To celebrate Valentine's weekend and to take advantage of the extra day off, we headed up to Santa Ynez and Paso Robles. The plan was to hit Santa Ynez wineries on Saturday, spend the night in Santa Maria, then hit Paso Robles for the Far Out Wineries Passport weekend on Sunday, the hit a few more in Santa Ynez on the way back to LA on Monday. In other words, the perfect weekend.
Started out at Alma Rosa Winery in the Santa Rita Hills. We are members of their club and I love their Pinots.
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Gris, Santa Barbara County
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Blanc, Santa Barbara County
2006 Alma Rosa Chardonnay, El Jabali Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Mount Eden Clone, El Jabali Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Clone 667, La Encantada Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Clone 777, La Encantada Vineyard
My favorites were the 2007 Santa Rita Hills Pinot and the Clone 667. Picked up a couple bottles each of the three clones as our club shipment. Really looking forward to trying them over the next couple years.
Up next was D'Alfonso Curran at their tasting room in Solvang.
2007 Curran Grenache Rose, Santa Ynez Valley
2005 Badge Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
2005 Curran Sangiovese, Santa Ynez Valley
2004 Di Bruno Sangiovese, Stolpman Vineyard
2006 Di Bruno Merlot, Grassini Vineyard
2005 Curran Syrah, Reeves Ranch, Santa Barbara County
2005 Curran Tempranillo, Santa Ynez Valley
2005 Curran Sangiovese, Bruce Vandale Reserve
2005 Curran Syrah, Reeves Ranch Reserve
All fantastic wines from two of the areas best winemakers. We ended up joining their club and picking up bottles of the Grenache Rose, Badge Pinot, and Curran Sangiovese Bruce Vandale Reserve. I would've gotten a bottle of Bruno's Merlot, but it will be in an upcoming club shipment.
We then decided to try and hit up Stolpman before we got on the road to Santa Maria. We soon discovered that they moved from their location in Solvang to a little red house in Los Olivos, just a block or so off the main Grand Ave.
2006 Stolpman "L'Avion"
2005 Stolpman "Angeli Blanc"
2005 Stolpman Syrah "La Coppa"
2005 Stolpman Sangiovese
2005 Stolpman Sangiovese "La Coppa"
2006 Stolpman "La Cuadrilla"
2006 Stolpman Syrah, Estate
2006 Stolpman Syrah "Hilltops"
2006 Stolpman "La Croce"
2005 Stolpman Malbec
This winery constantly amazes me. Everything is just fantastic. The "La Coppa" line of wines replaces their "Poetry In Red" and "Poetry In White" labels that someone else claimed they had the rights to. The "La Cuadrilla" is a Merlot that their vineyard crew makes all the farming decisions and then are helped through the winemaking process. I also believe all profits are then distributed amongst the crew. Great idea. Their Syrahs are wonderful, and I was surprised by the "La Croce" a blend of Syrah and Sangiovese. It was very good, but needs some time for the tannins to mellow.
We then got back in the car and headed up north. We stopped for dinner at Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos for a wonderful dinner and then finished the drive to Santa Maria to the hotel. Enjoyed a bottle of 2005 Melville Syrah, Vernas Vineyard with our sausage & mushroom pizza. The next day would begin early with the hour drive up to Paso Robles.
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