Margerum Tasting Room – Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail #7
Another post in my Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail Series. See the summary article here for general Wine Trail info or to read about the 27 other wineries!
The Santa Barbara Margerum tasting room is a small space in the center of the historic El Paseo shopping center, which is home to a total of 7 urban wine trail member wineries. It was crowded on the Sunday afternoon when I visited, but I was lucky to find the last spot at the small bar next to two awesome ladies who I ended up tasting wine and sharing stories with for the duration of my time at Margerum.
While they do have an official tasting menu, Tom and Mo seemed more than happy to adjust the tasting based on the bottles that are open to make sure you have a great experience.
Mo started me off with the 2017 Riviera Rose. This wine smelled slightly of green melon and light red berries, which carried over to its flavor as well. It was a light and smooth rose and was exactly what I would expect from this type of wine.
Next I tried the 2016 Barden Chardonnay, which had a beautiful golden color. Smelling the wine revealed light aromas of oak, vanilla and butter. I was worried that this would be a heavy oak and butter chard, but when I tasted it, the wine’s strong fresh fruit flavors really shown through. It did have nice oak notes, but they were not over powering. The flavor of candied yams, baked pear and slight citrus were coming through nicely. The finish was velvety and that was when the popcorn flavor revealed itself. This was a fun wine to taste!
While chatting with Tom, he mentioned that they also have a M5 White Blend and asked if I wanted to give it a taste as well. Heck yes, was my answer and I was rewarded with an amazing and complex wine. This was a 2017 blend that had intense floral and pear smells that made me excited to give it a taste. It was a bit sweeter then I expected at first with notes of apple pie coming to mind, but soon its complexity was revealed. Super smooth white flower flavors mixed with a bit of citrus and some toasted bread. The wine is light on alcohol at 12%, which is perfect because it is so tasty you will want to drink the whole bottle!
As I finished the delicious M5 white, the ladies next to me were arguing over the flavors of Margerum’s popular 2017 Cafe Red blend. One of them loved it and the other was not a fan. Tom gave me a taste as well so I could throw my opinion into the fray. I fell in the middle. It is an earthy wine with nice dark plum flavors and a bit of the straw/barnyard flavor that certain wines have that make them pair so well with baked brie or a nice beef stroganoff.
This was definitely a food wine, so Tom pulled out some homemade flavored popcorn to try with the wine. We all agreed that this totally changed the flavor profile of the wine and brought out some of the subtler rose petal and red berry flavors. Amazing how wine can be affected so much by the foods it is paired with.
Next we went back to the official wine tasting menu with the 2015 Grenache. This wine had an interesting nose profile; I got plum and a bit of baking spices, but I also smelled a bit of sweet melon too. It was a strong and intense wine with great fruit flavors of jellied plum and floral notes. I wanted some strong cheese or a sharp cheesy pasta dish to snack on while I tasted this grenache.
The M5 Reserve Rhone Blend was next up. It was a smooth wine with good fruit and nice leathery oak. I thought it had a great balance of tannins and acidity and would take well to some aging. I really enjoyed this wine as basic red blend, but thought it was a little pricey for what it was, at $40. I would be interested to try to normal M5 Rhone Blend which is priced below $30 to see how it compares.
The last wine I tasted was the 2016 UBER Syrah. It was a dark, dark purple wine with dark flavors to match. I was getting blackberry, purple flowers and chocolate flavors on the nose, with cherry coke, vanilla, fresh strawberry and baking spices in the mouth. It was so smooth and delicious. I was really getting some tasty cola/rootbeer flavors. This wine was on the sweeter side and yet still had an amazing elegance to it. It was my favorite red wine of the day.
Overall my two favorite wines were the M5 White Blend and the UBER Syrah. Both were on the sweeter side and had amazing complexity and delicious overall flavors. The M5 White Blend was only $21, so I ended up purchasing a bottle as I thought it was a good bang for your buck wine, plus I got the 10% discount one receives with the Urban Wine Trail membership card.
*I could not wait to share this wine with my roommates, so I ended up opening it a couple days later with some stuffed raviolis and a butter, white wine, garlic sauce I made. The wine was so delicious and and paired amazingly with both the lobster ravioli as well as the goat cheese ravioli we cooked up!*
I was impressed with Margerum’s wines and had an amazing overall experience tasting at the downtown Santa Barbara tasting room. The wines were generally complex and on the sweeter side. They are fun to drink and would pair well with foods. The wines were also overall reasonably priced with most between $20-$40. I am glad to have met the lovely ladies with whom I shared my tasting experience and I look forward visiting Tom and Mo at Margerum again soon!
– Visited on October 28, 2018