked when there is balanced acidity, sugar, and ripeness. It’s also critical to consider what wine from an area should taste like. Like every region, every varietal also has its own peculiarities that need to be attended to. Josh told me, “Pinots are all about patience and urgency.”

We sampled a barrel of Pinot Noir from Bien Nacido Vineyard, the same place where the grapes were grown for one of the Pinot Noirs I had bought at Drake. And then something registered, something I thought I already knew, but that I had not yet fully grasped or appreciated: great wine begins in the vineyard, and some places produce better grapes than others. Bien Nacido is probably the most famous vineyard in Santa Barbara. Originally planted in the 1970s, the vineyard stretches for approximately 900 acres. Fourteen different varietals are planted there, principally Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. Before I left so Josh could finish his cellar work for the day, I asked him if he could recommend an inexpensive place for lunch. He told me that the place I wanted was El Toro: Mexican Deli and Tortilla Factory, and to be sure to get the carnitas. I found El Toro, and ate two of the best carnitas tacos I’ve ever had in my life. I still regret that I didn’t buy some tamales for the road.

After this trip, the terroir of Santa Barbara will always bring to mind dark, earthy Pinots and Syrahs, and carnitas tacos, dripping with juice, dressed only with a little cilantro and onion. Cuisine as an expression of culture is also a reflection of location, and of the restraints and opportunities found there. In Santa Barbara, the geography and socio-economics has lead to the creation of a wine market that is rightly gaining notoriety among California-wine lovers, and of mouthwatering caritas cooked so tenderly it almost feels like a mouthful of Syrah.