Exploring Santa Barbara's Urban Wine Trail

While the allure of Santa Barbara County Wine Country brings in thousands of visitors annually to the famous towns and appellations of this iconic wine destination, people are quickly discovering the fifteen wineries that line the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail from the scenic coastline to Downtown's Historic Arts District.

Located 90 miles north of Los Angeles, Downtown Santa Barbara is easily becoming a premier wine destination for novice and experienced wine drinkers looking for quality and award winning wines from Santa Barbara County.  The Urban Wine Trail's convenient location allows wine tasters to park their cars and walk to many of the tasting rooms that line Anacapa Street just a block or two from Cabrillo Boulevard and Stearns Wharf.

The Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail also features one of the most acclaimed Rhône varietal wine producers in California - Jaffurs Wine Cellars.  Jaffurs sources Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne from renowned Santa Barbara County vineyards such as Bien Nacido, Thompson, Ampelos and Verna's.  The winemaking team of Craig Jaffurs, Dave Yates and Matt Brady produce stunning wines that represent the finest qualities of Rhône varietals and the terroir of each vineyard.

If you want to stick to the itinerary and enjoy as many tasting rooms as possible, grab a sandwich to go from Panino in Montecito (1014 Coast Village Road, 805-565-0137) or Downtown Santa Barbara (834 Santa Barbara Street, 805-963-3700).  After a day of tasting, there are plenty of fine dining options throughout town with exemplary wine lists.  Likewise, Santa Barbara has a hotel for every budget and accommodation.

WINERIES

Au Bon Climat, 813 Anacapa St., (805) 966-9463. Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Carr Vineyards & Winery, 414 N. Salsipuedes St., (805) 965-7985. Open daily 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. & Thursday-Sunday, 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Cottonwood Canyon, 224 Anacapa St., Suite 1A, (805) 963-1221. Open Fall/Winter: Thursday-Sunday, 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. & Spring/Summer: 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Conway Family Wines, 217 Stearns Wharf, (805) 618-1185. Open daily 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Jaffurs Wine Cellars, 819 E. Montecito St., (805) 962-7003. Open Friday-Monday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Kalyra Winery, 212 State St., (805) 965-8606. Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Kunin Wines, 28 Anacapa St., (805) 963-9633. Open daily 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Margerum Wine Company, 813 Anacapa St., (805) 966-9463. Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Municipal Winemakers, 22 Anacapa St., (805) 931-6864. Open daily 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (till 11:00 p.m., Thursday-Saturday)

Oreana Winery, 205 Anacapa St., (805) 962-5857. Open Monday-Thursday 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Friday-Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Sanguis, 8 Ashley Ave., (805) 845-0920. Open by appointment only

Santa Barbara Winery, 202 Anacapa St., (805) 963-3633. Open daily 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Silver Wines, 724 Reddick St., (805) 963-3052. Open by appointment only

Summerland Winery, 2330 Lillie Ave., (805) 565-9463. Open daily 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Whitcraft Winery, 36 A South Calle Cesar Chavez, (805) 730-1680. Open Friday-Monday 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Bottling Day 2011, Jaffurs Wine Cellars

Under relatively clear skies and with a cool ocean breeze to their backs, the team at Jaffurs Wine Cellars, along with dedicated wine club members and volunteers, got to work bottling hundreds of cases of Santa Barbara County Syrah, Grenache and Pinot Noir.

The Mission Bottling truck was set up in the driveway of the winery while volunteers were busy loading and packaging thousands of bottles of Jaffurs' reserve wines, including the 2009 vintage of the widely popular and award-winning Upslope, Thompson Vineyard Syrah, Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah, Ampelos Vineyard Syrah and Santa Barbara County Grenache, as well as a Jaffurs side project from Dave Yates called "Mistress," which is exclusively Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara County.

Jaffurs Wine Cellars is one of the most acclaimed wineries and Rhône varietal wine producers in Santa Barbara County.  Under the helm of Craig Jaffurs, Dave Yates and Matt Brady, Jaffurs Wine Cellars continues to impress wine critics, wine enthusiasts and wine novices with their handcrafted wines using grapes from the finest vineyards in Santa Barbara County including Ampelos Vineyard, Thompson Vineyard, Bien Nacido Vineyard, and Larner Vineyard.  Jaffurs produces a range of single-varietal Rhône wines such as Viognier, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Mourvèdre.

Check out the video below for all the action that goes into bottling the 2009 vintage.  Thanks to Craig, Dave, and Matt for allowing me to film and photograph all the activities and to Phil C. for giving me a good excuse to visit Downtown Santa Barbara.  Cheers!

IF YOU GO

Jaffurs Wine Cellars
819 E. Montecito St., Santa Barbara (west of N. Milpas St.)
(805) 962-7003
Friday-Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Open daily during summer months).  Tasting Fee: $10
Facebook: Jaffurs Wine Cellars

Dave Yates loading bottles

Bottles lining up to be filled with the '09 Grenache

Jaffurs' volunteers hustling to load and package bottles

Matt Brady (left) and Craig Jaffurs (right) sampling the '09 Grenache

'09 Thompson Vineyard Syrah on the bottling line

Parker Scores the Central Coast Rhône Rangers

On August 31, 2010, Robert M. Parker, Jr. released his much anticipated tasting notes and ratings for Rhône wines from California's Central Coast (plus scores for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay).  Parker tasted hundreds of wines over a period of two months, but only scored half of the total wines submitted by vintners for this edition of The Wine Advocate.

Not surprisingly, Parker offered some rather high scores and flattering comments for the usual suspects (i.e. Alban, Saxum, Sin Qua Non). Let's get the obvious out of the way; Parker has been in the wine business for approximately 35 years.  He has tasted tens of thousands of wines over this period.  Over time, his palate has honed into a particular style of wine - ripe, concentrated and fruit-forward. We drink and rave about what we like and so does Parker.  I doubt he is immune from any bias, especially after decades of tasting and scoring wines.

Unfortunately, Parker took it upon himself to offer some less than flattering comments about a few Santa Barbara County vintners and wines, while heaping praise upon others whose wines may or may not be widely accepted by most novice wine consumers, except for the fact that they scored 90+ points.  After carefully reviewing most of Parker's tasting notes and scores for the Central Coast Rhône Rangers, it was obvious to me that the current edition of The Wine Advocate lacked copy-editing (i.e. calling Craig Jaffurs, "Greg Jaffurs") and missed the mark on a few wines, which have been widely received by wine consumers and bloggers.  There is no reasonable explanation for Parker's critiques.  Here's one example:

In describing Tercero Wines, Parker notes that "these are all relatively straightforward, one dimensional efforts."  He fails to rate the 2007 Mourvèdre and calls it "without any ripeness" and "largely a failure."  Contrast this with comments from bloggers and wine consumers at the Rhône Rangers Los Angeles Tasting, as well as other posts online and you get a far different picture about this wine, but fail to grasp how Parker came to his own conclusion.  The point is that Tercero Wines received similar scores to other wines, but Parker took it upon himself to offer a rather scathing criticism of these wines.  On top of it, Wine Spectator offered a glowing score (91 points) for the 2007 Cuvée Christie, but Parker seemed disinterested in this wine too (80 points).

Rather than add to the speculation surrounding Parker's tasting notes and ratings, I would like to point out that Parker is one of many "wine critics" in the business.  While his opinion matters for some, wine consumers can find many more accurate and reliable alternatives to Parker and the other wine critics, by searching for tasting notes from fellow wine consumers at the highly-regarded CellarTracker.  Social media and blogs are offering many other alternatives to the traditional rating system and tasting notes. This is helping consumers make better informed decisions about tasting and purchasing wines, as well as helping wineries market their wines to a broader consumer base.

I am looking to forward to tasting many of the wines that Parker scored in the recent edition of The Wine Advocate to determine for myself if they deserve these scores or come close to the descriptions provided by Parker and his scribes.  Parker's scores should inspire wine consumers to seek out many of these wines and help people plan their next wine tasting vacation to Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles.  If you interested in knowing about some of the scores, add your question in the comments section.

Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail

On a clear, crisp fall Sunday, I set out on the drive north on U.S. 101 to the city of Santa Barbara.  The drive north can convince anyone to move to the idyllic, yet sprawling seaside city destination.  Many wine travelers pass through the city on their way to the popular wine destinations in the Santa Ynez Valley and often overlook the more than half-dozen wine tasting rooms on Santa Barbara's Urban Wine Trail.

It was only a few weeks earlier that the wineries were filled wall-to-wall with fermentation bins and the aroma of fermenting grapes. Now, the bins are gone, the barrels are full, and fermentation is well underway.  Within 5 hours, I hit 5 tasting rooms and 6 wineries searching for undiscovered Central Coast wines.  Aside from Jaffurs and Kunin, I've never visited the other tasting rooms and tasted but a few of Carr's previous vintages, so this was a great opportunity to expose my palate to new wineries. Overall, I was pleased with the selection of wines on the tasting lists, but only a few wineries and wines stood out for me.  Everyone should jump on the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail and taste these wines for yourself to find your favorites.  Cheers!

Jaffurs Wine Cellars has produced highly acclaimed Rhône varietal wines from Santa Barbara County for over a decade. Jaffurs is one of my top 3 favorite Rhône producers in the Central Coast and each vintage gets better. Jaffurs sources its fruit from the best vineyards in Santa Barbara County, including Bien Nacido, Thompson, Stolpman, Larner, Ampelos and Verna's.  Selections include award-winning Viognier, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Petite Sirah.  819 E. Montecito St., Santa Barbara. Open Fri-Sun 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. $10 Tasting Fee (glass included). (805) 962-7003

Jaffurs Wine Cellars

Carr Vineyards and Winery specializes in limited production wines from Santa Barbara County.  Selections includes their wide-ranging collection of Pinot Noir from vineyards throughout the Sta. Rita Hills, Pinot Gris, Grenache, Syrah and Cabernet Franc.  It's always a party in the tasting room and during harvest, you can sip on Pinot Noir and watch the crew crush the next vintage.  414 N. Salispuedes St., Santa Barbara. Open daily 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (till 8:00 pm, Thurs-Sat). $10 Tasting Fee (805) 965-7985

Carr Winery and Tasting Room

Kunin Wines/Westerly Vineyards share a tasting room a block from East Beach and Stearns Wharf. Kunin Wines has produced hand-crafted wines from California's Central Coast for eleven years. Westerly Vineyards focuses on Rhône and Bordeaux varietals from the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA.  Kunin's selections include a spectacular, award-winning Viognier, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ("Pape Star"), Syrah and Zinfandel.  Westerly's selections include Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Syrah and Merlot.  28 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. Open daily 11:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m. $10 Tasting Fee (Kunin), $8 Tasting Fee (Westerly) (805) 963-9633

Kunin/Westerly Tasting Room

Whitcraft Winery is a family-owned limited production winery specializing in Central Coast Pinot Noir. The wines are never fined, filtered or pumped.  Whitcraft's wine selections include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah. 36 A S. Calle Cesar Chavez, Santa Barbara. Open Fri-Sun 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  $8 Tasting Fee (805) 730-1680

Oreana Winery produces small lots of Pinot Noir, Syrah and blends from Santa Barbara County. The winery once housed a tire shop in this industrial section of Santa Barbara, that has become home to many other wineries.  Oreana's wine selections include Chardonnay, Verdelho, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo and blends. 205 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. Open daily 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  $10 Tasting Fee (805) 962-5857