Visiting Santa Barbara Wine Country Recommendations?

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Beeing very reluctant when it comes to Pinot Noirs in a warm climate, I was surprised over the quality of their pinot noirs when I visited Melville Estate Winery (check google) not so fa from Santa Barbara.

But, take my advice with a little pinch of salt - California is just not my backyard :-)

regards Jan

That region is known for Pinot Noirs because it is rather cool. Further to the north in Paso Robles its much warmer and Zinfandels are whats popular.

We just got back from 5 days of visiting wineries from Paso Robles to Solvang.

Paso Robles is known for Zinfandels but has a good variety to suit ones tastes. My favorites here are Midnight Cellars, Dark Star and Meridian. Many tend to skip Meridian because they're a big name and everyone knows their wines already. However, this winery is a treat. They do not pour any of their mass produced wines here. Instead they pour only their limited small production wines that can be bought only at the winery.

Near Santa Maria are the wineries of Edna Valley. This area is cool and rather damp, often foggy. You'll see alot of Chardonnay and other whites here that benifit from the cooler damp climate. There are not many wineries here but enough to fill a day. Edna Valley winery is fun if grapes are on the vine. They have a small amount of each varietal growing along side the winery. Pick a few to much on and see how they taste compared to one another.

Further to the south are the wineries around Foxen Canyon Rd. One of the largest and prettiest is Fess Parker. They appeared in the movie Sideways where Miles drank the dump bucket but for some reason the wineries name was fictional in the movie. On the north part of this wine trail is Cambria. One of my favorites. Foxen winery is a strange one. It's more of an open barn (shack?) on the side of the road. However, their wines are some of the best.

Still further south you reach the wineries around Solvang. Generally I don't find as quality of wines here as to the north. However, some are truly fantastic. Babcock and Melville make some of the best Pinots around. Sanford also makes an excellent Pinot and Chardonnay.

As shown in the movie Sideways the Hitching Post restaurant is top notch. For equally great food a bit cheaper we really love the Firestone Brewery.

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