Another Great Visit to Sanford Winery
My first visit to Sanford’s Santa Barbara tasting room back in October was amazing! I thought their pinot noirs were top notch and their chardonnays were very well balanced and delicious. For my second visit I brought along my sister and Alena so they could enjoy Sanford Winery’s beautiful tasting room and fantastic wines with me.
Daniel and Rachelle were our hosts for the day and took great care of us. Once Daniel realized I was very into wine, he brought out the detailed wine sheets so we could geek out over the statistics of the specific bottles we were trying: how many cases were made, what the starting brix were, how long they were aged in different types of oak barrels and the ABV of each.
Sadly, for this tasting, Alena was feeling a bit under the weather so just my sister and I were to imbibe these fine wines. We both elected to try the Reserve Flight. On deck were two reserve chardonnays and three reserve pinot noirs.
Daniel started us off with the 2015 Sanford and Benedict Chardonnay. It smelled super fruity with a hint of yeast. It’s flavor was very well-rounded and smooth due to the malolactic fermentation with bits of oak and butteriness; yet its backbone consisted of the delicious fruit flavors. It was full bodied, but still light on the palate.
All of the wines we tried on this visit were different from my last tasting at Sanford except for the next wine we tasted: the 2014 Vista al Rincon Chardonnay. Compared to the 2015 S&B chard, this wine had much sharper flavors and a more intense oak finish. It was sweeter as well, but somehow all these intense flavors merged well into a delicious and balanced chardonnay.
My sister claimed to be trepidacious about starting the tasting out with two chardonnays due to her past experiences being let down by the varietal. But she was shown the light by these two delicious wines and even claimed that they were “really good”. I had to agree.
Soon we were on to the Pinot Noirs. Starting with the 2015 La Rinconada which had a super ripe strawberry smell, but tasted instead of intense dark red fruits and had more tannins than I expected. Its rich oak and leathery finish complemented the intense fruit flavors quite well. This pinot embodied many characteristics of a heavier wine like a syrah or merlot and was nice to drink on its own or would pair well with a meaty dish. My sister and I both really enjoyed this wine.
But it was not my favorite pinot noir of the tasting, that honor fell to the next wine, the 2015 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir. This wine had floral and berry smells and tasted of delicious strawberry and rose flavors. These melded into a smooth slight oak initial finish, but a long late finish of dark oak and milk chocolate that lingered on the tongue. I loved this wine. It was super complex with each level of flavor delicious and unique. This wine embodies exactly was a great St. Rita Hills Pinot Noir can be: delicate, complex and full of flavor.
Last on the Reserve Flight was the 2015 Block 5 Pinot Noir. This was my sisters favorite of the day. It was a meaty, earthier wine, that tasted much more of the French style of pinot noir. It was less fruity than the last two, but still had enough to make it work with the earthy flavors. It had a super smooth, velvety oak finish that made the wine a delight to drink.
That concluded our tasting at Sanford’s downtown Santa Barbara tasting room. We had a great time trying Sanford’s top notch wines. The ladies kept commenting on how beautiful the tasting room was and we had amazing hosts in Daniel and Rachelle who were fun to chat with and quite informative about the wines we were drinking.
Ever since my first visit, I knew Sanford was a special winery and now having tasted at the majority of Santa Barbara wineries, they are on my short list of favorite places to visit in Santa Barbara.
It is a must stop wine visit for those who want to get a taste of some of the best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that Santa Barbara has to offer.
Cheers!
Alan Evans
-Visited on April 26, 2019
See my reviews and experiences at other Santa Barbara wine tasting rooms, by checking out my Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail project!