Sipping Santa Barbara by Charine Tan & Dr. Matthew Horkey
Santa Barbara County is a wine region that we are big fans of for a variety of reasons. Wineries there are producing world-class wines that are terrific value (comparative to other, better known regions), not to mention it’s still a relatively undiscovered area making it particularly fun and accessible to wine enthusiasts. So when we were asked to review Exotic Wine Travel’s latest wine book Sipping Santa Barbara: Recommended Wines & Producers we accepted the offer with great interest and fairly high expectations.
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Some of the beautiful vineyards at St. Francis winery.
Sonoma County, the “Valley of the Moon”, truly is a bounty of riches: the long valley just 90 minutes north of San Francisco boasts spectacular scenery, a relaxed and laid back vibe, terrific restaurants and is producing top-rated wines from a diversity of micro-climates and grape varieties.
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Some of the beautiful vineyards at St. Francis winery.
When we first wrote about the St. Francis Winery wine and food pairing, it was the sixth time we had enjoyed the experience. It speaks volumes that after six visits we’re still surprised and impressed by the menu; not once has a dish been duplicated nor have we been even slightly disappointed. And while we’ve been lucky enough to attend a number of wine and food pairings around the world, this one easily stands out as one of the best and is an absolute must whenever we travel to Sonoma County. We recently returned to St. Francis for the seventh time in the hopes it would continue to exceed our very high expectations.
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2012 Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit Blanc de Tablas
Made up of 75% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc & 5% Picpoul Blanc, this wine is the quintessential example of balance. Rich, smooth, and creamy yet not overdone in any way. Butter, cream, and honey notes in perfect harmony with stone fruit and mineral. Drinking beautifully now, it demonstrates an enormous amount of complexity so it will definitely age well.
Excellent+
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Winemaker Greg Brewer
We pulled up to Brewer-Clifton on a sunny but cool day in January. Outside of the winery stood Greg Brewer, co-founder and winemaker, looking up into the sky, his hand shielding his eyes, as he squinted into the sun. “That is the new Space-X rocket” he said, pointing. “Cool…. I’m Greg” he says as he stretches out his hand in greeting, a broad smile beneath dancing eyes. It turns out that initial moment captured a lot of the personality of the man we were about to spend the next 90 minutes with. Brewer is intellectual, curious about all sorts of things, warm, unusual and one seriously good winemaker.
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