For ***kimamom***
 

Sanford has opened up a tasting room and their Pinot is one of the best in the area.Hartley Ostini also makes one that is very yummy and you can taste it at the Hitching Post restaurant in Buellton, which is owned by Frank Ostini. (Yes, this is one of the restaurants in the movie Sideways.)The food is great and you won't be dissapointed!

moneygirl/kimamom...i'm on long island and not a wine connoisseur
but an enthusiast! and oregon pinot noirs are handsdown my favorite!! are these available on line? thanks!

In general, any grapes grown by Bien Nacido are the best,no matter which winery bottles them. So if you are careful to read the labels, you an get some great stuff! ( Yes, I am spoiled!) You can cheat and go to the Bien Nacido Vineyard website to see a listing of wineries that use their grapes, most have their own websites with shipping information.

Jasper, I can never remember the shipping laws from California so I am clueless... hopefully the websites will help!

jasper this is a great site for Northwest wines:

http://www.avalonwine.com/

The wine/grapes that moneygirl is talking about however are CA not Oregon.

money/stormy girl...(from jaspergirl!)
thanks, i checked it out yesterday. i see that they were from california. it seems you can't ship to new york from the vineyards websites (generally) but from wine.com you can. benton lane is good oregon pinot that i pick up often.
some local long island one's are getting good too.

Thanks, moneygirl. How about the Sunstone wines or the Fess Parker wines? And do you happen to know if Blackstone has a winery in SB. We just had a very nice Pinot Noir from them last night.

I've also heard good things about Gainey. Any opinions on them? One las inquiry: how far out is the wine country from downtown SB? We'll only have three days. ***kim*** :)

Kim, we enjoyed a Sunstone '01 Syrah Reserve, Santa Ynez Valley with Thanksgiving dinner (among others) and everyone loved it! They were pouring it at the winery and although pricey, we couldn't resist. Do go there, it's like stepping into Provence, very charming, reminds me of Casanova in Carmel. If you go, be sure to take a look into the wine rooms behind the tasting room--nice. You can drive right through Solvang to Refugio Road, turn right and go a few miles. Pretty easy. Fess's is big, has some good reserve wines, but I'm really not all that hot on his regular stuff they pour, it's ok.

There's no Blackstone in Santa Ynez Valley, but there's a nice one on the Monterey Wine Trail in Gonzales, south of Salinas. We saw it last time we did the wineries there, another good place to go wine tasting, but that's another trip.

Thanks, winerycat! The corkage fee at Wine Cask is $25. We were planning on bringing a special bottle of Rex Hill Reserve Pinot Noir, but will probably take it to Olie e Limone.

I'm hoping that the Wine Cask will have some very nice wines for us to have with our anniversary dinner. ***kim*** :)

I want to ask.But pleese dont get angries.Our these *** babbles or snow flakes or some things codes that people use now?

The Gainey Tasting room is one of the most beautiful in the area along with Bridlewood and they are fairly close together. Gainey has a wonderful Chardonnay!You could get to Sanford, Gainey, Arthur Earl and Bridlewood all in an afternoon and with a lunch in Los Olivos your day would be perfect. Enjoy your trip and post when you get back. Sorry I'm not more help about the Biltmore and Fess Parker's.. All I know is that Fess Parker was Davy Crockett so they have lots of memorabilia stuff in addition to wine!

kim,

thanks for your complliments on my trip report. I am still blushing.

Driving time from Santa Barbara to Los Olivos should be something around 40 minutes, I presume.

I have been very impressed with the handful of Pinot Noirs from the Sta. Lucia Highlands I have tasted.
M

moneygirl, I'll put your suggestions on our list. Any suggestions for a nice lunch in Los Olivos? We will be having a late dinner at the Wine Cask so this should give us plenty of time after touring and tasting in LO. ***kim*** ((l))

hsv: You're very welcome! :) Now advance to the head of the class!! ***kim*** ((l))

"Now advance to the head of the class!!"

as if yours are the model for trip reports? don't flatter yourself...

Is the Los Olivos Cafe worth stopping at for a bite to eat? ***kim*** :)

Anita - Bubbles. Not codes. Definitely bubbles.

mikemo: we just picked up some excellent Pinots in Oregon a few days ago. I'm looking forward to tasting the SB wine country Syrahs! Cheers! ***kim*** ((l))

Kim, Sorry, we were gone for a night and I couldn't reply to your question about the cafe. I would have said yes! Hope you had a great time and will wait to read your report.

Thanks, moneygirl! Your suggestions were a big help in planning our trip. We adored SB and had the perfect trip. I'll post a full report later on in the week when we're settled in. (Oh, we loved the Los Olivos Cafe, also!) ***kim*** ((l))

My 60th BD was on Sunday - btw on 5 Dec 1933 UTAH was the 33rd State to repeal Prohibition - way to go!
Anyway, we opened a bunch of great wine: The '82 Ch LaMission Haut Brion and the '85 Sassacia were awsome/world class.
The '87 R.Mondavi Reserve and '82 Ch Gruaud-Larose were not far behind.
Feliz Navidad!
M

'mo-
60!!! You certainly don't type that old!

Congrats and CHEERS!!!
I may even pop open a bottle of my best mindless vino in your honor!

You can do the same for me next Monday.;)

Wow, you guys have over fourteen years on me, LOL!!

Moneygirl, did you have any wine with dinner at Los Olivos Cafe? I had the BEST glass of Syrah that we tasted all day there. I'll tell which one in my trip report. ***kim*** :)

Who said I was 60? =-O

Not even <i>that</i> close, kimmer. [(

So, you're 48 in &quot;real life&quot;? :-?

Opening up an Ingcognito &quot;Vig&quot;, 'mo.
=P~

Way to go, mikemo! What? -- no Pisoni Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir? Which ones do you like? I'm nuts about them too. Besides Pisoni, try the other Gary's new label called Roar, the '01 SLH Pinot Noir made with grapes from Pisoni's vineyard--outstanding. Loring makes a great one with Pisoni's grapes too. It's hard to decide, but I think the best I've had so far is the Miner 'Rosella's Vineyards' (this is Gary Franscioni's land) SLH Pinot Noir--so full-bodied and concentrated--you gotta try it. Gotta love anything from Rosella's Vineyard--nectar of the gods. Now, what are your faves?

Kal,
Claro que si, mi amigo. We also tasted the '82 Ch Leoville Las Cases - described by Bobby Parker (who now tips &gt;300+ lbs) - as a 100 pt wine and a national treasure of France, but I really think the '82 La Mission Haut Brion is maybe the best of the '82's.

Hmmmm..then again a Miner Vig, Simpson's Vineyard....decisions decisions! /:)

Siempre el mejor, El Mo! ((Y))

Winerycat,
Those are way too expensive now that I'm retired.

I still have one '99 Siduri &quot;Pisoni&quot; PN in my cellar.

I bought the great '82 Bordeaux &quot;first tranche&quot; futures - $92 -$150. a case, lol.

The '82 CH LaMissionHautBrion is really a monument!

Although I bought two '61 DRC Romanee Conti (in the 60's) - son Matt just tasted a '66 from a double Magnum with RP in NYC - and a bunch of Grand Cru red Burgundies over my life, none will ever compare to the the stunning 1990 Grand Cru from Jayer-Giles and Confuron.

My '95 and '96 red Burgundies pale by comparison.

We'll be opening more of the '82 Bordeaux super seconds this winter.

M

Kal, your math is letting you down. Bubbles said she's approaching 46.

48, I think not even close! Way younger than that! Moneygirl, didn't make it to Sanford but we did catch Sideways. Next trip we hope to visit Sanford, Sunstone, Fess Parker and a few others.

The Sommelier at the Wine Cask wasn't too hot on the Sunstone wines, tho. Wow, what a dinner we had there! ***kim*** ((l))

Well, I've never had any of those Bordeaux in my cellar, so yours sounds awfully good. Oh, that '99 Siduri Pisoni should be fun to get into. The Pisoni stuff can get up there, I would like to drink it all the time, it sure does spoil you, as you know, but, no way. I like the other Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noirs too, like Paraiso, Morgan, Cloninger and Arcadian that run about $20--they're not the blockbusters, but just good wine. Have a sip of those Bordeaux for me!

Oh, and moneygirl thanks so much for the info on Gainey!! We did go to that tasting room and you were right, it is very pretty. I loved their Triada and they made a very nice Sauv Blanc. Their Merlots were also very good but we ended up purchasing the Triada.

I liked all of the recipes that were set out with suggestions for each wine to pair it with. Your info was very helpful!! ***kim*** :)

fehgie,
I was using &quot;message board math&quot;.

If someone says they make &quot;X&quot; amt of money, is a certain age or used to bench press 400lbs, I usually discount a few % points as the message board fudge factor.

Have you ever met anyone on vacation that wasn't very important &quot;back at home&quot;? :-&quot;

Master of My Domain Kahuna

moneygirl, we also took your advice on Arthur Earl. Just loved the lady that works the tasting room. We bought a very nice Syrah. She was really pushing the new Riedel &quot;O&quot; glasses that she loves. Very nice older woman.

We also did a tasting at Ephinany, have you been there? I didn't taste anything I liked there but the pourer was very informative and hospitable.

Took a peek at the Fess Parker Spa, their outdoor heated pool had steam rising out of it. Looked very inviting for our next trip to the area. ***kim*** ((l))

Isn't that Syrah by Arthur Earl a steal?
I brought a couple of bottles, too and am looking forward for one of the oncoming holidays to enjoy it.

I happened to do the tasting at Epiphany - and I did not think they were bad at all. It was the last tasting on my list, though and my tastebuds just could not cope with it anymore.

Which one are you referring to? We purchased a bottle for around $48 of their very nice Syrah.

We should have done a full tasting, but she just let us taste her two Syrahs since that's what we were mainly interested in that day. ***kim*** :)