Archive for the 'Santa Barbara Winery' Category

The Henry Wine Group CA Trade Tastings

Published on March 15, 2010 in Joanie Hudson, Lafond Winery, Other News and Santa Barbara Winery. 0 Comments

Next week I will be traveling throughout California attending The Henry Wine Group Trade Tastings.  Our wine is distributed in California by The Henry Wine Group, and these tastings provide the opportunity to visit and engage three different markets: San Francisco (March 22), San Diego (March 24), and Los Angeles (March 25). 

These tastings are organized for members of the trade (hotels, restaurants, wine bars, etc.).  If you are in the trade and interested in attending, please contact me at winesales@sbwinery.com for registration inquiries.  The tastings will run from 11am-5pm.

Taste the World of The Henry Wine Group
March 22 2010   Four Seasons Hotel, 757 Market St. San Francisco
March 24 2010   Hilton La Jolla, 10950 North Tory Pines Rd., La Jolla
March 25 2010   Beverly Hills Hotel, Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills

Winemaker Bruce McGuire will be helping me pour at the Beverly Hills tasting.
 
Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Santa Barbara Winery New Calendar of Events

Published on March 11, 2010 in Santa Barbara Winery. 0 Comments

SPRING CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2010
Everything Californian

Olive Oil Tasting Saturday March 27th  6-8pm  $20
Good olive oil and good wine have a lot in common.  We’ve invited the folks from our local olive oil company Il Fustino to come talk about this.  We’ll gather in the barrel room and taste some of there most popular selections all grown and produced in California.

Wine and Cheese Pairing Saturday April 17th 6-8pm $30
Join us in the barrel room as we taste through a selection of cheeses produced in California.  Kathryn and Michael from C’est Cheese will be on hand to walk us through the pairing .  We’ll learn the importance of buying local and discover our local California cheese producers.

Reservations can be made by email or by calling 805 963 3633.  Cancellations must be made one week prior to event for full refund.  Space is limited so don’t miss out.

Stolpman and Super Tuscans

Published on February 25, 2010 in Sangiovese and Santa Barbara Winery. 1 Comment Tags: .

Spritland Bistro’s monthly Wine & Dine dinner featured Pete Stolpman from Stolpman Vineyards last night, who attended to speak and sip on Super Tuscan wines.

Spritland Bistro (230 E. Victoria St.) is an intimate local restaurant that holds monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) BYOB wine dinners of a specified variety or region.  Super Tuscans were up last night for the 24th BYOB dinner.  Pete spoke between and over each course about the diversity of Italian wine on the market, the ramifications of Italy’s quality designation system (IGT, DOC, DOCG), and the south-facing, calcareous soil of Stolpman Vineyards in Ballard Canyon.

The care that goes into that vineyard (which we source Sangiovese and Nebbiolo from), is extremely intricate – from farming practices to “La Cuadrilla,” which refers to their full time vineyard crew.  Stolpman Vineyard is organic, sustainable, and dry farmed.  Pete discussed their choice to dry farm as a “quality reason.”  Starting in 2001, they cut irrigation to all mature vines.  How do vines survive without water?  Some of the crowd was perplexed… “Vines are trained weeds,” Pete went on to elaborate, “they will find a way to survive from rainfall throughout the year and sucking up whatever moisture they can from their environment.”  The consequences is a smaller crop (usually less than a ton per acre) and you can’t make cheap wine.  This is just one of the many indicators of quality that has become synonymous with the Stolpman name.

A little bit about Super Tuscan wines… Some may have been confused by the ‘Super Tuscan’ theme, as there were many Chianti wines being passed around and tasted.  To be honest, if I didn’t spend a lot of my time reading wine books and magazines, and I saw the theme Super Tuscan, I would probably just think that I was supposed to bring “a great Tuscan wine – like a SUPER one” so I can see how the confusion occurred!  Super Tuscan describes a Tuscan red that does not adhere to traditional Italian blending laws for the region.  Super Tuscans use grapes such as cabernet sauvignon or merlot, making them ineligible for Tuscany’s acclaimed DOCG status.  So in short, last night featured sangiovese-based wines from all over the world with either some cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or syrah blended in.

For fun I brought along the 2004 Santa Barbara Winery Sangiovese from Stolpman Vineyard, which is one of my personal favorite wines that we have produced at the winery.  It is at a phenomenal place in its wine life, full of juicy fruit and bright acidity, some mellowed out tannins make this wine very approachable.  Our current release of this wine is 2006. (click image to enlarge)

We are proud to be associated with the Stolpman name.

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

07 Reserve Chardonnay Wins Double Gold at SF Chronicle Wine Competition

Published on January 22, 2010 in Chardonnay, Santa Barbara Winery and Winery News. 0 Comments

On January 8th, 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition concluded the annual week of judging at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County, California. Over five days, 63 professional wine experts within the media, restaurant and hospitality, education, winemaking and retail wine industries tasted and evaluated a world-record breaking 4,913 entries, a number that maintains the competition’s status as the largest competition of American wines in the world.

Consumers can look forward to tasting the Sweepstake Award Winners, along with hundreds of additional wines, at the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting, February 20th held at Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion in San Francisco. The Public Tasting is an annual celebration allowing wine lovers to compare their favorites to the top picks announced at the judging while enjoying great food and breathtaking views.

The Double Gold Medal is a fantastic judge of quality, as each and every judge has to unanimously give the wine a Gold score. 
Suggested retail: 22.00/750ml
To order: Santa Barbara Winery

San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

2008 Late Harvest Riesling

Published on December 27, 2009 in Santa Barbara Winery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Wine to try at the end of your New Years Eve Dinner Party: 2008 Santa Barbara Winery Late Harvest Riesling (28.00 / 375 ml)

Dessert wines are delicious and give us just one more reason to sit around the table with family and friends for a little bit longer… Bruce McGuire is known to produce some of the best dessert wines in Santa Barbara County.

Lafond Vineyard’s Riesling vines were originally planted in 1972. Our long, cool growing season enables firm acids to develop which highlight the flavor intensity that makes this a wonderful full-bodied example of a noble grape we feel is underappreciated in the world.

Extended hang time on the vines helped to produce a wonderfully rich, yet elegant and clean dessert wine with an extraordinary balance of acids and sugars. 

Riesling is a popular late harvest dessert wine when grown in the right conditions that will allow sugars to develop, while also maintaining the necessary acidity, very low pH, to keep the resulting wine fresh. 

Alcohol is kept low to showcase the purity of fruit courtesy of the Sta. Rita Hills long growing season. In its youth, the 08 Late Harvest Riesling showcases aromas of orange blossom, honeyed pear, and burnt sugar. 

On the palate, stone fruits intermingle and rich viscosity is balanced by crisp acidity. The finish is long and mouth coating, leaving behind a clean feeling that is far from cloying. Serve slightly chilled in small glasses with a Rustic Peach or Pear Tart..

Holiday Shipping

Published on December 16, 2009 in Joanie Hudson and Santa Barbara Winery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I don’t know about you, but in this modern day of email marketing, my email box is crawling with “Last Chance Christmas” shopping emails, and this has become my oh so modern way of getting in the Christmas spirit.  Once those emails start rolling in I know it is time to turn on the Holiday music, starting sprinkling home baked cookies with red and green sprinkles, and having some sips of Egg Nog.

This is my way of letting you all know that it is not too late for Holiday shipping.  We are still taking orders to get wine anywhere from Santa Barbara to across the country by Christmas Day.  Our tasting room is flooded with bubble wrap, curled ribbons, cardboard boxes, and wine shippers.

Locals are invited to stop by seven days a week for wine tasting, and we will be open everyday from 10am-5pm through the Holidays with the exception of Christmas Day and New Years Day.

As always, our $9.50 shipping rate applies to all orders, and is our standard flat rate for two day shipping.

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Thanksgiving Wines

Published on November 10, 2009 in Joanie Hudson, Nebbiolo, Riesling, Santa Barbara Winery and Wine and Food Pairing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Thanksgiving has always been one of my absolute favorite holidays.  The entire month of November is spent in anticipation of this amazing meal that brings friends and family together from all across the world, just to sit around the dinner table together for this special night.  This drawing factor of Thanksgiving is one of the things I love most about wine as well.  I am so greatful for any event or beverage that has the ability to bring people together to relax at the end of their day, and reflect on what matters most in this world, the company that we surround ourselves with and close friends and family.  Thanksgiving is a North American Harvest Festival, and it pretty much signals the end of a vintage for our winemakers, just in time to get everything in barrel to be home with family for the holiday. 

That being said, Thanksgiving dinner is always a very interesting topic in the realm of food pairings.  The reason that there will never be a single answer for what wine goes well with Thanksgiving dinner (a question I get asked repeatedly) is that my Thanksgiving dinner is likely very different from my neighbors, whose dinner is very different than their neighbors.  We all have our traditions and special Thanksgiving recipes and ingredients, and there are so many different wines that work well with each aspect of the plate.  So when you’re thinking about what wines to serve at Thanksgiving, put some thought into the different flavors, textures, and weights that will be put together in the kitchen.  Think about your guests, think about what you like to drink, and then make your decision from there.  There are some general rules that can serve as a guideline, but that’s all it is, a basic guideline, you as a consumer are responsible for finding out what you like and don’t like, and that just comes from tasting lots of different wines!  I personally love Rieslings and Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir with Turkey, Grenache and Nebbiolo are also generally hits at the table as well.  The jamminess of our Negrette is another nice pairing with Cranberry sauce and stuffing. 

Our tasting room is a nice venue to taste through a few different options and see what might work best with your meal.  We are open daily from 10am-5pm, and are closed only on Thanksgiving Day.

Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Harvest Festival Recap 2009

Published on October 12, 2009 in Harvest, Santa Barbara Winery and Special Events. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

We had a great time pouring at the 2009 Harvest Festival this past Saturday — the wines and the turnout were spectacular. 

I love the setup of this Festival.  Though they attempt to make it alphabetical, it never quite turns out that way, and it can be a maze to find what you’re looking for.  But that causes guests to stumble upon wineries or restaurants that they may have otherwise passed if only going by their checklist of places they know they like. 

I talked to a handful of people who were pleased with their happy accidents.  The venue is beautiful — a grassy, soft hilled area at Rancho Sisquoc Winery in Santa Maria.  White tents are backdropped by the rolling Santa Ynez hillsides, blue skies, and grazing livestock. 

I was prepared for cold, as when we left Downtown Santa Barbara a little before 11, it was socked in grey.  But once we passed over the 154 Highway, that sock quickly disappeared and it was all blue skies from there…

Santa Barbara Winery poured seven wines:

2007 Sauvignon Blanc

2007 Chardonnay

2007 Chardonnay Reserve

2007 Riesling 7.3%

2008 ZCS

2006 Lagrein

2006 Petite Sirah

The Petite Sirah was a perfect match with the individual lamb legs served up by Solvang’s new restaurant, Root 246.  Delicious.

Joanie Hudson, Director National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Taste of the Town

Published on September 9, 2009 in Lafond Winery, Santa Barbara Winery and Special Events. 0 Comments

The 28th Annual Taste of the Town will be held this Saturday, September 13 at the Riviera Park Gardens (12-3pm).  Pierre Lafond Wine Bistro and Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery are looking forward to participating at the beautiful venue alongside numerous local favorites.

ABOUT THE EVENT (from the official website)

Join us for an epicurean adventure! The Taste of the Town is Santa Barbara’s original tasting event, featuring savory samples from over 80 of Santa Barbara’s finest restaurants and premiere wineries. All proceeds benefit the Arthritis Foundation.
To view a list of participating restaurants and wineries, click here.

Taste of the Town
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Riviera Park Gardens
2030 Alameda Padre Serra
12:00-3:00 PM

Tickets are $100 pre-sale, and can be bought at the official Taste of the Town Website