Tag Archive for 'wines'

84th Annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta

As we officially celebrate Fiesta here at the Santa Barbara Winery tasting room with the Flamenco Arts Festival fundraiser on August 1, Santa Barbara will be busy hosting numerous other celebrations all over town with the start of the 84th Annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta

This long celebratory weekend is one that Santa Barbara locals look forward to all year.  The spirit of the community is brought together for a four day period from July 30-August 3 to celebrate and raise awareness of Santa Barbara’s diverse cultural heritage.  The ongoing festivities provide an opportunity for fundraising to benefit local charities and nonprofits.  This stretch of activities, shows and parades provide a wonderful background to explore the town, whether you are a local or visiting from out of town. 

Go wine tasting, support local restaurants, shop at the Mercado De La Guerra (a temporary open air market), and head over to State St. to watch the Fiesta Parade.  The tradition has been picking up steam with each year that passes since the first parade, which took place on August 13, 1924.  So splash some color into your wardrobe and be part of the festive mood brought on by the celebration of community.

To see a full list of events, check out the Old Spanish Days Fiesta official website.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Share This Post

New Release Santa Barbara Winery 2005 Joughin Vineyard Lagrein

2005 Joughin Vineyard Lagrein
Lagrein is one of the indigenous grapes grown around the town of Bolzano in the Alto Adige; Italy’s northern most wine growing region. Locally known for its big, rich tannins and very dark color, this is a remarkable food wine.

The key is a richness of fruit character, instead of hard tannins that delights and surprises the mouth at the same time. This grape yields the darkest, most saturated wine we haveve experienced, remarked Winemaker Bruce McGuire. Mr. Andrew Joughin, who also happens to be the vineyard manager at our Lafond Vineyard, planted the Joughin Vineyard.

It was his idea to look for unusual grape varieties from around the world that would be suitable for his soils and Los Olivos climate. Of course Winemaker Bruce McGuire was happy to offer some suggestions that would also add to the wide variety of wines he makes for Santa Barbara Winery. The harvest of 2005 gave up yields that made Mr. Joughin smile.

The seven tons from this four acre section gave us a fruit forward, lush wine. Pair with angel hair pasta in a light tomato garlic sauce to much heartier foods. This is also a great wine to taste with cheeses such as Brie, Camembert, Fontina, semi-hard Gouda, or your own selection in the fresh goat’s milk catagory. This wine should age nicely through 2010.
Suggested retail: 30.00/750ml
To order:

 

Share This Post

Emptying Barrels at Lafond Winery

Bruce and his whole crew are at the Lafond Winery this week. They are readying most of 2007’s red wine for bottling. First they spend several days tasting and evaluating each barrel and each lot. This is the final cut.

Which wines merit to be bottled as single vineyard or single clone wines. Over the years we have learnt which parts of the vineyard and which clones produces consistently outstanding wines, but there are surprises. For the past few years we have been experimenting with tying each individual cane to prevent canopy leaves from shading the fruit.

Obviously, a very slow and costly process, but with the results of the 2007 vintage now in, we will be doing a lot more of it in the future. Most, if not all of the vines where this was done, will end up in our special limited bottling. Both Winemaker Bruce McGuire and David Lafond were impressed by the results.

Photos show the crew at work and if not at play, at least at the table.

Share This Post

Fiesta Sevillanas - Fundraiser at Santa Barbara Winery

Flamenco Arts Festival in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Winery presents Fiesta Sevillana!

The Santa Barbara Winery will be hosting a fundraiser to benefit the outreach and education initiatives of the Flamenco Arts Festival on Friday, August 1 from 6:00 to 8:30pm.  The after hours event will take over the facility with wine being served in the tasting room and appetizers will be served in the barrel room.  
Quoting the promotional postcard we have in the tasting room:
“Join us for an evening of great wine, delicious appetizers, and Spanish dancing to benefit the Flamenco Arts Festival.  Sevillanas is the most popular dance in Spain and a must at every festive occasion.  Bring a friend and learn to dance Sevillanas in a joyful celebration of the arts!”

So apparently we will be learning to dance as well.  Dancing, food, and wine in a winery setting?  Where do I sign up? Well, I’ll tell you… Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased at the Arlington Ticket Agency (1317 State St. 805-963-4408).  Click image for more information:

Wait, there’s more… Wine will be available for purchase at a 20% discount (wine club discount)

If you want to find out more about the Flamenco Arts Festival please visit their website, flamencoarts.org.  You can also call the winery for any further information, 963-3633.

Spanish costumes encouraged.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Share This Post

Old Spanish Days 3rd Annual Wine Tasting

On Saturday, Elements Restaurant and Catering hosted the Old Spanish Days 3rd Annual Wine Tasting in the Sunken Gardens at the Courthouse.  Over 40 local wineries poured over 100 wines under white tents on the grass while live music played.  There was a special reserve tasting and cooking demonstration from 2-4 for those who wanted to shell out a little bit more for a ticket.  The main tasting followed from 4:00-7:00.  
Bacon wrapped scallops, jumbo chilled shrimp, an assortment of cheese and a variety of mini cupcakes and chocolate truffled paired with the wines.  Mirella Ramirez, Lafond’s tasting room manager, poured both Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond wines, which included 2007 Santa Barbara Winery Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 Santa Barbara Winery Sangiovese, and 2005 Lafond Pinot Noir Lafond Vineyard.  The beautiful grounds of lush landscape and grass carpeting is a beautiful place to hold a tasting event on a warm summer evening.  
It seemed deceivingly smaller than the event last year, but that was because of the different set up of tables.  Instead of one large tent, two tents were set up, one for the reserve tasting and the other for the main tasting.  Guests were able to walk across the street to Elements when the event ended to continue their evening.  Sitting outside you could watch the quick breakdown of tables, which by 7:30 the Sunken Gardens looked as if there had not been a huge event there only a half an hour before.  
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

 

Share This Post

Rose Tasting at SpiritLand Bistro

Santa Barbara residents and wine lovers from out of town should not miss SpiritLand Bistro’s recent project: themed wine tasting dinners on the last Wednesday of each month.  These Wednesday Wine and Dine Socials include a four course organic dinner, where all the attendees bring a bottle (corkage free) to share of a designated varietal.  

Each evening they invite a winemaker who specializes in the night’s varietal to discuss the wine as well as the food pairings.  Themed tastings, as I have said many times, provide the perfect opportunity to expand your palate.  Tasting wines of the same varietal side by side allows you to see difference more clearly and understand the terminology of wine discussion.  Of course, this works up to a certain point before you reach palate fatigue and they all start to blend together, but at least then we are always enjoying ourselves.  

The SpiritLand tasting encourages mingling between guests who share a collective enthusiasm for wine and fine dining experiences.  The theme for July 30th is Rose from around the world, and the speaker will be Leigh Readey (from J&L Wines).  You can’t beat the price of this event, $45 including tip and tax.  Ryan (Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Winery Assistant Winemaker) and I have already made our reservations to attend so come see us.  Here is the menu for the Rose tasting:

First course: Assorted gourmet cheeses (from local gourmet cheese shop, C’est Cheese)

Second course: Vegetable Pakoras* and Potato Samosas** with Chutney

Third course: Seafood Paella with Cajun Spice (Vegetarian option available)

Fourth course: Apricot Crisp

Next month (August 27), the theme will be Viognier/Roussanne/Marsanne and the speaker will be Craig Jaffurs from Santa Barbara’s Jaffurs Wine Cellars.

Spiritland Bistro, 230 E. Victoria St., spiritlandbistro.com

805-966-7759, advanced reservations required for this event

 

*Pakora is a deep fried item in Indian cuisine also found in other South Asian countries

**Samosa is a fried pastry shell with a savory filling

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Share This Post

Charbroiling and Wine Pairing

Now that we are in the midst of summertime grilling, it is important to be able to use your wine knowledge to select appropriate pairings for those charcoal scented meats tossed onto the flames.  What type of wine should you drink with bitter food?  The example I will use is Charbroiled lamb on a bed of wild arugula.  I have been getting bunches of wild arugula from the Farmer’s Market because it is such a great pair with anything you toss on the grill.  

The flavors in a dish like the one above are strong and need a wine match that will complement, and not enhance, the bitterness.  This type of charbroiled food will tend to accentuate the wine’s bitterness.  To avoid this type of pairing, pair this type of dish with a full bodied and fruit forward California wine (2006 Santa Barbara Winery Reserve Chardonnay, 2005 Santa Barbara Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, or any Napa Merlot).  

All of these wines are full of flavor and will stand up to their food pairing.  If the wine that you choose is too light to pair with a hearty and full flavored roast, it will not ruin your meal, but the wine’s flavors will barely even register on your palate.  

On a side note, while the Reserve Chardonnay would work with a Charbroiled lamb dish, I think it would be even better if you substituted a Charbroiled pork for the meat choice.
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery 

 

Share This Post