Santa Barabra Futures

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Moseyed up the freeway today to the Wine House in Los Angeles. Almost to Santa Monica. Todays tasting was Santa Barbara Futures. 32 labels were pouring today, 58 wines. I paid the extra $9 to get in a hour early so I would not have to hassle parking and walk up the steep stairs.  The purpose of the event was to taste the new releases and place orders (paid for in advance) and pick up your wine later this year or next year. Pricing reflects this. Good bargains.

Saw several winemakers that I knew and found a few people in the crowd that I knew also. Wine house passed appetizers around. I managed to snag a few. Do not feel they passed around enough for the crowd.

I found it interesting that some of the very small production wineries were producing better quality that a few of the big names. I was thoroughly disappointed in Foxen today.

A couple of the small timers that I particuarly enjoyed was Rey-La Cosecha. They poured a Grenache Blanc and a Grenache. Both priced under $20. I also liked "tercero" . His Larner Vineyard Grenache was excellent and his Mouvedre was really good.

Ampelos, Stolpman, Cargassacchi, Clos Pepe, Dagonette, Flying Goat, Jaffurs, Margerum were among the group.

It was a  beautiful, sunny day. Traffic was light which made for a really nice day. Now I have to decide if I want to lay out any money on futures. Have a few days to make up my mind. There is a 3 bottle minimum for each wine so that has to be factored in.