Gainey Vineyard ($15 tasting, wines $15-$55)
'11 Sauvignon Blanc, '10 Chardonnay, '11 Pinot Noir, '10 Merlot, '09 Syrah, '11 Riesling
The Gainey family has had a presence in the region for over 50 years, and started to get involved with wine growing in the early 80's - making them one of the early birds to the area. With it being an older winery, and it seems to be doing successfully, I fit it within my criticism of a winery with a similar situation - Zaca Mesa. Since both are doing so successfully, they are playing it very safe.The wines were decent to good, aside from the Riesling, which was horrible. However the pricing of the wines was rediculously farfetched for the quality. The Chardonnay, Pinot and Merlot are $38 or higher. The grounds were very nice, though the front area of the winery were wall to wall consumerism. The back tasting area was fun though - ominous and dark. Our attendant Danelle, was extremely friendly - but not knowledgeable at all.
Experience: C+ / Wines: C
Beckmen Vineyards ($10 Estate tasting, wines $18-$30)
'10 "Le Bec Blanc" (Marsanne/Roussanne/Grenache Blanc/Viognier), '07 Rousanne, '12 Grenache Rosé, '11 Grenache, '10 Syrah, '10 Cabernet Sauvignon
We'd been to Beckmen once before, and had been a little disappointed with that visit, especially with the service. This time around the service was better and the wine was stable. The dude who took care of us was a super mellow guy, he wasn't the most helpful or friendly, but had some knowledge about their wine, and got the job done. He was nice enough to pour us the Roussanne off of the reserve tasting list when we expressed interest in it. The wines were fine - just fine. Actually the Le Bec Blanc was quite good, and the Roussanne was really exciting in a wine nerd sort of way. The rest did not impress, certainly well made, but nothing to write home about. Kudos to them for keeping the prices moderate. It was definitely very hot there, but it was quite nice to sit in the shade on their patio overlooking the pond. Experience: B / Wines: B
Rideau Vineyard ($12 tasting, wines $20-$42)
'11 "No. 15" Viognier, '12 Mourvedre/Grenache Rosé, '10 "Lagniappe" Red (Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah), '10 "No. 15" Syrah, '10 Petite Sirah, "11 Riesling
One person in our crew needed to stop by Rideau as an errand. Earlier in the year she had bough Travelzoo vouchers for the same tasting and tour deal that we had gone on last year. Our friend bought them with the intention of taking her folks out there. That plan was waylaid by a winter snowstorm, so she was left with the vouchers, and wanted to see what she could get if she traded them in. After a long as hell negotiation (the guys there were acting like used car salesmen trying to push cases of wine on us), we finally had a free tasting and traded in the vouchers for some wine - the effort to up-sell was unsuccessful.
On the upside, we were able to have a picnic on their beautiful grounds while doing our tasting. The wines were easy to drink, but once again, nothing remarkable. Most of them were way overpriced for the quality - which brings me to another note: Rideau is constantly offering different deals where their wines are severely marked down. I recognize that most wineries offer deals from time to time, but Rideau does it at an extreme level - so I guess if you find a wine that you really like there, wait and hope that it gets it's price slashed.
Experience: B / Wines: B-
Dragonette Cellars ($15 tasting, wines $20-$58)
'12 Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah Rosé, '11 Sauvignon Blanc - Vogelzang Vineyard, '11 Pinot Noir, '11 "Black Label" Pinot Noir, '10 "Seven" (Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre), '10 "MJM" (Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre/Viognier)
This was our fourth visit to Dragonette. The first time I believe that they were still quite new, and not well known. On the second and third visits, they were extremely busy, and seemed to have become very popular. On this visit, they were thankfully quiet, so we were able to enjoy the space to ourselves. The attendant was very nice and accommodating to our group.
I think highly of Dragonette. They are definitely making delicious wines - I just wish it wasn't as expensive as it is - though I grant them their prices more than I do Gainey or Rideau. I was not blown away by the Rosé or the Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauv had a huge kick to it, and was high quality, but the flavor profile was not my cup of tea. Both of the Pinots were great, the higher quality Black Label was top notch. As well, the Seven and the MJM (both 92% Syrah), were nicely constructed and delicious. I enjoy visiting Dragonnette, but I have a hard time being able to justify the purchase of a bottle at their prices.
Experience: B / Wines: B+
Saarloos and Sons ($10 tasting, wines $24-$50)
'11 "Hunter" Sauvignon Blanc, '11 "Bride" Grenache Blanc, '10 "Groom" Grenache, '10 "Father and Sons" (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre), '09 "Courage" Cabernet Sauvignon, '11 "Extended Family" Pinot Noir
From what I've seen, no other winery goes as far as Saarloos and Sons to establish a unique aesthetic, and to weave it into every part of their enterprise. I'm not sure how to explain the feel of this place: steampunk meets rockabilly? I guess we'll go with that. Whatever it was I give them great credit. The aesthetic is also deeply imbued to the Saarloos family. Each of the wines are named in honor of a family member, or a term that is connected to a family element.I get the feeling that Saarlos appeals to a younger crowd, and it was a lot more busy on Sunday afternoon than the other places that we visited in Los Olivos. We found seats on the patio, and ran back inside for refills on the tasting. Even though it was a madhouse inside and there was only one staff person pouring, the woman there did a good job taking care of people. We were not wowed by the wines - I really wanted to like them, but they just didn't do the job. They all seemed underdeveloped and too quick to the point - thin at times, too hot sometimes as well. Not to say that they were bad, just not good. Also it was strange to discover that all of the wines that we tried were 14.5% alcohol - whites and reds. Not sure if they fudged the numbers - which you can do within 1% in California wines, or if they set that as a hard ceiling during the wine creation process. I'm sure and shit not a winemaker, but it seems hinky to me that such a variety of wines can have the same exact level of alcohol in them. I disliked the Cab and the Pinot, and enjoyed the GSM blend.
Experience: B+ / Wines: C+
Stolpman Vineyards (member tasting, wines $17-$68)
'12 Sauvignon Blanc, '12 Viognier, '11 "Golden Point" (Roussanne/Viognier/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc), '10 "L'Avion" Roussanne, '12 Grenache/Sangiovese Rosé, '11 Grenache, '11 "La Cuadrilla" (Sangiovese/Syrah), '09 Sangiovese, '11"Orignals" Syrah, '10 "Hilltops" Syrah, '11 "Angeli" Syrah
I'll try to be brief with my enthusiasms. Once again Stolpman was amazing. We rolled up to Stolpman at 4:15 at the end of what I imagine was a long weekend for the folks there, though our buddy Tom was as upbeat as ever and took care of us for at least an hour and a half while we sat out on the front porch. He poured everything that was open, and happily introduced our friends to Stolpman. The wines were great. We had never tried the Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier or Rosé before, all were quite enjoyable.
Experience: A / Wines: A
We did a hell of a job packing in a lot of action in one day. It saved us a lot of money to not stay overnight and to pack food for picnicking - and it's not that exhausting to try to get back to LA at the end of the day. We enjoyed the wineries that we knew already, and while the ones that were new to us were not great, it was nice to be able to check them out. We did keep to our rule of buying only sub-$20 whites, though we bought a fair amount of those.
