Goodbye Wine

A "BIG" taste (the bottle!!!)

We drank so much wine........we were seeing Ostriches

Each day, we have been taking new routes through the Santa Barbara hill country (Santa Ynez Valley), finding wineries and small towns nestled in the many small valleys. As with most wine areas, there is lots of “plonk” to taste but, I think we all agree that the percentage of good wine is higher than in most wine regions. We tasted some wines of which there were only 45 cases produced (2 barrels). Very interesting!! The area excels in Rhone varietals and Syrahs. The late harvest wines are also excellent.

We explored the city of Santa Barbara today, having lunch at a wonderful shellfish restaurant on the city pier. There are even full fledged wineries in the middle of the city. The city center is one of the most well preserved historic downtowns we have yet seen. It is so well maintained, it looks new! The morning “maritime layer” (local euphemism for fog) is omnipresent in the morning but, burns off before noon to present a perfect sunny afternoon every day. I guess the grapes love it. Us too!

BUT, the livers must get a reprieve so, we are off in the morning, across the desert, on the way to Las Vegas. We’ll park our tin home in Barstow, spend the night and, then move on to the lights. Stay tuned!!