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

Paso Robles would be nothing but a roadside truck stop if not for the wineries and vineyards there. And it would be just a bit more than nothing if the wine wasn't any good. Fortunately, neither is the case.

I know there are people who pride themselves on finding those subtle little wines whose flavors and nuances are buried beneath the surface and are more difficult to detect than Waldo but I'm not one of 'em.

I like flavor. I like complexity. And I'm of the opinion that if I have to spend minutes trying to figure out the little essences that make a wine special, then it probably isn't very special and I'm diluting myself into believing that the price I paid for it was justified.

This is why I like Denner. They make great wines. They make flavorful wines. They make complex wines. They make several wines that age nicely. They make wines that I keep coming back to.

They make wines that taste like wine. These wines have fruit flavors without being overly ripe and obvious but generously enough so that I don't have to hunt and peck to taste them. These wines also finish nicely.

And the go great with food.

I'm not going to go into many details but the Ditch Digger, Dirt Worshipper, and Syrah are fantastic. And, although I tend to focus on reds more often than not, their Theresa and Viognier are wonderful.

For the person used to dropping $10-15 per bottle on wine, Denner might seem a bit pricey, generally falling between $30-45. But I've paid $70-80 on wine that isn't even in the same league as the Denner wines.

Of course, we're not talking about everyday drinking wines (although to drink them everyday would be a distinct pleasure). We're talking about wines for special occasions, friends coming over for dinner, Valentine's day, birthdays, graduations, etc. (College graduations that is)

Denner. It's one of the reasons that Paso Robles is much more than a truck stop. It's one of the reasons that I keep going back to Paso Robles.

Cheers!

More on Fess Parker...

It's easy to disrespect any Hollywood personality who decides to make wine... dismiss their efforts as over the top or too commercial.

This is the reputation I've heard attributed to the Fess Parker wines. Big name - bad wine.

Perhaps this was once the case. I don't know. I hadn't tasted the Fess Parker wines until last year. I saw them around now and then but hadn't tasted them.

Now I have. And they're good. Some of them are really good. And a couple of them are flat out great.

During a recent visit to Fess Parker, we tasted several of their wines. A nominal $10 fee was charged and we kept the glass. A nice glass. Reidel.

The 2007 Chardonnay "Ashley" was nice.... the tasting notes matched our taste buds on this one.... and the 2008 Viognier "Santa Barbara County" was equally as good - a bit sweet, perhaps, but tangy enough for balance.

Then we tasted the Pinot. The 2006 Rio Vista was gentle but not wimpy. The 2006 Bien Nacido was fantastic... reminded me of some of the more stellar Pinot Noir we've had recently from places like Sea Smoke and Foxen.

The 2006 Syrah "American Tradition Reserve" had some of the bold and jammy quality I've come to expect from Central California Syrah - as I do with many Australian Syrah.... fortunately, this was balanced with a nice tight peppery finish and soft tannins. I can say the same for the Rodney's Vineyard Syrah, although it was a bit bolder with fruit characteristics that were a bit more ripe than the ATR... and delicious in its own right.

To top everything off, we tasted the Big Easy Syrah. Game Over!

The Big Easy was every bit the big ass Syrah from California. Big to the taste and Easy to drink. A great wine.

And a great place to spend a cool and sunny Saturday afternoon.

Cheers!

Is that really Pinot?

I've tasted it... and had no idea what it was. At first, I thought it was just a really bold ten dollar pinot noir. It wasn't unpleasant... heck, wine has to be really bad to actually be unpleasant... like that two-buck stuff.... oh well.

I love pinot. It's probably my favorite wine - but it costs so darn much. So, I'm always glad to find that one of the wine mags has rated an under $15 bottle in the high 80's.... gives me hope. So, I usually go and buy one... or two... and usually enjoy them as well!

These "low end" pinots aren't the most complex of wines... not a whole bunch of finesse or elegance... but they're tasty. And some are a bit bolder than their more expensive counterparts... recently, I found out where those dark berry and sometimes peppery nuances were coming from..... Syrah.

Yeah, like Viognier is added in 5% lots to some Australian Shiraz (and recently the Denner Dirt Worshiper), I learned that some pinot has been 'enhanced' by the addition of 3-5% Syrah. Does it taste bad? No... but Syrah is such a bold grape, it somewhat distorts the more delicate flavors of pinot.

I was disappointed to learn this.... mostly because, when I buy pinot, I've been naiively believing that it was 100%. Darn.

Now here's the solution... like those Aussie blends, why not sell these Pinots as "95% Pinot Noir, 5% Syrah". Nothing like truth in advertising, huh?

Where does this wind up? I have no idea. It just added a bit of cynicism to my enjoyment of relatively cheap Pinot.... but, then again, I'm a bit of a purist. If you say it's pinot, then it's pinot. If you blend it.... well, as much as I enjoy guessing games, this isn't one of 'em.

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.