Santa Ynez Wineries
 

My DD and her boyfriend are visiting the Santa Ynez valley the weekend after Labor Day. They are staying in Solvang and have dinner reservations for the Hitching Post on Saturday night.

She wanted me to ask what wineries are not to be missed. They can get the "Sideways" tour map and have been told to do the Foxen Canyon trial. I did some searching on this forum but didn't really find a consensus of the ones not to be missed. They mostly like reds, particularly Pinot Noirs. I did see Zaca Mesa mentioned a couple of times. If they are only hitting 4-5 wineries which ones are the best as far as the wines and also the beauty/views.

They are also thinking of maybe doing a tour instead of driving themselves. They do like wine a lot so are a little concerned about drinking and driving. Are there any tour companies recommended? I did a google search and didn't find too many. They don't have the money to rent a private limo.

Thanks for your suggestions.

anyone?

Fess parker's is a beautiful winery and a great place to have a picnic. A few I like are Bridlewood, Firestone, Gainey, and Zaca Mesa. My hairdresser goes often, so I will call and ask her and get back to you. By the way, the food at the HP is delicious. I am not a big beef eater and they have the best halibut bbq'd I've ever had. My DH loves their filet mignon. If they have time, suggest they eat at the Los Olivos Cafe for lunch. The food there is great and they have a tremencous wine menu. I would guess the wine tours are pretty pricey but I found one in the phone book- I'll check the price on that.

The Hitching Post is really good! Firestone winery was very pretty but the girl doing the tasting seemed like a bit of an airhead.
Be sure to tell them to spend some time in Solvang- it is a great little town! Plus, a stop at Ostrich Land might be entertaining!

Curtis Winery (owned by Firestone) was very interesting. THey have a delicious Chocolate-syrrah syrup and also a caramel brandy sauce (they had samples out when we were there)! You get a free tasting if you have a glass from Firestone!
The setting of Sanford Winery is very pretty; they have some tastings outside.

Foley Estates has a new tasting room not far from Solvang (on the other side of 101) and their Pinots are great. They are Santa Rita appellation and do that whole terroir thing.

The Hitching Post bottles their own pinot called" HighLiner" which is yummy. Also in this region, Sanford and Foxen are known for their Pinots. Any label using grapes from Bien Nacido Vineyards are usually excellent and you can look at the Bien Nacido website for wineries that use their grapes.

As to the tour, Central Coast Shuttle is advertising a new shuttle service to wineries that is much less expensive than going the limo route. Hope they enjoy... this is a beautiful time of the year to visit.

moneygirl, where does the shuttle pick you up? Is this the same shuttle that offers service to LAX? Very interesting...

Hi Moneygirl, I have family in Ojai. I would be interested in information regarding a shuttle bus to visit wineries too. One needs to be so careful about drinking and not driving. Thanks, and take care of yourself!

Thanks for all your replies. Laurenzo, I appreciate you checking with your hairdresser and seeing what she says.

Moneygirl, thanks for the shuttle name. As a Mom, you just never stop worrying about them even when they are grown. Seems like lots of the shuttles only go to pre-selected wineries but I will check out Central Coast Shuttle (don't know if thats the one I saw online).

Kerry392-I think I will send them to Curtis Winery to bring home the chocolate syrup for me. Since they are driving (from Orange County) they don't have to worry about bringing liquids on a plane. So I will definitely be sending a list with them!!

I will also tell them about Los Olivos Cafe. Someone had mentioned their butternut squash salad (or something like that). My daughter is a bit of a gourmet cook so she loves to try different things.

I love Arthur Earl's wines. They don't have an estate winery, but a very nice tasting shop on 2921 Grand Avenue in Los Olivos - basically across the street from the side of the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn facing Grand Avenue. Their Syrahs and Zins are some of the best I have tasted and I would never miss paying their shop a visit when in the area.

Gainey in Santa Ynez on 3950 East Highway has beautiful grounds and produces apart from a selection of reds some very nice white varieties IMHO.
They also often feature concerts on their grounds - tonight there will be a concert by conga player Poncho Sanchez. Might be a nice end of the day activity.

Sunstone in Santa Ynez is one of the most beautiful wineries I've ever seen. Rancho Siquoc is beautiful and pours some spectacular reds. I've found Sanford to be stuffy since their Sideways exposure.

Rancho Sisquoc is incredible!

www.centralcoastshuttle.com offers wine tasting at four wineries from 11:30 to 5 including four wineries along the foxen canyon trail... and history of the area and wine business. At $69.95 per person sounds like an okay deal.

I have never used this company but I am using them next month to shuttle to LAX.... so this is not a recommendation but a suggestion!

The Hitching Post in Buellton also has spectacular desserts... so they should save room and at least split one! :)

Laurenzo, I live in Grover Beach and work in Santa Maria. Should we plan a little Central Coast GTG?

Hi Paula,

When I still lived in OC, I used to go up to Santa Ynez about twice a year. My favorite wineries are Foley and Richard Longoria (tasting room in Los Olivos) and I belonged to their wine clubs for years. Sanford is very good also.

I personally don't care for the wines of Fess Parker and Zaca Mesa. Firestone is just OK. Foxen has some very good wines. Some of the "beautiful" wineries are quite commercial, crowded and their wines are not that great. Haven't been to Sanford since the movie came out, but why would you go to a winery just because of a movie?

Anyway, have them try Foley and Longoria for sure. Expensive and worth it.

Buon viaggio!

I love Rancho Sisquoc too, but it is a little farther north. They have great reds and it is beautiful out there. I went today wine tasting to Fess Parker and Firestone and both were great. It was a beautiful day! I liked the Chard at Fess and the Syrah at Firestone but to each his own.

I think that Central Coast Shuttle deal is a decent price actually. I agree w/ the poster about Gainey also. Oh gosh, we are spolied here on the central coast having nice wineries to go to. After several glasses, it all tastes good :)

paula, if your daughter is a gourmet cook, then she will most definitely like the Los Olivos Cafe. They have an excellent roasted veggie sandwich for lunch and great choices for dinner. They also have a terrific creme brulee.

moneygirl, I live in Santa Maria so a central coast GTG sounds great :) Some wine maybe??

I just had a wonserful Pinot from Costa de Oro with my barbecued hamburger... yum!

Paula1470... if your daughter doesn't have favorite wines already.. just wants good pinots... I think she'd be safe on the shuttle. She could also just do ones that are fairly close to where she's staying... that map will be a help.

laurenzo... how about chef ricks? Should we make a separate post and throw out some dates? I'm game! Sounds like we might persuade Loveitaly to come if she has family in Ojai.

Hi moneygirl, the next time I am down in Ojai I will post and let you know. That would be fun!! Thanks for the invitation. You live in such a beautiful area. I would move there if I didn't have my daughter and SIL here in the Sacramento Valley.

Best wines IMHO (al beit I haven't been in several years)

Babcock - great whites
Sanford - great everything
Byron - EXCELLENT
Foxen Canyon - GREAT
Brander - excellent

Firestone is for tourists and overrated.

moneygirl, that sounds great. I wonder if any other fodorites live nearby and we just don't know it! Chef Ricks sounds good to me for a GTG. I have some favorites there. Would you like to do the post? It would be fun to meet other posters. Have a nice trip visiting your friend in Santa Barbara.

Paula, did your daughter make any decisions? Next we could give you info about which wineries have tasing rooms in downtown Buellton/Solvang. I'm driving down on Thurdsday so I culd souble check info if necessary. Let us know.

laurenzo and loveitaly, I'll post in the morning so the work week crowd will see it for sure!

Thank you guys for all your answers. I knew I could count on you for help. My DD hasn't had time to really sit down and digest all this info yet. She does musical theatre for a living and was in closing weekend for "My Fair Lady" here in San Diego so was really busy. Starting today, she will have some time to read all the posts and get out the map to make some decisions.

You asked what types of wines she likes. Well one winery she wanted visit was Au Ben Climat as she and her boyfriend have had some of their wines for special occasions. She liked both their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Since they are both just out of college, they can't afford $50 bottles of wine very often so they were looking for something similar albeit cheaper!! She found out you can't visit Au Ben Climat although you can go to the Bien Nacido Vineyard. I think you can go to one of the tasting rooms to sample their other wines.

Since she and her boyfriend are really into learning more about wines, the ideal situation would be to visit some of the smaller wineries where it might be less crowded and they have time to talk to the pourers and be educated. I don't know if that is possible at the wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley or maybe they are all crowded on the weekends.

They would probably like to visit one of the more popular (and crowded wineries) and then focus the rest on the type I described above.

Again, thanks for all your help. After they check out the wineries, it will be my turn to go next.

hsv-Thanks for the tip on the entertainment at Gainey. Don't know if they will have time to check it out. I do know they are going to see "Dames at Sea" at PCPA in Santa Maria on Sunday since my daughter's college roommate is the lead in the show.

paula, FYI, let your daughter know Au Ban Climat is sold at Costco (at least ours anyway) for a lot less! We love the chardonnay also, in fact it is known as the ABC chard at our house :) While here, she can pick up some. The Costco is right down the street from PCPA.

Laurenzo-Thanks for the tip on Costco. Do all the Costco's sell the ABC Chardonnay or just ones in your area? For example, I know that a few Costco's in So. California carry the Wilson Creek Winery's Almond Champagne (Temecula winery) but not all of them have it and it seems the further you get from Temecula, the fewer of them carry it. I will definitely tell them to stop by there.

Also, based on my question about smaller wineries, if you recommend any let me know.

Also I just noticed in my previous post, I spelled ABC wrong. It is Au Bon Climat, I just can't type!!

Don't worry... we knew who you meant! I almost mentioned ABC earlier as a favorite... but so few have heard of them... I thought it pointless. I know I have a tour booklet somewhere around here that mentions that their wines are poured at a room somewhere in Buellton... I'll dig it out tonight and post tomorrow.

paula, probably just our Costco sells the ABC wine so make sure she picks some up while here or has her friend who is in the play get some for her. Does she have a Costco card? I will find out about the small wineries and let you know.

laurenzo and moneygirl - You guys are great!!

paula,

you're welcome. As you mentioned they might be well off with smaller places let me once more stress how much I like Arthur Earl's. I have no association whatsoever with them, but as they haven't made it to the list of others' recommendations here, this might be owed to them being fairly small. Still very much worthwhile IMHO.

Arthur Earls is wonderful... I agree with hsv... and often the owners work their tasting room... they are very pleasant, kind people.

My latest info says that Au Bon Climat wines can be tasted at the Santa Ynez Wine Cellar at 3631 Sagunto in Santa Ynez from 10-4 Thursday- Monday. Hope that gets them what they need!

Thanks again everyone. I told my daughter you were all interested in what wineries they picked, so we'll let you know. I'll have her type up a trip report. I told her about getting ABC wine at the Costco and she said they definitely would go there. She has a Costco card. I wonder if they carry Qupe wine. This is another one she was interested in but they also don't have a winery you can visit.

All of this has made me excited about visiting the wineries there. I will have to plan a trip for myself also. Then we could have a little Fodors GTG. That would be fun.

Hi Paula. Yes, Costco carry carries Qupe for around 20 dollars. I've had it several times and it's really good. I haven't been able to get a hold of my hairdresser but she works tomorrow, so will try then. We'd love to have you in our neck of the woods for a GTG!! I hope your DD and BF enjoy themselves. It is a beautiful time of year to come.

I visited Foley/Lincourt last Thursday and it was beautiful! Did your DD come up with a plan yet? Hope they have a great time!

Paula, I never heard from my hair stylist so I couldn't get back to you. There are so many great suggestions here anyway, so she will be fine. Don't forget to tell her to allow enough time to get to Costco before it closes on that Sunday (before the play) to buy the local wine at great prices. I hope she has a wonderful time and enjoys our wine region :) You will have to come down next to check it out.

Thanks again for all your help. They are heading up there around noon today. My DD was very touched by all the responses I received on this thread. She printed out to show to her boyfriend. He was amazed that people take time to post all this information. This is his first exposure to Fodors.

For sure they are going to Santa Ynez cellars to taste ABC wines. They are going to Curtis because I told them they had to cut me the chocolate syrup!! Since they are going to Curtis, they will probably also go to Firestone since you can tast at both for the same price. I was encouraging them to go the smaller wineries and I am sure if they see how mobbed some of the bigger ones are, they'll move on.
Their tentative plan is to drive out on Foxen Canyon and then work their way back to Los Olivos.

Laurenzo, My DD printed out directions from their hotel to Costco in Santa Maria and plan to stop by there before the show. My friend in "Dames At Sea" said just what you did, that Costco wasn't far from the theatre.

I told my DD she would have to write a trip report when she gets back. She is very good about taking notes (unlike me). Again, thanks everyone.

Just wanted to thank all of you who helped my DD plan her trip to the wineries. She had a great time and is going to post a trip report later this week.

Laurenzo-They went to the Costco in Santa Maria but didn't see any ABC wine. They did buy a couple of other bottles. She said they didn't ask if they still carried it but did look through all the wine that was there.

Paula, I am glad to hear they had a good time! Bummer about the ABC wine, though. I was in Costco the day I posted last regarding this thread and it was there, but that is how it is in Costco. You never know what will be there tomorrow!!