Santa Barbara Wine Country, a beautiful complement to our beach side city, sits over the mountains in the Santa Ynez Valley. It is sophisticated and modest, has a sprawling countryside unwavering in beauty, and is a great destination to visit when you're in the area. Although not as renown as Napa, the SB wine country has grown with the help of the movie Sideways, Andrew Firestone's celebrity, and coverage of weddings by plenty of local SB photographers.
The countless wineries and vineyards present such amazing locations for weddings. To be surrounded by nature, with unobstructed views, and an intimate feel, ceremonies and receptions here would be a dream. I think that if I did not choose a beach side reception venue, a wine country venue would be the next best thing.
Since we were unable to share a vineyard location with guests, we figured sharing the fruits of this area would be the next best thing. With last weekend's beautiful weather, we decided to take a trip to Firestone Vineyard and purchase our wine.
The drive was beautiful, almost like we were in another place. With a few websites that provided maps of the area, we decided to hit one vineyard for brand consistency with wine. We chose Firestone Vineyard because of their established history in the area, and our familiarity with the name and the brand.
The vines at Firestone Vineyard.
Grapes on the vine.
Arriving too late to take the historical winery tour, we opted for a tasting in their show room.
Bottles were displayed beautifully through out the showroom.
Besides knowing we should purchase a couple of cases of red and white, we decided to wait on the specifics until we tasted our options. Our wine tasting menu took us through a variety of whites (Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Reisling) and reds (Merlo, Malbec, Cabernet Syrah).
We received wonderful service from the very knowledgeable staff, were explained types of food pairings, and given various options. They even let us taste a few of the wines on sale.
Our cases being wheeled to the car.In the end we purchased 2 cases of white (Sauvignon Blanc Early Pick & Riesling) and 2 cases of red (Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot) wine. We are not close to being wine connoisseurs, but very happy with the knowledge we've gained form this trip.
Where did you purchase your wines? Did region they were harvested, brand/company, or availability help in your decision?
Blog title is from lyrics by Marvin Gaye
5 comments:
I'm glad you guys had that experience and purchased what you needed. About how many will that serve? I was thinking of going to our local winery to get wine because some of their wine is my favorite.
I am so JEALOUS. The BF and I are complete winos and we keep talking about a trip to Santa Ynez. For some reason we never make the 2-3 hour drive from LA! The Firestrone vineyard looks beautiful.
sounds like such a great time! it's a great idea to bring wine country to your guests.
i've only been to SB once and it was for work...I had to visit the Jacqua Girls...so it was a quick in and out trip. But ever since I left there I've been yearning to go back. And I'm dying to go to Santa Ynez.
You are so lucky!! I've been wanting to go to a vineyard forever!!
@My Dream Ring: our caterer suggested we purchase five or six cases (3 red, 3 white) for 100 guests for the entire night. "Each case contains 12 bottles of wine has 60 servings. Assuming that over the course of the event each guest has 3 glasses of wine, you would need 300 glasses. This is equal to 5 total cases split up between red and white." was in the note they wrote us. we only purchased 4 cases since it was already pricey and our parents said they'd bring some too.
@The Professional Bridesmaid, @THE ALTERNATIVE BRIDE: you totally have to come, it's so beautiful there.
@Lily G: are there vineyards by you? a wedding is a perfect excuse to go wine tasting :)
Post a Comment