For us, we love the lush mouth feel of the California pinots. We visited the Santa Barbara wine areas many times. Santa Barbara has a number of appellations including Happy Canyon, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, and a newly created Los Olivos AVA.

They all have great wines produced in their respective areas. There is great information about the wineries on the Santa Barbara Vintner’s Association (http://www.sbcountywines.com). I think there is so much to discuss that Santa Barbara will be broken into a couple of blogs.

There are a few wonderful little towns to visit and enjoy some good restaurants (and lots of so/so ones) as well as hotels, motels, B&B’s. There is also the Indian Managed Casino that is a rather large complex if gambling is something that is attractive. Those towns include: Los Olivos (our favorite),

Santa Ynez, Buellton, Lompoc, and the largest town and most touristy one, Solvang.

We have been around all of them at one time or another. We usually stayed in the Buellton Marriott because it was right off the freeway and pretty much in the center of things so you could go in any direction to get to the wineries you want to visit.  We have ridden our bikes as well as drive to the wineries. It is a beautiful place to ride and the views from the hills are simply gorgeous. It is beautiful in the car too but somehow, riding the bikes give a different perspective on the area.

I think everyone has heard or seen the move Sideways that is all about the Santa Barbara wine area.

It was either really good or not so good for those of us who enjoyed the quiet wineries and restaurants. The movie continues to live on with groupies who visit all of the places the movie described. There are Sideways tours to visit all of the places in the movie and some of the places have signs “As seen in Sideways”. I have to say, some of the places became so popular that it was ridiculous to try to visit along with the crowds.

One day, we went to Sanford Winery (I have to say, it hasn’t ever been one of our favorites but is very popular) but we ran into a group of women who were fawning over an individual who was actually in the movie and works in the wine tasting area describing all about what happened during the shoot. He was clearly enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Another place that was in the movie, Blackjack Winery, somehow became much more commercial and much less about the wine. The same thing for The Hitching Post and their bar. I wish I could say it is a good restaurant but it is okay and is a true landmark. Their Pinot Noir is pretty good and it is a fun people watching place.

Some of our favorite wines are from the Santa Barbara wine regions. In particular, we love the wines in the Santa Rita areas. Many of them do not have tasting rooms or allow visits but some of them share a tasting area called the Lompoc Wine Ghetto. It is housed in a nondescript white industrial building.

Inside, you can feel the warmth of the 19 wineries who have tastings there. Among our favorites located there is Fiddlehead. We particularly like their Fiddlestix Vineyard 728 for the mile marker where they are located but we have enjoyed Burtie Baby, that is sitting in our wine collection right now.

Another of our favorites that we love is Sea Smoke but they don’t seem encourage visiting and they have a wine list with an allocation list. We have lots of it at home too.

As we come down the road toward Buellton from Lompoc, we especially love Ken Brown Wines. Ken Brown is one of the “originals” and knows everywhere and everyone so he can blend his wine from stellar vines in different parts of the valley or up on Rita’s Crown. He has a lovely tasting room and it is fun to talk with him about the beginning of the Santa Barbara wine area.

Very close to the Ken Brown tasting room is a wonderful restaurant called Industrial Eats. It is in Buellton, a bit off the beaten path but definitely worth the effort. If you are anywhere close to Buellton for lunch or dinner, go, you won’t be disappointed. It is probably the best restaurant in the area food wise. It is fun, eclectic, and absolutely delicious. We had a grilled steak and they added fois gras to it. Oh, I don’t think we will ever forget it. It makes our mouth water whenever we talk about it. You sit at long communal tables and what comes out of the kitchen is quite remarkable.

Since this blog section is getting a bit too long for one blog, I will continue our adventures in Santa Barbara next time.