DV8 Cellars – Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail #25

I visited the fun and lively rock'n'roll themed DV8 Cellar tasting room on a busy Saturday afternoon. DV8 is in Santa Barbara's famed funk zone, full of tasting rooms, bars, and fun restaurants. On weekends the funk zone can be pretty busy and high energy, DV8 was no exception. I knew nothing about this winery before my visit so I was excited to see what was in store. I found a modern tasting room with a fun vibe and earthy, Rhone style wines.

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!

When I walked into the DV8 tasting room I was surprised by how welcoming it felt, even though it was decorated very modernly with gun metal silver stools lining a concrete tasting bar. There is a nice mix of small tables for couples and large seating areas for groups along with a beautiful patio area to sit and enjoy the good weather that so often accompanies a day tasting wine in Santa Barbara.

DV8 offers two different wine tasting flights: a red, white and rose flight for $15 and a red only "Reserve" flight for $20, both of which are available with the urban wine trail membership. I went for the red, white and rose flight as it had one extra taste and a greater diversity of wines.

First up was the 2017 Viognier "Victory" which had a delightful citrus and melon smell. I enjoyed this wine's floral and green fruit flavors and thought it had a nice balanced minerality to it.

While the menu said 2016, up next was actually a 2017 Roussanne known as "Twisted Road". This is rarely seen varietal in California so I was excited to try it. The server described it as a white wine that red wine drinkers tend to enjoy. The Roussanne had a beautiful golden color and flavors of vanilla, butter and honey dominated the smell. It was earthy and tasted of caramel with slight green melon as well. It was heavy in the mouth and would pair well with flavorful and creamy cheeses, like baked Brie.

Currently very in vogue, a Rosé followed. It was a 2017 vintage made from Grenache grapes. The rosé had a nice peach smell and a golden pink hue. It was refreshing and yet packed more flavor than most rosès I've tried. It would be a perfect picnic wine as it would pair nicely with food.

Another Grenache was next on the menu, but this one was a no rosé. The 2014 Grenache G-Force had amazing ripe cherry jam smells, making me excited to give it a taste. Sadly none of this amazing fruit came through, the tastes were dominated by woody flavors like leather, wet soil and dried herbs. These complex flavors could have blended fantastically with the cherry jam on the nose if only there was still some left on the palate. Instead I was left with a super French styled wine and thoughts of what could have been.

The next wine I tried was the 2014 GSM which had a beautiful garnet color and had very tasty smells of strawberry, vanilla and cola. The wine had nice wood flavors of vanilla, cinnamon and leather.

All of these red wines spend 32 months in French oak which is what imparts these earthy flavors. I enjoyed the complex wood flavors that the winemaker was able to get into the wine without the wine tasting like oak itself!

The last wine on the menu was the 2014 Syrah Monaco. Again this wine had amazing fruit smells, but it's taste was dominated by the oak. This probably my favorite red of the tasting as I enjoyed the bit of blueberry and vanilla that I was left with on the finish. It was the most balanced wine of the day.

I was treated to a final tiny taste of the 2014 Overdrive Syrah. It was more floral on the nose. I liked the mouth feel and I enjoyed the bit of butterscotch and leathered fruit. The finish was very oaky.

I enjoyed the whites and the rosé wines, but the reds were just not for me. They drink true to the Rhone style that DV8 is after, with musty, earthy, woody flavors dominating the flavor profiles. They had good flavor profiles and complexity, but are not the style I prefer as they were missing the beautiful fruit flavors that each had on the nose. On a positive note just about all the wines are in the $30 or below range making them more affordable than many of the other Santa Barbara wineries I have visited so far.

The setting was fun and lively, but sadly the service that day was a bit poor; making for a disappointing tasting experience. When Santa Barbara is filled with so many great, super high quality wine tasting rooms, its the little things that really set them apart.

If you really like formula one racing, rock'n'roll or Rhone style wines in particular, then you should make sure to seek out DV8, otherwise I would stop in at one of the other Santa Barbara tasting rooms instead.

-Visited on November 3, 2018.