Friday, September 23, 2005

Day two, Sideways Vacation

Susie finishing wine taste
We are now staying in Buellton. We are at the "Quality" Inn in Buellton, which is a real dive. It is AAA approved but it sounds like the trucks are driving through the bathroom, I intend to let AAA know what I think! It is dirty, trash is on the ground and construction dust is in the pathways. How can this be what AAA approves of?

Other than that we are having a great time. We went to Foxen Winery [Link], Zaca Mesa Winery [Link], Fess Parker [Link] and Longoria [Link].

In general we liked Foxen less than I thought we would and Fess Parker more. The Foxen tasting room was so small we missed it the first time. Their wine was good, but not great, and the tasting room was full of bugs. It was a flying mass of flies and bees there were constantly landing all over us, we bought nothing there! At Zaca Mesa we liked their wines okay. My favorite was their 2002 Z Three Cushman Blend. It was yummy, but not $50 yummy. Their 2003 Chamisal Chardonnay was good, but not $35 good, in my opinion. The first place we bought was Fess Parker. their 2001 Santa Barbara County Syrah was a deal at $18, we bought it. It was very fruit forward and a joy on the palate. the 2001 "American Tradition Reserve" Syrah was even better, but not twice as good (even though it was twice the price.) Longoria is an old and respected name in the wine industry. Like Garretson, where we went before, I have read about Richard Longoria in Wine Spectator. Their 2003 Santa Rita Hills was very nice. With 50% Malolactic Fermentation it was buttery, but not over the top. We also liked the 2002 Santa Barbara County Syrah a lot! The 2002 "Hoo Doo Red" blend was good, fun and only $14. The Fe Ciega Pinot Noir was great, but out of our budget! We bought the Chardonnay and the blend.

We had Pea Soup at Anderson's for dinner, and no more wine. Tomorrow we are going on another adventure. We have a winery one friend told us about and a restaurant another turned us on to. Stay tuned folks for more to come!

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1 comment:

Mrs. Brian Johnson said...

Woo hoo! Slug it down, Suzie! Lookin' good!