MCBEE'S WINE DIARY: Santa Barabara Wine Tour

THE MCBEE WINE BLOG DIARY

My mother, Camille McBee, partnered with Bobby G. Smith, Winemaker, in North Texas for over 30 years. Together they worked to develop a National and International name for Texas Wines. In 2009 she passed away too young, but she left behind a Texas Wine Industry that was better because of her dedication and she left a family with a deep rooted love and appreciation for wine and entertaining. This blog serves as a diary of my adventures in wine and as a lasting toast to my mother. -Cheers!

This blog is NOT intended to be the authority on tasting notes, or a professional guide for wine experts; it's simply a place for me to share some of my opinions and findings about wine with my friends and other wine lovers.

I truly hope you will use this blog to help you the next time you are thinking about what to buy at the wine store or deciding what to order at a local restaurant or when you travel to the wine country. ENJOY!

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Santa Barabara Wine Tour

Well, I consider myself a well seasoned wine guy, having logged hours and hours and days and days of wine tastings, but never in Santa Barbara. Now, i have seen the movie Sideways no less than 100 times. Mainly for two reasons, one, I love everything about this movie, and two, it is the only movie I have ever figured out how to rip off a CD and save to my iPad. I am not even sure how i did it, but it is the only movie on my iPad, so I watch it on pretty much every plane ride. Anyway, the movie is based on tasting wine in the Santa Barbara wine country. Now I get to see some of those places, which is fun.

We arrived today, just after lunch, grabbed a car and headed straight for Los Olivos. Had lunch at a great little sandwich shop in town, Panino. Solid tuna salmon ad sandwich and an eclectic crowd. To accompany our lunch, we stopped into Larner Vineyard tasting room for a Savignon Blanc. Following lunch we headed straight out to the tasting rooms. We visited the Gaines Family's Evan's Ranch Winery, where we tried a couple of interesting Pinot Noirs and two really good Syrah. We learned the interesting story about how the Josten's family, of high school ring fame, used thier fortune to start this winery thirty years ago. Next, we then ventured down the street to Blair Fox Winery, where we tried a few wines, including a pretty good Chardonnay, and a really great Syrah, the 2014 Petite Sirah. (Yes, spelled with the I)

Before heading out we stopped in for a quick glass of wine at a little bar called Community Craft. We met the owners, Andrew & Erin - great couple, each of which are chasing successful careers in the Santa Barbara wine industry, one as a sommelier and the other as a wine maker. I would consider this place a "must do" in Los Olivos if you want to get the inside track about where to go in the area. This couple has some great recommendations and is full of little wine surprises. We were able to taste some small production wines here and left with Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc and an awesome Bordeaux style Cabernet from Grassini Family Vineyards. I made a really great contact here and hope to trade some great wines with this store going forward. Stop in and meet Andrew & Erin the next time you're in Los Olives.