Santa Barbara?

J

John M

John Meier
I'm in Santa Barbara for a few days and may have a half-day to do a bit of wine tourism. Any recommendations? If it helps, my cellar is about half German Riesling, but I certainly buy Rocks and Gravel whenever I see it in a shop.
 
This is great. I had searched and found that write-up, but not much else that was recent. I would be delighted to discover some nice central coast Riesling and Grüner. And a taqueria recommendation is greatly appreciated and likely to be used. Thanks all!
 
originally posted by John M:
And a taqueria recommendation is greatly appreciated and likely to be used. Thanks all!
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La Super Rica was Julia Child's favorite. Last time I was in town (granted, a few years back) I recall a delicious lengua taco at Lilly's.
 
Thanks again, everyone. I did get to go to La Super-Rica, and loved it, particularly the rajas.

In terms of wine ...

I had time to drive up to visit Tatomer, and really enjoyed the wines. We started with a Rosé of Pinot Noir, which was nicely angular and restrained. Then we had two Grüner Veltliners, with the 2016 Meeresboden being a terrific value. The three Rieslings were strikingly individual. A 2013 Lafond had tell-tale petrol on the nose and struck me as somewhat along the lines of a German spätlese trocken. The 2014 Vandenberg was more in the peaches and apricots vein. For me the highlight was the 2014 Kick-on Ranch, which was floral, mineral, and citrusy. On the website it says this wine "gets the 'full Austrian' treatment" and that is an accurate description and the approach works tremendously well. We ended with a whole-cluster fermented Pinot that had subtle but notable forest floor/earthy/mushroom notes with a core of fruit flavors. It was quite kind of Graham Tatomer to make time for us to visit, at his facility since there is no tasting room, and I left a fan of the wines.

I also stopped in at Whitcraft and was impressed by their Pinots, particularly a 2013 Kick-On Ranch. The price points for the single vineyard wines, made from free run juice, are outside of my comfort range, but they were really nice, distinctive, and worthy of the tariff. And I bought a few even with the fiscal discomfort.

At separate dinners we had a 2014 Martian Ranch Uforic Albariño and a 2014 Arnot-Roberts North Coast Trousseau.

All in all I was delighted with the variety of wines I was able to sneak in on this trip, all of which were well outside of my stereotype for what to expect from the central coast.
 
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


I need to spend more time with the Tatomer wines.
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I think there was a big shift in style (I bought his very early "garage" releases which had residual sugar) after GT did a stage at Weingut Emmerich Knoll. I'd be very curious to try them now.
 
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


I need to spend more time with the Tatomer wines.
Click to expand...

I think there was a big shift in style (I bought his very early "garage" releases which had residual sugar) after GT did a stage at Weingut Emmerich Knoll. I'd be very curious to try them now.
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I have only tried a Grüner which did not impress me; although, no non-Austrian Grüner ever has and this includes ones from the Finger Lakes, Long Island, Oregon, multiple vineyards in California, Italy and Germany.
 
Who knew that there were so many Grünering places! Tatomer's is the only non-Austrian I have ever had.

That said, I don't hear strong endorsement in your description, Robert.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Who knew that there were so many Grünering places! Tatomer's is the only non-Austrian I have ever had.

That said, I don't hear strong endorsement in your description, Robert.
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Almost every winemaker I know loves Grüner, almost as much as Beer, and they mostly experiment with it and it just does not work for me. I do keep trying them!
 
originally posted by Robert Dentice:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Who knew that there were so many Grünering places! Tatomer's is the only non-Austrian I have ever had.

That said, I don't hear strong endorsement in your description, Robert.
Click to expand...

Almost every winemaker I know loves Grüner, almost as much as Beer, and they mostly experiment with it and it just does not work for me. I do keep trying them!
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It is likely the soils in Santa Barbara and the climate won't ever give lovely Veltliners. I don't like GV from the southern parts of Austria either, and I've never had a good Südtirol Veltliner (too much alcohol and not aromatic enough). Really it is the cooler parts of the Kamptal and the Wachau where the rubber meets the road.
 
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


I need to spend more time with the Tatomer wines.
Click to expand...

I think there was a big shift in style (I bought his very early "garage" releases which had residual sugar) after GT did a stage at Weingut Emmerich Knoll. I'd be very curious to try them now.
Click to expand...

We talked about the sugar levels in the Riesling, and the Lafond was somewhere between 4 and 5 grams/liter, so definitely a dry wine. I didn't ask for numbers on the other bottles, but would be surprised if they weren't also in the same range.
 
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