Tuesday, May 13th
Another day, another five wineries... When we were planning this, I read a few things about a winery called Clos Pepe Vineyards. You can only go there by appointment and it took several cycles of leaving word to get an appointment. I was really looking forward to it and wasn't disappointed.
The GPS had trouble finding it (though its entrance is right on Highway 246, the main drag). But the sign faces traffic coming the other way so we did our little "pull over, turn around" thing a couple of times but arrived right on time at 10:30a.
When we drove up the drive to the house, we noticed another car there; apparently three other folks had navigated the maze and were there with us.
We met Wes Hagen (the winemaker, shepherd, vineyard manager, and resident writer) and he had quite a day planned for us:
The philosophy at Clos Pepe (and, indeed, in most of the region) is everything natural, everything organic. In order to keep weeds down between the vines, they employ a small herd of miniature sheep -- so our experience began with a kind of "petting zoo":
One of the new lambs (Benjamin) had been rejected by his mother, so taking care of him was consuming a lot of Wes and his wife Chanda's time:
We met several rescued greyhounds (retired from racing):
.. and a pair of Australian Shepherds that worked the sheep.
One of the Shepherds has a congenital heart or lung condition that limits her ability to go full-bore all day, but she sure seemed energetic to us. She should be named "Sisyphus" since she spent all the time while we were there rolling a soccer ball up a hill over, and over, and over again!
When we finished being introduced to the sheep and lambs, Wes took us into the vineyard and explained in detail just how wine growing works in the Santa Rita valley. Fascinating and fun to hear.
Yes, folks, those tiny things are Pinot Noir grapes..
On the hill above the house where Wes and Chanda live (with the sheep) was a very large and beautiful building:
This turns out to be Wes' mother and stepfather's home. The stepfather owns the vineyards and the winery. And the house was our next stop.
What a beautiful home! We met Wes' mom who does wonderful needlepoint:
Wes laid on bread, cheese and some wonderful wines to taste; it was like being at a party in someone's home (someone who is an excellent teacher about wines and winemaking):
We were there for a couple of hours being graciously entertained AND educated. Everyone agreed that this (along with Demetria), was the highlight of the trip.
Next stop was Sanford Winery. Here's their welcoming entrance:
This is a beautiful place:
If Fred looks a bit tired in this one:
He was:
Then Lafond Winery. I confess I have no memory (and only one photo) of this visit:
The afternoon became more and more liquid, but not so much we that we couldn't visit Almarosa Winery.
This is a charming building with a couple of nice guys, nice plantings -- and the world's fattest cat. The wines weren't memorable but the place was!
On the bookshelf above Gael's head I saw my Economics 201 text from Georgia Tech; Paul Samuelson:
Did I mention their cat was FAT?
The movie "Sideways" apparently filmed here, too (more about Sideways below). This is Virginia Madsen who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance:
She played a waitress at The Hitching Post Restaurant where, it turns out, we visit next!
We had reservations tonight at The Hitching Post in Buellton for dinner. This place was featured in the 2004 film "Sideways"; the film that single-handedly murdered the Merlot business in the Santa Barbara region. We'd been told by several people that the Hitching Post was a tourist trap and that we should go to Trattoria Grappalo for dinner instead. We bowed to that suggestion and switched dinner reservations. But, since the afternoon was not completely filled, we decided to taste some wine at The Hitching Post.
Boy, was that ever a good idea! Remember how the person behind the bar makes or breaks the experience? We ran into Barb (also called "Big Red") and she made the whole thing so much fun:
Y'think Newsom is fond of this woman?
Fred ordered some dry ribs and would have been happy to spend the rest of the day and night at the Hitching Post. We also had the privilege of meeting the owner Frank Ostini and he cheerfully swapped his trademark pith helmet with Fran's tiara:
But, after the usual photos,
Hey! Men look good in tiaras, too, right?
.. we headed into Santa Ynez for our reservations at Trattoria Grappalo.
This was a truly excellent Tuscan meal, one of the best of the week. They weren't aware we were coming (though we had spoken earlier in the day) but quickly made room for us. As an aside, for the next two weeks I received phone calls from the restaurant to confirm that we were coming on different days. Whoever was on the reservations book when I originally called was apparently "on" something else as well.
The "dinner" shot:
Home again, last day coming up...
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