A long-standing member of the Santa Barbara winemaking community, Whitcraft Winery is obsessed with producing the highest quality wines. Their signature varietals are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah, but also produce a variety of other unique, hand-crafted varietals.
Seven Angels Cellars is a family-owned, boutique winery. Greg and Pamela Martin began making wine in 2009 with a small production of Petite Sirah. Greg is the owner/winemaker along with Pamela who handles social media, food pairings, wine club and club events, and the website. The story behind the name came from our passion for family. We have seven children in our blended family, our 7 angels.
We both grew up loving wine. Greg grew up in a rural area of California with neighbors who grew wine grapes. He spent a lot of time learning about the entire process from the vine to the bottle from his patient neighbor. He continued his interest in wine as a US Coast Guard when he was stationed in the bay area and had easy access to the multitude of wineries in Sonoma and Napa. Pamela comes from a family of foodies and wine enthusiasts. She took courses in college in winemaking and learned the biology aspect of wine. She worked in catering and on TV as a home economist for a cooking show. Pairing food and wine to create an interesting and delightful balance in a meal has become an obsession for her.
This family-owned winery specializes in Rhone blends as well as single varietals. Greg has his eyes, and hands in every aspect of the process from the field to the bottle. Pamela has the palate and the nose and is instrumental in the blending.
Europa Village winery is very charming and beautifully landscaped with indoor tasting bar, outdoor seating. Touring the winery is as much fun as tasting their exceptional wines. Enter the wrought iron gates into a center courtyard with an Olive tree, surrounded by outdoor seating and statues. Our tour-guide greeted us and gave us a brief overview of the winery. We were encouraged to taste the grapes right off the vine as we went and stopped every so often for a brief informational talk and to fill our glass with a different sample of wine. After the winery tour, we sat in the shaded outdoor seating area for a class about the '5 Essences' of wine tasting and enjoyed more wine tastings and covered basic stuff about wine, bread sticks and a *small* cheese, chocolate, crackers and grape plate that was offered part of the package we purchased. They also have an inn on the property where you can stay if you want. This Temecula winery could make for a nice base if you plan to visit Temecula Wine Country over a weekend.
Lenora Winery made its debut in the wine world in 1999 with its first vintage carefully harvested from its own 5 acre vineyard. Ramona's climate is ideal for growing winegrapes. Lenora Winery's vineyard contains eight varietals and is blessed with daily gentle breezes which keep vines healthy and fruitful. Clear skies, warm days and cool nights work magic on the grapes as they grow to harvest.
Ampelos has been a family endeavor from the start.Initially “corporate folks”, we loved getting away to the Sta. Rita Hills on the weekends and dreamt of one day planting our own vineyard and making wines. A cancelled meeting in New York on the morning of September 11, 2001 helped us to realize that someday was today! Driven by a deep love and passion for the art of viticulture. We are truly a small boutique winery producing about 3500 cases a year. Our focus is viognier, rosé of syrah, pinot noir, syrah and grenache.
Woodside Vineyards has been credited with being one of the first wineries to pioneer the "boutique winery" movement in California and is the oldest winery in San Mateo County. Wonder collection of vintage cars on display. Woodside Vineyards is open Sat. & Sunday.
Ridge wines begin with respect for the natural process that transforms fresh grapes into wine, and for the 19th century model of guiding that process. A great vineyard that produce high-quality grapes of distinct, individual character, this approach is not only environmentally and socially responsible, it’s also the best way to consistently make fine wine.
Big Basin Vineyards was founded in 1998 on an historic site in the Santa Cruz Mountains next to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The old ranch property was first settled in the late 1800s. Wine grape cultivation had been started by French immigrants by the early 1900s and continued until 1965 when the property was sold by Justin Lacau, who had named the property "Frenchy's Ranch", to a timber company. By the 1990s, all that remained of the vineyards were redwood stakes and scattered vines hidden by brush and poison oak bushes. The mission has been to restore this historic vineyard site using modern, organic viticultural methods. The winery building was completed in December 2003 on the same site as the original 1890s house/winery structure which burned down in the 1970s. It is a 'Monitor'-style barn with a timber frame construction built using redwood selectively harvested from the estate.
A winery in Los Angelas? Yes! Whether you arrive for a tour, meal, or celebration at San Antonio Winery you will discover the variety and quality of their collection of fine wines in the only producing winery in Los Angeles. The San Antonio Winery in LA offers 4 wine flight tastings and winery tours. *
Hours:
Mon 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Tues 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Wed 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Thur 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Fri 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Sat 11:00am to 5:00pm
Sun 11:00am to 5:00pm
Tours and tastings are on the hour, tour 30 to 45 minutes
The tasting was fun even though it was very crowded in the tasting room. But once we had a good amount of wine in us, we were warmed up and ready to eat. Since it was end of December, it was cold and dreary outside and most of the seating for the restaurant is outside and but luckily I was able to suggest a table for us by a heater which was cozy. We didn't order anymore wine because we had, had enough. We were served bread and butter. Then we order a caesar salad and lobster bisque and the addicting and famous parmesan garlic fries. ALL were very scrumptious! The bisque warmed me right up! Then we shared the lobster mac and cheese because we knew it was going to be a huge portion and it was! And boy...was it delicious!
