Who doesn’t love a drive up the coast? Okay maybe it wasn’t quite up the coast but my friend had never explored the Santa Barbara area wineries so we planned a long weekend to celebrate our birthdays back in June.

I broke out the trip into 4 areas to visit: Santa Barbara with the Funk Zone and Urban Wine Trail,  Solvang & Los Olivos, a tour of the vineyards of the Valley via Wine Canyon Tours, and finally a quick stop in Lompoc.   I could spend days in each of those areas but I wanted to give her the full experience. We even were able to get a sunset at Stearns Wharf, a hike at inspiration point AND a massage done in between our eating and drinking!

The pictures tell the story, if you want any more information let me know!

Pali Wine Co was our first stop on the patio, and spent some time planning the rest of our day in the Funk Zone and the Urban Wine Trail

We enjoyed 2 tastings- one of the Tower 15 label and one of the newly redesign Pali Wine Co. If you are staying in the area, they have growlers of wine on tap for purchase, definitely recommend!

At the SBWC, there are multiple wine makers to taste. This time I opted to Sandhi and my friend enjoyed the Babcock flight.

Such a cool light!

The SBWC is definitely funky but leads to fun times!

The Sandhi flight was great, it is nice to be able to try to the more boutique labels

Wonder how long this press has been out of production???

Nothing says Santa Barbara Syrah like Jaffurs. A bit off the path, well worth the trip!

Stearns Wharf

Santa Barbara Fishing Boat at Sunset

Water from Stearns Wharf

Santa Barbara from Water

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center on Stearns Wharf – Sunset reflection in the windows with the glags

Inspiration Point in the Fog

Beautiful brush on the inspiration point hike

Beautiful brush on the inspiration point hike

Beautiful brush on the inspiration point hike

Some fire damaged rocks

Awesome Syrah, I hit this location every time. I just wish the tasting room staff was a little more personable.

Think Pink!

Super crazy how rocky the soil is???

I won’t lie, the patio and cupcakes were awesome… so was the house. The wine, left much to be desired.

Inside the old house, the decor is awesome. Mirrors of various sizes hang behind one of the bars

Windmill at sunset in Solvang

Windmill at sunset in Solvang

Nothing like some Lincort Merlot on the grass with with the windmill in the background.

Perspective from an empty glass

A rare picture of me and my friend during our wine adventure

Brander Garden

Brander had beautiful roses at the end of the rows of wines. Since roses and vines can be affect by the same diseases, beautiful roses mean healthy vines!

Beautiful roses and vines

I love the reflection of the vineyard in the stem of the glass!

Beckmen Vineyard VInes

We stopped for a tasting and lunch at Beckmen Vineyards- this was my view!

Beckmen Vineyard VInes and Lake

Beckmen Vineyard Vines and Fruit

Look at how small the berries are!

Beckmen Vineyard Vines

Beckmen Vineyard Vines and Fruit

Small green grapes…

Rick trusted his gut with our comment of “we just want good wine” to finish our tour at the joint tasting room. Both of us purchased multiple bottles from each label!

A nice finish of Italian varietals in Solvang

The wall on the bar area of the swanky the Landsby. Next time will definitely stay there!!!

Angela gave us an amazing tasting, climbing up the barrels for the Sangiovese.

When we were there- the current releases were the 2009 Hither, Petit Verdot and Malbec

Tasting with the Barrels Turiya

Important to note-  Rick at Wine Canyon Tours was able to help us in a pinch by providing us a tour guarantee – should the minimum for a group tour not be hit, we could still do the “group tour” with a small additional fee.  This worked great as the Sunday we were out –  there were very few tours operating.  He sent the “other” Rick for our tour, he listed to what we liked and picked a great final stop in Buellton when we said we were okay with a tasting room experience.

Places visited-

Santa Barbara Locations – Pali Wine Co, Santa Barbara Wine Collective, Jaffurs Wine

Los Olivos – Blair Fox Cellars, Dragonette Cellars, Tensley Wines, Saarloos and Sons, Barbieri Wines, Toccata Wines (Solvang)

Wine Canyon Tours– Lincort Wines, Brander, Beckmen Vineyards, Loring Wine Company and Cargasacchi

Lompoc-  Turiya Wines

Accommodations – Holiday Inn Express Santa Barbara,  Hadsten House Solvang