Jaffurs Wine Cellars Tasting – Santa Barbara
I finally made my way to Jaffurs Wine Cellars for a wine tasting. It is located away from most of the other wineries in Santa Barbara, in what is referred to in the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail guide as the Midtown area.
The winery and tasting room are all in one little building. When I walked in, it reminded me of the tiny wineries we would stumble upon in small towns in France. I was the only visitor during my tasting at Jaffurs, so I had the already intimate setting among the wine making equipment all to myself to enjoy their diverse wine offerings and a little chit chat with my host.
Jaffurs is one of the older wineries in Santa Barbara, starting in 1994, it has been a staple in the SB wine scene for some time. They specialize in Rhone varietal wines and quite the selection for such a small winery. Jaffurs’ standard tasting offers 6 wines, a mix of their red and white offerings.
I started out with the 2017 Grenache Blanc, which is a grape varietal that you do not see often in California. It was fruity, bright and fun to drink, having just enough complexity on the finish to make it interesting.
Next I tried their 2017 Viognier. It was floral on the nose, with a fruit forward profile and a more intense body than the granache blanc.
Up next was the first red of the tasting: Jaffurs’ 2016 SB County Grenache. This is a blend of grapes from 3 of Jaffurs supplying vineyards. It had a fruity nose with a bright red fruit palate. I found this and the Viognier to be quite basic.
After the Grenache was their GSM blend, the 2017 High Tide. It had a nice dark red color to it, and an interesting mushroomy / wet earth smell. The flavor profile continued to be quite dark with cherry, chocolate and baking spice coming through. It was a surprising and interesting GSM blend that I enjoyed tasting.
The 2017 County Syrah was next. It is a blend of 92% syrah and 8% grenache, and again a mix of grapes sourced from Jaffurs’ various supplying vineyards in Santa Barbara County. I thought this wine was super tight and definitely too young. The flavors were also green and tart tasting. I did not like it all, just not my style of wine.
Last on the standard tasting flight that day was the 2016 Petite Syrah from Thompson Vineyard. It had a nice floral, rose petal smell to it. It was drier than I expected with a high acidity. It is definitely a wine to pair with food; something hardy, like a stew or a shepard’s pie would pair well.
They happened to have a few library wines available that day for taste and on sale, so I was able to try a bonus wine: the 2012 Thompson Vineyard Syrah. It was so fruity and refreshing, with nice spices. The had aged amazingly, rounding out the flavors into a complex wine that still had all of its delicious fruit and bold flavors. The first and last wines of the my tasting, were my two favorites; both complex, fruit forward and delicious!
To me, the wines at Jaffurs seemed hit and miss. Some I thought were quite delicious, while others were just not for me. I enjoyed the small, intimate feel of the tasting room smack in the middle of the wine making facility. It seemed amateurish yet charming at the same time. A nice change of pace from the many “modern” (hipster) tasting rooms in the Funk Zone.
Jaffurs is worth a visit for their diverse selection of wines (especially if you enjoy Rhone Varietals!) and intimate tasting setting. Plus they have good prices on their wines if you find a new favorite!
Cheers
– Alan Evans
Visited on September 7, 2019