So I call Peter Cargasacchi (who owns a new, killer vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills AVA) the other day and say, "Peter, I've got a buddy coming in from out of town, and I thought it might be fun to drive around and visit a few wineries. Bruno at Sanford had offered me an open invitation to visit Sanford... would you mind seeing if he'd be available since you seem to be able to get ahold of him easily?". Peter says that sounds fun and agrees to call Bruno.
Cut to two weeks later. Charlie Chadwick (the afore mentioned buddy), Laurie (my wonderful girlfriend), and I meet up with Bruno and his girlfriend, Chris, at Sanford. Locals Bernie Roth and John Tomasso also meet us, along with Rick Longoria, from Longoria winery. We proceed to tour the amazing new winery and barrel sample our way through the 2001 and 2002 vintages. Very nice stuff!! If this had been all we'd done, it would have been a great day. But Peter had been busy...
We then caravan over to the "Lompoc Wine Ghetto". We first stop at Sea Smoke, where Chris is the winemaker. Peter meets us there. We taste through the 2002 wines in barrel... all AMAZING. This will be a list to get on folks!!! Super Chardonnays and awesome Pinots. After Sea Smoke, we go over to Longoria. Rick barrel samples us on his 2002 Chards and Pinots. Also great. Are we done yet? Nope! We then walk over to Brewer-Clifton where Steve Clifton samples us throught their 2002 B/C Chards and Pinots... as well as his 2002 Palamina label Italian varietals. Very fun stuff. I think what John Alban did for Cali Grenache, Steve Clifton will do for Cali Barbera. An amazing wine.
After a break for lunch, we headed over to my place and tasted through my wines, with Bruno, Chris, and Rick giving me pointers. We also tasted Peter's wines and Wes Hagen's Clos Pepe stuff. I was impressed with both Peter and Wes' wines. Peter's Road Kill Syrah was especially killer
THANKS PETER!!! What a great guy! And thanks to Bruno, Chris, Rick, and Steve for opening their winery's to us and for dropping by to taste my wines. It's always a bit scary and humbling to pour my wines for such great winemakers, but it really helps to get their input. A totally amazing day!!!