When your wife has work to do on the day after Thanksgiving, and you've got the day off, might as well hook up with some friends and check out some wineries. We wanted to check out some estate wineries, as well as a few tasting rooms in Los Olivos. Lincourt and Roblar are two of a handful of estate wineries that are on the east side of the Santa Ynez Valley that I had not yet visited, so we wanted to check those places out. After a morning afield, we planned to lunch in Los Olivos and meet up with a few more friends. Los Olivos was filled with folks who found themselves in the same predicament as us - thirsty and looking for something to do.
Once again I apologize for the lack of photos - I'm crap at remembering to take them, that's something my wife is smart about doing.
Lincourt Winery ($10 tasting, wines $18-$50)
'12 Steel Chardonnay, '13 Rosé (Grenache/Grüner Veltliner), '10 "Carol Ann" Chardonnay, '12 Pinot Noir - Lindsay's Vineyard, '12 "Annie Dyer" Pinot Noir, '12 Syrah, '11 Merlot, '12 Cabernet Sauvignon
A long while back, a coworker recommended Lincourt to me. I'd been dismissive of her recommendation, largely because Lincourt is a piece of a wine empire. Lincourt was the first piece, but the Foley Wine Group also is connected to Foley and Firestone in Santa Barbara, as well as wineries in Napa, Sonoma, Lake County, Washington and New Zealand. Empires give me pause - their products can be obnoxiously mainstream. However, over the years, I'd heard random folks saying supportive things about Lincourt, so I put it on my list.
Since my friend and I got such an early start leaving LA, Lincourt was an easy choice being that they are one of the only wineries in the area that opens at 10am. Arrive at 10am we did, first ones in the door. The property was pretty expansive from what I could see, open lawns, and a few patio areas. Inside was decorated typically - light coloring, a good amount of stuff for sale, a few different counters to sidle up to. The tasting room staff were still getting prepped when we waltzed in. We had a good conversation with the dude that took care of us. He was very enthusiastic about Lincourt's wines, and wine in general. He had all sorts of recommendations about where to travel to in France to enjoy wine.
Given the fact that Lincourt and Foley share a winemaker, it's not surprising that the profiles of the wines are similar - calm, smartly made, simple, broad-scale appeal. Of the chardonnays, I preferred the Carol Ann, despite the presence of aging in oak barrels, it was pretty. The Rosé was enjoyably crisp with a slight effervescence. Both Pinots were enjoyable, the Anne Dyer characteristics were well integrated and was quite full flavored - my favorite wine of the tasting. The Syrah was dense with jumpy fruit and vegetable notes. The merlot was overt - too much pucker. I'm bearish on the idea of Cabernet Sauvignons being grown in the region, I don't think that they work out all that well. The Lincourt Cabernet was good for the area, well layered with some chocolate, though still not as contemplative as the exciting Cabernets that I've had before.
Experience: B / Wine: B
Roblar Winery ($10 tasting, wines $20-$42)
'11 "Block One Reserve" Sauvignon Blanc, '12 Central Coast Chardonnay, '12 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, '11 Grenache, '11 Estate Merlot
I've driven past Roblar a number of times, its on the road to a handful of places that I've visited before. From that vantage, I've been inclined to keep on driving by because it looks like a place that is popular with party buses - expansive parking lot and tons of touristy-looking folks rambling about. While researching this trip, I happened across Roblar's website, and noticed that they are a sister winery to Michel-Schlumberger in Sonoma, which I visited a few years back and loved. Well, if Robar had any of that magic, I was in.
The building is huge - it houses a sprawling tasting room and their winery. The tasting room evokes a hunting lodge feel, lots of wood and a massive fireplace. Even here we were early arrivals, so we grabbed a few tall chairs and sat at the bar. Given the high ceiling, I imagine when the place is busy it can get loud. Thankfully we had the run of the place when we were there. The tasting room manager was fun, very animated and very much about the Roblar wine.
The regular tasting list only scratched the surface of the wines that Roblar offers. It seemed for every varietal, there were three levels of choices. For the chardonnays, we were told that the premium chard was "like Land 'o Lakes," the moderate "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter," and the budget "Parkay." Categorizing the wines like that was a bad sign to me. Buttery chardonnay can beat streets. If that's what they're after they weren't going to be very enjoyable to me. The Sauvingnon Blanc followed that mold - too sweet, various flavors but mainstream. Despite my apprehension, the chardonnay was decent, crisp and approachable, The Pinot Noir as well was pretty good, classic juicy mainstream flavors, lots of cherry. The Grenache was a big disappointment. It is often a favorite of mine, but this fella was far too sweet to be enjoyable. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Merlot - fruit-forward yet calm, and very nice acid.
Experience: C+ / Wine: C+
Larner Wine ($10 tasting, wines $23-$65)
'12 Rosé (Syrah/Grenache/Mourvèdre), '10 "Elemental" Red Blend (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre), '10 Grenache, '10 Syrah, '09 Reserve Syrah
I'm a bit familiar with Larner's vineyard, as it's been a esteemed
source of grapes for other wineries - supplying Samsara, Kaena,
Bonaccorsi, Kenneth-Crawford and others. More recently, they've started
making wines for their own label. Larner's tasting room is hidden in plain sight. Right at the main intersection in Los Olivos, smushed next to the Los Olivos General Store and the Panino sandwich shop is their tasting room. It's not even really a room, it's like an alcove. At one point during our tasting there were six people including us, and it was really crowded. Despite that, the woman in the tasting room was very cool, and excited to share Larner wines.
Small room, big wines. The rosé was grand - stark yet had a bright note in the middle. The reds were increasingly bombastic and creative. The "Elemental" was savory, vibrant and dense. The grenache started smooth, but became quite grippy toward the end - too overt for me. The sweet tomato entry on the regular syrah gave way to a dark blueberries profile - quite tart. The reserve syrah was the most interesting red - crushed flowers and juicy tannins - very boisterous.The wines were funny, as I was drinking them I was really engaged in them, until I realized how overt they were - these are big mamma-jamma wines, but they are made with intricate characteristics. Not my favorite profile, but definitely enjoyable and respectable.
Experience: B / Wines: B+
Byron Wines ($10 tasting, wines $22-$45)
'12 Pinot Blanc, '12 Chardonnay, '12 Chardonnay - Nielson Vineyard, '11 Pinot Noir, '12 Pinot Noir - Nielson Vineyard, '11 Pinot Noir - Julia's Vineyard
We really enjoyed Byron on our first visit there a few years back. The wine was expressive and mature, and the staff were confident and fun. This time around they seemed a bit off their game. I will have to say that it was quite crowded, but even with that they didn't seem to be able to deal with the situation. One of my friends purchased wine, which is supposed to then waive the tasting fee, when she pointed out that they had failed to do that, they took ten minutes to fix it, but still didn't fix it correctly. When she brought their attention to that mistake, they were not receptive. Rather than push it, my friend gave up. This experience definitely runs counter to to calmness and nimbleness that we were treated to before - so hopefully an anomaly.
Perhaps it was the busyness, or the exasperated manner of the staff when they were pouring, but I didn't enjoy the wine as much this time either. The whites were quite clean and crisp, but seemed buttoned up. I wrote in my notes that the Nielson Vineyard Chardonnay was the Tracey Flick of wines. The pinot noirs were more compelling. While the Santa Maria Valley Pinot was a bit too sweet, the Nielson Vineyard and the Julia's Vineyard were delicious - dark entry, good acid, well balanced.
Experience: B- / Wines: B
For a one day jaunt, we covered a good amount of ground (I didn't bother to add any notes about my tastings at Stolpman and Samsara considering that I've written so positively before about both that there's little new to add to my enthusiasm for those place). I was definitely thankful to not be the driver for this trip. Visiting some of the older estate wineries - Lincourt and Roblar - was interesting. The Foley/Lincourt empire is definitely smart about their enterprise. And while I didn't love Roblar, I can appreciate that they are creating quality wines with a smart business practice. I think I'm going to have to go back to Larner at some point to figure out if their wines are too big for me, or justifiably bombastic.
