Wine Tasting – Fox Wine Co. – Santa Barbara
I visited Fox Wine Co.’s funk zone location in Santa Barbara on a stormy weeknight. Walking into the large industrial building turned multi-tenet local craft fair, beer garden and wine tasting area, I was not sure what to expect. I had previously been to Fox Wine Co.’s neighbors Lama Dog (beer) and Topa Topa (also beer), but I had not ventured into the Fox’s den.
While the tasting room is located in the middle of a large, open, shared space; Fox Wine Co. feels like its own cozy wine enclave. With a nice bar area and few small tables for couples or groups, there is plenty of space to enjoy a proper wine tasting experience. Do note that they only offer tasting flights until 5pm, unless it is very slow as it was on my Wednesday night post work visit. After 5pm, they serve only serve wine by the glass or bottle.
When I arrived, I was greeted by the bar manager Lisa and sat myself at the empty bar. I explained to her my Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail project. She informed me that the membership card was good for one free Standard tasting. This is the most basic of the three tasting flights they offer at their Santa Barbara tasting room and normally runs you $12.
They also have a reserve flight for $15, which seems like the best deal, and a Blair Fox Cellars flight for $20, which is the wine maker’s premium label and hosts its own tasting room in Los Olivos.
Lisa started me off with the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc. It had a surprisingly pungent smell, a bit musky I’d say. The wine’s taste was also surprising: it was very oaky for a Sav Blanc with bits of grass and hints of tropical fruit shining through the dominating wood flavors.
Next I tried the 2014 Chardonnay, which was an intense yellow color and was served from a beautiful clear bottle which showed off this wonderfully colored wine. I found this Chardonnay quite refreshing and slightly oaky/buttery with rich toasted bread flavors and a smooth mouthfeel.
When I first saw the standard tasting flight I was honestly disappointed that I would not get to try any of Fox Wine’s pinot noirs. This is my favorite wine varietal of Santa Barbara and I love to taste the different wine makers of the region’s take on this fantastic grape.
Some how I lucked out that night as Lisa had just sold the last bottle of the Rosé. She offered me to pick a wine from the reserve tasting to take its place. Of course I said I would love to try one of the pinot noirs and asked her which she would recommend for me to taste. Lisa smiled back and told me she would give me a splash of each so that I could compare the two, as they had distinctly different flavor profiles.
The 2014 Mormann Pinot was very fruity with lots of tannins for a pinot noir, probably from the whole cluster pressed method the employ. In contrast, the 2014 Buona Terra Pinot Noir was sweeter with more floral and herb notes. It had a smoother mouthfeel and a more diverse and well balanced flavor profile. The Buona Terra was one of my favorites of the tasting.
Back to the regular tasting, next up was the 2013 GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedré). The flavor of this wine was late coming, tasting a bit light at the beginning, then the dried fruit and tannins hit your palate. The finish reminded me of Vanilla Coke.
Last on the regular tasting menu was the 2013 Camp 4 Syrah. Note that it is not named after the famous Yosemite climbers camp, I asked! This was an higher acidity, fruit forward wine with good balance and a nice bit of baking spices mixed together with its dark fruit flavors.
Lisa was kind enough to pour me splash of the Thompson 2016 Syrah from the Blair Fox Cellars label for reference. You could immediately tasting the deeper and more robust fruit flavors in this Syrah. Better quality grapes truly shine through when you have a good wine maker. The flavors were much better balanced and the wine was much smoother than the regular Syrah.
It was nice to end my tasting on such a tasty wine. I quite enjoyed my visit to Fox Wine Co. Lisa was an amazing host and was the perfect person to chat to about the winery and the tasting room as she has been with Blair for quite a while. She recommended people check out Fox Wine Co’s instagram as they are often hosting special events along with live music on Thursday and Sunday nights.
While Fox Wine Co. in Santa Barbara’s funk zone is a fun place to grab a glass of wine with some friends or try one of their three flights, I am setting my sights on a future visit to Blair Fox’s Los Olivos tasting room to try some more of Blair Fox Cellar’s premium label wines!
Overall I would happily recommend a visit to Fox Wine Co. and I look forward to returning soon with friends for some live music and tasty wines!
Cheers!
Alan Evans
– Visited on February 13, 2019