SkyWest Magazine~ May 2005
Secret Sips and Two-Wheeled Trips
By Matt Kettmann

Good secrets are hard to keep, so it's no wonder that the hordes flocking to Santa Barbara County's increasingly renowned wine country are blowing the corks off previous years' visitor numbers. Tasting rooms are overflowing with inventive, artfully produced wines. Wine lovers--ranging from choosy experts to wide-mouthed neophytes--are spilling out the doors. And it's not even the height of summer yet. This is arguably the most promising wine region on the planet, thanks to optimum soils, reliable weather, and a free-thinking, winemaking ethos. So it's no surprise that Santa Barbara's fermented grape juices are gaining respect and popularity.

Some of that recognition comes from well-deserved critical accolades. However, the county's skyrocketing fame also got a huge boost from the Hollywood hit Sideways, the boozy, premarital romp of a would-be groom and his best friend through the stunning Santa Barbara County countryside. Since it's Oscar-nod, Santa Barbara wineries are more packed than ever.

Those who know the quaint seaside town of Santa Barbara-enduring images of red-tiled roofs, chic shopping malls, fancy restaurants and sandy stretches of beach may wonder where wine country is. That's because the green rolling hills are in northern Santa Barbara County, over those sky-scraping peaks and miles away from the beaches, shopping malls and celebrities escaping the woes of Tinseltown.

However, it isn't necessary to make that trek to enjoy Santa Barbara vintners' finest. Three excellent wine tasting venues--unbeknownst to many locals--are within the reaches of downtown. So consider a trip to sunny beachside Santa Barbara, enjoy a weekend sightseeing, shopping and sunbathing and easily enjoy the bacchanalian delights of our neighbors to the north. Here's where to go.

Start at the Wine Cask, 813 Anacapa Street. In 1981, Doug Margerum turned a beer and winemaking supply store in one of downtown's main one-way thoroughfares into a knowledgeable wine boutique. The store eventually led to an upscale restaurant of the same name and an adjoining appetizer bar/tasting room called Intermezzo, a popular martini hangout for dignitaries and business folk.

But after years of watching and supporting others working wine magic, Margerum got the bug to become a winemaker himself. In 2001, he got a 200-square-foot section in a corner of the Brander Winery and, with a bit of stomach butterflies, launched a new enterprise. Luckily, his wines immediately struck a cord, getting rave reviews in the big wine mags.

Margerum focuses on the five main Rhone varietals, and is also proud of his pinot gris and sauvignon blancs. But no matter what he's making, he's keeping it small. "You can't make good wine in big quantities," Margerum explained one afternoon in Intermezzo between sips of his thick, tongue-pampering red Rhone blend, M5. "It's like eating at a banquet of buffet compared to a restaurant, where the food is specially made for you."

Despite the small nature of the business, Margerum's wines aren't victim to ridiculous pricing. Few jump past the $20 mark. Many of his colleagues sell their stuff for three times that price. Margerum figures he could get higher prices but explained that "the money I haven't made, I've made up in getting thanks. I've made a lot of friends with the M5."

One friend is Craig Jaffurs who, like Margerum, shows off his wines in the heart of Santa Barbara. Just a few miles from Intermezzo, Jaffurs Wine Cellars, at 819 East Montecito, is a recently built warehouse topped with the requisite Spanish stylings. It's located adjacent to the lower Eastside's wrought-iron workshops, in the midst of a slowly growing arts district. Jaffurs hopes others will follow his path and form a "wine ghetto" in the neighborhood.

Jaffurs is long on winemaking intuition. He was one of the first locals to craft straight syrah-now hailed as the region's claim to international fame. So don't be surprised to fins five types of syrahs available for tasting from noon to 4 pm, Friday to Sunday (or any day by appointment).

As Jaffurs keeps hoping for a winery influx, Santa Barbara Winery shows that tasting rooms can thrive in the funkier parts of town. Located at 202 Anacapa Street, a few blocks from the waterfront and State Street, it's in the heart of the "Funk Zone"-a burgeoning, slightly rundown neighborhood of coffee shops, antique stores and eateries where artists, craftsmen, photographers and inventive folk seek out cheaper warehouses and lofts. Tourists rarely find this off-the-beaten-path gem.

The adventuresome few who find the town's namesake winery enjoy intimate tasting and tours revealing the winemaking process. Much larger than Jaffurs' or Mergerum's, this winery maintains a friendly, familiar feel, with young, smiling pourers happy to share their expertise. Boasting wines that range from super-affordable to bank-breaking, it reflects all that Santa Barbara County wines can offer.

While these wineries offer dedicated, handcrafted grape goodness, I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I didn't push for an adventure into the wine country itself. Though many respectable companies are offering Sideways trips as you read this, and the visitor's bureau has produced a Sideways map, I recommend a bike tour, so you can really soak up the bucolic majesty that is Santa Barbara's wine country.

Under the guidance of Santa Barbara Adventure Company owner Mike Cohen, our trip started on Foxen Canyon Road, just above Zaca Mesa Winery, where we zipped down a steep hill, passing Zaca Mesa and pedaling toward Rancho Sisquoc Winery, about 11 miles away. The ride took us past curious cows, flittering birds, soaring hawks, skittish squirrels, quaint farmhouses, towering windmills and a landscape that's changed little in the last 200 years.

The road off Foxen Canyon to Rancho Sisquoc is noted with a small sign, but it's best to look for the stark white church that perched on a hilltop overlooking the opening of the Santa Maria Valley. San Ramon Chapel, which fittingly is the image on Rancho Sisquoc's label, is worth checking out, if just for the cemetery that holds the bones of Benjamin Foxen, the Brit husband of a California woman who helped America take these lands from Mexico in the 1800s.

Another few miles down the traffic-free road sits the winery, surrounded by lush picnic grounds and seeming much like a wooden roadhouse of yesteryear. Crowds don't usually come this far to taste, so it's much easier to get into good conversation with the man pouring wine, who in this case happened to be doing so as a weekend hobby. We tried a half dozen of their nearly two dozen wines and bought a bottle to drink as we soaked up the sun before the next leg of our ride.

Following the road back to the car, we stopped by Foxen Winery, which was featured in Sideways. That fact is quite apparent these days, since the once mellow shack was overtaken that Saturday by lines of people three rows deep trying to sample one of three tasting menus. After checking out the photo of the Sideways stars during their filming shoot there, we managed to get to the front to try the menu listed in the red ink. Their pinot noir-also a star of Sideways-definitely won my palate, so I bought one before we saddled up to ride back toward the car.

As you can guess, riding back, mostly uphill after tasting wine is a bit more laborious than riding there, so we were too late to taste at Zaca Mesa or Bedford-Thompson, where on other days I'be enjoyed tasting wine, touring organic gardens and chatting with the Bud Light-drinking pourers.

Instead, we drove into Los Alamos, a trippy sort of town, destined to become a more affordable, country-set alternative to Santa Barbara. And maybe that's why more wineries haven't come downtown, because prices are high and the countryside is just so beautiful. Whatever the case, I'm happy to live in the best of both worlds, sticking by the downtown wineries close to home, while occasionally touring the valley on weekend romps.