Wedding gift: what winery tasting room IN Santa Barbara proper?

WINE TALK
1

My wife’s best friend is getting married soon and they’ll be spending their honeymoon in Santa Barbara. Both of the newlyweds have prior marriages and children, so this isn’t their first rodeo, so to speak. They’re both financially successful, so we’d like to get them a gift they can “use” becuase they already have lots of stuff. As they’re staying in Santa Barbara for their honeymoon, we were considering giving them a winery experience of some sort. They really like great food, enjoy wine plenty, but they’re far from wine geeks or enthusiasts.

I’ve been to Jaffurs and enjoy their wine a lot, but that was a long time ago. What wineries have great tasting rooms in Santa Barbara proper? Any thoughts on what we could give them in this vein? TIA! :wine_glass:

2

Au Bon Climat.
Samsara is in Goleta but you might count that as Santa Barbara proper for this purpose.

3

Melville has a tasting room in SB.

4

Thanks, Ben and Patrick. Those are both wineries I enjoy and their wines would have appeal for non-geeks as well. Any thoughts on what they’re like for the casual visitor? I can find a lost list of tasting rooms in the city/area, but it has little information beyond a list.

5

I would treat them to a dinner at the Stonehouse Restaurant at the San Ysidro Ranch. Perhaps @Blake_Brown cqnt help out here?

If not, there are a number of SB tasting rooms. A few others to mention:

Grassini
Silver
Kunin
Longoria

Cheers

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:+1:t2: :+1:t2:

7

Au Bon Climat is very approachable and unpretentious, and in a cool little area too. Samsara is a bit more modern and “cool” and also in a slightly less interesting/walkable general area, but a friendly and welcoming tasting room in my experience. I think the wines at both places are both world class and accessible for non-nerds.

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8

@Blake_Brown would be the one to answer this, he lives in downtown Santa Barbara and knows everybody and everything wine around there

9

I’ve only been to the Melville tasting room at the winery. I agree that paging @Blake_Brown will be fruitful. Cheers!

10

Margerum is really nice, pretty close to the water. The drive to Los Olivos is pretty and we loved Liquid Farm and an industry friend set us up at Brewer Clifton.

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11

Liquid Farm is terrific, though not in SB. However, they have a guest house which they regularly offer for auction on Berserkerday. In case you want to augment your gift, I’ve been a club member for many years; happy to inquire on your behalf.

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12

Frequency is a great tasting for casual wine drinkers and it’s downtown by the mission

13

I love Potek. I think its the coolest tasting room in Santa Barbara. Beautiful wines, varying price points, super cool, chill vibe.

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14

Here’s my input on this: The finest dining experience IMHO in our area is The Stonehouse and it is the upstairs, covered outside patio that is top choice. They relish people celebrating special occasions and have corner 2 tops that allow for a table conversation as well as a fabulous menu, class service and an extraordinary wine list, albeit at extraordinary prices. Reservations are a must and often it is only the early time at 5 pm or the late time at 8:30 pm that is available, if not reserved well in advance. Gift certificates are easily available.
Also, the best tasting room IMHO is ABC. They have library wines that are ready and more than capable and the wines are across the board great.
If you want any more info, I’m happy to offer suggestions.

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15

Great stuff, Everyone, thank you all. I’ll inquire about their travel dates and perhaps even secure a reservation for them at The Stonehouse. I like the appeal of ABC / Au Bon Climat being in an already neat area, so that’s a great suggestion.