Last trip to Santa Ynez for a while

This past weekend we went up to Santa Ynez to pick up the most recent batch of shipments and to taste a little wine. Most notably, we were going to the pick-up party at the new Foxen tasting room. Still a little conflicted on this new place, I love the shack, I don't like the rebranding of their Bordeaux varietals under the "Foxen 7200" moniker, don't like the design of these new labels, and especially don't like the rumor that they'll only be pouring these "Foxen 7200" wines at the shack from now on (meaning all of my favorites will be at the new commercial tasting room).

This will probably be our last trip up until the new year. Up first was a stop in Santa Barbara at Jaffurs.

2007 Jaffurs Viognier
2007 Jaffurs Grenache
2007 Jaffurs Mourvedre
2007 Jaffurs Syrah, Larner Vineyard
2007 Jaffurs Petite Sirah, Thompson Vineyard

Everything was great. In the driveway out front they were sorting Pinot Noir fruit that had jsut been brought in. A little curious to see what Jaffurs does with Pinot fruit. Got bottles of the Larner Syrah and the Mourvedre which were both wonderful. Now for the drive up in the mountains and the first pitstop at Alma Rosa.

2006 Alma Rosa Chardonnay, El Jabali Vineyard
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard
2008 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Clone 115, La Encantada Vineyard
2008 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, Clone 667, La Encantada Vineyard
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard

Was my first time tasting the 08 clones and the 115 (which they didn't bottle last year) was delicious. Will definitely be looking forward to that arriving in my shipment. We ended up not having anything to pick up here and didn't buy anything extra. So it was off to the next place, D'Alfonso-Curran (think this is one of the worst names for a winery, but great juice).

2008 Di Bruno Pinot Grigio
2007 Curran Grenache Blanc
2006 Badge Chardonnay
2006 Badge Pinot Noir
2005 Di Bruno Sangiovese
2005 Curran Sangiovese
2006 Badge Merlot
2005 Curran Syrah, Reeves' Ranch Reserve
2006 Curran Sryah, Black Oak Vineyard

One thing I definitely like about this tasting room is the vastness of the wines they pour. They have everything open and it is so much fun to work your way through the list. Definitely worth being a member here so you can taste everything. I think you get a choice of 4 or 5 wines when you're not a member. Picked up four bottles of the Badge Pinot, can't get enough of it. Up next was Beckmen.

2007 Beckmen "Cuvee Le Bec"
2007 Beckmen Grenache, "Estate"
2006 Beckmen Grenache, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2007 Beckmen Syrah, "Estate"
2006 Beckmen Syrah, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2007 Beckmen Syrah, Clone #1, Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2007 Beckmen Syrah, "Barrel Select", Purisima Mountain Vineyard
2006 Beckmen Marsanne, Purisima Mountain Vineyard

Well, this was definitely my worst experience at Beckmen in the last 5 or 6 years I've been a member. Neither of the two people pouring seemed to know anything. Maybe they were just having off days, but I came really close to saying something to Steve when I left but he seemed a little busy while guys were cleaning equipment from the days harvest. It started on a bad note of being told my wine had been shipped to me the previous week. Not only have I never had wine shipped to me, I definitely do not want it shipped when its 100 degrees in LA. And why hadn't it arrived in 5 days. Argh. They ended up finding it in their warehouse. But it never recovered from there, they weren't busy, and we just got zero attention at all. Weird. I only hope it was an off-day and not a sign of things to come. After this we went off to Foxen for their pick-up party in the new building.

2008 Foxen Sauvignon Blanc, Vogelzang Vineyard
2008 Foxen Mourvedre Rose
2008 Foxen Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley
2007 Foxen Pinot Noir, Seas Smoke Vineyard
2007 Foxen Grenache, Williamson-Dore Vineyard
2006 Foxen "Cuvee Jeanne Marie"
2006 Foxen Merlot, Vogelzang Vineyard
2006 Foxen Cabernet Franc, Tinaquaic Vineyard
2007 Foxen Chenin Blanc, Late Harvest, Ernesto Wickenden Vineyard

The Sea Smoke Pinot was great, but so was the 08 Santa Maria Valley. I picked up bottles of the Sea Smoke, Grenache, and Cab Franc. Definitely looking forward to popping these open over the next year or so. Regarding the room, it's beautiful. We got a little tour of the winemaking facilities and cold storage as well. I never saw the old facilities but I can imagine how this is going to be an upgrade. Hopefully the quality of wine increases as well. Most interesting was a mis-stacked pile of case boxes in the corner of the storage room ... Bill said it contained at least one bottle of every wine that they had ever made. Pretty cool! They are eventually going to constuct a "library" that will allow all the bottles to be displayed. Still hope I will be able to taste all the wines down at the shack instead of going here. They should do it like Justin in Paso Robles, and have a separate tasting room (the shack) for members only.