What Santa Barbara County/South Coast Wine Are You Drinking?

WINE TALK
21

2012 Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah. Their lowest cost blend. Very juicy at this point. I think the '13 version is better, but the '12 works for a Monday after the Super Bowl wine.

22

Seven Days of Santa Barbara (not planned, but started with the Feb #WineStudio Twitter chat focusing on Santa Barbara County*).

Between last Tuesday and tonight:
2008 Tercero Thompson Vineyard Syrah
2012 A Tribute to Grace Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard Grenache
2005 Jonata El Corazon Red Blend
2012 Paul Lato Hilliard Bruce Vineyard “Belle de Jour” Chardonnay
2010 Paul Lato Larner Vineyard “Cinamatique” Syrah

All excellent and recommended.

Cheers!

Steve

23

'09 Jaffurs Verna’s Vineyard Syrah. Needed a 3 hour decant. Very dense, big olive, salt, blue and black fruit notes. This wine will go another 10 - 15 years yet.

24

'11 Ojai, Solomon Hills, PN. This PN is chock full of flavors, probably still needs a few years to settle down. I find the new more civilized style at Ojai far more appealing than what was produced 10 years ago. It was also until last week my only wine club.

25

The ultimate praise (am I right?) is being hesitant to post said praise. Jaffurs SB County Syrah '13 meets that standard. (I’m going to wish I hadn’t written this.)

26

I agree with you. It is an awesome QPR and one of the better blends they have put out since 2007.

27

Bien Nacido Vineyard 2011 Pinot. Delicious, strawberry and subtle cedar. Good balance of fruit and acid.

28

2005 Jaffurs Upslope. Can’t get much better than this.

29

2011 Jaffurs’ Ampelos Syrah. Rich and deep.

30

Tercero - The Outlier

I just drink the whole bottle myself.

31

2014 RASI Pinot Noir- good juice here with Rachaels sophmore effort. Only have two bottles left.

32

2012 Jaffurs Kimsey Syrah. First year Jaffurs has used this vineyard. Great spice driven Syrah. Almost Saxum like in its layered flavors. Might be my new SBC favorite.

33

Was in Santa Barbara today and checked out Municipal Winemakers and Area 5.1. They are right across from each other. I read, I think here, some reasonable reviews on Municipal so that was my initial interest.

Across the board both wineries need a kick in the pants. I found their offerings marginal at best. Their surroundings seemed more brew pub than winery. Maybe I am not the demographic they are seeking, being in my 50’s, but the wine itself was borderline bad. Some of the old guard SBC winemakers have nothing to worry about if these guys represent the new talent in SBC.

34

And you didn’t make it over the hill? Bummer . . .

35

We might make it to Los Olivos on Thursday. Will you be around?

36

Larry, we had your '10 Grenache at Bouchon tonight. Loved it.

37

Darn it - I’ll be down in LA . . . but Maeapple, the woman who works for me, will be there . . .

38

Thanks! That’s my 2010 Larner Grenache - love the site and love the vintage.

If you are around, there is an event happening this Sunday at Larner Vineyard called LarnerFete. 7 wineries who purchase fruit from the vineyard will be pouring:

Jaffurs
Kaena
Larner
tercero
McPrice Meyers
Central Coast Group Project
Casa Dumetz

Should be a fantastic afternoon - let me know if you need info on tickets.

I will be pouring a selection of my Larner stuff, including my 2012 Larner Mourvedre - only about 20 cases produced . . .

Cheers!

39

I was a member at municipal from 2010-2012 and found that the initial vintages were quite good but I was less impressed over time. The TR also became like you noted a brew pub, more hang out/party atmosphere than serious tasting room.

I like the winemaker and enjoyed supporting him getting the winery off the ground but didn’t ultimately like the direction the winery went. So I dropped it. I think if I was looking to join a SBC wine club I would join Tercero or Jaffurs.

40

Hi there! New to the board (been reading quite a few threads today, but this is my first post). Thanks for the great posts in this thread. My wife Anna and I are heading up to Los Olivos for the weekend (may stop by Vintners tasting, but more likely just some vineyard visits and tasting rooms).

Here’s what’s on our list (we will never get to them all)

Jaffurs
Tercero
Larner
Stolpman (Sunday morning vineyard hike)
Saarloos
Longoria
Qupe
Dragonette
Grassini

Plus these ones, if they take visits, or if the wines are in a Los Olivos tasting room:

Harrison Clarke
Kimsey
Solminer

Tried to set up a Jonata visit, but no go. Emailed some people about seeing WhiteHawk vineyard but no word on that yet.

Personally, I love Ballard Syrahs, and prefer Pinots closer to Lompoc.

We may take a day to drive over towards Lompoc too to visit Clos Pepe, Babcock, Hilliard Bruce, D’Alfonso-Curran, Fiddlehead and Dierberg.