2nd Annual Santa Barbara Wine Futures Event

If you ever get the chance to attend a wine futures tasting – Go!

For those who don’t know, a futures tasting is where winemakers let you sample their wine well before they’re released and can purchase whatever wine you like in advance.

We had a blast Saturday night at the 2nd annual event hosted by one of our favorite restaurants Elements at the SB County Courthouse.

There are three reasons why we tend to love futures events more than others:

First, it’s a chance to learn more about wine itself. It’s not often you experience wine in its infancy and you begin to understand how it evolves. Regardless of your palate’s experience, you will recognize and appreciate the subtle differences between the wine you normally drink and wine that is still maturing.

Second, the winemakers are usually the people pouring the wines. Who doesn’t want to know the person behind their favorite wine or hear THE story about why someone devoted their life to making wine.

Finally, these are great events to discover new talent. We were surprised how many new winemakers were showcasing their barrels and how incredibly talented everybody was. We thought we knew this area well, but there’s a lot more going on in Santa Barbara County than most people know about.

Here’s a list of the wines that blew us away. (Just give us credit when some of these people become HUGE!)

'07 Ampelos Syrah/Grenache "Syrache"
'07 Pisoni Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands (Arcadian Winery)
'07 Stolpman Syrah (Arcadian Winery)
'07 Blair Fox Syrah, Purisima Mountain
'07 Demetria Cuvee Papou (Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier)
'07 Demetria Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills
'06 Demetria Syrah
'07 Dragonette Cellars Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills
'08 Dragonette Cellars Sauvignon Blanc
'06 Happy Canyon Vineyards Piocho (Cab Franc based Bourdeaux blend)
'06 Happy Canyon Vineyards "Ten-Goal" (Cab Sauv based, Cab Franc, Merlot)
'05 Jonata El Corazon de Jonata (the kitchen sink)
'08 Municipal Winemakers Bright Red (Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah)
'07 Municipal Winemakers Best Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon

Your Itinerary for Santa Barbara's Wine Country

A LOT of customers and friends ask us for suggestions for a perfect day of visiting vineyards – and we’re always happy to oblige. Below are our recommendations for a great day in Santa Barbara’s wine country (click here for map):

First, we grab a carb heavy breakfast and hit the road (always with a designated driver or hired service)…

Stop 1: Star Lane/Dierberg Vineyards

Our favorite wine in the area, especially their “Astral” Cabernet. We like to drink the best wines early in the day because our palates get destroyed after a couple of tastings.

Stop 2: Foley Vineyards

Foley makes remarkable Pinot Noir and Chardonnays. We like this place because of its sweeping views of the valley, a very comfortable tasting bar, and a remarkable barrel room that’s sometimes open to visitors. Granted, we have a soft spot for Foley because we got married here!

(Disclaimer: They sell Little Barrel)

LUNCH

We always grab a sandwich at Panino, in downtown Los Olivos, and take it on the road. It’s more fun to eat out at the vineyards.

Stop 3: Lincourt Vineyard

Our favorite place to eat our picnic lunch. The tasting room is an old farmhouse that overlooks one of their vineyards. Best wine in the area for the price. Their peppery Syrah is our favorite.

(Disclaimer: They sell Little Barrel)

Stop 4: Qupe Tasting Room

It’s in downtown Los Olivos and it’s on our way between Lincourt and Demetria. Their wines are some of the best and most famous from the area. Selection always changes.

Stop 5: Demetria Estate

Our new favorite “find.” The 10 minute drive from the Foxen Canyon Trail to the tasting room is absolutely breathtaking. You drink and eat around the island of the villa’s kitchen, usually with the owners and winemaker.

Stop 6: Firestone

By this point our palates are shot, so we usually finish our day here. It’s typically the most crowded, especially with young people, and certainly the most festive.

DINNER

We always eat at one of the following...

Mattei's Tavern - Foodie favorite since 1886 (and the location of our rehearsal dinner). Good celeb spotting.
Los Olivos Cafe - Made famous by "Sideways" but a favorite among the locals.
Trattoria Grappolo - Amazing Italian food. Very romantic.

City Winery - New York City

For Easter, my brother and I broke bread (flat, with olive oil & sea salt) and sipped our communion ('05 Bonny Doon Syrah 'Le Pousseur') at the City Winery in New York City. The City Winery is a music venue, functioning (custom) winery, restaurant and wine bar in the middle of Soho in Manhattan.

City Winery is a perfect blend of quality music, delicious food and a very smart wine list. The place is the brainchild of The Knitting Factory’s famed owner Michael Dorf – which means you can always count on a substantive lineup of musical acts.

The vibe was refreshingly unpretentious and the size of the place is almost half a city block. And while we only spent a quiet afternoon here, I'm anxious to get back for a show (when is David Byrne coming back?).

Here are some bad pics I took from my iPhone:


- Andrew

Spring is coming!

Wow, we're a little embarrassed by how long it's been since our last post. Taylor and I have been very busy preparing for the launch of our spring tie collection. I posted a picture from the warehouse to give you a sneak peek of what's about to come...

You can also visit our site to see the new colors and patterns.

Finally, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter. We're going to announce a CRAZY DEAL the day we release our new ties.

Andrew

Qupe - Los Olivos, CA

Cult favorite in the Santa Barbara area. Qupe has FINALLY opened a tasting room on the main street of downtown Los Olivos. We usually avoid the tasting rooms in town because we prefer to be out at the vineyards. But we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try a stellar line up of Qupe wines.

This particular Saturday, Qupe was pouring four of their own wines and three from their Spanish inspired label called Verdad. We have been huge fans of Spanish varietals since a trip to Spain in 2006 and were pleased to see that they’ve hit the mark as close as anyone can in the states (sorry, it always tastes better in Spain).

Legendary winemaker Robert Neil Lindquist founded Qupe in 1982 while working as a tour guide and cellar worker at Zaca Mesa Winery. Like most, he started out by simply buying a few barrels and some grapes. Robert now sources fruit from the best vineyards in California. His wines brought serious attention to the valley well before the movie Sideways.

We love Syrah from the county and our favorites from Qupe were the ’06 Syrah from Stolpman Vineyard and the ’06 Syrah from the Bien Nacido Vineyard. (If I ever get the chance to create my own wine, I’m getting my grapes from Bien Nacido. I don’t care what it takes.)

The tasting room changes the wines every week so there’s always a reason for repeat visits.

Here’s what they poured:

‘07 Verdad Rose
‘07 Qupe Marson
‘07 Verdad Alberino
‘06 Qupe Los Olivos
‘05 Verdad Tempranillo
‘06 Qupe Syrah Stolpman Vineyard
‘06 Qupe Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard

- Andrew

Nom's Announced for American Wine Blog Awards

We're HUGE fans of Tom Wark's "Fermentation" blog. He's a really good writer and our "go to" blogger for all things wine industry related. Every year he hosts the American Wine Blog Awards and people in the wine world take it very seriously. Tom has announced the 2009 finalists over at his site.

If you don't follow wine blogs, these finalists are a good place to start (including Tom).

Good luck everybody!

Melville Vineyards - Santa Ynez Valley, CA

Andrew’s friend Melissa of Boa in LA recommended we visit Melville Vineyards. We love their wines and had never been to the winery. Unfortunately, we arrived one month too early to try the really good stuff. Drat!

On March 20th, they are releasing the following wines, which typically sell out:

2007 Estate Pinot Noir - High Density
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - Indigene
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - Terraces
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - Carrie's

We’ll have to plan another trip.

- Taylor

Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards - Santa Ynez Valley, CA

I have a soft spot for the owner Jim Dierberg because he’s from Missouri (my home state), grew up on a farm and entered pig competitions at country fairs – just like my dad. Jim, his wife Mary, and winemaker Nick de Luca are also making some of the best wines in the entire valley.

When the Dierbergs bought their vineyard in 1996, everyone told them the land was too warm. So like most smart winemakers, they planted grape varietals that were best suited for the climate – and that meant Cabernet Sauvignon. Lucky for Jim because this was the grape varietal he had always dreamed of making. It only took 10 years until his first bottling.

We strolled into the Dierberg tasting room around 11am – fresh from a 2 1/2 hour car ride. We’ve been here before and knew we needed to hit this winery early – not at the tail end of a day full of drinking (when our taste buds are shot and everything tastes great). The wines are all bright with fruit, flowerful noses, and lingering finishes – all with their own unique personalities.

Every time a new wine was poured, we immediately declared it our favorite until the grand finale – the ’05 Star Lane “Astral.” It’s a pretty powerful Cabernet and it no doubt ranks up there with the best we’ve tasted from Napa. The wine had a nice silky texture on the palatte and the taste was laced with red berries, vanilla and just the right amount of earthy tones.

I’m a pretty impatient person, but if I were the wine maker responsible for the Astral ($80), I’d say it was worth the 10 years of waiting.

We also enjoyed spending time with Amy – the woman pouring our wine. Not just because she was responsible for giving us the Astral, but because she noticed Taylor’s Little Barrel Purse Tote the moment we walked through the door. Her enthusiasm caught the attention of the entire room and we found ourselves talking up our company.

It’s definitely a blessing and a curse to start our day with such incredible wine.

-Andrew

Valentine’s Weekend in Santa Barbara Wine Country

We’re coming off a very exciting (and much needed) vacation in Santa Barbara and Paso Robles wine countries. I usually go a little “Clark Griswold” when mapping out my itineraries but, Little Barrel was slammed last week (in a good way!) and we decided to let other people’s recommendations guide our way. This weekend proved that there is always more to discover no matter how much you think you know about wine.

We were also fortunate enough to stay at our friend’s cabin that’s perched on a hill overlooking the Santa Ynez Mountains and the green foothills that roll across the valley. This has been home base to a couple Little Barrel photo shoots and we’ll name our first born after Eli – who keeps letting us indulge in his slice of the vineyard lifestyle.

Here’s a list of the wineries that we visited. Some are places we frequently visit and others were recommended by people we met along the way.

Dierberg/Star Lane
Melville
Qupe
Demetria
Firestone

We also toured Paso Robles yesterday. Here’s a list of the places we stopped by:

Tablas Creek
Zin Alley
Booker
Terry Hoage
Linne Calodo
Grey Wolf

People write us for recommendations – which we love – and we'll send you a more thorough list of suggestions. Andrew@littlebarrel.com

- Andrew

Trailer Tasting in Napa, CA

Recently, we crammed our friends into this little vintage 1940's Westcraft trailer. It's the new tasting "room" at the Behrens & Hitchcock Co-Op in Napa, way up on Spring Mountain. Not many wine lovers are really after that hole-in-the-wall experience when it comes to wine tasting. Especially in Napa. But we drank some of Napa's best bold reds right off the kitchen sink in this old movie studio trailer (bought off ebay).




Some of our favorites/purchases included:

Relic’s Mourvedre and Grenache based ‘07 “Ritual.”
Erna Schein’s ’06 Homage to Ed Oliviera Syrah, ’06 Spare Me Cabernet, the cab based ’06 Cemetery, and the ’04 Erna Schein Red Wine.
Behrens & Hithcock’s ’04 Herrick Moulds Cabernet and ’05 Ode to Picasso.

- Andrew

Celebrate Valentine's Day & Tie The Knot!!

Make it count this Valentine's Day and give your wine lover something special from Little Barrel. Sign up for our newsletter and we'll send you a code to get 20% OFF any order between now and Valentine's day.

- Taylor

The Old & Rare Wine Company

Our “go to” guy.

I’ve been torn about whether I should share this because I’m afraid you’ll buy out all my favorite wines. But, Little Barrel is all about spreading the love.

James Yobski, who owns The Old & Rare Wine Company (www.oldandrarewineco.com), is one of those passion guys who quit a lucrative law career to pursue his love for wine. After time spent in Burgundy and working as the wine buyer in some highly esteemed wine stores in LA, James has opened his own online shop specializing in exactly what the name of his company says – old and rare wines.

But don’t let the idea of “old and rare wine” scare you in these recessionary times. He’s got plenty of highly rated, quality rarities for under $25. Check out James’s site often as his inventory is always expanding due to high demand.

- Andrew

The Bike Racks in the Showers at Frog's Leap Winery - Napa, CA

Ever had a dream house only to discover that someone has already built it? This happened on our last trip to Napa when we toured the Frog’s Leap Winery.

When you drive onto the property there’s a sign that gives you two choices. Go left to “work.” Go right to “play.” Although we chose “play,” I imagine their version of work would be just as fun.

The inside of the house (Hospitality Center and Administrative Office) is something to be marveled both from a design perspective and environmental achievement. Frog’s Leap winemaker John Williams achieved a “Gold” LEED certification in 2005 and they are setting the standard for sustainable farming and winemaking.

I was absolutely inspired by the design of this house by the way it looked and how the place made me feel. I would love to describe the inside, but I’ll save us both the words and post a few pictures:

Lisa (our tasting guide) explained how the different wood features around the house (chairs, tables, floor, ceiling, etc.) were all made from barrel staves, recycled corks, etc. But you couldn’t tell. I was amazed at how tasteful and stylish everything looked. Now, I’m sure someone from Frog’s Leap might read this and get insulted. But when people reuse barrels for furniture they look like, well… barrels.

This leads me to the bike racks.

In addition to using certified and composite wood for the house, there are other aspects one must use to get LEED certification, such as: installing non-PVC piping throughout the house, using all low emitting materials, heavy use of renewable energy sources such as geo-thermal and solar, and lots of other expensive upgrades. Each area only earns you one point. The more points you get, the higher the level of certification (Platinum is the highest "Al Gore" level).

What’s great is that you also earn one point doing smaller things like installing bike racks (encourages workers not to drive), stuffing the walls with used jeans (great insulation), and building a shower for your employees (saves on water if everyone does it together!). This makes everything equally important and easily achievable.

- Andrew

Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley - Yountville, CA

Newly opened, and right across the street from The French Laundry, Ma(i)sonry is a “living gallery” for those looking to experience a little more aesthetic and intimate tasting than you might typically find at your usual tasting room “bar.”

Ma(i)sonry was founded by Blackbird Vineyards proprietor Michael Polenske who restored this beautiful 104-year-old private stone residence in Yountville. There’s plenty of great art ranging from 16th century European craftsmen to contemporary artists and designers. There was a pair of vintage leather club chairs that I was very tempted to walk out the door with. But instead, we got to sit in these chairs for our tasting. There are many cozy nooks throughout the space (and some great one by an outdoor fireplace – but it was a little too chilly in late Dec.) where you can enjoy their wine.

You get your own private “pourer” who provides all the wine and answers your questions about the place. Our tasting expert was Anthony who poured us wines from Lail Vineyards and Blackbird Vineyards. Here’s the list of wines:

Blackbird Vineyards
’06 Arise (100% Merlot)
’06 Illustration (86% Merlot, 11% Cab Franc, 3% Cab Savg.)
’06 Paramour (48% Merlot, 44% Cab Franc, 8% Cab Savg.)
’06 Contrarian (38% Cab Franc, 34% Merlot, 28% Cab Savg.)

Lail Vineyards
’07 Blueprint White (100% Savg. Blanc)
’05 Blueprint Red (71% Cab Savg., 25% Merlot, 4% Cab Franc)
’05 J. Daniel Cuvee (100% Cab Savg.)

Lail and Blackbird were the only two labels available to taste, but Anthony explained that, in the coming months, Ma(i)sonry will showcase a rotating collection of limited wines from boutique wineries such as: Brown Estate, Joel Gott, Pedras and Renteria.

The two things we liked most about Ma(i)sonry:

1. They’re open until 9PM every night. We’re not always ready to be done when the wineries close at 5PM so, if our palates aren’t completely destroyed, it’s nice to have a quality place to lounge and taste after hours.

2. The personal taster. At first we were a little skeptical because we hate being pressured into buying anything just because you show up. But Anthony was cool and everyone working there seems proud – which always creates a good vibe.

We took a few bottles home of both vineyards.

- Andrew

P.S. Anthony’s wife owns Xroads Sea Salts (www.philippineseasalts.com). It’s a family owned company and we like to support husband and wife businesses whenever we can! (For whatever it’s worth, Michael Mina and Thomas Keller use it too.)

New Years at Domaine Chandon

Every New Years party tends to be a let down. We always want to be at the hub of whatever fun is going on, but for some reason, the night never pulls through.

Not this year.

We danced out 2008 and swaggered into 2009 at Domaine Chandon’s black tie “Roaring 20’s” New Year’s party. So much so that I might have “celebrated” enough to last until 2019.

We went with Andrew's brother, his friend Lindsay, and our friends Jay and Dana (pictured kissing on our homepage). The guys had a great excuse to wear our Little Barrel ties and the girls had no problem matching scarf belts to their dresses.

I gotta say, seeing Andrew's brother and my friends THIS dressed up in Little Barrel got me a little emotional. This time last year our company seemed like a pipe dream and, tonight, everyone wore OUR designs!!

As soon as we arrived, the dance floor swallowed everyone up and I barely saw my friends halfway through the first bottle (apparently Jay took it dancing). There was plenty of champagne and the live band kept everyone moving for hours. The best part about the crowd was there we so many people of different ages! I swear I saw the spitting image of my uncle doing the Charleston. People were in a festive mood and it was easy to make friends. Nobody wanted to stop.

Nobody really remembers what time our driver took us home, but we all had plenty of stories the next morning. I’d share them with you but a) you will judge and b) you just have to experience it yourself.

- Taylor