Wine Country Getaway

Part of the charm of the Santa Ynez Valley as a weekend getaway is its lack of crowds and the relaxed presentations at the tasting rooms.

Set behind Santa Barbara’s coastal mountain range, the valley is stunning. In spring the rolling hills dotted with sweeping live oaks are a post card; in summer the green fields mature to a dusky patina and finally spin themselves into gold.

Santa Ynez is horse country, too, with pastured Arabians and thoroughbreds adjoining the grape-hung fields. One winery, Gainey, combines the two. The valley also has Solvang, the pastry-sweet re-creation of a Danish town that has been luring tourists for decades.

A two- to three-hour drive northwest from Los Angeles, the area affords a manageable 24-hour getaway. Most of the wineries open at 11 a.m. and close by 5 p.m.

Visitors to the Santa Ynez Valley should take San Marcos Pass Road off U.S. 101 in Santa Barbara, then continue along California 154, which drops like a roller coaster into the valley over a magnificent trestle bridge with sweeping views of the hills. It then swings past Cachuma Lake and into Santa Ynez proper.

A Nice Introduction

The lovely Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays of Santa Ynez Winery are the work of Australian wine maker Mike Brown. This vineyard is a nice introduction to what the valley has to offer--dedicated wine making, the products of which are offered in a peaceful, charming setting.

The winery has a deck for picnicking adjoining the tasting room, with a simple bar, homey fabrics and furniture and a few wine-related items for sale. The staff is knowledgeable, and tours are available upon request.

The Santa Ynez winery is at 343 N. Refugio Road. Tasting hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Call (805) 688-8381.

Next-door neighbor Gainey Vineyard is the most opulent of the area’s wineries. The tasting room is filled with antiques. The winery has a tony feel, starting with the tiled driveway and on into the large, airy, Southwest-style tasting room. Excellent formal tours are given every hour, but the staff gets a little rattled when there are more than the usual handful of visitors.

On a recent hot weekend day, a guide--wide-eyed at the size of the crowd--speculated aloud about how she would maneuver this “enormous” group (about 20 people) through the wine making area. After many cautions not to touch anything , she led a delightful tour through Gainey’s gleaming wine operation, so immaculate and ordered that it looks like something the Swiss designed.

Begun for Horse Breeding

The 1,800-acre ranch started as an Arabian breeding concern, but owner Daniel J. Gainey turned over 54 acres for grapes and is winning medals for his Johannisberg Rieslings, among others. Gainey is at 3950 E. Highway 246, Santa Ynez. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call (805) 688-0558. A picnic area is available.

A winery that never fails to seduce is Ballard Canyon near Solvang. For sheer visceral pleasure, one cannot exceed the sensation of sipping the wines of Dr. Gene and Rosalie Hallock while seated outside on the deck adjoining the Ballard tasting room.

Enormous oak trees throw a canopy of branches over the tables and the view of the hills edging the grape fields is one of the most remarkable in the valley. In the summer, Western bluebirds dive through the leafy vines.

The Hallocks are fond of their blush wines, cheerful wines with a wonderful peppery quality. One is dedicated to Rosalie Hallock; another was lightly dubbed “Dr. Fun.” A Ballard staff member brings the whites and blushes out to the tables for al fresco tasting, and one moves indoors to the tasting room for the reds.

In the three times I have gone to Ballard Canyon in the last year, I haven’t seen the same person working in the tasting room. Fortunately, Rosalie Hallock often pitches in with a down-to-earth efficiency, praising a Johannisberg Riesling while bluntly discussing the drawbacks of a Pinot Noir.

Picnicking is not allowed on the deck, so there can be plenty of turnover in the tasting, but a picnic area is provided close by.

The winery is at 1825 Ballard Canyon Road, Solvang. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Informal tours are available upon request but, as with most of the wineries in the area, groups of 10 or more are asked to call for appointments. Phone (805) 688-7585.

A few miles east of Solvang is the charming community of Los Olivos. Bits of gingerbread mingle with the earthy redwood homes and, as everywhere in the valley, an ever-present breeze ruffles the grasses and teases the trees.

The Los Olivos Tasting Room doesn’t look like much from the outside but inside, the room is airy with a solid bar at a comfortable, elbow-leaning height. Lined up along it are at least a dozen bottles from wineries around the Central Coast: San Luis Obispo, Simi Valley, Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande.

For a $2 fee, proprietor Bill Benzinger offers tastes of the products of wineries that are either too small or, in the case of Au Bon Climat, too busy to run their own tasting rooms.

That makes Benzinger a middleman of sorts. From some of the wineries, such as the critically acclaimed Au Bon Climat, he buys directly. For others he simply buys retail.

Going to his tastings is one way to sample new releases from the marvelous Au Bon Climat, and to enjoy discovering a new winery such as Castoro Cellars in Paso Robles, with its excellent offering of a 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon. The tasting room is at 2905 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call (805) 8-7406.

Next door is the tasting room for Austin Cellars. The winery is 10 miles north, but owner Anthony Austin, a philosophy student turned wine maker, maintains the tasting room at Los Olivos that is distinguished by its knowledgeable staff. The small tasting room was taxed when the crowd grew larger than half a dozen.

The tasting room for Austin Cellars is at 2923 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call (805) 688-9665. A picnic area is available.

J. Carey Cellars has its tasting room in a yellow-and-white gabled 1920s home that looks as if it came right off the prairie. Next to it is an equally charming white gazebo built for the TV series “Aaron’s Way.”

One is tempted to move right into this lovely home, especially after meeting serving-room staffer Lorna Boulton, who dispensed aphorisms and humor with the wine.

J. Carey Cellars is at 1711 Alamo Pintado Road, Solvang. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Call (805) 688-8554. Tours are available by request, and it has a picnic area.

At Brander Vineyard, the Loire Valley-style chateau that presides so incongruously on its grounds is probably, as the saleswoman proclaimed, “the only pink chalet in cowboy country.”

It is rather disconcerting to come upon this very French building in this very California setting. But then Fred Brander has proved himself masterful with the unconventional; a Bordeaux-style Bouchet, for example, a blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, is one of the winery’s big sellers.

Brander has a large, walled-in picnic area next to the chateau. It is at 2401 Refugio Road, Los Olivos. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call (805) 688-7585.

Efficient Establishment

The one tasting room that’s run with a clock-minded efficiency is Zaca Mesa Winery. Tasting in the ribbon-bedecked room is done on the half-hour by staff members who know they have a good thing in the winery’s memorable Cabernet Sauvignons. Tasting sessions are prompt and fact-filled, with detailed discourses on the distinctions of each vintage.

Zaca Mesa is on Foxen Canyon Road in Los Olivos. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Call (805) 688-3310. There is a picnic area.

Many of the wineries offer special activities to highlight their wines. Harvest time, in particular, offers a peck of parties. Throughout the summer, several wineries sponsor gourmet dinners and some host outdoor concerts.

Picnickers attending concerts at Gainey Vineyards have been known to bring sumptuous spreads, linens and candelabra rivaling those taken to Hollywood Bowl concerts. Gainey also features a night of dancing to Big Band sounds during harvest.

Some area hotels and restaurants offer packages for visitors to the wine country. The Biltmore Hotel in Montecito has a package for its guests that includes maps to the wine country and a picnic lunch overflowing with such gourmet fare as lobster, salads, corn muffins, pate and cheeses . . . and a bottle of Au Bon Climat wine. Picnic lunch prices start at $17.50. The Biltmore will also put guests in touch with a limousine company if they like. Contact the Biltmore Hotel, 1260 Channel Drive, Montecito, phone (805) 969-2261.

The Ballard Store restaurant in the Santa Ynez Valley, which is so popular that one must make reservations weeks ahead, also has box meals available. One, the Wineland Journey, has duck liver pate with “crunchies” (toast rounds made with Parmesan cheese and garlic), Chinese chicken salad, sweet potato bread and pound cake with raspberries for dessert.

Each box meal to feed two costs $12. The restaurant asks for at least two hours’ notice for making up a meal, 24 hours for four or more. Call (805) 688-5319.

For maps and more information about the Santa Ynez wine country, write to Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Assn., P.O. Box WINE, Los Olivos, Calif. 93441. For general information on travel to the Santa Barbara area, contact the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau, 222 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, Calif. 93101, (805) 966-9222.