^ This.
And stay in Venice, or Santa Monica, or Bev Hills. Not west LA. I mean, yes, the west side of LA, but not the area known as “West LA”.
LA is so confusing…
Forget about wine and people-watch instead!
The most attractive part of that area is the scenery. The trip that begins at either PCH and Malibu Canyon Road (or at 101 and Las Virgenes exit) where you take Mulholland Drive in between Malibu Canyon Road and Decker Canyon Road is awesome for lovers of the scenery you’d see in old Westerns.
I always do it from the highway 101 sign. If you are starting from PCH, I wouldn’t take Decker Canyon down unless you love, love, love super windy slow roads. You can double back to Kanaan (or just take Mulholland from Malibu Canyon to Kanaan and not all the way to Decker Canyon).
You will pass a winery or two on that route (or just off, on Kanaan). I’ve never bothered to stop, but they are there.
But as someone who lives in the area (near Westlake), I agree, if you want food/wine, stay in LA proper.
Everything is West LA to me once you pass downtown. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Saddle Peak Lodge in Malibu for great food, wine and atmosphere.
Malibu is so fun and beautiful… definitely not a “wine” town. Levi is right, bring some bottles and enjoy the town. You could always take an uber or get a town car (cheap limo) and drive to Santa Monica. I dined at Capo last time I was there and had a great meal with a solid list.
Agree with this. Good energy, decent wines, cool rustic vibe.
Look, you are a Berserker, a wine geek. You have an entire free weekend. Santa Barbara wine country is less than two hours away (a lovely, scenic drive, by the way). Can you really see yourself hanging out on 3rd Street Promenade or wandering the streets of Hollywood or enjoying Universal Studios (by yourself) while you could instead be in Los Olivos tasting great wine all day long? Do yourself a favor and add a few hundred dollars to your travel budget and have your own “Sideways” adventure. To do anything else would be insane. This is a rare opportunity for you - take advantage of it! You’ll have a ton of fun tasting wine alongside other wine geeks at the tasting rooms. Better yet, start talking about your wine obsession at the wedding reception - there’s a good chance that you’ll meet others who may want to join in on the adventure with you (and share the travel costs)! Make. It. Happen.
Santa Barbara is nice and not too far but I’m not sure it’s worth going out of your way to head there for only a day or two, esp if you’re not sure if you’ll have a car, etc. If this is in August, maybe with enough advance notice we could organize an offline here in LA, in Santa Monica or elsewhere. Lou Wine Shop in Los Feliz has wine tastings on Saturday afternoons and I’m sure other shops and wine bars will have tastings, too, so I don’t think you’d be lacking for good wines to try in the immediate LA area.
I don’t know Jerome, but it sounds like he will never have a better chance to visit Santa Barbara wine country. Calimigos Ranch is about 40 miles away from Los Feliz, likely through some horrific traffic. Not exactly a quick Uber trip. Los Olivos is about 100 miles, with a much more scenic drive and (probably) less traffic. Is it worth it for a day of wine tasting? To me it would be, especially if he wants to stay the night there. Uber would probably cost about $120 each way, so may be an option, especially if it were split with another person.
You idea for an offline would be great, too.
I really hope I can get the final details of what is planned as quickly as possible so I can see what I can and cannot do.
Sorry to revive something I started so long ago, but the details are mostly set. I will be staying in the Thousand Oaks are for the entire trip, but will have a day to Travel to Santa Barbara. But due to time restrictions, I won’t really have a chance to do Santa Barbara wine country, but I do want to check out a tasting room or two in Santa Barbara as I do want to drive the PCH once anyway. Any suggestions on good tasting rooms I MUST check if I have a few hours to kill in Santa Barbara? I definitely wanted to check out the Au Bon Climat tasting room. Opinions?
whitcraft winery is a good choice, also jaffers
There are a few other tasting rooms in the same building as the ABC one to check out - Margerum, Grassini, Jamie Sloan are a few.
Within a few miles would be Jaffurs (off of Milpas), Whitcraft, and the entirety of the Funk Zone (Kunin, Valley Project, Carr, DV8, etc).
Cheers.
Where is Dan Fredman when you need him??He is Mister Malibu wine…and Mr Malibu Adjacent as well
Winery Tasting Rooms In Santa Barbara
Most popular area is known as the “Funk Zone” as it has other funky stuff there. It is not the best strictly for wine, but the best experience overall if you’re strolling from place to place:
If you go to one of the multi-winery tasting rooms (not owned and run by the winery) the best spots may be the wine-bar Les Marchands and the Santa Barbara Wine Collective .
Les Marchands
131 Anacapa St Suite B, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Phone:(805) 284-0380
Les Marchands, Santa Barbara
This wine shop and bar reminds us of a bistro on a Paris side street, but with a California touch—bunches of local wildflowers and people wearing flip-flops. The owner’s Lieu Dit Sauvignon Blanc walks the line between French and superfruity California styles. lesmarchandswine.com.
and virtually next door (so very time efficient)
Santa Barbara Wine Collective
131 Anacapa St
Ste C
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
SBWV has several producers including Babcock, Brewer-Clifton, and Paring and Hilt (Jonata lesser labels)
General Directory Of Winery-Owned Tasting Rooms
One of the wineries I really enjoy tasting at in SB is Jaffurs Tasting Room, but it ain’t a pretty tasting room is (i.e. it has the on-site winemaking facility vibe)
- See this Yelp review:
“Don’t let the location put you off from stopping here. If you’re looking for beautiful views of vineyards this is not your place. It’s located in a mixed use section of town behind an Auto Zone. But if you are looking for great Rhone varietals served by friendly and knowledgeable people this is the place for you. Jaffurs makes some outstanding wines in this industrial looking location and the people who work in their tasting room know their stuff. Try their Petite Syrah and their Vignonier. Its a great place to stop on the way back to LA from Paso Robles and then you can have lunch and shop in Santa Barbara.”
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jaffurs-wine-cellars-santa-barbara
(Personally I love their Roussanne)
Another nice Tasting Room in the Funk Zone is Riverbench, right behind Les Marchands. Decent Pinots.
Grassini has some amazing Sauv Blanc among its offerings
Grassini Tasting Room Pics: Photos for Grassini Family Vineyards - Yelp
Popular tasting rooms are:
Margerum
http://www.yelp.com/biz/margerum-wine-company-santa-barbara
Au Bon Climat`
Here’s a larger listing from the Santa Barabara Urban Wine Trail map
Au Bon Climat
Babcock (at The SB Wine Collective)
Carr
Cebada Vineyard
DV8
Fox Wine Co.
Grassini Family Vineyards
Jaffurs Wine Cellars
Jamie Slone Wines
Lafond Winery
Margerum Wine Company
Municipal Winemakers
Pali Wine Company
Potek
Riverbench
Sanford Winery & Vineyards
Santa Barbara Winery
Silver Wines
Summerland Winery
Valley Project
Whitcraft Winery
Depending on how much time you have, Sanguis is interesting (an SQN alum, if I recall correctly). Pali and Sanford could be nice additional stops. The others in that list I don’t know as well.
From Thousand Oaks, Los Olivos isn’t that much further of a drive than Santa Barbara. It’s about 60-80 minutes from Thousand Oaks to Santa Barbara and an additional 30-40 to Los Olivos. If you leave early enough in the morning, you’ll miss the traffic that can really bog down the drive between TO and SB. But, watch out for the CHP, they hang out at some pretty regular spots on the 101 between Oxnard and Carpenteria.
Folks,
Here’s the deal - if he already is pre-disposed to going to the ABC tasting room, to me, there is ‘no need’ to come over the pass and add another 60-80 minutes of driving time to his day - he’ll just have to plan out another day.
There certainly are enough places to hit in SB proper, which is why I suggested what I did. And Barry’s add ons are awesome as well.
As much as I’d love him to come over the hill and explore the area closer to me, I think in this case, he’s got enough to keep him busy down there . . .
Cheers.
Wow… so many options. Many thanks. I will have to dig through all your suggestions and try to see which ones to hit.
Yes, you are correct in that I am pre-disposed to going to the ABC tasting room, but I could be convinced of course since I am coming from a position of absolutely no knowledge. I have heard good things about the ABC room, which is why I thought it would be worth stopping by.