It’s become our custom to escape some of the heat during the Las Vegas summers by planning a trip or two. It’s not always a wine-centric trip, but this year we wanted to do some wine tasting in an area that wouldn’t be as hot, so I did some googling and learned that Santa Barbara would be in the high 70s in August, our friends and family in California could maybe meet us there, and it had been since early 2019 since we visited the area.
I went back to reread my article for Elite magazine to see what we covered, and of course, to remind myself who we would like to visit again. At that time, we visited quite a few winery tasting rooms, including Margerum, Barden, Jamie Sloan, Carr, Jaffurs, Kunin, Valley Project, Santa Barbara Wine Collective and Santa Barbara Winery.
Good sources include the website Visit Santa Barbara website and their page on Facebook. Another resource is The Funk Zone website and Facebook page for arts, culture and dining. I planned on spending more time on these websites before and possibly during our time in Santa Barbara.
I also reached out to a public relations friend and asked her what we needed to see. These are her recommendations:
Wine tasting: The Santa Barbara Wine Collective. And drive out of Santa Barbara to the Hitching Post as, “The Tasting Room is great for lunch and sitting outside with a fantastic view of the Santa Ynez Mountains.
Dining: The Lark – flagship, Loquita – the best and a new chef, La Paloma Cafe – also new chef and delicious. Highly recommend Helena Avenue Bakery (adjoined to SB Wine Collective) for breakfast / lunch. Bettina in the Montecito Country Mart. New restaurant is Dom’s Taverna – well regarded chef.
Besides the Santa Barbara winery tasting rooms downtown, I know that they are also not too far from tasting rooms in Solvang and, a little further past, Los Olivos, and the Santa Ynez valley. So, my plan is to start in Santa Barbara for one or two days of tasting, and then venture out for more if time allowed. I turned to Google to see which wineries we may want to check out near Hitching Post in Solvang and settled on these four:
Lucas and Lewellen
Crawford Family
McClain Cellars
Alma Rosa
If we do decide we can make the time to get into Los Olivos and the Santa Ynez valley, wineries I’d like to visit again are here in my 2021 article for Elite magazine, and include Stolpman, Kempe and Barbieri, Bella Cavalli, Lincourt, Buttonwood, Rideau, Beckmen, Crawford, Foley, Zaca Mesa, Tercero, Brewer-Clifton, Liquid Farm, Ampelos, Zotovich, Montemar, Jalama, Longoria, Fess Parker and Taste of Santa Rita Hills.
Have you got any favorites that I’ve missed? I would love to add a distillery to my list! Shoot me an email at Eve@EveWine101.com and let me know.
Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in the first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Proof Awards, Cellarmasters, LA Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits.
