For someone like myself, a consummate wino, it's rather odd that I have never visited the Santa Ynez area of California and tasted their wines. The area is northeast of Santa Barbara, near the frightening town of Solvang, nestled in rolling hills and the area is quite beautiful. The towns of Los Olivos and Ballard and a few others dot the area, but they are very small and more like villages. This is the area where the movie "Sideways" was filmed about eight years ago and it is much nicer in person than on the screen, which says a lot because it looked lovely in the movie. This was the perfect time to visit: warm, sunny days, cool nights, not crowded at all, winery personnel had time to talk to us. However, I still had trepidation about going, since my love of wine tasting as a day's occupation has long since left me. I would rather just buy a bottle of wine and drink it, leave the sipping to the neophytes.
My brother John has been visiting this area for about 30 years so he was the perfect tour guide. We visited four wineries on Monday, two that John wanted to see and two that were recommended by winery people we met along the way. Delicious wines, all of them. These places are smaller than most Napa and Sonoma wineries and they are all about the wine. The weather is much different than northern California as well so the varietals have different characteristics and there are different varietals grown here.
Not so much Cabernet, it's too hot. Zinfandel is rare as well, same reason. But Grenache, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc...... bring it on! And other Rhone varietals, too, like Rousanne, Viogner, and more. I tasted the best Chardonnay I have had in the US, more like French Chablis, crisp, flinty, no oak, minerals...... awesome. And the best Pinot Noir since I was able to imbibe French Burgundy (another lifetime ago.) Not like California Pinots, this was light in color, lower in alcohol (around 13.5%) and the taste went on and on. I could have married it if that would have been sanctioned by California law. I swooned. I bought a bottle at a price that was much too high for an unemployed person but totally fair for the quality of the wine.
Needless to say, my wine tasting gene kicked in rather quickly. While I knew these grapes, they tasted much different here in Santa Ynez Valley. I was happy. My brother was even happier, having made me a convert.
We stayed in a very nice inn, the Ballard Inn, an old establishment with pretty rooms, modernized enough but not too much. Good common areas, nice porch to sit on, wines poured in the afternoon with good cheese and olives. Excellent breakfast. Pricey, but probably the best place to stay in the area. Since I had a gift certificate for one night, I was totally happy with my room and balcony. I never stay in inns, having worked in one for 15 years, but as a guest it was quite pleasant. They tack on an additional 10% for the staff (i.e. tips) and it shows: the staff is happy, willing to solve any problems that might arise and seem to actually like their jobs. What a concept.
So that was our Monday. We went out to dinner, came back and watched some of the Giants game, sadly losing to the creepy LA Dodgers, had a good sleep and a good breakfast on Tuesday morning. We then hit the road for Paso Robles, and that is the story for tomorrow. This blog has gone on long enough.
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