The Santa Barbara Vintners Festival

Cold gusts of wind swept through the 26th Annual Vintner’s Festival yesterday, which was held right outside Lompoc at the gateway to Santa Barbara County’s Santa Rita Hills Appellation.

Members of the Santa Barbara County Vintner’s Association pour a selection of their best wines for an enthusiastic crowd of tasters. There are also restaurant vendors providing samples of tasty bites between pours, helping to delay the inevitable "palate fatigue" that occurs when tasting so many different wines.


Upon arrival at the festival vendors were provided with Tri-tip tacos, fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. Setting up early gave winery employees time to peruse and sample before the throng of attendees entered at 1:00. All of the vendors set up in alphabetical order under their designated white tent space and fold up tables.

Navigating through the maze-like space, I first hit my usual favorites (Palmina, Melville, Jaffurs, Foxen, and Beckmann) while later in the day I tried some new ones (Fiddlehead). Fiddlehead’s 2007 Pink Fiddle Rose from the Fiddlestix Vineyard in Santa Rita Hills was the wine that stood out the most for me from the day. Maybe that was partly because I could picture it as the perfect summer wine and my anticipation heightened my senses.

I’ve recently been on a sort of Pinot kick ever since being reminded a few weeks ago while tasting Gainey’s Evan’s Ranch label how great a really well made Pinot can be. Another highlight of these events is watching winemakers, such as Steve Clifton of Palmina, interact with tasters. He could not have been more friendly and personable, making the outstanding wines even better.

The sun slowly started to peak through at the very end of the festival, but the cold weather became less of a concern with every minute that passed through the day. It was just more incentive for people to keep moving along from one winery to the next.

We poured six different wines - 2007 1.7 Riesling, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, 2006 Reserve Chardonnay, 2004 Sangiovese, 2004 Nebbiolo, and 2005 Primitivo - an Italian Reds day. I saw wineries have as few as two wines to taste and as many as thirteen.

I definitely felt like the cold weather made it more of a red wine day, but we didn’t seem to have a problem pouring through the whites as well. The Sauvignon Blanc and Primitivo definitely seemed like the hits of the day for us.

The opportunity to taste wines from almost every obscure to well-known winery in Santa Barbara is an event that any wine lover should not miss.

By: Staff Writer-Lafond Winery & Vineyards

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Joanne Hudson is the Assistant Tasting Room Manager for Lafond Winery and Vineyards. In 1962 Pierre Lafond opened the first Santa Barbara Winery since Prohibition. In 2001, he opened another California Winery called Lafond Winery. Today, his two vineyards and winemaking operations are some of Santa Barbara's finest. Tours and tastings daily.

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