My wife and I stayed at the Marriott in Buellton. Next time I'm going to ask for a room, that's not on the highway side.
Saturday morning, our first appointment was with Wes Hagan at Clos Pepe. As usual Wes is a great host. The conversation was not even entirely about wine. You can't help but learn more about wine when you talk to Wes and we spent time getting to know each other better. So Wes had ready for us his '00 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, '00 Cuvee Quercus Chardonnay and '02 Vigneron Select Pinot Noir. I have bought a few of the BF Chard in the past and knew what it tasted like. The CQ Chard is a new release and a not an overly oaky chard. My wife is not a chard fan, but she liked this one. I was really excited to taste the '02 VS Pinot. I have 1 VS Pinot from every CP vintage, but have not opened any of them. I forgot to ask Wes how long it had been open, it was very approachable full fruit driven Pinot. It lived up to my expectations. Wes thinks people will remember his '02 vintage as his best.
We then followed Wes into town for some barrel samples of his 03 line. We tasted 2 chards and 2 pinots. We got to taste what Wes thinks will be his 03 VS pinot. Wes explained alot of how the oak affects the taste of wine while it's in the barrel.
While we were there, Mikael Sigouin (asst winemaker of Beckmen and winemaker of his own label Kaena) was babysitting some syrah grapes for Andy Kahn. Mikael kindly let us barrel taste his 03 wines. A Grenache, a Larner Syrah and a Hirshstone (not sure of the spelling on that one) Syrah. The Hirshstone Syrah was outstanding. I will be all over that wine when it is released.
We saw Mikael again that afternoon at the Beckmen Customer Appreciation Party.
Every bottle they had was open for tasting. I've gone through many bottles of Beckmen wine the last couple of years, so I am very familiar with their wines. The best 03 samples were the Purisima Mountain Clone 1 Syrah and Purisima Mountain Grenache. They are going to be soooo good in the bottle.
We went over to Los Olivos for a little bit, my wife wanted to shop. My tastebuds were about done, so I only tried some Longoria wines. The wines are good as usual, but nothing really stood out.
Sunday afternoon,
We started in the Carina Cellars/Tensley tasting room. This tasting room was not here 2 years ago.
I knew Joey Tensley was winemaker for both, so I was looking forward to my first taste of his wines.
Carina had 2 Viogniers to taste. I thought the SB county Viognier had a stronger flavor than the Stolpman Vyd. We then tried 4 Syrahs that were all good. The 7% was very interesting because it had 7% Viognier in it. The Thompson Syrah was probably the best. I was going to skip their Cabs because I wanted to keep my taste buds in the syrah zone for the upcoming Tensleys. The server insisted I try their cab and I'm glad he did. This Napa valley cab was very soft and approachable.
The Iconoclast is a blend of 60% cab and 40% syrah. I had never tried/heard of this wine. It was very rich, soft and very smooth.
Joey Tensley was there to pour his wines. His Thompson syrah was very close the the Carina we just had and his Purisima Mtn Syrah tasted very close to the Beckmen syrahs. We talked about the Iconoclast wine, which was his idea. He said Robert Craig wanted some of his syrah, so Joey said sure, if I can buy some of your cab. The napa cab costs him 3 times what he pays for local syrah.
Joey had his very cute 16 month old son Oliver with him. This boy is going to be expensive, he likes pate, beluga caviar and sushi. Joey is a great guy to talk to. He comes to Vegas alot for business so we talked about my hometown a little bit. He is a fan of Lafond Pinots and suggested we go out there. We have been to Lafond before, but didn't make it this time.
We then drove out to the Bedford Thompson tasting room in Los Alamos. This tasting room is 15 minutes from Los Olivos, is off the beaten path, but IMHO worth the trip. I ended up buying a mixed case of almost everything they had. I have always enjoyed their Cab Franc. The grenache is always great, but the best deal is their Thompson Vyd Syrah. It is a steal at $25. It has some rich moca/expresso flavors in it. My wife has made this recipe for ribs that will go perfect with this wine.
web pageAs I type this, I think I should have bought more of this syrah.
As were driving back Monday morning through SB, I was having phone problems calling Jaffurs wine cellars for an appointment. We were close, so we just pulled in and were met at the door by Craig Jaffurs. We apologized for dropping in and asked if we could still taste. Craig was very gracious in stating it was not a good time for him, but he would give us the very fast tour of his new facility. He was getting ready for some grapes to be picked this week about 6 am and hopefully be at his place by 9 am. I asked if he bottles his wine there. He said yes, that he rents a mobile bottle line that pulls in. The cost is very competitve and a better alternative then owning a machine that he has to maintain and take up space. His friend, Dave Yates came over with 2 glasses of wine, "I hate to see anyone thirsty". It was a very good glass of SB county Syrah. Dave then came back with some Thompson Syrah. Craig talked about how he likes the big bold style of syrah. My wife said, this is what syrahs should taste like. We bought some wines and apologized again for intruding. Craig was very friendly the entire time and invited us back again.