Becker on Beckmen

It's so easy to remember a name that is so similar to mine.  And when that name is also attached to a vineyard, it's easy to remember the wine, too.  And if the with is particularly good, then it's even easier to remember it.  So, I'm writing a few words about Beckmen Vineyards.

I visited the winery yesterday after leaving my daughters off in Goleta and Solvang, respectively.  I pretty much drove by Braille knowing I would eventually find it and my instincts were on target, perhaps from a map I looked at a while back? 

No matter.  I found the winery and it's in a beautiful location.  There's a few turns to make but the rolling hills, rose-lined roads, and fantastic landscaping next to the winery make the drive a very pleasant one.  It's a very mellow location, great place to kick back, taste some really good wine, and engage in great conversations. 

The tasting room is small but roomy with a nice balcony overlooking a wide and beautiful green valley.... well, it's May, so the valley is green.

Beckmen offers three tasting options.  I don't remember all of the wines in each tasting, but I chose the premium option which gave me a chance to taste the Marsanne, the Purisima Mountain Vineyard Grenache, and three of the premium Syrah's offered at Beckmen.

To simplify my opinion, all of the wines are very good.  The Marsanne surprised me with almost a smoke and melon flavor that finished delicately.  The Grenache, blended with a small amount of Syrah, is fantastically balanced and framed in the soft peppery tannins of the Syrah.  Each of the Syrah's I tasted were unique and stood up on their own.  It wasn't much of a progression as it was a triple display of three distinctly different styles of Syrah, all delicious, all age-worthy.

Beckmen vineyards is not located amidst other wineries and could be overlooked if one isn't specifically looking for it.  I found it based on a friend's recommendation coupled with a few bottles that I tasted a few years ago - at another friend's house.  It would have been fun to taste all of the wines.

The only recommendation I would have is, instead of having 3 different tasting groups, let the customer pay a single tasting fee then select 5 or 6 of the wines.  For example, it would be fun to maybe taste all of the Syrahs, or just focus on the Grenache wines - both of which are really delicious.

There's lots of Beckmen wines to go around and, unlike some wineries that make one or two really good wines amidst otherwise average offerings, I truly enjoyed all of the wines I tasted. 

I highly recommend a visit.

Cheers!

Fantastic Wine in Santa Barbara

I'm an optimistic skeptic. I’m also a creature of habit. When I find something I like, I latch onto it and sometimes, prematurely I admit, discount things that I’ve not tried yet. Like going to Temecula and assuming that the wines will be as unsatisfying as a previous experience only to find that there are some great wines being produced in that area or assuming that the tasting rooms north of Santa Barbara in the Los Olivos and Santa Ynez areas must be showcasing better wines than would be found in a tasting room located in downtown Santa Barbara.  Or downtown anywhere, for that matter.  What is visiting a winery if you're not winding your way up a hill to a fantastic building with a spacious and elaborate tasting room?

Yeah, I have my moments of being ridiculous.

Enter my trip to Santa Barbara last Saturday. I wanted to try new wine and pulled up a map of tasting rooms in the city. I then looked up each winery on Wine Spectator and decided to start with the winery that had the highest ratings. I was the only reference point I had at the moment and seemed like a fine place to start, however arbitrary.  I’m going to use this approach again.

I drove on Milpas Street and turned on Montecito. About a block ahead on the right, I found Jaffurs Winery.

If the roll-up warehouse door had been closed and had I not seen a pretty small sign on the wall, I might have assumed this to be some generic business operating in a fairly non-descript stucco building. But my quest was wine. And Wine Spectator says these are really good wines.

They are really good wines. I think they are great wines. I think Jaffurs has a new fan.

My tasting started with the 2008 Grenache Blanc. This was only the second time I’d tried such a wine, the first being the night before at Vinatero’s in Whittier. One sip and I wanted to taste more. I was hooked. I figured that, if Jaffurs could do a Grenache Blanc that was so soft and silky, with a finish lingering several seconds on my tongue, what did the rest of these wines taste like!

Well, the 2008 Viognier was a lovely white with a beautiful balance of bright acidity and peach. That’s what I got from it anyway. Then I moved on to the reds.

The 2007 Grenache is fabulous, one of the more highly structured and complex that I’ve tasted anywhere. This wine is so delicately balanced while being a full bodied wine that I started to get hungry… but tasted more wine instead. The talented and friendly folks at Jaffurs poured a taste of the 2007 Mourvedre and I was quickly looking around for a BBQ putting the fire to beef ribs. A touch of Syrah added a slight but mouth-watering touch of black pepper on the finish. Yum.

Next I tasted a couple of the Syrahs, starting with the 2008 Santa Barbara County Syrah and moving on to the 2007 Larner Vineyard Syrah. Folks, these are great wines. I struck up conversations just to make the tastings last as long as I could. These wines are powerful but not overpowering. They are so elegantly balanced that I could keep drinking them until I became elegantly wasted. I mean that in the most affectionate terms.

Finally, I my tasting finished with the 2008 Petite Sirah, a single-vineyard wine (as is the Larner Vineyard Syrah). I find it cliché and almost piteous almost to say that this was the best Petite Sirah I’ve ever had…. Truly. It was the best Petite Sirah I’ve ever had. The deep and bold fruit flat out morphed into a fantastically rich and tannic finish while dark spice flavors nestled their way deep into my taste buds and wouldn’t let go. This culminated one of the most enjoyable tasting experiences I’ve had.

But it isn’t just the wine that made the experience enjoyable. The good folks at Jaffurs are very willing to talk about their operations and exhibit a passion derived from being directly involved in every phase of their little company, albeit one that makes big and beautiful wines. I found them to be gracious and very hospitable when answering questions and sharing the passion and enjoyment of their craft.

I left with a smile on my face and a lingering sense that Jaffurs is a winery poised for greatness. I drove out of the small parking lot, not down a winding road through green hills and vineyard-laden landscapes, but merely turned left on Montecito and then a right on Milpas on my way back to the 101 freeway. It was almost surreal. For a little over an hour, I was transported by my encounter with fine folks who make great wine and love what they do almost as much as they love seeing others enjoy their wines.

I’m going back.

Cheers!

Denner Vineyards in Paso Robles

Okay. Nobody pays me to say this, but I love Denner wines. I just opened a bottle of their 2007 Viognier and it was spectacular.... tasted like - well, fruit... peaches, maybe some nectarine, nice acidity... didn't even have it with food... but that's not all... the Denner Syrah from 06 is really wonderful - balanced - white peppery and blackberrish... (how's that for a word)... of course, I also recommend their Ditch Digger and Dirt Worshiper... great with steak... damn, I love a good steak... oh, and their Zinfandel. I've had the 05, and 06, and I can hardly wait to taste the 07. Paso Robles is the perfect breeding ground for Zin and Denner does a fine job of producing a silky smooth, somewhat spicey - cinnamon, clove, and nutmet anyone?

Just buy it.