Santa Barbara Wine Tours
Eric from SantaBarbaraWineTours.org talks about the Santa Barbara Wine Country, what kind of wines are made there and a couple of his favorite wineries that the wine tourist can visit to imbibe some truly delicious California wine.
Santa Barbara is a perfect place for wine tasting tours for a bunch of reasons. For one thing, it boasts a host of wineries, vineyards and tasting rooms serving up top quality wines made from in a diversity of styles from an array of grape varieties.
As for geographical diversity, you can choose from four AVAs, or designated wine appellations, for your Santa Barbara wine tours: Santa Ynez Valley, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley, in the beautiful Santa Ynez Mountains of Santa Barbara County. These AVAs are home to over 100 wineries, many of which produce world-class wines. In fact, two wines produced in Santa Barbara County were included in Wine Spectator's top 100 wines of 2010: Tensley's Syrah Santa Barbara County, Colson Canyon Vineyard 2008, at no. 17; and Zaca Mesa's Syrah, Santa Ynez Valley 2006, at no. 29.
Just to clarify, that's no. 17 and no. 29, not just in California or America, but in the world (California in general did very well this year with fourteen of the top twenty, and four of the top five wines being from the Golden State). As this result makes clear, some of the world's best Syrah is made in the Santa Barbara Wine Country, one more reason that Santa Barbara wine tours are well worth your while. The region is also renowned for its other Rhone varietals including Grenache, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne and Mourvedre.
Two other varietals that Santa Barbara wineries excel in are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These cool climate, Burgundian varietals do especially well in the Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley appellations, both excellent locations for Santa Barbara wine tours. The east-west orientation of the mountains surrounding these AVAs allow cooling fogs to roll in from the Pacific Ocean during the morning, and later in the day, on-shore breezes keep things cool. This maritime influence combined with the area's terrain -- which is located on the oceanic Pacific Plate rather than the continental North American Plate -- and soils favored by the Burgundian varietals, have allowed the wine makers of these two appellations to achieve stunning successes with both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Their Pinot Noirs have received more than their fair share of accolades. In fact, some Santa Barbara wine tours are focused solely on visiting wineries that excel in producing stunning wines from this popular grape variety, and speaking of California Pinot Noir in general, 2007 was a fabulous year for this famously difficult to grow and vinify fruit; the best year ever, in fact, according to California Wine author James Laube, who writes in the September 2009 issue of Wine Spectator that, The breadth and depth of quality in 2007 California Pinot Noir is unparalleled...2007, offering the greatest assortment of outstanding wines in the 25 years I've been tasting and writing about Golden State Pinot. A number of Sta. Rita Hills wines are featured among his picks for the top Pinots of 2007.
Santa Barbara wine tours have much to offer. First and foremost, an incredible number and variety of fantastic wineries and vineyards to visit including: the beautiful Curtis Winery, the environmentally conscious Sunstone Vinyards and Winery, the unassuming Kalrya Winery, the stately Bridlewood Estate Winery, the quaint Brander Vineyard, the elegant Gainey Vineyard, the cozy Buttonwood Farms Winery, the bucolic Beckman Vineyards, the rustic Foxen Winery, the colorful Blackjack Ranch Vineyards and Winery, and the grand Fess Parker Winery. Besides the wineries, Santa Barbara wine tours let you enjoy golden Southern California sunshine, sweeping, bucolic vistas, fine restaurants and friendly people when you embark on your own Santa Barbara wine tour.
One of the best ways to do that is by limousine. Click on the link for info on renting your own Santa Barbara wine tours limo.