A Weekend of Family, Friends and Wine Tastings in Beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, CA

For Jane’s birthday this year, we decided to head to our favorite wine country in Southern California – the beautiful Santa Ynez wine region. We have been going to Santa Ynez ever since we moved to California in 2001. We love the slower pace, great places to cycle, dreamy vineyards, welcoming tasting rooms, and of course, the incredible wines.

The Santa Ynez wine country specializes in Rhone varietals, including the reds Syrah and Grenache and the white Viognier. You can also find plenty of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We love the wine and the vibe of this area. It’s uber-relaxing and the food is incredible as well.

We put the call out to family and close friends about the trip and they all wanted to join in the fun and the great wine. So we rented a wonderful home on a ranch through AirBnB.

Four couples who came in from various states (Tennessee, Texas and Arizona) were able to stay in the upstairs bedrooms and then our nieces came up for a night (one came in from Virginia) and they stayed on the couch and a twin mattress in the living room. Jane’s brother and his friend stayed at a nearby hotel. So in addition to great wine, we were able to have a family and friend reunion. It was a blast!

The home was cozy and well-decorated. We cooked dinner together each night after a long day of tastings and enjoyed a bottle or two of the day’s finds with our meals. The perfect end to each day was watching the sunset over the Valley. So picturesque!

We even had Bob the rooster to keep us company and ensure we woke up on time!

Having been to Santa Ynez many times in the past, Jane was able to put together an itinerary of three wineries per day. Our friends from Arizona rented a 15-passenger van and they drove us to the wineries each day (bless them). Great fun and great wine was had by all!

There were three wineries that really popped out to us all (though all were amazing in their own way).

Here are the three we loved:

Riverbench

Riverbench is a bit north in the Santa Maria Valley. They specialize in bubbly, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We love their bubbly and Pinots, especially the 2019 Pommard. They also had live music on the thick grass lawn which added to the celebratory atmosphere and chill vibe.

Foxen

Having lunch during a day of wine tasting is an important event! You want to keep your bellies full of both good food and water as you try the local vino. With Foxen, we called about a month before we arrived to arrange for a spot in their back picnic area to have lunch. We had a large group of 11 and you just never know how popular a winery will be so we like to plan well in advance.

Foxen laid the tasting out beautifully for us under their trees and were such wonderful hosts as we pulled out our yummy sandwiches and salads from Los Olivos’ Panino. Foxen specializes in Pinot Noir. Their tasting list includes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, a Cuvee and a couple of red blends. Everything we tried was delicious. We especially loved their pinots.

Grassini

Grassini is a gorgeous vineyard located in Happy Canyon, which is on the east side of the Santa Ynez Valley and more inland, making it hotter. Their wine was the boldest we had that weekend. The warmer climate is well suited for the Cabernet and Merlot that they often blend together for truly sumptuous wine. It was a great change of pace from the Pinots we were tasting during the trip.

Their tasting area is on their pond and it’s so tranquil with a small dock, row boat and toads croaking in the reeds. We were the only party there at the time. It was so intimate and lovely. We highly recommend them.

So if you ever have the chance to travel to Santa Ynez wine country, check out Riverbench, Foxen and Grassini. You won’t be disappointed!

See you in the vines or on the pond!