Fizzle and Pop: These Santa Barbara Bubbles Will Help You Send 2020 On Its Way

published in the Montecito Journal on 12/17/20

The new three-week stay-at-home order that befell California this month means Santa Barbara County’s wine tasting rooms are shuddered, again. Your own hunt for great local wines to grace the holiday table and end-of-year festivities, though, continues. So keep in mind that, while the deadline for many shipments to arrive by Christmas has passed, there’s still time to order directly from wineries, which desperately need locals’ support, for curbside pickup.

Bubblies will be atop many of our shopping lists, of course, as there’s no better way to usher in a new year – and to send 2020 off with a really good kick in the rear – than the effervescence of a really good sparkling wine.

When it comes to Santa Barbara’s sparkling wine production, Riverbench continues to stand out with its annual release of four unique Cork Jumper sparklers, the handiwork of winemaker Clarissa Nagy. This is the property in the heart of the Santa Maria Valley that planted its first pinot noir and chardonnay vines – primary ingredients in the world’s great bubblies – in 1973. Riverbench really began to take bubbles seriously in 2014, though, when they grafted the county’s very first pinot meunier, still a rarity in California but a long-time darling among producers of the fizzy stuff in France. Riverbench just released their 2017 all-Pinot Meunier Cork Jumper ($68), a super bright and energetic bubbly with dark berry notes, a fresh feel and supple finish. A very limited 92 cases were produced. I sipped this one recently, while popping cold slices of Gala apples and hunks of Dubliner cheese. Yum.

Riverbench’s all-chardonnay 2017 Blanc de Blancs ($48) is an homage to Champagne, with its citrusy flavors and yeasty finish; and the all-pinot 2017 Blanc de Noirs ($48) is a rosé lover’s dream, with deep tangerine flavors and a velvety finish.

The crowning jewel of Riverbench’s sparklers is the 2018 Cork Jumper Cuvée ($68), a vibrant blend of equal parts pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier that’s a real snapshot of the label’s estate vineyards. How does the pinot meunier enhance this bottling? By adding “an interesting austerity to the wine,” Riverbench director of winemaking Laura Booras once told me. “Chardonnay in Santa Maria tends to have really bright citrus fruit character, so pinot meunier might help tone that down some, for the sake of achieving a truly balanced, flavorful wine.” The pop of color and rush of bubbles here is titillating, while the stone fruit aromas and creamy flavors are downright delicious. A real crowd pleaser, even if your holiday crowd is a lot smaller this year.

Order Riverbench bubbly at riverbench.com.

Lovers of bubbles have dozens of other Santa Barbara County options, of course. Norm Yost and his Lompoc-based Flying Goat Cellars label are a pioneer in this arena. Other Santa Barbara County winemakers, including Greg Brewer and the late Chris Whitcraft, had dabbled in bubbles before Yost launched his own line of sparklers in 2005. But Yost gets credit for being the first to make his bubblies an annual endeavor. Currently, he’s crafting five bottlings of Goat Bubbles each vintage, ranging from $40 to $60, and featuring fruit from various top-of-the-line vineyards. Buy them at flyinggoatcellars.com.

The Fess Parker team entered the world of bubbles in 2015 with their Fesstivity label and a quaint destination tasting cabin in Los Olivos known as The Bubble Shack. Their current 2017 Blanc de Blancs, 2016 Blanc de Noirs and 2016 Brut Rosé all feature premium Sta. Rita Hills grapes and are available as a holiday three-bottle gift pack for a discounted $140 at fessparkerwineshop.com.

And a tip of the hat to winemaker Laura Roach, who launched her LouBud label, a play on her childhood nickname, in 2015. Her limited-edition bubblies, made by hand in the Methode Champenoise style, are consistently fresh. Roach announced on social media this past weekend that all her past sparkling wine releases are sold out, except for her new all-pinot noir 2019 Brut Rosé. It’s “delicate and crisp with pretty red fruits and rose petals on the nose,” she writes. “Bright entry of pink grapefruit, Asian pear and croissant dough with a clean, bright finish!” Buy it for $45 at loubudwines.com.

Still looking to sip French?

If it’s not from Champagne, you can’t call it Champagne, so the sparklers that Montecito resident Frank Caterinicchio is importing from boutique producers in Provence are, simply, French sparkling wines. But they are still delicious. At $19, the Domaine du Tix “Des Bulles au Cerveau” (Bubbles in the Brain), made with cinsault grapes, is a phenomenal value. With no added sulfites, it’s racy and refreshing, and the label featuring a cartoon diver blowing bubbles from his breathing apparatus means it’s a conversation piece before you even pour. A metal crown bottle cap, in lieu of a cork, makes it even more fun.

Caterinicchio also has the Effervescence by Domaine Vintur ($28), which is crisp, dry and fizzy and comes in a bell-bottom bottle. “Makes for a great mimosa or Apreol spritz,” he says, although, on its own, it’s palate-cleansing and thirst-quenching.

Provençal Collective, which Caterinicchio, a former political consultant, launched three years ago after a serendipitous trip to France’s southern Rhone Valley, features an exclusive line of organic wines. Find out more in my feature for the Winter 2020-2021 issue of Montecito Journal’s quarterly glossy. To  beat the holiday rush, Caterinicchio is hand-delivering his imported wines throughout Montecito. Order directly from him at provencalcollective.com.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!

###

A Santa Barbara First: Brewer-Clifton's Greg Brewer Gets "Winemaker of the Year" Honor

published in the Montecito Journal on Nov. 19, 2020

The latest honor for winemaker Greg Brewer is a perk for Santa Barbara County, too: it’s the first time a Santa Barbara-based vintner has been named Winemaker of the Year by the popular publication, Wine Enthusiast.

“The accolade is flattering because my name is on it,” admitted Mr. Brewer in an exclusive interview for the Montecito Journal last week, just after the award was announced.

Me & Greg Brewer at an Aug. 2019 event

“But it’s really Santa Barbara’s award – I really mean that,” he continues. “Wine is a reflection of place – in our case, Santa Barbara and the Sta. Rita Hills. And the manner in which we craft our wines is transparent and vulnerable. So I’m most prideful of that – the fact an award like this elevates our area in people’s awareness around the world.”

Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Wine Star Awards, now in their 21^st year, honor international wine brands and players across 15 categories, and they are the result of multiple layers of nominations and votes by the publication’s staff. Mr. Brewer beat out four other high-profile nominees from Northern California, Italy and South Africa for the 2020 win. Santa Barbara County was nominated as 2020 Wine Region of the Year, along with Adelaide Hills in Australia, Rias Baixas in Spain and Mendoza in Argentina, all of whom lost out to Trentino, Italy.

Mr. Brewer’s win is a nod to his groundbreaking accomplishments as winemaker for the renowned Brewer-Clifton label, which he launched in 1996 with then-business partner Steve Clifton. Mr. Brewer sold the label to Jackson Family Wines, and stayed on as winemaker, in 2017. “The best years of my career to date,” says Mr. Brewer of his business relationship with the Santa Rosa-based mega-producer, for a blend of support and autonomy that he says allows him to thrive.

But Brewer-Clifton was already a darling among wine buffs by then, with Mr. Brewer crafting multiple world-class renditions of pinot noir and chardonnay each year from select vineyards in the prestigious Sta. Rita Hills. This prime growing region located between Lompoc and Buellton first caught Mr. Brewer’s attention when he left his UCSB job as a French teacher to learn wine production at Santa Barbara Winery in 1991, and it really came into focus when he was hired to develop Melville Winery in 1997. Mr. Brewer was among the team that worked to get federal recognition for Sta. Rita Hills as an AVA, or American Viticultural Area, in 2001 for the unique wine growing conditions created by its geology, weather and soils.

“It all starts with the ocean,” says Mr. Brewer, referencing the unrelenting influence of marine winds that blow east from the Pacific across the region’s 3,000 acres of grapes, creating major diurnal swings in climate that allow Burgundian grapes like pinot and chardonnay to thrive.

“The ocean is the critical thing and, to me, it is both serene and savage, both contemplative and calming but also intimidating and scary,” he continues, in almost poetic fashion.

“The wines in this region channel and demonstrate that duality. There’s something very confident and composed about the wines we’re making here. But there’s intensity beneath, as well – something pent-up and intense and wound-up tight and explosive. It’s that energy that excites me, and it’s that energy in the wine that people love to discover.

“That makes Sta. Rita Hills such a special place. And to be a quiet voice, a steward of that, to get that message out to the world, is such a privilege, professionally.”

The limited-edition Brewer-Clifton wines are made available through two allocations a year, in spring and fall, which can be accessed by signing up at brewerclifton.com.

Mr. Brewer, who left Melville in 2015 and now crafts all his wines at a facility in Lompoc, also makes a line of lean chardonnays under the "diatom" brand and small lots of cool-climate syrahs under the label, Ex Post Facto.

Another first? The Wine Star Award winners, who are usually feted during a lavish affair drawing hundreds of wine enthusiasts in person, will be honored virtually during a three-day online event in January.

###

A Perfect Wine: Santa Barbara Co. Syrah Earns Elusive 100-Point Score

published 10/8/20 in the Montecito Journal

For winemaker Paul Lato, “There’s a really big gap between 99 and 100.”

The celebrated vintner, a Polish native who was a sommelier in Canada before he moved to the Central Coast in 2002, has earned many coveted scores for wines under his eponymous label, along with a fervent consumer following. But 100 points for any wine is as illustrious as it is elusive.

 

As impressive as they are, “getting a 97 or a 98 or a 99 – it still means you’re one of many,” continues Mr. Lato. “A 100, though, means your wine is truly special.”

That makes Paul Lato’s 2018 “Il Padrino” Syrah, for all intents and purposes, the perfect wine. The 100-point score comes from respected critic Jeb Dunnuck, who applauds the wine for exhibiting “everything I look for in a great wine: richness without heaviness, incredible complexity, a singular character, and the ability to deliver both intellectual and hedonistic pleasure.” He goes on to note its “masculine, peppery and gamey” characteristics.

The winemaker offers his own description: “It has ripeness, beautiful blackberry, cherry, with some vanilla and violet flavors. And there are other nuances that open up with decantation and with air, as the wine sits. You get different aromatics and structure. Tannins come up, the fruit changes, and the wine becomes darker in the glass.”

 

The perfect score is a triumph not only for the artisanal Paul Lato label, which is a staple at luxe restaurants like Montecito’s Lucky’s Steakhouse and Santa Barbara’s bouchon, but for the wine’s place of origin, too. Indeed, this marks the first time ever that a wine harvested at Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley has earned 100 points. The legendary vineyard was planted in 1973 by Santa Barbara’s Miller family and remains one of the most sought-after sources in the state for pinot noir and chardonnay, primarily, as well as syrah. Mr. Lato has been contracting syrah grapes from the same specific hilltop block of Bien Nacido for nearly two decades.

 

Paul Lato

“Paul has been a great supporter of our vineyards over the years, and…we’re honored to have Bien Nacido be part of this superb wine,” says Nicholas Miller, VP of sales and marketing for The Thornhill Companies, which, aside from Bien Nacido, also owns Solomon Hills Estate and French Camp vineyards, boutique labels like J. Wilkes and the custom crush facility Central Coast Wine Services. “And I can’t help but echo Jeb’s sentiments when describing the wine: it’s beautiful, concentrated, and powerful without feeling heavy.”

Descriptors from experts and fancy points aside, Mr. Lato says he’s committed to staying humble and to continuing to make wines that are defined, in large part, by where they’re consumed, and with whom. “Many times, a wine will make you turn to your spouse or someone you love, at sunset, with the barbecue on – and it makes you want to say, ‘Honey, life is good,’” he muses. “That can be a perfect achievement, and any wine can become a 100-point wine!”

The 2018 Paul Lato “Il Padrino” Syrah, with a retail price of $90, is sold out. The winemaker expects the price to go up slightly in vintages to come. The bulk of Mr. Lato’s 4000- to 5000-case annual production is vineyard-designate pinot noir and chardonnay wines from throughout Santa Barbara County, which can be purchased through his website, paullatowines.com.  

###

Buellton's Alma Rosa Winery Opens Outdoor "Weingarten"

10/8/20 (as seen in the Montecito Journal)

As California’s guidelines for wine tasting room visitation remain ubiquitously prohibitive, Santa Barbara’s vintners have become increasingly creative, moving much of their guest experiences outdoors. 

I found one of my favorite creative solutions at the Alma Rosa tasting room in Buellton, where the tasting room patio has been reconfigured into an outdoor “Weingarten.”  The space is shaded by umbrellas and features various six-seater tables spaced more than six feet apart, where wine lovers can savor a selection of five wines for $20. Wines can also be bought by the glass. 

Alma Rosa, which was founded by local wine pioneer Richard Sanford in 2005 and purchased in 2014 by Bob and Barb Zorich, produces some of the best pinot and chardonnay in California; I was also impressed by the 2018 Santa Ynez Valley Grenache Blanc ($30) and the 2017 Donnachadh Vineyard Syrah ($68) I tasted during my recent pop-in. 

The tasting room is easy to access: just off Highway 101 and along Industrial Way, right next door to what may be Buellton’s best eatery, Industrial Eats. Hours are Sunday through Wednesday, 11am-5:30pm, and Thursday through Saturday, 11am-6pm. Walk-ins are welcome but reservations are recommended. Check out almarosawinery.com or call 805-691-9395.

###

Grape Recognition: Santa Barbara County Gains 7th Wine AVA

9/1/20: Santa Barbara vintners are celebrating the feds’ decision last week to greenlight the county’s newest AVA, Alisos Canyon.

AVA stands for American Viticultural Area and refers to a region recognized by the federal government for its unique ability to grow quality wine grapes. The distinction denotes pedigree and signals that site-specific factors, such as climate and soils, converge to create a special winegrowing destination. It also allows wine producers who may have used more broad identifiers on their labels in the past – phrases like “Santa Barbara County” or “Santa Ynez Valley” – to more specifically showcase that their wines come from “Alisos Canyon.”

Martian Ranch Vineyard is inside the new Alisos Canyon AVA

This new AVA covers 5774 acres nestled in the Los Alamos Valley, roughly between the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria Valleys. Here, a steady influx of marine air and fog create some of the greatest variation in daytime and nighttime temps on California’s Central Coast, and the soils are primarily weathered sandstone and shale. Well-known vineyards like Dovecote (formerly Thompson), Martian Ranch and Watch Hill call Alisos Canyon home.

Winemaker Wes Hagen, brand ambassador for the Miller Family Wine Co. and the primary petitioner for the new AVA, calls Alisos Canyon a “Goldilocks Rhone Zone” that’s ideal for growing Rhone grapes – reds like syrah and grenache and whites like viognier and roussanne. “They are all going o be fantastic here,” he said in a video release following last week’s AVA announcement, “along with cabernet franc.”

One other topographical feature that makes Alisos Canyon stand out is the fact it’s at end of a 24.5-mile watershed, the San Antonio Creek basin, that stretches out toward the Pacific. Two other watersheds – the Santa Maria River, which leads to the renowned Bien Nacido Vineyard, and the Santa Ynez River, which leads to Ballard Canyon – are equally distant from the shore. “How cool that exactly 24-1/2 miles down these regions we have these beautiful places for growing Rhone varietal wines,” Mr. Hagen adds.

If a new AVA is a boon for vintners who can now highlight a special growing region, it’s an asset for consumers, too. Anyone looking for world-class syrahs or viogniers can now seek out the “Alisos Canyon” nomenclature on a wine label and, by extension, make a more informed purchase.

Alisos Canyon is Santa Barbara County’s 7^th AVA, following Santa Maria Valley (established in 1981), Sanat Ynez Valley (1983), Sta. Rita Hills (2001), Happy Canyon (2009), Ballard Canyon (2013) and Los Olivos District (2016).

###

New Hands at the Helm: Santa Barbara's Folded Hills Hires New Winemaker

An important change of the guard at Folded Hills: the popular winery has hired a new winemaker.

 

Michael Brughelli brings a diverse background to the Folded Hills project, which operates a sprawling estate and vineyard off Highway 101 in Gaviota and an elegant tasting room in Montecito. The 38-year-old Nipomo resident gained particular acclaim with Scar of the Sea, a label he co-founded that’s become a darling of wine media and consumers, and his stake in which he sold early this year. Mr. Brughelli has also been director of sales for renowned Bien Nacido Vineyard and currently operates the wine industry advisory company, Vignerons Consulting.

 

“Most winemakers are honed-in in one direction, running the vineyard or the winemaking,” he says. “What I bring to the table is that I know vineyards really well and I know winemaking really well, and the two form a unique perspective.”



Mr. Brughelli’s official title is consulting winemaker, though he says his role is far more hands-on than the position typically implies. And, as with his previous viticultural projects, his approach to the Folded Hills wines will be focused on the estate: its proximity to the coast, its exposure to winds and its unique soils. “We’ll let the vineyard guide the winemaking process,” he says. “You let the vineyard inform the decisions you make season after season.” 

Michael Brughelli

Mr. Brughelli is replacing winemaker Angela Osborne, a New Zealand native who’s been with Folded Hills from the beginning but who’s leaving now to focus on her own label, Tribute to Grace, which she founded in 2007. “It is a great honour to have a family’s trust be placed in one’s winemaking hands (or feet),” she sayidin a press release issued last week, “and I will always be grateful to [owners] Kim and Andy [Busch] for this privilege.”

 

Adds Kim Busch: “Angela Osborne has been a pivotal part of the success of Folded Hills. Her style of winemaking has been a wonderful expression of place.”

 

Mr. Brughelli says he’s excited about joining the Folded Hills team. “It’s a chance to work with great people and to tap into the great potential on that ranch,” he says.

 

Folded Hills launched in 2017 as the pet project of the Busch pair, members of the family behind St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewery in the world. Aside from close to 1000 animals, their 600-acre Gaviota farmstead is home to more than 15 acres of grapevines—grenache and syrah grapes that are farmed organically and biodynamically and that produce most of the Folded Hills portfolio of close to a dozen wines and an annual output of 5500 cases.

 

Mr. Brughelli’s role begins with oversight of the 2020 vintage, which he says “looks really good” thus far. Grapes will be harvested this fall and the wines will be made at the state-of-the-art Dierberg/Star Lane facility in the Happy Canyon area of the Santa Ynez Valley.

 

The Folded Hills tasting rooms are open but operating on a limited basis due to COVID-19. Reservations are required for visits to the Gaviota estate and are highly recommended for tastings at the Montecito salon. Find out more at foldedhills.com.

 

Mr. Brughelli is also working on his own eponymous label, Brughelli. His first wines, pinot noir and chardonnay from the 2018 vintage, should see public release this fall.

 

 

###

The Fairmont Kea Lani's MOANA MIST

...as seen on Episode 10 of

THE GABE SAGLIE SHOW!

Check out fairmontkealani.com.

##

No Corkscrew, No Problem: Latest Fess Parker Wines Come in a Can

You hear someone say that they’re about to enjoy a really good glass of rosé. So your ears perk up and you prepare yourself: will it be the pop of a cork you hear next, or the turn of a screwcap? With the latest releases from the Fess Parker family of wines, it’s the cracking snap-back of a pull tab that grips your attention, and then a big, refreshing, thirst-quenching gulp.

To hear more about this latest Epiphany release, check out Gabe sipping with Fess Parker Winery's Ashley & Tim Snider on Episode 5 of The Gabe Saglie Show!

Epiphany Cellars, a label specializing in Rhone wines that was launched by Fess’ son, Eli, and that’s celebrating its 20^th anniversary, launched two wines this month that come in 375-ml. aluminum cans. True, wine-in-a-can is not new. But the caliber of what’s in these cans, along with their portability and approachability, makes them remarkable.

Both cans – a Grenache Rosé and a Grenache Blanc – feature grapes sourced from Rodney’s Vineyard, a noteworthy plot planted in 1989 that sits in the heart of the Parker Family ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley. For years, it’s produced sophisticated, complex, award-winning syrahs – some of the best syrahs out of Santa Barbara County. The 2017 Rodney’s Vineyard Syrah sells for $54 on the Fess Parker Winery website.

The fruit source alone, then, adds to these wines’ remarkable value: the cans, which are the equivalent of a half-bottle, or two tall glasses, sell in four-packs for $44, or $11 a can, or $5.50 a glass.

“It’s a personal portion, if you will,” quips Ashley Parker, Fess’ daughter, as we sip on the rosé. “Let’s be honest, hardly anyone I know has just one glass of wine, they have at least two!”

The Grenache Rosé is beautiful – worth pouring out of the can and into a glass simply to gaze at it, with its brilliant watermelon hues. It was 100% barrel fermented in neutral French oak for four months. Aromas remind you of cherries, flavors smack of pink grapefruit and the pop on the tongue is bracing. It’s delicious.

The Grenche Blanc was aged five months in a 100% stainless steel tank, so it’s zippy and fresh. “This one, I drink right out of the can,” adds Ashley. I ask if a straw would be OK. No problem. Honeydew hits the nose, zesty citrus hugs the palate.

“When we were going down this road and thinking thru this project, we wanted wines that were approachable right now,” adds Fess Parker Winery president (and Ashley’s husband) Tim Snider. “We wanted wines that were fresh and bright and that lent themselves to going to the beach, going on a hike – even, these days, socially distanced happy hours.

“Someone asked me, ‘What’s their shelf life?’” he continues. Both cans are super young, from the 2019 vintage. “These styles of wines are made to drink now, they’re not intended for aging. Enjoy them, drink them, we’ll make more!”

The artwork for the cans was inspired by the natural beauty of California as viewed from the family estate and Rodney’s Vineyard: the iconic California poppy for the Grenache Blanc, and hand-drawn roses for the Rosé. The cans were designed by Buffalo Brothers Studios in Santa Barbara, the same firm that led Epiphany’s original branding when the label launched in 2000.

The canned wines, ideal for summer sipping, are available for pickup at the Epiphany tasting room in Los Olivos or can be bought online at epiphanywineco.com; the winery is offering $10 flat rate shipping for any online orders through May 31.

An interesting side note: with tasting rooms mandated closed for more than two months, the Fess Parker team has pivoted hard toward e-commerce, which has resulted in online sales jumping an amazing 300%.  Find out more at fessparker.com.

Cheers!


###

Cookie Alert: Greyson's Scrumptious Snickerdoodles

AS SEEN ON:

THE GABE SAGLIE SHOW, EPISODE 1

 

 

Clink for a Cause: Santa Barbara Couple Selling Unique Wine Glasses to Aid Restaurant Industry

Sarah Boggs likes to reminisce about living out her formative years in New Orleans.

 

“People were constantly outside, constantly enjoying neighbors and friends, constantly going to festivals,” she recalls.

 

“And they were always drinking!”

 

Her move to Santa Barbara provided much of the same: an outdoor-driven lifestyle and plenty of good wine to drink. “We’re always outside, hiking or going to the beach, and the weather is always perfect,” says the mother of two and professor of English at Santa Barbara City College.

 

But one thing was missing: “I just wanted to be able to drink good wine outside from a nice, unbreakable wine glass.”

 

Boggs and her husband, Peter Oblander, a geologist and environmental consultant, launched Wine Outside in 2015. The premise of their side business: provide a drinking vessel that looks good, feels good and makes sipping outdoors safe and convenient, even elegant.

 

Sarah and Peter and their daughters, Maddie and Grace

Wine Outside features a diverse line of 18-ounce stemless tumblers that look a whole lot like crystal.

 

“One of the things that’s extraordinary is that you can’t tell – until you pick it up – that it’s not glass,” says Boggs. “They also hold their shape, just like glass, unlike the give of some of those cheaper plastic glasses. And the rim is really smooth.”

 

Making it especially well-suited for sipping poolside or at the beach or in the middle of a forest: they are, for all intents and purposes, shatterproof.

 

“If you drop it on the floor, nothing happens, it just bounces,” says Boggs. It’s a quality that actually makes them indoor-friendly, too, especially in households with thirsty kids and mishap-prone adults who want something simple but stylish from which to sip.

 

The Wine Outside products are made from Eastman Tritan, a plastics alterative – a co-polyester – that is tough, lighter than glass and warp-resistant. The glasses are free of industrial chemicals like BPA and EA. And they are dishwasher-safe.

 

The glasses sell throughout the South Coast, including Santa Barbara Gift Baskets, the Riviera Towel Company and the El Capitan Beach Store. Gelson’s and the gates-side sundries shop at the Santa Barbara Airport carry them, too, at $25 for a four-pack of plain glasses or a two-pack of glasses printed with a Santa Barbara logo. The Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara uses them for their guests’ welcome pour at check-in and when the rooftop bar – with those awesome 360-degree views – is open.

 

 

And now, a new set of Wine Outside glasses. Two weeks ago, driven to act by the COVID fallout, the company introduced glasses printed with logos in the shapes of California and Texas – golden backdrops with a single heart in red, pink, teal or silver. Fifty perfect of the proceeds from the sale of these limited-edition glasses -- $40 for a set of four and $24 for a pair – go to Houston-based Southern Smoke Foundation, whose emergency drive provides funds to people in the food and beverage industry affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

“Being a foodie, and going out to eat lot, I really feel for restaurant workers,” says Boggs. “It’s one of the most obvious parts of our community that needs our support.”

 

Check out wineoutside.com.

 

 

###

 

Finding Opportunity in a Shutdown: How Santa Barbara’s Wine Industry is Taking on Coronavirus

The grinding halt wrought by a virus sprinting across the globe has certainly not spared the Santa Barbara wine industry. These are businesses that depend on foot traffic, on one-to-one connections, on personalized experience. Shut that down, as the recent mandate by Governor Newsom (understandably) did, asking all wineries and tasting rooms to temporarily close, and that critical connection, and the revenue it inevitably generates, comes to a standstill.

Even the big players get hurt. Most Santa Barbara wineries, though, are individual endeavors, passion projects, and labors of love for many of our friends and neighbors. For them, the current reality is a scramble to stay afloat until we’re all on the downward slide of the coronavirus curve.

And to that end, local winemakers are doing everything but standing still.


Riverbench used a 2-camera setup to livestream its virtual tasting on
Facebook last week and then archive the video on YouTube

This week, Riverbench Vineyards launched a virtual tasting of the wines in their latest wine club shipment, which went out to thousands of club members in early March. The tasting was led by the winery’s Director of Hospitality, Danae Smith, and was broadcast live on Facebook. Those who tuned in got insight into, and tasting notes for, Riverbench’s 2018 Estate Chardonnay, 2016 Reserve Pinot Noir and 2017 Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine, all grown from grapes on the label’s Santa Maria Valley property. They also got to sip with others, of course, which is always better than drinking alone.

A second DSLR camera recorded the session, which allowed the team to upload the video to YouTube.

“We didn’t want to something just for tomorrow,” says Riverbench communications director Wil Fernandez. “If we’re going to create content, let’s think long term, let’s do something we’ll continue to do [even after the coronavirus scare] because it just make sense.” Indeed, moving forward, Riverbench is planning on doing virtual tastings in conjunction with all wine club shipments, which go out three times a year.

Riverbench is hosting a virtual tasting of library wines on April 4th, a virtual vineyard tour on April 8th and a virtual Easter egg hunt on April 11th. Check out Riverbench's Facebook page.

Keeping wine club membership engaged is key for a company like Riverbench, whose club accounts for about a third of its business. The other two-thirds are almost entirely driven by visitation to its two tasting rooms in Santa Maria and in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, which remain shuttered. Third-party retail, a very small portion of the business under usual circumstances, is being ramped up now to offset the fallout, with distributors in states like Missouri and Kansas, along with California, pushing Riverbench wine into grocery store chains like Ralphs.

And to support employees in the short term, the way business is done at Riverbench has also changed. Instead of outsourcing wine club shipments, which can take weeks, tasting room employees have taken on the task. And the winery’s phone number – 805-937-8340 – has been turned into a wine tasting hotline, meant to encourage customers to call in with orders, questions or “just to chat with someone else,” says Fernandez. Calls are forwarded to the cell phones of different employees, who are working from home now, each day, and average call times have gone from under two minutes to more than 15.

Virtual tastings have become the flavor of the day across the wine industry, with myriad wineries tapping their customer base through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, among other platforms. With the J. Wilkes Wines tasting room inside the Hotel Californian closed to visitors, for example, winemaker Wes Hagen launched daily 5pm virtual tasting and educational conversation on his Facebook page. And the Wine Militia, an LA-based marketing company, this week launched daily virtual tastings at 6pm on their Instagram account (@thewinemilitia), featuring a different Santa Barbara County label each day; consumers are linked to online shops to purchase featured wines ahead of time so they can sip along when they tine in.

Online commerce, of course, is the primary defense against the coronavirus consequence. Most every local winery is offering incentives to get imbibers to shop online, in lieu of visiting their tasting rooms in person. Shipping is either included or deeply discounted on most orders. And then you’ve got creative hustlers like Jamie Slone, who, after having to close his tasting room in Santa Barbara El Presidio neighborhood to visitors, is hand-delivering wines for free to doorsteps from Goleta to Ventura; check out the Jamie Slone Wines website.

I

The Tercero Wines tasting rooms is ground zero for shipping orders

n Los Olivos, Tercero winemaker Larry Schaffer, who can’t welcome visitors at his popular Los Olivos tasting room right now, admits he’s concerned about the next few weeks. “Margins, in the short term, will not be good,” he admits. But he sees opportunity during the coronavirus crisis, too, especially in the way wineries like his, which are driven by direct-to-consumer sales, are now able to focus on bolstering client relationships. “I’m sending longer handwritten notes along with each shipment right now,” he says, “and I’m not sending anything out until I’ve confirmed addresses on my mailing list on a one-by-one basis.”

Schaffer is gearing up for his own virtual tasting soon, and he’s including shipping and offering a 20% discount (30% for his wine club members) on all orders of six bottles or more, at tercerowines.com.

Cheers.

###

The Bet on Rhone that Paid Off: Epiphany Cellars Turns 20

When Eli Parker launched his pet project, Epiphany Cellars, 20 years ago, his dad had doubts.

“He was not thrilled with what he perceived to be a distraction at the time,” says the vintner, referencing Fess Parker, the Disney icon who launched his eponymous wine brand in 1989. Ten years in, the label, anchored on a sweeping 700-acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley that remains the family homestead today, had already won fame for a diverse portfolio of wines. A new label might dilute its visibility in the marketplace.

The new venture was timed right, though, thanks to several factors that had come into play in the 1990s; indeed, the family’s beloved patriarch would soon have a change of heart. Syrah, the flagship grape of the Rhone grape varieties – as in, originating in the Rhone region of France – saw a surge in popularity during the final decade of the 20^th century. It meant, on the one hand, that the marketplace became flooded with cheap renditions of syrah. “Consumers embraced it at the $10-to-$12 price point but then couldn’t understand the other, more expensive end of the spectrum,” recalls Mr. Parker.

But the younger Parker’s own travels in the 90s to places like France, where Rhone wine production was well established, and Australia, where wines like syrah were getting a fresh new spin, solidified his love for all things Rhone.  “The more I drank those wines, the more I loved those wines,” he says, and he quickly came to the realization that “the Rhone set is really what I had a passion for.”
 

Eli Parker

At this time – the clock was quickly ticking toward a new millennium – the Fess Parker label was fine-tuning its own focus in earnest, thanks to new leadership from Tim Snider, an E & J Gallo alum who joined the family business in 1999 (and who’d soon become Eli’s brother-in-law). The brand’s hard pivot toward pinot noir and chardonnay cleared the way for Eli to focus on Rhone varieties in earnest: syrah, for sure, plus lesser-known red grapes like grenache and mourvedre, and whites like viognier, roussanne and grenache blanc. The first releases of wine under the Epiphany Cellars label were small lot experiments that Eli conducted with then-winemaker Brett Escalera (who’s with the Sanger Family of Wines in Solvang now), including the syrah-grenache amalgam known as Revelation ($49), which remains a flagship Epiphany blend to this day.

Twenty years later, Epiphany Cellars is one of the best vintage-by-vintage snapshots in all of Santa Barbara County, and in all of California, of the potential of Rhone grapes. The label produces various vineyard-specific syrahs, bottles rare finds like the red grape counoise on their own and produces phenomenal blends, including one of my favorites, Gypsy ($29). Grapes are sourced locally, including Rodney’s Vineyard on the family ranch for some of the best bottlings, and as far away as Napa. With Eli taking a more supervisorial role, the label is in the hands of winemaker phenom Blair Fox.

“He’s a Rhone fanatic, too, and we have similar palates,” says Mr. Parker. “If I had to hand over the program to anyone, Blair was a no brainer. His whole team is amazing.”

The Epiphany tasting room in downtown Los Olivos

Indeed, Mr. Blair and his crew handle winemaking for the Parker family’s entire production of more than 70,000 cases a year, including the Fess Parker label, the Fesstivity group of sparklers and the Addendum line of high-end Napa cabernet. The Epiphany lineup is available for tasting daily at its sleek, breezy tasting room along Grand Avenue in Los Olivos.

Epiphany’s 20^th birthday will be celebrated February 29th from 6-9pm during a special event inside the Fess Parker Winery barrel room. Open That Bottle Night, an annual commemorative day launched by Wall Street Journal wine writers Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, encourages wine fans to – finally – open and enjoy that special bottle that’s long been sitting in their wine racks, awaiting a special occasion. At the Parker family’s event, library wines, including bottlings from throughout Epiphany’s 20-year history, will be poured, and guests are encouraged to bring their own special wine to share. The event is limited to 80 people, so get your tickets at epiphanywineco.com. I’ll see you there!

Cheers!

###

More Than Just Food: Santa Ynez Valley Restaurant Weeks Target Wine Lovers, Too

Have you seen all the promos for Restaurant Week? It’s a national phenomenon throughout the winter season, actually: destinations leveraging the appeal of their top chefs (and the allure of value) to entice consumers and beef up foot traffic during a historically slow travel time of the year. Santa Barbara’s Restaurant Week returns February 21 through March 6 and will feature prix-fixe menus at top-tier eateries all around town; in Montecito, they’ll include Lucky’s and the Biltmore’s Bella Vista.

The $20.20 3-course menu at Solvang's First & Oak includes
a chocolate mousse dessert w/dulce de leche &crisp honeycomb
(credit: Tenley Fohl Photography)

The one I’m really excited about is the one happening throughout the Santa Ynez Valley right now. It’s Restaurant Weeks, actually – plural – since its run from this past Sunday through January 31^st will have offered hungry travelers almost two full weeks of tasty savings. The promotion screams “staycation,” by the way, with several hotels offering discounts and free upgrades during the Weeks’ run.

Santa Ynez Valley Restaurant Weeks launched in 2010 and has successfully spotlighted the remarkable dining that the zone’s six towns – Buellton, Solvang, Ballard, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Los Alamos – have to offer. To be sure, though, it’s a dining scene that’s an offshoot of the viticulture that’s been flourishing there for decades.

“We’ve had incredible wine crafted in the Santa Ynez Valley for over 50 years, but our burgeoning culinary scene is relatively new,” says Shelby Sim, President and CEO of Visit the Santa Ynez Valley. “Restaurant Weeks is a great time to sample all that we have to offer at an unbeatable price: at $20.20 for a three-course meal, you can visit several restaurants over the two weeks without breaking the bank!”

The $20.20 3-course menu at Los Alamos' Cisko Kid includes
a Smoked Lamb Pozole Verde w/Santa Ynez Valley heirloom corn
(credit: Visit Santa Ynez Valley)

More than 30 restaurants are participating this year. At Cecco Ristorante in Solvang, home to what is probably the best pizza crust in all of Santa Barbara County, Chef David Cecchini’s special three-course menu features starter options like a seared diver scallop crudo and smoked salmon carpaccio and entrée selections like Risotto al Mercato, Pizza Bianca and Bistecca al Vino Rosso; everyone gets Affogato for dessert, that sumptuous espresso-gelato treat. A mouthwatering deal, indeed, at $20.20.

First & Oak in Solvang, which nabbed special recognition in Michelin’s California guide last year, has a trio of courses that includes a wild mushroom risotto main and chocolate mousse for dessert; they’re also doing a four-course menu for $40.20 and a five-course meal for $58.20. And at the Los Olivos Café in the historic haven of Los Olivos, the $20.20 prix-fixe main options include sage fettuccini, buttermilk fried chicken and rock shrimp risotto.

“Chef Conrad Gonzalez at Cisko Kid [in Los Alamos] will use locally sourced heirloom corn to take his dishes to the next farm-to-table level,” Sim told me, “while Luca Crestanelli and his team at S.Y. Kitchen [in Santa Ynez] will offer dishes not part of the regular menu, like Zuppa Celestina, which features a clear beef broth with thinly sliced crepes.”

In Buellton, Jeff and Janet Olson of Industrial Eats continue their annual charitable push with a culturally-inspired menu which, this year, features recipes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and whose proceeds benefit humanitarian causes in that Central African nation. Down the street, at the Hitching Post II, beef buffs get to choose from a top sirloin steak, a New York steak or sirloin-and-quail combo, along with chicken, pork chops and fish dishes; there’s bittersweet chocolate tart with whipped cream for dessert and, as a bonus, special pricing on their popular Hometown pinot noir.



In Buellton, the Hitching Post Wines team -- Frank Ostini & Gray Hartley -- are offering
special pricing on lunch &wine during Santa Ynez Valley's Restaurant Weeks

In fact, wineries and tasting rooms are taking part in Restaurant Weeks, too. At their new wine tasting room right next door, the Hitching Post team is offering a special $20.20 pricing on bottles of their outstanding Santa Maria Valley pinot, along with an exclusive lunch-with-wine menu. At nearby Alma Rosa Winery, the pet project by wine pioneer Richard Sanford, a special $20.20 tasting fee adds their delicious bubbly to the regular lineup, and guests enjoy artisan cheeses. At their Gaviota tasting spot off Highway 101, Folded Hills is offering a charcuterie board accompanies the wine tasting. And at sprawling Pence Vineyards off Highway 246, on the way toward the coast, $20.20 is the price for wine sipping with cheese and charcuterie, as well as a vineyard tour.

Here’s the bottom line: some of the best eating in California exists in the Santa Ynez Valley. If a promo like Restaurant Weeks succeeds in filling seats during low season with lovers of food and wine who would have otherwise missed out, then it’s a win-win to be sure. Check out the menus and plan your visit at DineSYV.com.

Cheers!

Want more wine, food & travel stories? Follow me on Twitter & Instagram!

###