Tasting rooms, they come in all shapes sizes and locales.  If you are headed North from LA into wine country you might consider a stop for a day (or maybe two) in beautiful Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara County has become well-known for some amazing wines and winemakers, beautiful wine country and vineyards as well as beautiful shoreline and beaches and some terrific shopping in Santa Barbara itself.  So take some time and mix it up, a little beach time, some lunch, some shopping and some tasting, the wine here is just fine.

I have 3 tasting rooms on my list for my trip through Santa Barbara this time.

Au Bon Climat has opened a tasting room on Anacapa Street and I am very excited to be able to do a tasting of Jim Clendenen’s wines.  With 30 years in the industry his wines are noted for balance and restraint.  And…as the Bien Nacido Vineyard is primarily the source for their grapes…I mean, it’s really hard to go wrong.  So this is first on my Urban Wine Trail Tasting list.

They share a space with Margerum Wine Company and are next to The Wine Cask if you are looking for a delicious lunch or dinner, and the Grassini Family Vineyards tasting room is right there also.

Next on my personal list is Municipal Winemakers.  We tried to stop by here on our way home through Santa Barbara awhile back.  Unfortunately, they were sold out and bottling, so they had nothing to taste!  So…we will return again.  They had (I hope they still have) an iPad program for tastings which I was fascinated by and looking to check out.  Besides that, they are close to the beach and fun and funky!  They offer free wine delivery if you show up on a bike.  They are all about making interesting wines and I am all for that!  I fell in love with their feel and their site and expect to fall in love with their wines when I taste them!  Want to see why I’m infatuated even before I taste?  Go to their “about us” page and click the top photo for a video interview with the Municipal Winemaker Dave Potter and hear his perspective.

While in this neighborhood you can walk just a few blocks to taste at 7 other tasting rooms including Kunin Wines, Kalyra Winery, Oreana Winery, Cottonwood Canyon, Santa Barbara Winery and Pali Wine Company…but we are headed out onto the water for our last tasting when we are there.  Conway Family Wines has opened their “Deep Sea Tasting Room” out on Stearns Wharf with “360 views of the Pacific coastline, Channel Islands, and the Santa Barbara Harbor or Riviera.”  So before we head inland we will head out onto the wharf to enjoy some of their white wines and some ocean air. If the view itself is not enough to entice you into this tasting room perhaps their sustainable vineyard practices will or their use of cold-soaking or fermenting with indigenous wild yeasts.  Their Estate is located in Rancho Arroyo Grande and they are committed to protecting the land and wildlife there.  Okay…are you there yet?

And…that’s not all the tasting rooms!  Silver, Jaffurs, Carr, Sanguis, Whitcraft and Summerland are just a little ways away and… I hear that Anacapa Vintners just opened a tasting room.

If you want the shortcut to find all the details head to Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail’s site for maps and links.  And stay tuned for the details after we visit!