Since my last post we have moved to Buellton, California. This a few hours north of Los Angeles in Central California. The town is famous for Andersons Pea Soup and being the off ramp to Solvang, a touristy Danish community.
We have been to this area many times over the years to stop at Andersons and to visit Solvang. One thing we have never done is to tour the wine country that is in this area. This area is known for its Pinot Noir’s and Syrah’s.
We have been wine tasting in Napa, California about 6 times over the years and these have generally been the weekend getaways when we lived in the area or when we travelled here with friends. With these visits it is always busy and you can barely find a place to stand in the tasting area. Since we have begun “Life on the Road” we now have the luxury of visiting wineries during the week, off peak. This has been very enjoyable for a variety of reasons. First is that the staff can spend more time with you to talk about the wine, the winery and other topics. Next, they are more willing to give you tastes of other wines not on their tasting list and lastly they are more willing to waive the tasting fee
Most tasting rooms have gone to charging to taste their wines. I have no problem with this as they are going through a significant amount of wine, especially on the weekends, and should be able to recoup their cost. Many will waive the tasting fee if you buy wine while you are there or sign up for their wine club. To me that is very appropriate.
Since we started" “Life on the Road”, we have done a significant amount of wine tasting. We have been through the wine regions in Oregon, Washington, Canada and now Central California. I would like to let you know what we have learned regarding wine tasting.
First, go during the week. This has been the most fun for us. Generally we are the only ones in the tasting room and the staff person is able to spend more time with you and if you express interest in wines not on the tasting list they are more agreeable to let you try them.
Second, I have adopted a plan of buying at least one bottle of wine at each winery (if I like one of course). When you buy a bottle they most likely will waive the tasting fee. Why not get a bottle of wine out of the tasting plus the tasting rather than just paying for the tasting.
Also we have found the majority of wineries are more generous with their “pours” for the tasting when you go during the week. Because of this (as we hate to waste wine) we limit our number of tasting to 4 or 5 so we can make it back to our RV.
For this trip here is an illustration of my comments above.
Our first stop was the Firestone Winery, www.firestonewine.com/. They had an outstanding tasting room, premium wines and very friendly staff. We enjoyed their Pinot Noir and Cab Franc, which were premium priced. We were disappointed that they did not waive the $15 tasting fee for our purchase. Their wines were great and the experience was great, but if I buy wine after tasting it I think the fee should be waived.
Next up was Fess Parker Winery, www.fessparker.com/, yes that Fess Parker (aka: Daniel Boone). We have tasted his wines before at a wine dinner and were impressed. The winery was outstanding and the person serving us was very enjoyable. I expressed my interest in wines not on the tasting list and he allowed us to taste them, plus some recommendations he had. The tasting is supposed to be 6 wines and we tasted 12. The fee was waived if we opted not to keep the glass, plus we did buy a couple of bottles. They have an outstanding Viognier.
Next up was Zaca Mesa Winery, www.zacamesa.com/. Another great tasting room but the staff was not as enjoyable. They have a great Syrah and we bought a couple of bottles and they did not waive the tasting fee.
Last up was Cambria Winery, cambriawines.com/. This has been one of our favorite wines for years. We were a club member for a number of years. They have a great Chardonnay and Pinot Noir so I was excited to be able to visit the winery. I told them I was a previous club member but they did not waive the tasting fee even with a wine purchase.
I was pleased with the tastings we did today but very disappointed in these wineries for not waiving the tasting fee. However, the tasting experience was more pleasant with no crowd.
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