Sold! Legendary Wine Auction Moves Into Santa Barbara

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 7/28/16

CCWC founder Archie McLaren

The Central Coast Wine Classic has been one of the most spectacular wine events in the country for more than 30 years.  The charitable focus of this multi-day affair has certainly been a boon for the Central Coast: from 2004 to 2014, it gifted more than $2.5 million to more than 125 non-profit groups throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.  And then there’s the enviable lineup of wine-centric experiences, from auctions to seminars to that legendary feast at Hearst Castle.

Throughout its lifetime, CCWC has drawn wine aficionados mainly to San Luis Obispo, holding its events in coastal towns like Avila Beach and Pismo Beach and raising the lion’s share of its funds for non-profit radio station KCBX.   But the five-day extravaganza moves down the coast this year: many of its best events – including the signature live auction of spectacular wine and lifestyle items – will be held in Santa Barbara.

The Heasrt Castle dinner

“It’s a combination of experience and intuition,” founder Archie McLaren tells me about this decision to bring his event south.  “We have always had a huge number of supporters from Santa Barbara, and this seemed like an appropriate time to expand.”

McLaren’s accomplishments have always been built on his relationships.  The camaraderie of this well-known bon vivant with some of the great winemakers of the Central Coast helps explain the success of CCWC for decades, as well as the success of the highly regarded WOPN event, or World of Pinot Noir, which he founded with vintner Brian Talley in 2000.  The fact he’s now spending more time at home in Santa Barbara helped pivot the spotlight of CCWC toward a town where people are “increasingly sophisticated, ” according to McLaren, and where they are “more and more interested these days in the symbiotic relationship between fine wine and fine cuisine.”

The 2016 Central Coast Wine Classic will run August 10-14.  The experiences begin up north on Wednesday, with a barrel tasting and auction at San Luis Obispo’s Greengate Ranch followed by a pair of wine dinner options.  Thursday afternoon will see the option of a vineyard tour and luncheon at legendary Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles ($75) or a Bordeaux seminar and lunch at nearby Eberle Vineyard ($115).  That evening beings the spectacular Dinner at Hearst Castle ($1250), where only the historic luxury setting rivals the world-class wine and gourmet food prepped by a bevy of local chefs, including James Sly of Sly’s Restaurant in Carpinteria, James Siao of Finch & Fork at Santa Barbara’s Canary Hotel and private chef Michael Hutchings.

Chef James Sly

On Friday, a tour and tasting event of Edna Valley and Arroyo Grande properties ($75) includes breakfast and visits to vineyards like Saucelito Canyon, Talley and Tolosa.

And then the events cross the county line.

Friday afternoon, iconic vintner Richard Sanford will host a tour of his Alma Rosa Winery in Santa Barbara County’s Sta. Rita Hills, along with tastings and lunch ($75).  Later, a chardonnay and pinot noir seminar at the Santa Barbara Wine Collective in the downtown Funk Zone ($75) will feature wines by Babcock and Fess Parker while a pinot noir symposium at the newly-renovated Santa Barbara Inn on the waterfront ($75) will showcase wines by Au Bon Climat and Longoria, among others.  That evening, there will be three dinners to choose from: a Rare Wine Dinner with exclusive French wines at the Santa Barbara Club ($750), a Winemaker Dinner aboard the Channel Cat catamaran in the Santa Barbara Harbor ($150) and a special feast in the stunning Mural Room of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse ($150), with wines from Fred Brander and Qupé’s Bob Lindquist.

Double-fisted bidding is encouraged

Saturday will see a morning cabernet sauvignon seminar ($95) and Champagne-and-caviar symposium ($95).  But the climax of CCWC may well be the Saturday afternoon Rare & Fine Wine & Lifestyle Auction and Luncheon ($175), held this year at real estate tycoon Pat Nesbitt’s sprawling Bella Vista Ranch in Summerland.  The 70-acre ocean view estate is a draw all its own, complete with polo field and butterfly garden.  But the oohs-and-aahs are most likely to come from the dozens of spectacular lifestyle lots, including a 2016 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51, a five-star trip for two through France – Paris, Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhone and Champagne – and luxury excursions to China and Bhutan.  There are several deluxe dinner experiences up for grabs, as well as original artwork by several high-profile Central Coast artists.  And a slew of local winemakers have donated one-of-a-kind salmanazars of wine – huge nine-liter bottles that are the equivalent of 12 regular bottles.  The event will also feature an exotic car showcase and cuisine by Chefs Frank Ostini (of Hitching Post II fame) and Rick Manson.

For a peek at all 52 live auction lots in the Central Coast Wine Classic auction, click here.

CCWC ends Sunday with an Australian wine roundtable at the Santa Barbara Inn ($75) and a VIP Departure Brunch at Stella Mare’s Restaurant ($95).

This is a spectacle to be sure: 18 events, spread across two counties, and featuring world class wine and food served up by a veritable who’s who of the culinary world in one stunning location after the other.  Most events are close to being sold out.  For more information, check out www.centralcoastwineclassic.com.

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Rob DaFoe’s Next Chapter: Cabernet Phenom Now Taming Burgundy

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo

story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 7/14/16

“You’re bottling Sybil when you’re bottling pinot noir,” winemaker Rob DaFoe tells me as we sip. “And you’re constantly asking yourself, ‘When will she surrender?!”

DaFoe is talking about a wine grape he loves, of course, all while candidly comparing it to the psychiatry patient whose bout with multiple personalities famously became a 1970s TV miniseries starring Sally Field.  It’s a newfound realization for DaFoe: that pinot noir undergoes myriad transmutations in its infancy.  “And if you taste all the time to see what’s happening, you’ll go mad,” he says.

Rob DaFoe at the Easy Street Wine Collective, 90 Easy Street, Buellton

Those changes in young pinot – during fermentation and barrel aging and even in bottle – can happen day to day, and they're what DaFoe has come to understand as the wine’s intrinsic evolution.

As winemaker, “you have to trust what you’ve done, that’s the bottom line,” he adds.

I say that these are newfound discoveries for DaFoe because working with Burgundian grapes – pinot and chardonnay – is indeed a new venture for him.  It’s his new label, called Rake, as in a ne’er-do-well scoundrel.  The name was inspired by a Townes Van Zandt song that’s “hauntingly poetic and terrifying at the same time,” according to DaFoe.

But DaFoe has already made an indelible mark on the Santa Barbara winemaking scene with Bordeaux varieties, cabernet sauvignon in particular.  I first met DaFoe about 10 years ago, when the pro snowboarder-turned-photographer-turned-filmmaker won acclaim with a movie about making wine, called Ground to Glass.  That intimate documentary, which featured on-camera sit-downs with more than 30 wine industry stars and which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2006, was also a creative seed for the man behind the lens.  By 2009, DaFoe had launched the Tanner DaFoe label with friend Jeff Tanner and the wines –a fascinating blend of intuition, knack and good fortune, for sure – were knockouts.  The 2011 cabernet blew my socks off – “a remarkably luscious, rich, elegant wine where flavors and tannins converge in harmony,” I wrote last year.  And four vintages of Tanner DaFoe wines – 2009 through 2012 – have garnered between 90 and 93 points from Wine Spectator, among the highest for any Bordeaux wines from Santa Barbara. (The 2013s are currently in barrel.)

Then, one day, DaFoe became intrigued by rosé.  “It wasn’t really a fit,” for the Tanner DaFoe label, he says.  So Rake was born.

DaFoe is still making cabernet and cab-based blends under Tanner DaFoe; priced between $75 and $110, they’re sourced from a secret vineyard on the eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley.  Similarly, the magic behind Rake is driven by location.  In 2013, DaFoe got access to the four-acre Destiny Vineyard in Los Alamos, a 50-50 planting of pinot and chard.  “The soils are very clay-like, with a fair amount of sea fossils – perfectly suited for Burgundian grapes,” says the winemaker.

Indeed, if rosé was the genesis for his new project, DaFoe has heeded the call well.  The 2014 Rosé of Pinot Noir ($20) is bracing, lively and fresh.  The acidity is vivid, while the fruity nuances of the pinot grape shine through.  He pours next a sample of his yet-to-be-bottled 2015 rosé, which smacks of Provence, with watermelon and raspberry aromas, a clean roundness on the tongue and spicy pop mid-sip.  Delicious.  And because it’s what sipping rosé tends to inspire, our conversation soon drifts from wine to heady ideas about history, women and life.

I am sipping with DaFoe at the Easy Street Wine Collective in Buellton, a small tasting room that Rake shares with the Cordon label, by DaFoe’s winemaker friend, Etienne Terlinden.  Both men, along with a handful of other boutique producers, work out of the winery that abuts the intimate tasting space.

We taste the 2014 Rake Chardonnay ($30) next, which is bouncy and animated, with limestone and grapefruit notes on the palate, and with a subtle nuttiness in the finish.

And we end with the 2013 Rake Pinot Noir ($35), with a perfumed nose – black cherries and dark berries – and a clean, supple mouth feel.  The wine was bottled only in February, but balance is predominant.  “Every time I taste this, different parts are more dominant and others are more subdued,” DaFoe tells me, harkening back to his Sybil reference.  But “I’m finding that pinot develops way better in bottle anyway,” he adds.  So, certainly, the future for Rake looks bright.

Rake Wines are currently available through the Easy Street Wine Collective tasting room, which is open for public tastings on weekends, as well as Wine + Beer at the Santa Barbara Public Market, Corks 'n Crowns in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone and Pierre Lafond Market in Montecito's Upper Village.

Find out more at www.rakewine.com.

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Taking it in Stride: Santa Barbara Restaurateur Walks for Wine

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
story published in the Spring 2016 issue of Santa Barbara Magazine
photos provided by Tom Dolan

Tom Dolan has long loved taking walking vacations throughout Europe.  “They have an incredible network of trails there that connect beautiful villages,” says the Santa Barbara resident, 58.  But his long-distance treks – exploratory week-long travels on foot on which Mr. Dolan covers 20 miles a day – have taken special meaning ever since he became a restaurateur.

For 20 years, Mr. Dolan worked at Emilio’s in Santa Barbara, a popular Italian bistro where he went from waiting tables to managing.  He’d worked restaurants before, including the Four Seasons Biltmore for 16 years and stints in Seattle, Park City, Los Angeles, even cruise ships.  But it was when Emilio’s closed that Mr. Dolan saw an opening.  With his wife Vicki, a 33-year management veteran of the Four Seasons Biltmore, Mr. Dolan opened Toma Restaurant in 2013.

Suddenly, his walking trips offered something new: a chance to enhance his restaurant’s wine list.

Last year, for example, Mr. Dolan walked 120 miles across Barolo, in the northern Italian region of Piedmont.  He started in truffle-laden Alba and visited tiny historic towns like Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d' Alba before giving his soles a rest in Dogliani.  “The landscape is breathtaking – we’re walking through forests and vineyards most of the day – and you meet people you just wouldn’t if you were driving,” says Dolan.  “It’s also extremely hospitable.  The only danger you encounter is overeating and over-drinking!”

That’s what the nights are about – slow, multi-course meals and mingling with locals ‘til late.  But the days, aside from the sweeping vistas, are about discovering wine.  Mr. Dolan meets with artisanal winemakers – some by appointment, some by chance – and sips through their wares with the goal of finding special bottles to bring back home.  After last year’s Barolo trip, Mr. Dolan placed nine boutique wineries on his wine list.  Names like Damilano, Vietti, Sadrone, Rinaldi and Pio Cesare.  “They’re rare labels or special blends that you might not see anywhere else,” he says.

With Toma, Italy is a clear focus.  Umbria and Chianti have been covered, and Veneto is a serious possibility for 2016.  “I usually travel in September, when the weather’s still good and the crowds are a lot smaller,” says Mr. Dolan, who researches his trajectories on his own, with the help of online topographical maps.

The annual expeditions have also become boys’ trips.  Mr. Dolan’s pedestrian partner these days is Dr. Barnard George Valeska, a Santa Barbara dentist.  “With 17-pound packs on our backs and 20 miles a day, for both of our wives, it’s, ‘No, thank you!’”

Toma Restaurant, 324 W. Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara.  805-962-0777. www.tomarestaurant.com.

Quenching Quaffers: New Whites to Beat the Summer Heat

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 6/30/16

As summer temps continue to climb these days, even the most ardent red wine drinkers are going lighter to quench their thirst.  Santa Barbara rosé wines are clearly getting renewed attention and – with fresh flavors that match their pretty colors – for good reason.  But I’ve been exploring a newly released batch of refreshing whites, and here are some of my favorites. 

Lucas & Lewellen 2014 Viognier ($22): With more than two dozen grape varieties under his watch, Louie Lucas remains one of Santa Barbara County’s most prolific growers.  This delicious viognier, made by Megan McGrath Gates, was sourced from his sustainable vineyards near the town of Los Alamos.  Peaches and tropical notes on the nose are followed by bright flavors of melon and citrus.  In a sale that ends today, Lucas & Lewellen is offering a six-pack of white wines – this viognier, along with sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, dry riesling and two chardonnays – for an awesome $59 (UPDATE: this offer has been extended through July 15th).  llwine.com.

Palmina 2014 Malvasia Bianca, Larner Vineyard ($26): The aromas of this wine are enchanting: flowers, honey, grapefruit.  The palate experience is bracing and fresh, brimming with flavors of tangerines and a super clean finish.  These grapes were sourced from Michael Larner’s celebrated vineyards in Ballard Canyon, “where the climate is quite similar to its Fruili-Venezia roots – maritime fog, warm sunny days and cool, crisp nights,” according to Palmina winemaker Steve Clifton.  This wine is a winner with spicy Asian dishes or fresh crab legs. palminawines.com.

Alma Rosa 2014 Chardonnay, El Jabali Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills ($30): Winemaker Richard Sanford delivers another spectacular chardonnay here, complete with pretty straw hues, clean minerality and racy flavors of white stone fruits and lemongrass.  A subtle creaminess on the palate enhances the sipping experience.  The fact these grapes are 34 years old – sourced from the historic El Jabali Vineyard along Santa Rosa Road that Richard and Thekla Sanford planted in the early 1980s and that they continue to farm organically – enhances the wine’s distinguished structure. almarosawinery.com.

Cambria 2014 Benchbreak Chardonnay ($22): Much of the chardonnay fruit that grows on the Cambria estate in the Santa Maria Valley dates back to the 1970s and, since 2009, has been cultivated sustainably.  This brilliant wine is teeming with green apple and ripe tropical flavors, like pineapple.  Generous acidity and a lovely spicy thread add character.  Fresh fish off the grill or a bevy of aperitif cheeses will make a perfect match.  Another standout chardonnay by longtime winemaker Denise Shurtleff.  cambriawines.com.

Babcock 2014 Chardonnay Top Cream ($45): The search for the perfect dinner table chardonnay ends with this spectacular release by Bryan Babcock.  Drawn by his spectacular pinot noirs to the Babcock tasting room along Highway 246 this past weekend, this remarkably textured estate wine – alive with bright acidity and stone fruit and citrus flavors – blew me away.  There’s a delicious creaminess here, with a flavor-rich finish that doesn’t give up.  This is what you drink during an al fresco meal of chicken fajitas and grilled veggies at the end of a warm summer day spent mostly outdoors.  Top Cream refers to the lean, gravelly, loamy top soil that blankets sandstone on the Babcock ranch which, according to the winemaker, “definitely governs the vigor and morphology of the vines that grow in it.”  babcockwinery.com.  

Liquid Farm 2014 Chardonnay La Hermana ($40): When Nikki and Jeff Nelson treated us to a homemade wine country lunch at their Santa Ynez home this week, we met their kids.  It was their lineup of chardonnays, actually, which they presented and described in terms of personality and character.  The five boutique bottlings of chard we sipped, imagined by the Nelsons and crafted James Sparks, are all made to impress and, more importantly, to capture the unique character if their vintage and vineyard source.  The La Hermana wows with its zesty character, freshness and subtle suppleness.  A nod to the FOUR Chardonnay ($74), too, which combines the best four barrels of the 2014 vintage and delivers an amazingly complex and structured drinking experience.  Keep in mind that, due to super low production, most of the Liquid Farm wines go by allocation to wine club members. liquidfarm.com. 

La Crema 2015 Pinot Gris Monterey ($20): This is my one out-of-town choice, a just-released white from cool-climate vineyards in Monterey.  This wine is juicy and refreshing, especially if you’re trying to cool off during a toasty summer afternoon spent by the pool – full of grassy notes and flavors of peaches, apricots and lemons.  “Pinot gris expresses itself best when handled gently, so we pressed the grapes without de-stemming and fermented the wine slowly in 100% stainless steel to preserve with vibrant fruit flavors,” says winemaker Elizabeth Grant-Douglas.  This wine drinks really well on its own; a spread of fresh fruits, nuts and semi-soft cheeses, though, won’t hurt.  lacrema.com. 

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Wine to Check Out: New Bar at Santa Barbara's Fess Parker Hotel is a City First

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
photos by Austin Sosa and Andreina Diaz
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 6/28/16

The new wine bar at The Fess Parker is just off the main lobby (Sosa)

A wine tasting room in downtown Santa Barbara is pretty common these days, but this wine bar is something totally new.

The Fess Parker family of wines, which includes both the Fess Parker and Epiphany labels, has just opened what is the only dedicated wine tasting room inside a local hotel.  The space is elegant and sleek: a lustrous metallic bar anchors an intimate space decked out with leather banquette seating and a wooden communal tasting table, with plenty of natural light.  And located just off the main lobby of the beachfront Fess Parker – A DoubleTree by Hilton Resort, it’s a natural extension of a family enterprise that also includes a wine country hotel and three tasting rooms in the Santa Ynez Valley.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to bring the Fess Parker Winery experience ‘over the hill’ to our hotel guests who aren’t able to journey to wine country during their stay,” says company CEO, and Fess’ son, Eli Parker.  The 24-acre Fess Parker is a 50-50 ownership between the Parker family and the Hilton brand, which also manages the property.

The space occupied by the new tasting room, which is enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass, formerly housed desks for concierge staff and Hertz, which are now located a bit further down the hall.   “For the longest time, people would walk by this area and not even think about tasting wine,” says the hotel’s general manager, Matthew La Vine.   “Now, they see this spot that’s so beautiful, and it’s easy to stop in and sip.”

The tasting room’s centerpiece is the state-of-the-art wine dispensing system, called Enomatic.  Italian-made and found in no other wine venue in Santa Barbara County, it allows for each of the 16 bottles it holds to be temperature-controlled and, using inert gas, completely preserved.  “It’s like you’re having a totally fresh glass of wine every time,” Mr. La Vine adds.  Guests are given pre-loaded plastic cards that are then inserted into the machine, like debit cards into an ATM.  Using portion-control technology, wine is dispensed in 1.5-, three- and six-ounce servings, and the cards are charged accordingly.  Dollar amounts vary based on the wine selected.

The sleek design of the Fess Parker's new wine bar was inspired by the slick Epiphany tasting room in Los Olivos (Sosa)

The 16-bottle Enomatic wine dispensing system is the only one of its kind at a Santa Barbara Co. tasting venue (Diaz)

The wine menu features Fess Parker and Epiphany wines, all by winemaker Blair Fox, which will be rotated over time.  Both labels – TV icon Fess Parker founded his eponymous wine brand in 1987 and son Eli launched Epiphany in 2000 – have long focused on limited-production and vineyard-specific wines.   The 16-bottle lineup this week includes the 2014 Fess Parker Dry Riesling ($2.75 to $12, depending on amount dispensed), the 2014 Fess Parker Chardonnay ($4.75-$19), the 2013 Fess Parker Pinot Noir, Pommard Clone ($6.75 to $25) and the 2013 Epiphany Grenache ($3.75-$15).  With Santa Barbara’s recent heat spurts, the Fess Parker Pinot Noir Rosé has already proven popular.  “Rosé wines are getting new appreciation,” admits Maria Docouto, an year-long employee of Fess Parker Winery in Los Olivos who is now educating guests at the new seaside tasting room.  “They’re made with more complexity nowadays.”

The tasting room can arrange for shipping of wines by the bottle or by the case.  Guests can also enjoy bottles they buy at the hotel’s steakhouse, Rodney’s, with no corkage fee.  Fess Parker and Epiphany wine club members enjoy a 10% discount on tastings and purchases.

The new wine bar at The Fess Parker is open seven days a week and is also available for private parties.

The Fess Parker – A DoubleTree by Hilton Resort, 633 East Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara.  805-564-4333. For info on The Fess Parker, click here.  For info on the Fess Parker wines and properties, click here.

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Sibling Spirit: Brothers Partner in Buellton Distillery

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 6/16/16

“Hello,” says Jeff Lockwood, as he passes a small snifter under his nose and then pulls his hand away.  He brings it back slowly, and says, “How are you?”  He repeats, in teasing fashion, and says, “Nice to meet you.”  And then he sips.

Lockwood calls the rather flirtatious method for tasting spirits, “Approach and Retreat,” and he likens it to meeting a pretty woman at a bar.  It’s a technique he learned from a Scottish distiller years ago – a way to acclimate the nose and pick up aromas.  And he’s passing this bit of wisdom on to me, as I sit with brothers Jeff and Jay Lockwood inside an airy storage space in a Buellton industrial park that they’ve transformed into an elegant tasting room.

The Lockwoods admit that the majority of tasters who come into their distillery are wine drinkers – admirers of grapes-turned-beverage who come here in search of new ways to enhance their taste buds.  But in many ways, including the way you sniff smells out of a glass, the way spirits are enjoyed is different, often requiring extra time and extra attention.  “And when you taste, you keep it a while on the tip of your tongue,” Jeff adds, as we sip on barrel samples of cognac.

The Brothers: Jay and Jeff Lockwood with their still

The Lockwood siblings opened Brothers Spirits three months ago, making it the third distillery in Santa Barbara County.  Their career backgrounds are in the construction and real estate industries: Jay, who’s three years older, built custom homes for nearly four decades, while Jeff saw success in property development.  But the younger Lockwood turned his attention to viticulture about a decade ago, when he and his wife, Joanne, founded Bella Cavalli Farms and Vineyard in nearby Solvang.  The 50-acre ranch specializes in equine training and rehabilitation, complete with show barn and half-mile track.  But the onsite vineyard fuels a boutique wine business, too, with an exclusive label sustained by a club-only approach with close to 800 members.

The approach to Brothers Spirit mirrors that of the Bella Cavalli wines: hand-crafted, small yields, high quality.

The idea of partnering in a spirits business was born in 2012, when Jeff began looking at the financials and the potential of the burgeoning craft distillery industry.  These days, “spirits sales are where beer sales were 15 years ago, and where wine sales were 20 years ago,” he tells me.

It took two years to get the proper permitting, and an entire year of daily experimentation by Jay, who exited retirement to become the project’s master distiller, to get Brothers off the ground.  “Equipment matters,” Jay says, as we stand to admire the slender but towering copper flute still that they purchased from Mile Hi Distillery in Colorado  And then there are Jacy’s recipes.

The Brothers spirits are sophisticated, consistently smooth and delicious all on their own.  The Vodka, made from albarino grown on Bella Cavalli, is distilled five times and filtered through coconut shell charcoal.  “A thousand gallons of albarino juice yields just 100 gallons of vodka,” Jay tells me.  It comes out of the still at 190 proof and then cut down with distilled water to the industry-standard 80 proof, or 40% alcohol.  An exotic nose of tropical aromas leads to a velvety, somewhat vicious mouth feel and long, clean finish.

The Brothers Distillery tasting room

The tasting room features original local art for sale

The Blanco Tegave, a tequila made with organic blue agave grown in the Mexican state of Jalisco, has a caramel nose and lovely citrus flavors, with a lengthy finish.   The White Hawk Malt Whiskey is beautifully perfumed and its mouth feel – I’m sipping on it as I write this – is wonderfully creamy.  Technically, it’s a Scotch, but Jay’s recipe uses mesquite-smoked barley, in lieu of peat, creating subtle oaky notes and a beverage that’s complex and approachable all at once.

The Limoncello is made with Bella Cavalli grenache and the zest of organic Santa Paula lemons.  Its nose is bright and alive, its flavors bursting and refreshing.

All the Brothers spirts come in stylish, sturdy glass vessels and retail for $42.  They also come with tasting notes, because they are as satisfying on their own as they are with the right match: “Smoked meats” and “creamy or salty cheeses” for the Vodka, for example, “light seafood, like tilapia” for the Tegave and “pear tart, or drizzled over vanilla ice cream” for the Limoncello.  As I sip the Whiskey some more, the Brothers suggestions make even more sense: “BBQ… nuts and cheese… or your favorite after-dinner cigar.”

The current Brothers lineup

Much of the charm in discovering these spirits stems from the relaxed setting Brothers creates.  “We are going for a real experience, a real professional and educational tasting,” Jay says, “because this is a whole new experience for a lot of people.”  Dark leather recliners, elegant rugs and barrels-turned tables create a private club feel and a space that promotes unhurried, relaxed sipping.  Guests can taste through the four spirits ($8) or order from a short list of five custom cocktails ($10), including Manhattans, Martinis and Margaritas.  Brothers is open seven days a week and until 8pm on Friday and Saturday.

Experimentation defines the Brothers vision moving forward, a clear advantage of producing super small batches of super premium product.  The label is launching a barrel program this summer.  Jay is finalizing recipes for grappa and an 80-proof “adult” lemonade.  And there’s a tempranillo-based cognac in the works, aging in oak casks right now . 

Brothers Distillery, 201 Industrial Way #D, Buellton, 805-691-9259. www.brothersspirits.com.

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Art Outreach: The Goodland Hotel's Latest Project Taps Nationally Renowned Artists

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
photos by Rony Alwin
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 6/17/16

The Goodland, a Kimpton hotel in Goleta, will debut its newest art collection next week.  It’ll feature six large scale pieces that represent myriad media and that were curated from celebrated artists from throughout the country.  It’s also a snapshot of a creative push by the local hotel to feature artwork inspired by Santa Barbara.

This guestroom at The Goodland became the pop-up studio for
New York City artist Michael Anderson (my pic)

“The important part of this story is not that we’re simply putting these fascinating pieces up on the walls,” says the Goodland’s Director of Programming, Lea Sindija.  “These artists became immersed in our community – they lived at our hotel, toured the area, ate at our restaurants, met locals.  What they created represents how Santa Barbara moved them.”

In fact, the artists became resident guests of The Goodland last month, checking in for more than a week.  Their rooms were turned into pop-up artists’ studios, where standard furniture like sofas and nightstands were replaced with work tables and easels, and where wall space was cleared to encourage the creative process.  Between May 12 and May 19, hotel guests and locals were given a chance to visit with artists and to inspect their works-in-progress throughout the day.  All artwork was completed by May 20 and, after framing is completed over the next few days, they’ll be installed throughout the hotel late next week.

Room 108 became a pop-up artist's studio

The nationally-renowned artists commissioned for this project were chosen because “they each have a reputation for works inspired by the surf, skate and street cultures,” Ms. Sindija says, genres that mirror well the Goodland’s own SoCal-chic, Bohemian vibe.  New York City native Michael Anderson, for example, is known for collecting street signs and posters from all over the world, shredding them, and reassembling them to produce large dynamic collages.  “I think this may be the only piece of art that features both Godzilla and Chewbacca together,” he said of his composition during a poolside DJ party held at the Goodland to celebrate the artists on May 19.  Entitled “Chewbacca’s Vacation,” it’s already hanging at the hotel’s popular Good Bar, says Ms. Sindija, “since it’s the one piece that didn’t need to be framed.”

Mr. Anderson’s temporary neighbors at The Goodland included Joseph Ari Aloi, aka JK5, whose well-known tattoo and graffiti art has been tapped by such companies as Nike; Pixote, a Brazilian native and long-time resident of New York City, who’s gained fame with his skateboarding and graffiti scenes; San Francisco-based Aaron de la Cruz, who specializes in stylized and technical abstract art; and Erin D. Garcia, from Los Angeles, who’s best known for oversize colorful installations of floating and overlapping shapes.

Michael Anderson's and his "Chewbacca's Vacation"

JK5 putting on the finishing touches

Aaron de la Cruz at work

The Goodland also procured a sixth piece of artwork from Jessika Cardinahl, a German-born artist known for her large-scale animal depictions who now lives in Santa Barbara; the large scale tapestry is made from hemp and silk.

The new acquisitions are the latest addition to The Goodland’s artsy ambiance, which already includes vibrant outdoor murals, a rotating art gallery near the front desk and a new record shop in the lobby.

The Goodland, 5650 Calle Real, Goleta.  805-964-6241. www.thegoodland.com.

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