CA Central Coast trip summary - Day 1 Buellton

Took a long awaited vacation to the Central Coast earlier this month. Follows is a summary of winery/tasting room visits and some other stops of interest. I made no attempt to keep tasting notes of everything tasted but try to note wines that stood out at any particular stop.

Day 1. Arrived in Buellton around 3:30 so not much time to taste. Planned to hit only a couple of places in Buellton.

Cold Heaven – Tasting room and surroundings is nothing to look at. Small front portion to a winery facility located by the highway. The wines more than make up for any lack of scenery. Enjoyed both the Le Bon Climat and the Sanford and Benedict Viognier. Neither wine is over 14% alc and in my opinion better for it as I don’t really like the bigger style of Viognier. However, my favorite was the 2009 Makepeace Pinot Noir which besides being delicious is also well priced. One of my favorite of the trip.

Prodigal – Shares tasting room with Cold Heaven. Good wine but the only standout for me was the Fiddlestix Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, its priced well above the Cold Heaven Makepeace.

Avant Tapas and Wine – Has something like 30 wines available for tasting from wineries that use the attached winemaking facilities. Unfortunately found little that excited me. Tried 8 things with the only standout being the 2004 Arcadian Westerly Syrah. Others ranged from just ok to good if not exciting. Really liked the format where you can choose what to taste and the size (2, 4, or 8 oz) and that there is a food available so one can taste multiple wines with different foods.

Taste of the Valley – Tasting room/wine bar in Solvang. This is noted as the tasting room for Arcadian and Au Bon Climat. However, one can’t walk in and try a wide selection of either. We each had a flight of six wines, my wife did whites while I did read. She had one ABC chard in her flight, I had one ABC and one Arcadian PN in my flight. Really liked the atmosphere here and we ended up here every night we stayed in Solvang. Found a number of things here including Quail Crossing Pinot Grigio, William James Chardonnay, and lots of Arcadian after we learned that they will open a bottle for tasting as long as we buy a minimum of two glasses.

I really like the Cold Heaven Viognier line-up. I'm less keen on the Pinots, but it's great that you enjoyed them.

Thank god for Tastes of the Valley; it's the only game in town after 8, and it is very nice with a good selection of wines, as you say. Arcadian does have a tasting room, though I don't know if an appointment is required. It's out on Santa Rosa Road past Sanford.

[Jenise]

What do you guys think of the Arcadian syrahs? I'm not a California syrah fan, but I'm very much an Arcadian fan and bought 8 or so bottles of various Arcadian syrahs this summer (meaning they're not here yet, so I've not tasted) on Winebid--could not resist at $20 ea. Brian's note is the closest thing I've seen to a TN on one.

What do you guys think of the Arcadian syrahs? I'm not a California syrah fan, but I'm very much an Arcadian fan and bought 8 or so bottles of various Arcadian syrahs this summer (meaning they're not here yet, so I've not tasted) on Winebid--could not resist at $20 ea. Brian's note is the closest thing I've seen to a TN on one.

Apparently I am not much of a California syrah fan either as I recall what I liked and look back over my purchases. Tasted two Arcadian syrahs on the trip, an 04 Westerly as noted at Avant and an 05 at Taste of the Valley that I don't have written down but was either Purisma or Stolpman. I thought both were great. Sorry but detailed tasting notes this far removed is impossible but I recall great balance and not too big in the mouth which was my biggest issue with most of the other syrahs. It was not tiring to drink.

I only bought syrah from two producers, Arcadian and Ethan. Not counting blends of course.

I'm not a huge fan of Arcadian Syrahs. While they are somewhat scaled back among CA Syrah, they are still not my cuppa. On the other hand, the Pinots and Chards are special.

Let us know what you think about them. I saw those on Winebid. And Envoyer has been blowing thru some too, at about $15, I think.

Thank god for Tastes of the Valley; it's the only game in town after 8.

BTW, there is a third tasting room going in where the old Curran D'Alfonso tasting room use to be. I never took to the wandering dog but love the Taste of the Valley.