When you talk to Jamie about wine, his passion for wine and his community shine through! He loves the Santa Barbara region and the wine community there. Jamie, like many wine makers did not start out his adult life as a winemaker. He was an entrepreneur. Up until the early 2000s he ran five radio stations in the Tucson area of Arizona, then once he sold those stations he fulfilled his lifelong dream and became a racecar driver from 2005-2013. To say he is driven to succeed at everything he touches is an understatement. After having conquered the race world by coming in second at almost every one of his championship races. Jamie decided he wanted to fulfill another dream of his, owning a winery. So thus began Jamie Slone Wines. He chose Santa Barbara, because in his and many others opinion, it is the best wine region to grow wine grapes.
Santa Barbara is rich with a variety of soil types and this gives winemakers like Jamie the tools to really be creative with their wines and create one of a kind distinctive blend. In 2014 he released his first wines. First his red blend called BoRific, which is Jamie’s nickname for his wife Kym. BoRific is a Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet, Malbec and Petit Verdot. It’s rich and delicious! He also released a Pinot Noir, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay.
Most of his wine is sourced from vineyards in Santa Rita Hills and Happy Canyon; these offer him the best of both worlds, one is lusher and cooler at night and the other is dryer and hotter. He spends a lot of time analyzing and choosing the best possible process for that season’s harvest. To quote Jamie “Each year is a fresh new painting, I use fruit to sculpt that year’s wine.”
When asked what the inspiration behind his wine was, Jamie said he wanted flexibility and a creative outlet. Something he could be proud of. In his words he wanted to create a “fabulous experience.”
We then talked about his favorite over the years. He said consistently his Super Tuscan, but every year there is a special one he likes most. Right now, he says his 2019 Grenache is outstanding!
I then told him a firsthand story about his Super Tuscan. It was September 2017 and my wine group and I were on our summer excursion. My friend Jeff had told me I needed to go and check out Jamie Slone, so we made it one of our stops that day. It was late afternoon and we were just about done with our tasting. All of us had loved everything we tasted and three of us joined the winery club that very afternoon. Then when we were about to leave it started to rain pretty hard outside. So, we decided why walk around in the rain when we could just chill there and ride out the storm. We ordered a bottle of the Super Tuscan and road out the brief storm in the comfort of his beautiful tasting room. It was the highlight of that trip! Jamie shows passion in every wine he serves and he works hard to personally craft his wine so that every one of them gives his customers a truly “fabulous experience.” You can check out his winery at 23 E De La Guerra St in Santa Barbara CA 93101
