Yesterday we went up to Santa Ynez will a couple friends to reward ourselves with a busy weekend of packing. It was a great time, but it was PACKED. Every winery we went to had easily the most people we'd ever seen in there before, with the exception of Beckmen. Beckmen was about average ... which could've been because we went there first and the college kids had arrived yet, or just because it's off the beaten path ... who knows?
We started with Beckmen this time because it's usually one of the ones we go to later in the day and our palates tend to be destroyed by then. So we wanted to hit it right off and taste the wines with a fresh/clean palate.
2005 Beckmen Sauvignon Blanc, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2005 Beckmen Marsanne, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2005 Beckmen Le Bec Blanc
2005 Beckmen Grenache, Estate
2005 Beckmen Grenache, Whole Cluster
2004 Beckmen Syrah, Estate
2003 Beckmen Syrah, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2004 Beckmen Syrah, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2004 Beckmen Syrah, Clone #1 Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2005 Beckmen Syrah, Clone #1 Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2001 Beckmen Grenache, Late Harvest Purisima Mountain Vineyard
Wow. What a pouring menu! This was fantastic. They had everything open plus some. I'd never tasted the Whole Cluster Grenache or the Late Harvest Grenache before. Fantastic. It was great to taste the different vintages of the PMV Syrah side by side, as well as tasting the two vintages of the Clone #1 Syrah. Wow. The 2004 Clone #1 would be my wine of the room, but the Late Harvest Grenache would be number two. Great stuff. The 2005 Clone #1 should improve with a couple years to be even better that the 2004, but we'll see! It was interesting to taste the 2005 Whole Cluster Grenache, you can really taste the stems in it ... I've got a couple bottle of the 2004, so I think I'll continue to hold them for a little longer.
2004 Kalyra Chardonnay, Barrel Select
2005 Kalyra Gewurtzraminer
2005 Kalyra Merlot Rose
2004 Kalyra Zinfandel, Old Vine
2003 Kalyra Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Valley
2002 Kalyra Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2005 Kalyra Orange Muscat
NV Kalyra Muscat Port, 18 Year Old
NV Kalyra Brut Rose Sparkling Wine
Stay away ... stay far away. If you really want to try their wines, go buy them in the store. They're not expensive and the tasting room was like a frat house. It could've just been the three day weekend and the fact that there were two limos and one bus outside in the parking lot, but it was definitely not enjoyable. Really bad service as well. Wine of the room would have to be the Orange Muscat but I really don't know since I just gulped it down so we could leave sooner.
2005 Koehler Sauvignon Blanc, Estate
2005 Koehler Chardonnay, Estate
2005 Koehler Viognier, Estate
2005 Koehler Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County
2005 Koehler Syrah, Estate
2004 Koehler Magia Nero, Estate
Wow was this place packed. There were more people here than were there during the Holiday party back in December. This was proof positive that everyone in SoCal decided to go wine tasting on this three day weekend. The owner of the winery was working in the tasting room, but again it was just so busy. The wines were great, I was slightly let down by the crowds, but hey ... no complaining, I just now know to stay away on three day weekends :) So we went to Los Olivos to get to Consilience and maybe one more after ...
2005 Consilience Rousanne, Santa Barbara County
2005 Consilience Grenache Rose, Santa Barbara County
2004 Consilience Grenache Noir "Rodney Shull Vineyard"
2005 Consilience Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County
2005 Consilience Pinot Noir "Bien Nacido Vineyard"
2004 Consilience Syrah, Santa Barbara County
2004 Consilience Syrah "Star Lane Vineyard"
2004 Consilience Cabernet Sauvignon "Camp 4 Vineyard"
2004 Consilience Zinfandel "Rhodes Vineyard"
2002 Consilience Zinfandel Port, Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County
I was impressed with all of the wines here ... everything was great. Wish they were pouring the Petite Sirah that I bought last time I was there, but oh well. Both Syrah's were showing wonderfully. We didn't pick any bottles up cause we're trying to save $$, but if I did it would've been one of those, or both. Then we strolled down Grand Ave to Andrew Murray's tasting room right before they closed ... phew!
2005 Andrew Murray Viognier, Santa Ynez Valley
2004 Andrew Murray Enchante
2004 Oak Savanna Vineyards Chardonnay, Naked
2005 Oak Savanna Cellars Pinot Noir
2004 Andrew Murray Esperance
2004 Andrew Murray Syrah, Estate, Santa Ynez Valley
2004 Andrew Murray Syrah, Roasted Slope Vineyard
2005 Andrew Murray Syrah, Oak Savanna Vineyard
2005 Andrew Murray Viognier, Late Harvest
Great stuff again. The wine that really surprised me was the Roasted Slope Syrah ... it's a mix with about 5% Viognier that is grown in the vineyard with the syrah. So they are mixed together the whole time. The color on it was super dark ... couldn't see through it at all. Wonderful going down too! They were not pouring their Tous Les Jours Syrah, which was fine by me since I drink it frequently enough, but I just thought it was interesting. Probably just ship it all through their distributors. The place was a little too busy to ask how Andrew's involvement with the winery has changed over the years ... I'm still curious. He's obviously still the winemaker and in-charge, but maybe he sold controlling interest or something to some big company ... one of these days I'll find out! :)
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