We left Encinitas early on Sunday, April 10, and drove 250 miles to D'Alfonso/Curran winery near Lompoc
It took less than 4 hours including a fuel/food stop somewhere off the 101
The hills were alive and green and yellow, more so than I've seen in a long while.
These were taken somewhere south of Santa Barbara from the car.
We made it! Time for some tasting!
This is Bruno D'Alfonso
And this is Chris Curran. This was the first time we actually attended a "pick-up party". Instead of getting your wine club allotment shipped, you go to the winery and pick it up. It was great! Pizza, salad and wine, nice people, what more do you need?
Still too early to check in, so we stopped at Sanford, just down the road toward Buellton.
The old wine barrel truck
Sanford
Lots of California Poppies this year too - the State flower
Vines and hills yellow from mustard weed
Lorri tasting
View from the porch
...and another view of the wine truck
Solvang is a quaint little village. It reminds us of our trip to the Alsace region of what is now France.
It's cutesy and touristy, but fun. These are the public restrooms.
Wouldn't you know it? There's an Irish pub in Solvang.
Later, we enjoyed happy hour at the Landsby Hotel where I had a Bourbon flight. (Can't subsist on wine alone, you know)
Victor Borge Place. Remember Victor Borge? Probably not if you're much younger than I.
The woman works churning butter while the man enjoys a mug of beer, as it should be. Good work, honey!
We bought a few bottles of happiness on our trip
First stop after a walk around town was Rusack Vineyards in Ballard Canyon, one of our favorite spots.
Rusack selfie
The view from Rusack's shaded front porch looking out toward Ballard Canyon Road
Another view
Is idyllic the right word?
Heading up Ballard Canyon
One of these years (if the weather is good and I'm feeling strong) I'm going to walk (instead of drive) up Ballard Canyon and soak it all in.
It's one photo op after another
I have older photos from virtually this same spot. It looks different each time.
The vines are starting to set little tiny grape clusters
World-class!
Unfortunately, the HI Express is far from world-class, more like no-class, but we made the best of it.
And here we are with Lorri's magic lights around the mirror
Picnic dinner in the room
...with wine!
The next day, Tuesday, we decided to drive up Figueroa Mountain. Lincourt was sort of on the way so we stopped by just to say hello.
What the heck? It opened at 10, so why not?
Here is a little tiny grape cluster, I think.
Lincourt
View from Lincourt's porch
No shortage of wineries in the neighborhood, but we went toward Fig Mountain anyway, Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and the mountain was socked in. We made a quick stop in MJ's former Neverland driveway and then headed toward Foxen Canyon.
We happened to spot Andrew Murray Vineyard, a place we had not visited.
Is this out of focus?
After a short drive we stopped at Foxen for a tasting and a picnic lunch
The sun started burning off the low clouds and it warmed up too. This is the view from our table.
The old shed at Foxen always reminds me of "Sideways"
We kept going on Foxen Canyon Road toward Santa Maria
These were taken at Cambria - lots of vines out there!
Lorri's new car!
We didn't do a tasting here.
Superstork spotted on roof in Solvang!
Look, another stork, and also a windmill!
Dinner that night was at Cecco's in Solvang. On Monday when we were in Los Olivos we stopped and did a tasting at Dragonette, where we met Jessica, the director of sales, and Stephanie, the tasting room hostess who also works as a server at Cecco's!
Jessica also makes her own wine under the "Iter" label, which happened to be on the list at Cecco's!
So, we had a nice reunion with Stephanie and enjoyed a great bottle of wine by Jessica!
It was a perfect way to wrap up a short getaway to the Santa Barbara County wine country! Can't wait to go back.