Planning to be in Santa Barbara this coming week for two days. Would love some wine tours/tastings Pinot and Chard producers preferred. Do I need appointments? Can I just walk in? TIA.
For tasing rooms
Los Olivos IMO is a must stop for tasting if you visit the valley for the number of quality tasting rooms in such a small area. No appts required that I know of.
Downtown - ABC and Melville are probably my #2 and 3 with Santa Barbara Wine Collective as #1. They only pour SB County wines with flights available. They have a few dozen BTG wines ranging from ~$10 to over $30+ and you can customize your flight for a premium or just order a great glass without spending $60-100 on a bottle. None of the three require appointments.
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Which days of the week will you be here?
We will be in Santa Barbara on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.
For a beautiful drive, try Foxen Canyon Road. You could visit Zaca mesa, Foxen, or Fess Parker.
There are quite few wineries who make wine in Lompoc. I am not sure about visiting…Tyler, Alma Rosa, Chanin, many many more
Or, you could visit Arroyo Grande where Lindquist Family wines has a tasting room as does Talley.
If you are staying in SB, you are 45-60 minutes from the vineyards. Maybe that is why ABC and others put their tasting rooms in SB.
I would suggest visiting Melville, Foxen, and Liquid Farm for PN and Chardonnay’s. If you want great Rhone varietals, I would visit Andrew Murray, Tensley, Stolpman, and Tercero.
We enjoyed tasting at Whitcraft when we were there maybe 3 years ago.
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All in SB downtown area
Jaffurs
Melville
Sanford
Pali
Melville, Sanford (a la Sideways) and Tyler are worth the drive to the Santa Rita Hills. For the most avalability and the least planning required, Los Olivos. Most places did require appointments in February. Hopefully things are losening up.
Within Santa Barbara’s “Funk Zone” neighborhood, the Santa Barbara Wine Collective is a worthy stop, Usually a number of excellent wineries being poured by knowledgeable servers.
The lineup does change but a quick peak at the website suggests that it currently includes Tercero, Stolpman, Babcock and some other well-regarded producers.
I second Los Olivos as a great stop if you venture into wine country. Lots of great tasting rooms in close, walkable proximity, including Tercero (again), Crawford, Liquid Farm, Dragonnette and more.
I was in Santa Barbara a few weeks ago and made the (relatively) easy trip to Los Olivos. It is well worth it with a bunch of conveniently located tasting rooms in a really cute town. Larry at Tercero was an unbelievable host so definitely recommend that stop.
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Definitely second Tercero in Los Olivos.
I was also very fond of Peake Ranch for both the Chardonnay and Pinot
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good recommendations above. if you need them for tomorrow: Tensley, Dragonette in Los Olivos. Beckmen is usually solid and very pretty tasting room. Jaffurs is fun for a stop if you are in the actual city of Santa Barbara. They don’t really do tours in SB - at least not when I’ve been. If big pinots are your thing, you could stop by Loring.
I am a fan of Gavin Chanin’s wines especially his Pinots. https://chaninwine.com/
He learned winemaking under the tutelage of Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat) and Bob Lindquist (one of the original Rhone rangers) and makes more balanced “cool climate” wines rather than jam bombs. I am a Burgundy guy, but Chanin’s wines are a solid argument for the quality of the Sta Barbara area wines in the right hands.
Its an hour drive to the funky Lompoc wine ghetto, but you can also taste Tyler (also good) and many others there. Liquid Farm is nearby too. Not as swanky as los Olives by a mile, but good juice.
Some are not open mid week so check their schedules. As stated already Los Olivos has the highest concentration of tasting rooms.
Panino is good for lunch.