April Rewind

Wine Rewind... I'm back and have lots of wine to talk about. I will begin with a visit to Santa Barbara last weekend. There are a handful of good wines in SB but Jaffurs is one for serious wine drinkers. Jaffurs is off the beaten path and if you don't search it out you will miss a good thing. Jaffurs doesn't own any vineyards, they purchase grapes only from Santa Barbara vineyards. The Thompson vineyard seems to be a favorite. Jaffurs, specializing in Rhone varietals has recently got some rave reviews for their 2008 Bien Nacido Syrah(97 points from Robert Parker). Unfortunately, we did not get to try this one... What we did get to try was the 2009 Viognier, 2009 Grenache Blanc, 2008 Grenache, 2009 Santa Barbara Syrah, 2009 Petit Sirah (Thompson Vineyard), and last a 2007 Mouvedre. Since Syrah is the specialty here I am going to tell you about the one we bought and drank already, the 2009 Syrah from SB county. These grapes come from the Tierra Alta, Larner and Vernas Vineyards and they blend a few barrels of petit Sirah to round out the flavor. This wine has power, complexity and spice according to the winemakers. I tasted amazing flavors of ripe pure blackberry. It is full bodied with a nice long finish. Drink this with your favorite BBQ'd meats and braised short ribs. If you are heading up the coast to Santa Barbara this summer, make a pit stop at Jaffurs, you will not be disappointed.

Next wine stop... the 12th annual Valley Cultural Center's Food, Wine and Microbrew festival. This was a favorite of mine a few years ago but this year I will admit being disappointed. At $65.00 per ticket it was noticeably smaller this year. A few good restaurants returned with some tasty bites and there was at least one wine worth mentioning. The Maddalena Vineyards (San Antonio Winery) Il Conte d'Alba Stella Rosa Imperiale Moscato. I loved this and went back for seconds and yes even a third taste. This is a fantastic sparkling moscato from northwestern Italy.

Packed with flavors of peach, apricot and pear. I would drink this with all my favorites( cheese, fruit, fish, salads and of course dessert). This is a keeper at $14.95 a bottle. Bring on the bubbles!