Whether you love it or you hate it, the rain gets the best of you after a while, creating a longing to bask in those familiar California sun-soaked days. When the downpours finally do break after the storms, it’s good to look for a reminder of the beauty they can leave in their wake. The best place to take in that scene is the Santa Maria Valley Wine Trail.
It’s no secret that the Santa Maria Valley is coming into its own as a wine destination. Wineries continue to spring up in Santa Maria, Orcutt, and the surrounding area, offering ever-better wines to taste, sample, and buy.
My family started our trek just off the 101 with a stop at Costa de Oro. A favorite for its Friday Night Wine Downs, Costa de Oro—in true Santa Maria fashion—offers great wine and tasty, fresh produce. Our wine guy, Chris, went about breaking down the nuances of the wine in expert detail. For a true wine aficionado, this speech is golden, offering excellent insight into understanding what wines you really like. To someone just trying to get their drunk on, however, it is painful.
We were in the former group, and it’s a fortunate thing to find an attendant so knowledgeable about the wines. It wasn’t long before he shared a little secret about the industry. After extolling the virtues of the excellent Costa de Oro wine selections, he shared this: Foxen Winery sells a Sea Smoke Pinot Noir.
I know you’re probably quivering with excitement right now, but in case you’re only pretending, let me tell you what that means. Sea Smoke, with its grapes that grow in the cool misty air of the Santa Rita Hills near Lompoc, has cult status. And what that means is the average taster typically can’t get, taste, or even catch a whiff of the wine—so, of course, you really, really want it. I mean, there are people reading this right now who, because I just said that, are dropping their malt liquor 40s and embarking on a search to get their hands on the Sea Smoke. Just because they likely can’t.
I’m not sure anyone has actually tasted it, even. I have longed for a taste of Sea Smoke Pinot Noir forever. However, I don’t think it actually exists. Seriously. I’ve gone to several years’ worth of vintners’ festivals, and any time I’ve visited their booth to get a sample, the wine was gone.
Now that Chris at Costa de Oro told me Foxen had a Sea Smoke Pinot, I was on a mission. Saving that stop for last, we slowly cruised through the wine trail, marveling at the vines just starting to show off their delicate spring leaves, all shiny with dew. The hills are lush and green this time of year, which prompted my husband Ron and me to ask why we’ve never bought property in the Tepusquet Canyon among the vineyards.
“Probably because if we had 20 acres out here, it would be a full-time job to keep it up,” Ron said.
“Just mow it,” I said.
“You can’t just take a riding mower to 20 acres,” he said.
“Just put some cows out to graze,” I countered.
“Oh, so now we’re buying cows?” he asked.
“No, just lease the land to the cows,” I said.
“And not do anything with it? Why would you want 20 acres then?” he asked.
We argued about our nonexistent vineyard property at the foot of the rolling green hills until we got to Kenneth Volk Winery and Vineyard. We called a truce over some fabulous wines as our wine expert, Gary, told us the history of the Kenneth Volk wines. We gave the terrific wines at Kenneth Volk the respect they deserve as we toured the scenic grounds before heading to Foxen—and possibly the elusive Sea Smoke.
Foxen has two tasting rooms. There’s one little farm-looking building that’s been there for many years and was featured in the movie Sideways. Then there’s a new structure up the road, which is bright and shiny and serves entirely different wines from the original tasting room. We visited both. Mo, at the new tasting room, with a bright personality and friendly demeanor, guided us through a roster of Pinots and Chardonnays, in which she said Foxen excels. But it was the original tasting room that broke my heart when they told me they don’t pour Sea Smoke.
Foxen is one of the few wineries to get Sea Smoke grapes to produce the sought-after Pinot Noir. They offer the wine to their wine club members, who usually buy it out within a couple of weeks. I shed a tiny tear in my wine glass, but soon forgot all about that other wine after delving into all the Foxen’s wonderful Pinots I could get my hands on.
Winding out the day, we stopped at Tres Hermanas, fast becoming one of our favorite wineries. We grabbed a few bottles of Syrah—growing far less common on the wine trail—and finished off our final tastes of excellent Tres Hermanas wine. Rainy or sunny, 20 acres or none, Pinot or Syrah, it’s so good to live in wine country.
If Arts Editor Shelly Cone ever gets her 20 acres, she may be willing to trade a few for some Sea Smoke. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 7, 2011.
